Duff on why girls are the future of rock music (first interview since the reunion?/Crazy story about Freddie Mercury Tribute show)

[KeyserSoze]

https://galoremag.com/guns-n-roses-duff-mckagan-girls-future-rock/

Summary: 

in what looks to be like one of the first interviews since the "reunion" has taken off, Duff talks about women, marriage, life on the road, partying with GNR, and GNRs iconic style..

The interviewer mentions Duff has been Married to his wife since 1999 and whats the deal with Rockstars and Models and he says he has no clue and that they met on a blind date. Duff then goes on to tell the story of how they met and how he was way under dressed compared to her over dressing and how they played telephone tag before actually meeting. Duff says the only connection between rockstars and models, its that they both live crazy lives on the road and never being at home. 

Asked about the craziest road story he has, Duff mentions VRs role in the tsunami relief efforts in 2005 and mentions how Elton John came up to him during the recording for a song and told him that he was very happy to see him doing so well. Duff was very taken aback by these comments, though grateful. Elton then tells him he must not remember the Freddie Mercury tribute show... Duff says he remembers getting to the show, but he cant for the life of him remember the in-between. Elton explains that Duff fell down walking to the stage and and he picked him up and told him it was time to go out and play, and he did. Coming off stage Duff fell again and Elton brought him back to there backstage room and thought for sure that would be the last time he ever saw him.. Duff then goes on to mention he doesn't remember 90% of that time period... (im not sure if this story has been told before or not)

Duff recalls all the partying they did, but cant remember partaking in most of it. He tells a story about jumping the fence at Niagara Falls and standing over the edge backwards. He says he can recall completely insane things like this, but has no idea why he was there. The interviewer asks him why he was there, and he cant recall why. He then mentions his book and tells about all the wild stories it contains. 

Duff on the state of Rock music today: He says his opinion doesnt matter and he is basically going to listen to what he wants and thats what people should do as well. The media blows things out of proportions. Duff then says that people blur the lines between rock and roll music and the rock and roll life style. He mentions that Charlie XCX is the modern day Iggy Pop. He goes on to talk about younger bands, plugging his daughters band. 

Talking about GNRs appeal back in the day to bands appeal now, Duff mentions there were too many swear words for them to be popular when the were first starting in 85/86, and that metal and rock was very "sugary" at the time, but they were very lucky with the MTV 3am deal. He believes there is a youth movement going on now that is going to scare rock fans. 

The interviewer mentions that if Trump wins, it might inspire very rebellious music. Duff agrees and reminisces on the times when he used to draw missles and dicks on government papers during the Reagan era.

Asked about the golden age of "groupies", duff says he never got into music for chicks, they just came along with it and the sex was carefree until AIDS started scaring everyone. 

Asked about the bands fashion, Duff says they pretty much just wore whatever because there was no internet or anything to see what was the biggest trends. He said they were just poor and that why they looked like gutter punks. They weren't trying to do that in the name of fashion. He mentions that today you can buy a fucked up designer shirt with holes in it for like $1000, but back then they were common place. Duff says he still pretty much dresses the same at home, but dresses nice to go out. 

Duff mentions girls today are killing it in modern music. He mentions Lana Del Rey is a very amazing person. 

Duff talks about his Hollywood Vampires grammy performance and talks about how he hates things that are a competition in music. No one ever wins in music. He said this one was fun though and it was more about his wife and daughter then him. He says the Grammys need rock and roll

Talking about playing big venues, Duff mentions that he knows when he has really captivated an audience when they put their phones down and start getting into it. 

Duff recalls a Loaded show where all he could see was a sea of ipads and he got the interpreter to come out and tell them to just enjoy the moment. He believes that younger kids are starting to get away from electronics. 

Duff calls it an honor to be the male figure in his teenage girls lives and to raise them. 

Duff then talks difference between men and women. 

Duff says Charlie XCX could be the voice of a generation. he like to be apart of new music, but going back and re hearing old albums is cool for him. He mentions he cant take Classic Rock everyday, so he gets into new things. 

Duff says people like Iggy Pop, Lemmy and even Bowie were/are keeping the rock spirit alive. They are more then the music. they are like figureheads. 

pictures:

 

 

[Nosaj Thing]

Killer pics.  Great interview.  

[BorderlineCrazy]

Thanks for the great summary!!

It's nice to see Duff finally doing interviews again, he always has intertesting things to say.

[stella]

Duff honestly seems like such an awesome human being.

[supercool]

1 hour ago, KeyserSoze said:

 

Duff says people like Iggy Pop, Lemmy and even Bowie were/are keeping the rock spirit alive. They are more then the music. they are like figureheads. 

 

I remember there were kids in bands from the fourth grade on in the schools I went to. In those days they were playing "Gloria" or "96 Tears" and now, unfortunately, they're playing Offspring. (Laughs) So there are a lot of problems here but the tradition itself survives. That's where I thought Bowie was such a catastrophe. That's why the word "fag" has meaning, because it wasn't that the people who were faggy were necessarily homosexual. The people in these bands who were faggy were all chipping away at the tradition. The tradition can take a lot of abuse and ridicule but at a certain point, in a culture where it's a transplant like in Britain, you can kill it.

http://www.furious.com/perfect/carducci.html

[Strange Broue]

@Len B'stard would like this interview

[Babooshka]

Trunk has been angling for an interview for ages, and the first one is to a teen mag.

[EvanG]

The interviewer was obviously told not to ask about GnR, because that's what everyone wants to talk about with these guys now, and not even a mention in the interview...

[DIST]

Promoting Grace's band..go daddy! 

[wasted]

I told you giving up booze and drugs was a mistakes. Now chicks are kicking our asses. God damn illuminati gone fucked everything up. 

[Changes]

I love Duff. 

[Italian girl]

47 minutes ago, DIST said:

Promoting Grace's band..

 

[Lumikki]

I love Duff as well. He's such a geat guy.

[Len Cnut]

Lord forbid anyone should come out and oppress the male population by stating that women are good at something

[alfierose]

7 minutes ago, Len B'stard said:

Lord forbid anyone should come out and oppress the male population by stating that women are good at something

They are good at stuff but I'm fairly sure he is influenced by being a proud Dad. The music scene has a way to go before we see female headed groups like Elastica, Garbage etc.. being very mainstream again alongside male peers (this is a Brit centric view but obviously there are US equivalents too). I don't know if we will see anything like the 90s again.

I will admit to being a bit out of touch about what is current (so willing to be told different) but the more manufactured acts still seem to be in favour as do solo artists when it comes to female music.

[xBrownstonex]

Cool read. Duff is such a smart guy with a clear head

[Tyler Drama]

I love this about him. He genuinely knows what he's talking about when it comes to modern pop music and actually keeps up to date with what's new and fresh.

[Słash]

This was really interesting to read. Thanks @KeyserSoze for writing it. 

[Patience 4 Axl]

I don't have time right now to read the whole interview so thanks for the abbreviated recap!  

I met him at one of his book signings a few years ago, he's really just a cool laid back guy.  When I asked him if there would ever be a reunion, he said he would never say never.    I could be totally wrong, but I give him the credit for getting the 3 of them back together.  We'll get the story eventually, but  it would be nice if it was sooner rather than later.  

[sanity_lost]

His newest book was an interesting (if weirdly structured) read. He definitely tries very hard to be positive, contemplative, and live life to the fullest and not let anything weigh him down.

His girls are the most important thing in his life and he is definitely all *GIRL POWER* in support of them.

[starlight]

I wish he had talked about what's going on with GNR at the moment.It's boring without any information