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Duff McKagan

Born in Seattle, WA

Duff McKagan's Genre:

Hard Rock, Vocal Music

Biography

The youngest of eight children, Duff McKagan was born in Seattle, Washington in the spring of 1964. His real name is Michael, but his family gave him the nickname Duff at the age of two and it stuck. He grew up rebellious, falling in love with punk and glam rock by the time he was a teenager. His brother Bruce introduced him to the bass, but he did not take to the instrument right away. At the tender age of 16, the Fastbacks hired him on as their drummer, giving him his first shot in the developing Seattle rock scene. He left the band toward the end of 1981 and began playing in countless other punk combos in the area. Most influential was his work with the Fartz, a band that never made it that far but served as one of the primary influences on grunge innovator Mudhoney. While McKagan enjoyed the gigs he was working, he tried his luck in Los Angeles after a few years of playing in the Northwest. Upon moving to town, he met future Guns N' Roses founders Slash and Steven Adler, and decided to form a trio with the others called Road Crew. The band gave them the kind of visibility they craved, but upon meeting Indiana transplants Izzy Stradlin and Axl Rose, the five flirted with the idea of combining their forces, until finally Guns N' Roses became a reality in 1985.

After a self-released EP gained them more attention in the Los Angeles area, Geffen Records signed them for an album in 1986. The result, Appetite for Destruction, would be one of the most important rock records ever released, although it would be hard to tell from the initial impact. The album floundered at first, McKagan even considered going back to Seattle, until "Welcome to the Jungle" became a runaway hit. Guns N' Roses instantly became a huge sensation, and the media ate up their bad-boy reputation and incredible live performances. The whole band let fame get to them, but no member took it as seriously as Axl Rose, who began to shake up the band with his increasingly controversial statements to the media and erratic behavior. Things became serious upon the release of the G N' R Lies EP, which featured a racist rant in the song "One in a Million" that McKagan and Slash both spoke out against in the press. Rose slowly continued to dominate the band, driving out Adler and Stradlin and replacing them with less vocal contributors Matt Sorum and Gilby Clarke. Ironically, McKagan and Slash bonded with these two members strongly, making the distance between Rose and the other members only larger. When the band hit the road for the endless Use Your Illusion tour, the backstage decadence and wild spending became ridiculous, as opening bands would report to the press about orgies and pig roasts.

McKagan was disillusioned with the music he was making, and after contributing songs to Iggy Pop's Brick by Brick, he tried his hand at a solo album. His drinking had gotten wildly out of control, and the resulting Believe in Me was a disjointed and awkward effort that failed to spark the public's interest. When the tour ended, McKagan discovered that his pancreas was in such terrible shape that he had to immediately give up drinking or face almost certain death. After a cover of the Rolling Stones' "Sympathy for the Devil," the bandmembers separated to take time away from one another. Thinking that Guns N' Roses was just taking a break, McKagan started working with Slash on the Slash's Snakepit project along with the other members of Guns N' Roses, except for Rose. Sessions for a new Guns N' Roses album continually fell apart, and McKagan started working with the Neurotic Outsiders and several solo projects from fellow and former Guns N' Roses members. As the years began to tick away, Rose finally sent news to the remaining members of the band that they had to stop working on other projects or they were going to be fired. That was the final straw for McKagan, and he separated from the band and joined Seattle punk rockers 10 Minute Warning, a band he had played in almost 15 years before.

Since that point, McKagan has continued to release solo projects -- including Beautiful Disease (1999), Wasted Heart (2008), Sick (2009), and The Taking (2011), the latter two with his group Loaded -- and perform with his fellow Guns N' Roses outcasts, joining the supergroup Velvet Revolver in 2002. Once that group petered out he replaced Eric Avery in Jane's Addiction for their 2010 album. McKagan also married for the third time, becoming a father for the first time in 1999, and managed to get acting jobs on television. He ran a marathon in 2001, right before reuniting with Izzy Stradlin for a tour of Japan. In addition to performing regularly, McKagan has also earned a reputation as a columnist, writing a weekly column for Seattle Weekly and offering financial advice in Playboy. The likelihood of the original Guns N' Roses reuniting looks slimmer every year, but even his brief time with that band will forever give McKagan the notoriety that has made him one of the most recognizable bassists in rock music. ~ Bradley Torreano

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Duff McKagan

This station plays the best music from and music from related artists like Duff McKagan's Loaded, Slash, Slash's Snakepit, Velvet Revolver, Guns N' Roses, Zakk Wylde, Gilby Clarke, Sebastian Bach, Tracii Guns, Randy Rhoads and more.

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Duff McKagan's Selected Discography (1)

Believe in Me

199313 Songs

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Artists Related to Duff McKagan (50)

	Duff McKagan's Loaded
	Slash	As the lead guitarist for Guns N' Roses, Slash established himself as one of hard rock's finest and most soulful soloists during the late '80s, technically adept yet always firmly grounded in the gritty Aerosmith and Stones licks he loved.
	Slash's Snakepit	Slash's Snakepit formed as a direct result of Slash's continuing disagreements with former partner Axl Rose over the musical direction of Guns N' Roses.
	Velvet Revolver	Velvet Revolver began with a spring 2002 jam session that reunited ex-Guns N' Roses bandmates Slash (guitar), Duff McKagan (bass), and Matt Sorum (drums) on-stage.
	Guns N' Roses	At a time when pop was dominated by dance music and pop-metal, Guns N' Roses brought raw, ugly rock & roll crashing back into the charts.
	Zakk Wylde	Best known for his long stint in support of Ozzy Osbourne, guitarist Zakk Wylde was born and raised in New Jersey; although he began studying music at age eight, he soon quit, not returning to his lessons until his mid-teens.
	Gilby Clarke	Although he's issued several solo albums on his own, guitarist Gilby Clarke is best known for his brief stint as a member of Guns N' Roses.
	Sebastian Bach	The onetime frontman for hair metal hitmakers Skid Row, singer Sebastian Bach was born Sebastian Bierk in the Bahamas on April 3, 1968.
	Tracii Guns	Tracii Guns (b. 1966) is really an icon of the metal guitar slinger. He has played in a huge number of well-known and not so well-known bands over the years.
	Randy Rhoads	While the most dominating and influential heavy metal guitarist of the '80s would have to be Eddie Van Halen, Ozzy Osbourne's original guitarist, Randy Rhoads, was one of the few guitarists of the era to create his own signature style.
	Chickenfoot	Formed in 2008, the hard-rocking "supergroup" Chickenfoot features the talents of vocalist Sammy Hagar (Van Halen, Montrose), bass player Michael Anthony (Van Halen), drummer Chad Smith (Red Hot Chili Peppers), and guitar virtuoso Joe Satriani.
	Metallica	Metallica was easily the best, most influential heavy metal band of the '80s. Responsible for bringing the genre back to Earth, the bandmates looked and talked like they were from the street, shunning the usual rockstar games of metal musicians during the early '80s.
	Mötley Crüe	Mötley Crüe were one of the most influential hair metal bands of the '80s, boasting a striking visual presence and hedonistic reputation rivaled only by Guns N' Roses.
	Ozzy Osbourne	Though many bands have succeeded in earning the hatred of parents and media worldwide throughout the past few decades, arguably only such acts as Alice Cooper, Judas Priest, and Marilyn Manson have tied the controversial record of Ozzy Osbourne.
	Tony Iommi	Black Sabbath's Tony Iommi is one of only two guitarists (the other being Led Zeppelin's Jimmy Page) that can take full credit for pioneering the mammoth riffs of heavy metal.
	Hollywood Rose	Years before there was a Guns N' Roses there was Hollywood Rose. Formed in -- where else -- Hollywood, circa 1983, by recent Indiana transplants William Bailey (later to become W.
	Izzy Stradlin	The gals dug Axl and the musicians dug Slash, but the man in the back, guitarist Izzy Stradlin, was just as much an integral part of Guns N' Roses.
	Skid Row	Skid Row were one of the very last hair metal bands to hit the mainstream before grunge took over in the early '90s.
	Ace Frehley	Along with Eddie Van Halen, Kiss' Ace Frehley inspired numerous up-and-coming rockers to pick up the guitar in the 1970s -- and come the '90s, was listed by just about every contemporary rock guitarist (Soundgarden's Kim Thayil, Pearl Jam's Mike McCready, Pantera's Dimebag Darrell, etc.
	Jani Lane	In a genre of music where survival of the fittest is not just a cliché but a way of life, Jani Lane embodied the spirit of a decade of excess, hedonism, and rock & roll.
	Pantera	The preeminent metal band of the early to mid-'90s, Pantera put to rest any and all remnants of the '80s metal scene, almost single-handedly demolishing any notion that hair metal, speed metal, power metal, et al.
	Jake E. Lee	He may have appeared on only a pair of albums with Ozzy Osbourne, but guitarist Jake E. Lee helped Osbourne score two of the most commercially successful releases of his long and illustrious career.
	Megadeth	After he left Metallica in 1983, guitarist/vocalist Dave Mustaine formed the thrash metal quartet Megadeth.
	Alice In Chains	In many ways, Alice in Chains was the definitive heavy metal band of the early '90s. Drawing equally from the heavy riffing of post-Van Halen metal and the gloomy strains of post-punk, the band developed a bleak, nihilistic sound that balanced grinding hard rock with subtly textured acoustic numbers.
	Aerosmith	Aerosmith were one of the most popular hard rock bands of the '70s, setting the style and sound of hard rock and heavy metal for the next two decades with their raunchy, bluesy swagger.
	Charm City Devils	Taking a cue from bluesy classic rock icons like Aerosmith and AC/DC, Baltimore, Maryland's Charm City Devils craft traditional hard rock anthems in the vein of Buckcherry and Aussie rockers Airbourne.
	Alice Cooper	Originally, there was a band called Alice Cooper led by a singer named Vincent Damon Furnier. Under his direction, Alice Cooper pioneered a grandly theatrical and violent brand of heavy metal that was designed to shock.
	AC/DC	AC/DC's mammoth power chord roar became one of the most influential hard rock sounds of the '70s. In its own way, it was a reaction against the pompous art rock and lumbering arena rock of the early '70s.
	White Zombie	For metalheads who thought bands like W.A.S.P. and Mötley Crüe just weren't menacing or heavy enough, White Zombie was the perfect antidote for a period of time during the mid- to late '90s, as they fused B-horror movie visuals and subject matter with heavy music and growled vocals.
	Black Label Society	After falling out with mentor Ozzy Osbourne following the recording sessions for 1995's Ozzmosis, guitarist Zakk Wylde struck out on his own with his first solo album, Book of Shadows, in 1996.
	Dave Navarro	With his six-string skills best described as a merger between heavy metal, psychedelia, and modern rock, Dave Navarro became one of alternative rock's first true guitar heroes (with such notorious bands as Jane's Addiction and the Red Hot Chili Peppers).
	Iron Maiden	Known for such powerful hits as "Two Minutes to Midnight" and "The Trooper," Iron Maiden were and are one of the most influential bands of the heavy metal genre.
	Deep Purple	Deep Purple survived a seemingly endless series of lineup changes and a dramatic mid-career shift from grandiose progressive rock to ear-shattering heavy metal to emerge as a true institution of the British hard rock community; once credited in The Guinness Book of World Records as the globe's loudest band, their revolving-door roster launched the careers of performers including Ritchie Blackmore, David Coverdale, and Ian Gillan.
	Tesla	Although Tesla emerged during the glory days of hair metal, the band's music was equally indebted to contemporary blues and '70s-style hard rock, a fusion that helped differentiate albums like The Great Radio Controversy from its contemporaries.
	L.A. Guns	Although veterans of the Sunset Strip's hair metal scene, L.A. Guns are also known for being one of the two bands (along with Hollywood Rose) that merged in the mid-'80s to form Guns N' Roses.
	Black Sabbath	Black Sabbath have been so influential in the development of heavy metal rock music as to be a defining force in the style.
	Van Halen	With their 1978 eponymous debut, Van Halen simultaneously rewrote the rules of rock guitar and hard rock in general.
	Buckcherry	The Los Angeles-based hard rock act Buckcherry formed in mid-1995, after singer Joshua Todd and guitarist Keith Nelson were introduced through their tattoo artist.
	Dio	For a brief spell during the mid-'80s, the heavy metal quintet Dio were one of the top U.S. concert attractions, boasting one of the most over the top stage acts of its time loaded with props and special effects (lasers, explosions, a giant dragon, etc.
	Mike Tramp
	Motörhead	Motörhead's overwhelmingly loud and fast style of heavy metal was one of the most groundbreaking styles the genre had to offer in the late '70s.
	Danzig	During his time in the seminal hardcore band the Misfits, vocalist Glenn Danzig displayed a fascination with outlandish, graphic, often gory imagery; in forming the more heavy metal-oriented band Samhain, Danzig's lyrics delved into typical metal subject matter, but took the concept of darkness to an extreme.
	Kiss	Rooted in the campy theatrics of Alice Cooper and the sleazy hard rock of glam rockers the New York Dolls, Kiss became a favorite of American teenagers in the '70s.
	Widowmaker	The second band to use the Widowmaker name bears no relationship whatsoever to the original British outfit that featured guitarist Ariel Bender.
	Heaven & Hell	Formed in 2006 after late-era Black Sabbath members Ronnie James Dio, Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler, and Vinny Appice reunited after a 15-year hiatus for three new tracks on the Dio Years compilation, Heaven & Hell, named after Sabbath's first recording with Dio in 1980, toured under the moniker in 2007 and released the two-disc CD/DVD Live from Radio City Music Hall later that year.
	Marilyn Manson	Love him or hate him, the self-proclaimed "Antichrist Superstar" -- Marilyn Manson -- was indisputably among the most notorious and controversial entertainers of the 1990s.
	Rainbow	The brainchild of former Deep Purple guitarist Ritchie Blackmore, Rainbow quickly developed into one of the '70s most successful heavy metal bands behind charismatic front man Ronnie James Dio.
	Led Zeppelin	Led Zeppelin was the definitive heavy metal band. It wasn't just their crushingly loud interpretation of the blues -- it was how they incorporated mythology, mysticism, and a variety of other genres (most notably world music and British folk) -- into their sound.
	Anthrax	Nearly as much as Metallica or Megadeth, Anthrax were responsible for the emergence of speed and thrash metal.
	Stone Temple Pilots	Stone Temple Pilots were able to turn alternative rock into stadium rock; naturally, they became the most critically despised band of their era.

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Top Songs by Duff McKagan (18)

Iou

3:37

from: Wasted Heart

2008 Century Media

Wasted Heart

4:33

from: Wasted Heart

2008 Century Media

Executioners Song

3:40

from: Wasted Heart

2008 Century Media