Michael Andrew "Duff" McKagan (born February 5, 1964) is an American musician. He was the bassist of hard rock band Guns N' Roses for twelve years, with whom he achieved worldwide success in the late 1980s and early 1990s. McKagan rejoined the band in 2016, following their induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Toward the end of his first tenure with Guns N' Roses, McKagan released the solo album Believe in Me (1993) and formed the short-lived supergroup Neurotic Outsiders. Following his departure from Guns N' Roses in 1997, McKagan briefly reunited with his pre-success Seattle punk band 10 Minute Warning, before forming the hard rock band Loaded, in which he performs lead vocals and rhythm guitar. Between 2002 and 2008, he played bass in the supergroup Velvet Revolver with his former Guns N' Roses bandmates Slash and Matt Sorum. He briefly performed with Alice in Chains in 2006, with Jane's Addiction in 2010, and with the supergroup Hollywood Vampires in 2016. He has also collaborated in several short-lived projects with fellow Seattle-native musicians Mike McCready (primarily of Pearl Jam) and Barrett Martin (formerly of Screaming Trees), including Walking Papers and Levee Walkers.
In addition to his musical career, McKagan has established himself as a writer. He has written weekly columns on a wide variety of topics for SeattleWeekly.com, Playboy.com, and ESPN.com. Previously a high school dropout, he attended Seattle University's Albers School of Business and Economics in the early 2000s, and subsequently founded the wealth management firm Meridian Rock.
Michael Andrew McKagan was born February 5, 1964, and grew up in Seattle's largely working-class University District, the youngest of eight children born to Marie and Elmer "Mac" McKagan. He has been called "Duff" since toddlerhood; he has referred to the nickname as "an Irish thing". Following his parents' divorce, his mother supported the family by taking a job as a medical stenographer. His brother Bruce taught him how to play bass and he further developed his skills by playing along with the albums 1999 by Prince and Damaged by Black Flag. In his autobiography It's So Easy (And Other Lies), McKagan wrote that he fashioned himself after punk bassists such as Barry Adamson of Magazine and Paul Simonon of the Clash, and also Lemmy Kilmister of Motörhead.
Although an honors student, McKagan dropped out of Roosevelt High School in the tenth grade. He then worked as a pastry chef for the Great American Food and Beverage Company while earning his GED. He was later awarded an honorary diploma after speaking at the class of 2012's graduation ceremony.
In 1979, at the age of 15, McKagan formed the punk band The Vains, in which he played bass. During this time he performed under the stage name Nico Teen. The band released one single, "School Jerks", in 1980.
In 1980, McKagan joined the pop-punk band The Fastbacks as their drummer. He first performed with the band in December 1980, and appeared on their 1981 debut single "It's Your Birthday", which was issued on guitarist Kurt Bloch's label No Threes Records. He was later on the song "Someone Else's Room", which was included on the Seattle Syndrome: Volume One compilation album, also released in 1981. His last performance was in July 1981.
Around this time he also played lead guitar in the punk band The Living, which opened shows for Hüsker Dü and D.O.A., which developed a devoted following. In 1982 they recorded an EP, which remained unreleased until April 2021, under the title 1982.
In 1982, McKagan became the drummer for the hardcore punk band The Fartz, with whom he recorded several demos, five of which were included on their 1990 album You, We See You Crawling. After several line-up changes, The Fartz evolved into the post-punk band 10 Minute Warning, for which McKagan played guitar.
In Autumn 1984, McKagan moved to Los Angeles, California, with one of his brothers where he found work as an appetizer server at a Black Angus restaurant in Northridge, Los Angeles. Answering an ad for a bass guitarist in a local newspaper, he met guitarist Slash and drummer Steven Adler, with whom he formed the short-lived band Road Crew. They auditioned a number of singers, including one-time Black Flag vocalist Ron Reyes, and worked on material that included the main riff of what would become the Guns N' Roses song "Rocket Queen". Slash eventually disbanded the group due to them not being able to find a singer, as well as Adler's lack of work ethic compared to himself and McKagan.
1985–1997: Guns N' Roses, Believe in Me and Neurotic Outsiders
In March 1985, McKagan replaced bassist Ole Beich in Guns N' Roses, which was newly founded by singer Axl Rose, rhythm guitarist Izzy Stradlin of Hollywood Rose, lead guitarist Tracii Guns and drummer Rob Gardner of L.A. Guns. McKagan's Road Crew bandmates Slash and Steven Adler joined the band two months later, after Guns and Gardner quit respectively. After two days of rehearsal, the line-up played its debut gig at The Troubadour on June 6. In 1987, Guns N' Roses released its debut album, Appetite for Destruction, which to date has sold over 28 million copies worldwide, 18 million of which were in the United States, making it the best-selling debut album of all time in the U.S. The following year, the band released G N' R Lies, which sold over five million copies in the U.S. alone, despite containing only eight tracks, four of which were included on the previously released EP Live ?!*@ Like a Suicide.
In May 1991, Guns N' Roses embarked on the two-and-a-half-year-long Use Your Illusion Tour. The following September, the band released the long-awaited albums Use Your Illusion I and Use Your Illusion II, which debuted at No. 2 and No. 1 respectively on the U.S. chart, a feat unachieved by any other group. In 1993, the band released "The Spaghetti Incident?", a cover album of mostly punk songs, which proved less successful than its predecessors. McKagan took on lead vocals on four songs, including live favorite "Attitude", originally by the Misfits. That same year, McKagan released his debut solo album Believe in Me, on which he sang lead vocals and played virtually every instrument.
On April 3, 1993, while touring with Guns N' Roses, McKagan was hit in the head with a beer bottle filled with urine thrown by a fan in Sacramento, California. He was sent to the hospital minutes later. Axl Rose said this to the crowd after McKagan was hit:
"I hate to ruin your fun, and our fun, but somebody just hit Duff in the head with a bottle, and now he's not able to play." "So we're sorry, have a good night. And if you find the asshole, kill him."
Rose threw the mic over his shoulder and walked off the stage.
In 1995, with Guns N' Roses largely inactive, McKagan formed the supergroup Neurotic Outsiders with Steve Jones of the Sex Pistols, John Taylor of Duran Duran, and his Guns N' Roses bandmate Matt Sorum. Originally a gathering of friends jamming together at the Viper Room in Hollywood, they released their self-titled album on Maverick Records in 1996. The band played a brief tour of Europe and North America, before disbanding in 1997. McKagan was the last member of the Appetite for Destruction lineup to leave Guns N' Roses, resigning as bassist in August 1997. McKagan had recently become a father and wrote about his decision to leave in his autobiography, stating "Guns had been paying rent on studios for three years now—from 1994 to 1997—and still did not have a single song. The whole operation was so erratic that it didn't seem to fit with my hopes for parenthood, for stability."
1997–2002: 10 Minute Warning reunion, Beautiful Disease and Loaded