Guns N' Roses' Duff McKagan Celebrates Prince Classic

William Lee | 11-29-2019

Guns N' Roses bassist Duff McKagan has shared a video online of his unboxing the super deluxe edition reissue of Prince's classic album "1999," which hit stores today for Black Friday (November 29th).

McKagan, music writers Michael Swensson and David Fricke and Prince scholar Duane Tudahl provided the liner notes for the new package that features 23rd previously unreleased tracks from the Prince vault and other bonus material.

Duff shared the video on YouTube with the caption "This record taught me so much about music in the early years of forming my style. Truly honored to be a small part of this amazing release!" Watch it here.

Duff spoke with Classic Rock earlier this year about his love for the classic Prince record when he described 12 albums that changed his life. He said, "I was turned on to Prince sometime around 1980. I really love For You and Prince and Controversy and Dirty Mind, but there was something about 1999.

"A lot of heroin was going through Seattle, and while I wasn't using, a lot of people were getting strung out: my friends, my roommate, my girlfriend, my band. We had just signed to Jello Biafra's record label and were going to be the next big thing, but a couple of the guys got strung out and it was the end of the band.

"It was 10 Minute Warning, who were a precursor to Soundgarden and Green River and all of that. I was heartbroken, man, seeing all this stuff going on around me, and I knew I had to make a decision. Then 1999 came out in 1982, and I just dove into the record.

"I loved Little Red Corvette. It may be the most perfect three-chord song ever written. But it was the deeper tracks that I loved most. I would get off work and come home and just play the record and it was my escape.

"Everybody has that record that 'saved their life', and 1999 gave me the courage to stand on my own two feet. It gave me the courage to leave. I knew my car wouldn't make it to New York, but I knew it could get me to LA. Somehow it encouraged me to do that on my own, and it was scary, but I knew music was going to be my thing."