DUFF MCKAGAN Names His Favorite GUNS N’ ROSES Songs To Perform

In a new interview with Katie Daryl of AXS TV‘s “Now Listen”, Duff McKagan was asked to name his favorite GUNS N’ ROSES songs to perform at various points of his life, including in 1987, in 2016 and in 2023. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): “My favorite song [to play in 1987 was] ‘Rocket Queen’, just because we found this groove and we found all these cool connector parts that put that song together. Axl [Rose, GUNS N’ ROSES singer] wrote a really cool lyric for it, and it became this soaring kind of song. [GUNS N’ ROSES; 1987 debut album] ‘Appetite [For Distortion]’ was this little record we made that was gonna be for us and our friends and some rocker people that [were into us]… We were just going in and recording the songs that we wrote for ourselves and that some people in clubs really dug. So ‘Rocket Queen’ seemed this kind of next step, sort of next-level song, to me. So then you flash forward to 2016… I’ve always loved playing ‘November Rain’, ’cause it’s just such a moment. Axl gets to sit down and you see all the lighters come out and Slash‘s solo is such a larger-than-life thing. [And now] I do like playing the few new songs we have — ‘Hard Skool’ and ‘Absurd’ and ‘The General’ and ‘Perhaps’.”

As previously reported, Duff will celebrate his recently released solo album “Lighthouse” by performing on December 8 at Easy Street Records in Seattle, Washington.

GUNS N’ ROSES performed “The General” live for the first time on November 2 at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles.

“The General” was the B-side of GUNS N’ ROSES‘ recently released limited-edition seven-inch vinyl single titled “Perhaps”, out now via Geffen Records.

Like “Perhaps”, “The General” was written during the sessions for GUNS N’ ROSES‘ “Chinese Democracy” album. It was previously talked about by ex-GN’R drummer Bryan “Brain” Mantia, who reportedly wrote some of the song’s music and gave it its title, and former SKID ROW singer Sebastian Bach.

GUNS N’ ROSES released a four-song EP, “Hard Skool”, in February 2022. The effort, which was exclusive to the GUNS N’ ROSES‘ official store, contained the two new songs the band released in 2021 — the title track and “Absurd” (stylized as “ABSUЯD”) — as well as live versions of “Don’t Cry” and “You’re Crazy”.

In September 2021, the guitarist and his bandmates dropped “Hard Skool”, which came more than a month after their performance and subsequent official release of “Absurd”, a reworking of GUNS N’ ROSES previously unreleased “Silkworms”.

Written by Rose and co-produced by Rose and Caram Costanzo, “Hard Skool”, which had the working title “Jackie Chan”, was originally recorded during GN’R‘s “Chinese Democracy” era but was eventually omitted from that album. Short clips of the song were later posted online and a full version was leaked in August 2019.

“Absurd” came out on August 6, 2021, three days after GUNS N’ ROSES performed the tune live for the first time during its concert at Boston’s Fenway Park.

GUNS N’ ROSES last performed “Silkworms”, which was also reportedly written during the “Chinese Democracy” sessions, in 2001.