1993.09.DD - The Howard Stern Show - Interview with Duff

Transcript:
-----------------

Stern: This is Duff. Yay! Dude!

Quivers: There he is. Duff from Guns N’ Roses!

Stern: I was gonna say, “Hey, Duff cut his hair” and then I realized it wasn’t Duff. Hey, man!

Duff: It’s insane. But why? Why this early?

Stern: Come on, sit down.

Duff: How are you doing, buddy?

Stern: Well, this is the time I’m on.

Duff: You know, this is the first thing I asked to do.

Stern: Really?

Duff: Yeah.

Stern: Take a seat. Put on your headphones so that you can hear Robin, too.

Duff: Hey, thanks. My wife told me that you said cool stuff about the magazine.

Stern: Yeah, she was hot. She’s really cool.

Duff: Well, you could have got off.

Stern: No, but you know what’s weird? Like, you could get any woman you want in the world and yet you were able to get married and settle down with one woman.

Duff: Yeah. Are we on the air?

Stern: Yeah!

Duff: Oh Jesus!

(Laughter)

Duff: Hi Robin!

Quivers: Good morning.

Duff: Hi.

Stern: Would you have acted differently if you know you were on the air?

Duff: No. No.

Stern: So what’s the difference?

Duff: Why are you back there?

Quivers: I’m afraid of you (laughs).

Duff: So how are you doing, bud?

Stern: Pretty good. You went and got the earring in your nose. That’s new, isn’t it?

Duff: I didn’t went and do it. I did it myself.

Quivers: You put a hole in your own nose?

Stern: You pierced your own nose.

Duff: I did it a while ago, yeah.

Stern: How did you do that? You just took a needle and put it through your nose?

Duff: I took it, yeah, like a stud and just...

Quivers: Jammed it in there.

Duff: Yeah.

Stern: You’re the real deal. One thing I always liked about Guns N’ Roses is that, really, they weren’t posing. They were actually-

Quivers: That’s right.

Stern: I think you guys would have all ended up, like, dead somewhere if you didn’t become famous rock stars. Is that true?

Duff: No, man!

Stern: No?

Duff: We’re cool.

Stern: Right. No, I mean you guys would have ended up, like, I don’t know. Like in a-

Quivers: You know, without all the therapy and all the stuff...

Stern: Yeah.

Duff: I’d... Hey, hey!

(Laughter)

Stern: You didn’t freeze your nose first? Seriously?

Duff: No, I put ice on it.

Stern: You did?

Duff: Yeah.

Stern: And you just stuck a thing through it.

Duff: Yeah...

Stern: And you didn’t want to go to somebody like a doctor, or someone who could do it? You just wanted to do it yourself?

Quivers: Who wants to do that? (laughs)

Stern: You weren’t even afraid of-

Duff: Well, who is-

Stern: Robin, isn’t it true that, like, I would get an infection in my nose if I did that and I would die. And I’d be freaking out. But nothing happened, right?

Duff: Well, Howard, look what time you work every day. Why would your nose fall off. I wanted to- (laughs).  

Stern: No, but you know what I’m saying. Most people would be afraid of, like, infection. You guys don’t even care. It’s just like-

Duff: No, no, I... Yeah, well...

Quivers: You didn’t sterilize things and all that. You just did it.

Duff: Anyhow!

Stern: Yeah, that’s pretty cool - I mean, that you did that. And why did you do that? I mean you just said, “Hey, I gotta have a hole in my nose?”

Quivers: Yeah, what prompted you to wanna have a ring in your nose?

Stern: Yeah.

Duff: Guys!

Stern: I hope you never need heart surgery, I’ll tell you that. You would it to yourself, you’d just open up your chest and-

Quivers: (Laughs) “I’m gonna change my valve!”  

Duff: Wow, I just woke up. This is heavy.

(Laughter)

Stern: Ah, come on. Well, this is what happens when you put out a solo album. You gotta go around and promote it-

Duff: There you go.

Stern: And get up early.

Quivers: This is the deal. This is the publicity thing.

Stern: Oh, this is really neat, having you here.

Duff: This is great.

Stern: You know I’m a big fan.

Duff: Thanks, man.

Stern: Yeah, this is really good.

Duff: Thanks for having me here.

Stern: Yeah, and the solo album is very good. I had a cassette of it. I was listening to it over the weekend and I really enjoyed it.

Duff: Cool.

Stern: Yeah, it was really good.

Quivers: Well, are you gonna play something today so that I can-

Stern: Yeah-

Duff: I’ve brought a guitar, too.

Stern: Oh, are you gonna play also?

Duff: If you want.

Stern: Oh good!

Duff: This is, like, me on acid, you know (laughs).  

(Laughter)

Stern: You got married at a very young age.

[Duff’s mic is turned off]

Stern: What? The first time? Oh, that was your first marriage? I didn’t know that. There was a first marriage for you? I didn’t know that. Oh, you don’t talk about that?

(Laughter)

Quivers: Well, why are you telling us? (laughs)

(Laughter)

Stern: I didn’t even know that.

Duff: I didn’t tell you, did I!

Stern: You just told me to cut. Why, how come you don’t talk about that?

Duff: Well, it was just a mistake.

Quivers: You did get a divorce, you’re not still-

Stern: Yeah, you got a divorce. Are you still married? No. You are divorced now.

Duff: I was very young. That’s when I met you the first time.

Quivers: You were married then?

Stern: You were married then?

Duff: Right.

Stern: Oh, I didn’t know that.

Duff: Yeah.

Stern: And, let’s face it, when you got famous, things changed. I mean-

Duff: No, no. I was married...

Stern: You got married after you got famous.

Duff: Yeah-

Stern: But it didn’t work. What, did you get a model or something and it didn’t-

Duff: No, no. (?) But now I’m very happy.

Stern: Right. Because sometimes it’s hard to find the right person. It gets confusing.

Quivers: Especially after you’re famous.

Duff: Yeah. It was really... A lot of this record is kind of about it, that song, “Could It Be You” - I couldn’t find... I was seriously considering going to, like, Idaho, to a potato farm, and find some girl, you know, picking potatoes, who didn’t know who the hell I was.

(Laughter)

Stern: Yeah, because you don’t know if someone really loves you for you or because you’re famous.  

Duff: Right. And I’m not naive, man - you know, I’m very street smart and stuff. But when it came to that, there’s no school for-

Stern: No. Because, suddenly, you’re like, “Hey, wait a second. When I was in high school nobody was coming on to me.”

Duff: You got it! Thank you.

Stern: And now, all of a sudden, wow, you’re, like, the best looking guy on the planet.

Duff: Right.

Stern: “Why am I so popular? Is it because I’m a great guy?”

Duff: Yeah, I thought, “Wow, I must be carrying myself better or something.”

Stern: Yeah, right. You know, even once in a while, I actually get delusional and I think I’m good-looking, because, like, women come on to me and stuff.

(Laughter)

Stern: You know, I go to a photo shoot and I have, like, three Penthouse girls who want me and stuff, and I go, “I got a lot better-looking.” And then I look in the mirror or I have someone take a picture of me, and I go, “They don’t love me. They just think I got a cool job, that’s all.”

Duff: You lost some weight, though.

Stern: Yeah, yeah, I’m chiseled up a little bit now.

Duff: Yeah, you look good.

Stern: Did you see the cover of my new book? Here, look at this.

Duff: Plug?

Stern: I’m new, look at that. Look at that, man. How’s that physique?

Duff: What a stud, man!

Stern: Yeah, that’s pretty good, huh? Yeah, you like that, huh, dude? See? I look like a rock star, don’t I?

Duff: Wow! That’s not you!

Stern: That is me.

Quivers: What do you think, he put his head on someone else’s body?

Stern: That’s me, man.

Duff: You even got, like (?).

Stern: Yeah, well, don’t bring that up (laughs). No point in bringing that up.

(Laughter)

Duff: It’s awesome.

Stern: Yeah, thanks.

Duff: (Laughs).

Stern: But we’re here to talk about you, not me - although we’ll eventually talk about me anyway. But what I’m saying is that you can’t tell with all this fame, like, “Does somebody love me for me?” And then you go out and get married because you’re going, “Wow, this is a real piece of ass that I’m with.”

Quivers: “And she loves me.”

Stern: And you go, “Whoa, she loves me. I’m marrying her.” It’s like being in a candy store. And then you don’t make the right decision. That’s how your first marriage messed up.

Duff: I know, and you’re right. I was young at the time, you know, and...

Stern: Right. But why did you need to get married? You could be with a different woman every night.

Duff: No, I’ve never been that way.

Stern: Yes. But you could. I mean, you could have every supermodel that is on the planet, couldn’t you?

Duff: Dude, I don’t think that way, man. You know I don’t.

Stern: I do.

Duff: I know you do, but I don’t (laughs). And I’m just really down to earth. I’m the last of eight kids, I’m from Seattle, you know, my mom-

Quivers: Eight kids?!

Duff: Yeah. And, you know-

Stern: That’s a drag, huh?

Duff: Well, no, they were all – I didn’t meet one of my sisters until I was eight. They’re all much older now (laughs).

Stern: Really?

Duff: Yeah, and by the time I was born my mom was like, “Well, they know how to raise themselves. You have to work your ass.”

Stern: But does your mom get on you because you’re so wild and everything?

Duff: My mom loves me.

Stern: She does, really?

Duff: And I hate to say it, and everybody says it, but my mom is the same, alright?

Stern: She’s the same.

Duff: She’s the same.

Stern: Well, she puts up with you, because you are wild. You are wild.

Duff: I’m really not.

Stern: Oh yes, you are. I know you are. I know you’re wild.

Duff: For you, Howard...

Stern: No, he is wild. Remember when he called-

Quivers: Oh yeah!

Stern: On Gary’s machine looking for me? You were completely – you were having some kind of party or something going on.

Duff: Okay, that was that (laughs).

Stern: That was that (laughs).

Duff: Okay, you’re right.

Stern: (Laughs) Now you’re not wild?

Duff: What – yeah, what did I say? (laughs)

Stern: Do you wanna hear it?

Quivers: Oh you got it.

Duff: You got it?

Stern: This is great. Yeah, let me play this for you. This is when you were on Gary’s answering machine. Do you remember this?

Duff: Um, no?

Stern: Tell me what was going on, why you sounded like this. Okay, I’m gonna play this for you, as long as you wanna hear it.

Duff: Yeah.

Stern: Wait a second. Let’s see if I have it. Let me see if I have it.

Duff: This is awesome.

Stern: Yeah, wait.

Duff: And do remember. I asked to be on the show.

Stern: I know.

(Laughter)

Stern: Alright, Duff. Let’s check this out. Before we start playing music and everything. By the way, you were calling Gary and you were looking for me because we were going to go shopping together.

Duff: Yeah, that’s right! You’re right, that’s right.

Stern: But I wasn’t even-

Duff: I remember this now!

Stern: Alright, alright. I want to know – then recreate for me what was going on.

Duff: Because you told me, you said, you know, where to get the bad stuff, the cool stuff.

Stern: Right. Here we go.

Duff: Okay, here we go.

[Duff’s drunken phone message is played]

(Laughter)

Stern: Who the hell knows what you were talking about. Who dialed for you?

Duff: Oh, oh! The lights were on, but nobody was home there.

Stern: What was going on there, Duff?

Duff: Um, well, okay, that was... I do remember-

Stern: That was you when had allergies, right? And it was just a reaction to your allergy medicine. That’s what it was (laughs).

Duff: Well, that was... (laughs). No comment.

Stern: No, but you live a wild lifestyle, and the thing is-

Quivers: You were out there. I don’t know what you’re like now.

Duff: I was... I was - “Spot”? What does that mean?

Stern: That means we have to break a commercial.

Duff: (?)

Stern: No, no, you look good, actually. You’re looking good.

Duff: I’m sorry.

Stern: You’re looking good.

Duff: That was a rather, uh, interesting point in me and Slash’s life there. We were actually thinking of buying a loft here.

Stern: Really?

Duff: Yeah.

Quivers: Oh yeah, I remember those New York days (laughs).

Duff: Right? And then we finally looked at each other and went, “Whoa, we won’t survive, man.” (laughs)

Stern: But how great a life is this! Now you’re a multi-millionaire. I figure you’re good for 30 million. Am I close?

Duff: What about yourself, my friend?

Stern: No, no, no. Nowhere in that league.

Duff: I just heard about (?).

Stern: Dude, are you crazy? Get out of here!

Quivers: What did you hear?

Stern: What did you hear?

Duff: I heard the goods.

Stern: Really?

Duff: Oh, sure.

Stern: But you really – I mean, you’ve got to be like a-

Duff: Say hi to my wife, Linda. She’s listening.

Stern: Oh. Hey Linda, how you doing? You look really nice naked. I saw her in that-

Duff: Hey, hey, hey!

Stern: That’s okay, she was naked! What are you talking about!

Duff: Hey?

Stern: Was she naked?

Duff: Okay, I...

Stern: Was she naked?

Duff: I just said say hi to her.

Stern: Oh. Let me give her a love message.

Duff: No!

Stern: Where are you, honey? Why don’t you come down here with me and Duff? Why don’t you meet me? Come down here.

Duff: Say hi to her for Nancy. She’s here.

Stern: And you get it on with both of them?

(Laughter)

Stern: Just tell me. You get it on with Nancy and your wife at the same time?

Duff: Absolutely.

Stern: You do really?

Duff: Not!

Stern: No? See, I picture you’re allowed to, like, cheat. Like, you can go on the road and have other girls. I picture that. It must be great.

Quivers: Well, why don’t you ask? This is what an interview is. You ask the questions (laughs).

Stern: Tell me the truth.

Quivers: (Laughs).

Duff: Yeah, you’re looking at Robin over there!

Stern: Tell me the truth. In other words, you have, like, an open kind of situation.

Duff: Absolutely not.

Stern: Really? You’ve been totally faithful the whole time?

Duff: Absolutely.

Stern: Really?

Duff: Yeah.

Stern: Well, that’s admirable.

Duff: I’ve never even cheated on a girlfriend, man.

Stern: Really?

Duff: Yeah. I don’t play that game. Even when I was talking like that on the message machine-

Stern: Really?

Duff: Even back then, yeah. I never-

Stern: Wow, that’s pretty good.

Duff: I find no reason. I find no reason to do it.

Stern: Your wife’s really cute. Where’d you meet her?

Duff: We were really, actually best friends for a couple of years in L.A. She’s from Florida, but she moved to L.A. and we were just friends.

Stern: But she met you after you got famous with Guns N’ Roses.  

Duff: But she didn’t even know, she didn’t know really... you know.

Stern: Who you were? That’s what all the girls say, though. They do know.

Duff: No, no. She didn’t give a hell.

Stern: Really?

Duff: No, we were just good friends. I was in Hawaii and I checked my messages, and she called my machine going, “Hey, how you’re doing? I haven’t seen you for a while,” blah blah blah, “I’m in Waikiki” and I was in Maui with Doug.

Stern: Right.

Duff: So I called her in Waikiki where she left the message and I said, “Hey, I’m in Maui.” So I flew her over, it’s like 30 dollars.

Stern: You flew her over, man. That’s a good one-

Duff: Well, yeah...

Quivers: To Maui?

Stern: Oh yeah, Maui.

Duff: We were best friends, you know-

Stern: Oh, come on.

Duff: And it was like, I-

Stern: And then you got into bed with each other.

Duff: Exactly.

Stern: In five minutes.

Duff: Well, we realized, it’s like, “Wait, wait...”

Quivers: “Why should we be friends?” (laughs)

Stern: “Why should we be friends? You’re Duff.” Hell, I’ll go to bed with you, Duff. Damn. Okay, so you’re a rich young rock star.

Quivers: Sure!

Stern: I mean, you’re the big prize.

Quivers: You had some spread in Maui. What not to like!

Stern: Dude, you got Maui. You got a spread in Maui.

Duff: No, I was... (laughs).

Stern: You’ve got tattoos, you’ve got-

Duff: I was actually there getting away from what that message machine was about (laughs).

Quivers: (Laughs).

Stern: So Duff is excited to be here.

Quivers: Yeah!

Stern: He’s a fan of the show, as all rock bands are.

Quivers: This is the official rock band show.

Duff: Not... not all anymore.  

Stern: Not all anymore. But...

Quivers: What?

Stern: What do you mean? Hey, okay. So tell me, what does a guy have to do to get thrown out of Guns N’ Roses? You said you would answer that for me.

Duff: Now I can say, because the court case is over.

Stern: Right.

Duff: I’m not gonna diss on anybody, you know, but that’s a good question.

Stern: Yeah, it’s legitimate, because you’d think that in Guns N’ Roses anything would be permissible.

Duff: Right. And, how do I say this cool... It’s just, I mean, you know...

(Laughter)

Duff: Oh God. I’ve got John Reese in here (laughs).

Stern: Hey John, come here, make a statement. John, what’s the story? John, you’re the manager of Guns N’ Roses?

John Reese: No, Doug Goldstein is the manager.

Stern: What are you?

Duff: Yeah, come on. Don’t – come on! (laughs)

Stern: Who are you?

John Reese: I work for Big FD, the management company.

Stern: Well, you guys – how many people work for you? If you guys ever went out of business, like 20 people would be out of work – 200 people.

Duff: Well, more than that.

Quivers: Wow, like 2,000?

Stern: It’s pretty cool, though, right? Because you started out, you guys came from nothing, Axl used to sleep on the street... right? And you used to sleep on the street...

Quivers: Yeah, everybody used to live on the street.

Stern: And all of a sudden, now you’ve got, like, an enterprise. It’s like you’ve got a big corporation.

Duff: Yeah, there’s no school for it, is there?

Stern: No. And you guys were, like, one of the Fortune - what was it like, Fortune 500 top money earners of... I mean, that’s a pretty heavy responsibility, right?

Duff: Yeah, I... That’s revenues, Howard.

Stern: Revenues?

(Laughter)

Stern: I mean, when you guys go on tour, you-

Quivers: You don’t have that in your pocket?

Duff: Where’s my piece?

Stern: No. But, I mean, when you see that the band grossed 100 million dollars or something, you do get a percentage of that, because you are one of the founders of Guns N’ Roses. And what’s smart is, the more guys you get rid of, the bigger percentage you can get.

Quivers: The less (?).

(Laughter)

Stern: Yeah, you could just pay off, like, some guy to sit there and play the drums or something.

Quivers: Give them a salary (laughs).

Stern: Yeah, right. Give him a salary and the rest of you guys own the thing. So I’m saying, like, what do you do? Do you have, like, financial advisors and stuff?

Duff: I’ve actually... yeah. And I’ve really gotten smart myself. I’ve never been stupid, but, I mean-

Stern: With money you didn’t know what – it’s almost like, when you get a lot of money and you’ve never been around money, you go crazy.  

Duff: No. I’ve given a lot to my family and to charity, but also put it into – I’ve bought houses for certain people of my family in Seattle and...

Stern: Right. So real estate is one of the investments?

Duff: Yeah – and I’m not stupid. I don’t have anything to spend money on. I mean, right now I have a quarter on me, you know? I just don’t really-

Stern: Right. That’s like Robin. She’s loaded and at any given time she has, like, 25-30 cents on her.

Quivers: Yeah, I’m always borrowing money (laughs).

Stern: Yeah, always. Yeah, she’s very cheap like that.

Quivers: (Laughs).

Duff: I’m not cheap. At all.

Stern: Right. It’s just you don’t have money on you.

Duff: I just forget. And the accountants never put money in my ATM machine (laughs).

Stern: Plus, you know how to survive without money.

Duff: I really, yeah.

Stern: So it’s not a fear of yours.

Duff: Right.

Stern: You don’t fear losing your money, because-

Quivers: But you have a big house?

Stern: Do you live in a mansion or something?

Duff: Well, right now I don’t live anywhere, because... the house that my wife and I live in is under construction. I’m putting... well, I can’t say that.

Stern: What, that’s it’s under construction?

Duff: No, that... I’m putting things in there.

Stern: (Laughs) Right.

Duff: In California, it’s...

Stern: Right. You’re getting things together (laughs).  

Duff: Yeah. So we’re living in an apartment (laughs). And we bought - with Doug, our manager, we bought a place in Hawaii.

Stern: Right. So you have a lot of real estate and, what, stock market, all that kind of stuff?

Duff: There’s no stocks.

Stern: No stocks?  

Duff: No.

Stern: Just, like, what? T-bills and this kind of thing?

Duff: Yeah.

Stern: Those kind of investments?

Duff: Yeah, yeah.

Stern: So you’re all set up for the rest of your life. Now you can have some fun.

Duff: For kids and stuff-

Stern: For the kids and all that. Are you gonna have kids and all that?

Duff: Hell yeah.

Stern: I think you’d be an excellent father.

Quivers: Why not?

Stern: You should adopt me.

Quivers: I’ll be your kid? (laughs).

Stern: Yeah.

Duff: (Laughing) (?)

Stern: But I hope you were careful. Even when you got married, even though this is for life – prenuptial agreement?

Duff: She insisted.

Stern: Really?!

Duff: Yes.

Stern: What a gal!

Quivers: What does it say? She gets everything? (laughs)

Stern: (Laughing) Yeah, yeah. Really? There’s a prenuptial agreement. Well, that’s real love, isn’t it? She’s willing to sign and say, “Listen, I love you, I don’t want your money.”

Duff: She insisted.

Stern: “I don’t want your money.”

Duff: Yeah, that’s not what life is about. I mean, the money, you know – I never got into rock ‘n’ roll for money. And if it ever made me, like, miserable somehow, I’d give it all to charity and go back to work as a construction worker or a cook or something (?) (laughs).

Stern: Yeah, right.

Duff: But-

Stern: It would be pretty funny.

Quivers: I want to be there that day.

Stern: (Laughs) Yeah, I want to be there the day that you’re a cook in a restaurant.

Duff: You know what I’m saying.  

Stern: It’s gonna be some comedown if you gotta do that. Because isn’t it an incredible rush to be on stage? And see all those girls and stuff, like, going wild for you? And you stand there with the bass, and you just hit the bass or something, and, like, all these girls go nuts? Man, I would love that.

Duff: I know you would.

Stern: No, man, that’s gotta be incredible. Come on, don’t tell me you don’t get off on that.

Duff: You know, I just love playing rock ‘n’ roll. I mean, the girls and all that, that’s – you know, it’s cute and fine.

Stern: Yeah. Oh come on, though. Come on. You guys, when you were growing up, did the girls ever come on to you? I mean, the girls would ignore you. Right?

Quivers: Were they crying just because you leave a room? (laughs)

Stern: Right (laughs).

Duff: You know-

Stern: I don’t picture that. And did you finish high school and all that?

Duff: No.

Stern: You never did. You dropped out.

Duff: I started touring when I was 15.

Stern: Yeah, that’s what I wanted to do. My mom wouldn’t let me, though.

Quivers: She wouldn’t let you go, huh?

Stern: I needed to go on tour, but no one would let me.

Duff: My mom was real cool. I said, “Mom, well...” you know, and I-

Stern: Right away. And playing the bass, is it hard or something?

Duff: Well, Howard, I play guitar.  

Stern: I know you play guitar.

Duff: In my band.

Stern: But you said you played bass on the album.

Duff: And drums and guitar.

Stern: Yeah, right. Oh, you played everything.

Duff: Yeah.

Stern: Oh, okay. I didn’t understand what you were saying before.

Duff: Now you do.

Stern: Now I get you.

Duff: Yeah.

Stern: But what I’m saying is that, did it come easy to you or something? I mean, you just started playing right away and you said, “I want to be a rock star” when you were, like, five or something?

Duff: Well, like I said, I’m the last of eight kids, and they all played and were in bands. So at the age of – since I remember, what, two or two-and-a-half, since you get, you know, skills to remember, that’s all I remember-

Quivers: But you’re the one who really did it.

Stern: Yeah.

Duff: Well, you know, I consider my next oldest brother, who’s my idol – he teaches. He’s the one who really did it.

Stern: All your brothers must be jealous of you, all the other siblings, because you’re so rich and famous and stuff. Secret jealousy, you know that. You know that happens. It comes out in strange ways.

Duff: My next oldest brother, Matt, who played horns on GN’R and live, like, Live and Let Die, the horns, he’s my idol.

Stern: He’s good.

Duff: He teaches. He teaches kids, you know.

Stern: How to play.

Duff: Yeah. And that’s better than any gift I can give. That’s much more intense to me.

Stern: Oh man! What a life! Play the guitar, go around, hang out...

Quivers: See, you’ve never even seen them live. I saw them at Nassau Coliseum.

Stern: I don’t get to go out at night.

Quivers: That’s incredible.

Stern: It is the world’s greatest rock ‘n’ band, Guns N’ Roses.

Quivers: Yeah. Even though after you sit there for two hours and wait, they come out and do an incredible show.

Stern: Yeah. They’re good.

Quivers: You’re not sorry when they hit the stage.

Stern: And when you, dudes, were first forming and everything, everyone treated you like scum, and all the record companies said you sucked, right?

Duff: Absolutely.

Stern: And now you’re teaching everyone. Now you’re getting them back, aren’t you?

Duff: Well, yeah. And the sad thing – I mean, I must think that Chuck Berry and people like that are, like, kicking a wall, because rock ‘n’ roll is so corporate now.

Stern: Yeah.

Duff: And people freak out when we do – when something’s not right.

Stern: You do whatever you want.

Duff: Isn’t that what rock ‘n’ roll is about?

Stern: The first record you put out, you were writing songs about heroin - Mr. Brownstone, all that stuff - and record companies didn’t even want to touch you, right?

Duff: But what was rock ‘n’ roll about?  

Stern: That’s what it was all about.

Duff: It’s about sneaking out of the window and go and see a black artist-

Stern: Right. Yes.

Duff: You know, when you’re a white kid you’re not supposed to. Or whatever. You know what I mean?

Stern: Yeah. You guys have done the – Did you ever throw up on your instruments? Any of you guys? Seriously.

Duff: Sure.

Stern: You did? Cool. Cool!

(Laughter)

Stern: You threw up on your instruments. That’s the way to go. I saw Pearl Jam on the MTV Awards. They were trying to, like, smash their instruments like the Who. Did you see that?

Duff: (Chuckling) I did.

Stern: They were trying to smash their bass into the amplifier and all that. They couldn’t even break their own instruments. Did you see that?

(Laughter)

Quivers: What was it, last year, that somebody hurt themselves?

Duff: (Laughs).

Stern: Well, the guy in Red Hot Chili Peppers threw his-

Duff: No! The guy from Nirvana!

Quivers: Yeah! Yeah! He threw it up and he-

Stern: He threw his guitar up in the air and hit himself in the head.

(Laughter)

Duff: And afterwards I went after him at the MTV Awards.

Stern: Yeah, you tried to beat him up, right? That was good, though.

Duff: Yeah, he said – he dissed on Axl, man.

Stern: What did he say about Axl?

Duff: They were just dissing him.

Stern: And why would they do that?

Duff: I don’t know. You know, I don’t know.

Stern: Are they jealous?

Duff: I’ve no idea why somebody would diss-

Stern: And you stuck up for Axl. You went to that guy, Kurt Cobain?

Duff: Yeah, big tall-

Stern: Big tall goofy dude?

Duff: Yeah.

Stern: And you went up to him and said, “Hey dude, why don’t you say it to my face?”

Duff: Yeah, right. I’m from Seattle and this...

Stern: Jerk, yeah.

Duff: ...guy is from Seattle.

Stern: Right.

Duff: And I said, “Man, yo, our band, it’s like - what are you doing, man? Why are you saying that?” I said, yeah, “If you want to say something, say it to me.”  

Stern: And you’re not afraid of a fight. You can handle yourself.

Duff: Well... I’m not afraid of that-

Stern: You could kick some ass. You’ve beaten up guys. I wouldn’t fight you and you’re half my size. You would probably kick my ass, right?

Duff: Yeah.

Quivers: (Laughs).

Stern: You could.

Duff: (Laughs).

Stern: He could kick my ass.

Quivers: He fights like a mental patient (laughs).

Stern: Because any guy – I’m telling, you fight like a mental patient, don’t you? I mean, you fight like a retard. You go wild, right?

Duff: No.

Stern: And you like fighting. Tell the truth. It feels good, don’t it?

Duff: I’ve paid a lot of-

Quivers: (Laughs).

Stern: Any guy who would take-

Duff: I’ve paid a lot.

Stern: You’ve paid a lot for fighting. Any guy who would put a pin through his nose-

Quivers: Yeah.

Stern: I wouldn’t fight him. That means you just don’t care.

Quivers: He doesn’t feel pain.

Stern: Yeah. Also even with tattoo placement. You just put them anywhere, right? You don’t think about what tattoo would look good where. You just put it on your body, right? That’s a guy who has nothing to lose in a fight.

Quivers: Don’t fight him.

Stern: Don’t fight a guy like that. I would never fight you.

Duff: Good.

Stern: I would just curl up in the corner and let you beat me.

Duff: I would never do that.

Stern: So how many girls have you had at once? What is the most amount of girls you ever had at once? You know, before your wife and everything.

Duff: Um, with my wife...

Stern: With your wife. I don’t care either way.

Duff: (Laughs).

Stern: Come on, seriously. Come on, just tell me.

Duff: Who cares?

Stern: I care. Come on.

Duff: I know you care.

Quivers: Come on. If you didn’t care, you wouldn’t have done it. Tell us.

Stern: Axl told me he had a few, when he called in. He had a couple – in fact, I wrote about it in my book, as a matter of fact.

Duff: Did he really?

Stern: Yeah. Axl said he had a couple at a time.

Quivers: I don’t remember.

Stern: Oh yeah. Oh yes. I remember stuff like that.

Quivers: I just keep thinking about him fighting now with Stephanie over that ring (laughs).

Stern: Oh yeah, Stephanie Seymour. Good thing he got rid of her. That was a smart move, right?

Duff: I...

Stern: Do you agree?

Duff: I do not recall at this time.

(Laughter)

Stern: You’re not allowed to comment on his girlfriends and stuff?

Duff: Em, ain’t my thing.

Stern: Yeah. You guys are having fun with women, though? So how many at one time? Seriously. Just tell me the life of a rock star. How many can you get at once?

Duff: How many can you get at once?

Stern: Yeah. How many can you get?

Duff: Um, probably... I don’t know.

Quivers: Unlimited number?

Stern: Have you ever had five at one time? Be honest. You’ve had that.

Duff: I don’t recall at this time.

Stern: You’ve had that, haven’t you?

Duff: I don’t recall at this time.

Stern: What’s that like, how do you handle that?

Duff: Hi Linda (laughs).

Stern: Alright. What are you going to play for us? This is from the new record? This is your solo record. This is a song (?).

Duff: Yeah.

Quivers: I want to know how he knows his wife loves him for him.

Stern: He doesn’t know that.

Quivers: Ah, okay (laughs).

Stern: He doesn’t know for sure. You can’t know that ever. It’s always going to be in the back of your mind when you’re a celebrity.

Quivers: Yeah...

Stern: But listen, if she’s good to him, what the hell does he care? Who cares why she loves him?

Quivers: That’s what I say.

Stern: Who even cares if she loves him!

Quivers: Why not love you for who you are today.

Stern: Yeah, why not. Why do you care?

Quivers: That’s who you are!

Stern: She’s hot. She’s a Penthouse model. Isn’t she?

Duff: Yeah.

Stern: Oh man! When she takes off her clothes, do you go, “Oh my God”? I mean, being a rock star is maybe – if that isn’t the best advertisement for guitar lessons...

Quivers: I don’t know how he still manages to make music, go on the road (laughs).

Stern: Yeah, why do you bother going on the road? You have, like, 30 million dollars. Just stay home and do it with your wife - all the time. Do you guys still make love, like, four times a day? I would make love to your wife four times a day. I would.

Duff: We do okay, buddy.

Stern: Really? No problems there, right?

Duff: No, no, no.

Stern: When you’re off the road, do you just, like, stay in bed with her?

Duff: I haven’t been off the road, dude, for, um...

Stern: Two and a half years?

Duff: Three years.

Stern: Three years you’ve been on the road.

Duff: We went to Hawaii, like, for eight days. That’s the only vacation I will have and have had for three years.

Stern: You know how much money is being made?

Quivers: Incredible.

Stern: I gotta get a band. I gotta get into it. I’m wasting my time with this dumb radio show, getting up early. I may have made-

Duff: You made the big bucks.

Stern: How hard is it to learn that guitar? Get me a guitar. I bet you I could play it.

Duff: You do play guitar, don’t you?

Stern: Yeah, sure! I could play that!

Duff: You play guitar?

Stern: Sure I do.

Duff: Because we have played guitar together.

Stern: Yeah, do you wanna jam?

Duff: Yeah!

(Laughter)  

Stern: Not right now.

Duff: Robin, didn’t we play guitar together at the Roosevelt Hotel?

Quivers: He probably looked like he was playing.

Stern: I could jam with... you know Wild Thing?

Duff: You played something.

Stern: Yeah, Louie Louie, Wild Thing, any of that stuff?

Duff: Sure, yeah.

Stern: Give me my axe, will you...

Quivers: (Laughing) Those are his two songs.

Duff: Your axe.

Stern: Yes.

Duff: I see you’ve already started.

Stern: Oh yeah. Yeah, I’m into the whole thing.

Duff: You got the lingo, yeah.

Stern: I can play anything you can play. Just give me chords. I’ll do it.

Duff: So you want to play at (?)

Stern: Have you videotaped yourself with your wife?  

Duff: ...

Stern: Do you ever get into that? You videotaped yourself, didn’t you?

Quivers: Well, you know, the equipment is there, Howard (laughs).

Stern: You videotaped you and your wife, didn’t you? Your wife is wild, isn’t she? You’re having some life. I swear to God.

Quivers: (Laughs).

Stern: You know, I have an issue of Platinum Magazine with your wife in it.

Duff: Right.

Stern: On my nightstand. Right by my bed.

Duff: Thank you for standing up for... for the whole thing when people were going, “What the hell is going on.” And I heard that you-

Stern: Yeah. She’s a beautiful woman.

Duff: Yeah. Thank you.

Stern: You damn right I’ll stand up for that. I love that.

Duff: Yeah... See? You do have a guitar.

Stern: Here’s my axe. I don’t have a pick, though.

Duff: Ah, here’s a pick. Right here.

Stern: I’ll do a little blues progression. You can play lead.  

Duff: I can’t play lead.

Stern: Yeah, you can.

Duff: I cannot play lead.

Stern: Let me show you how to do it.

[Stern is strumming the guitar]

Stern: I don’t know if I can jam with you, man.

Duff: We’re not tuned up together.

Stern: Oh we’re not? Yeah, that’s the problem. We’re not tuned. Well, I know you’ll do a song now.

Duff: Um...

Stern: Come on, do something live here in the studio.

Duff: Okay. You want me to do this thing?

Stern: Right. This is Duff. Duff has prepared a little something.

Quivers: All right.

Duff: Alright. This is... I’ll just-

Stern: What’s the name of this?

Duff: This is called “Could It Be You”. And this is-

Stern: Is this about a girl again?

Duff: This is about not having a girl and about, like I was saying, moving to Idaho and the potato farm. You know, I ended up, like, I’d go to the grocery store and, actually, I couldn’t... I realized there were girls there, in L.A., that didn’t want me for me. So I would look around the corner, I would look around the corner of the grocery store, for instance, and go, “Oh, could it be you?” You know...

Stern: “Could just be the girl that really loves me?” Right?

Duff: And now I’ve found it. So this is for...

Stern: Your wife.

Duff: It’s for my wife.

Stern: Mmm, love song, Robin. No one ever wrote a love song to Robin.

Quivers: How do you know?

Stern: And she might be a little jealous if she listens.

Quivers: How would you know?

Stern: Is it gonna be hard for you to listen to?

Quivers: They just never got them published.

Stern: Oh, alright.

Quivers: (Laughs).

Stern: So this is really about your wife, because–

Duff: Now it is.

Stern: But you’re still asking, “Could it be you, my darling? Could it be you?”

Duff: No, no, no.

Stern: It is hard.

Duff: No. Now there’s an answer for the song.

Stern: For “Could it be you.”

Duff: I hate, you know – I know it sounds-

Stern: You want some echo?

Duff: Yeah. Echo is good. I need a lot of echo (laughs).

Stern: Yeah. Right here. Here’s echo. I’ll produce you. I’ll do a good job for you.

Duff: And Robin-

Quivers: How come there’s more echo on you than him (laughs).

Stern: I don’t know.

Duff: Yeah, there is.

Stern: In case I sing.

(Laughter)

Stern: In case I break into song.

Duff: There’s no echo on me.

Stern: Yes, there is.

Duff: Okay. Are you ready? I start with this thing?

Stern: Yeah, go ahead. I’m gonna enjoy this.

[“Could It Be You” is performed]

Stern: Well, I bet right now your wife is sponging off her lap. Digging that, huh? Imagine what’s going on there.

(Laughter)

Stern: “Could It Be You.” That was real good. Well, there it is. Here’s Duff.

Duff: (?)

Stern: Look at Robin. She’s a little moist.

Quivers: I’m all mellow now.

Stern: Yeah, aren’t you? You’re all relaxed. Isn’t that something? Look at Fred. Did you see what Fred did there during the song? You had your eyes closed and Fred stripped.

(Laughter)

Stern: Fred was nude during the song.

Fred: I was moved.

Stern: You were? Yeah, man, that was real good. Guns N’ Roses, Duff McKagan. Thanks for coming in, Duff. I appreciate it.

Duff: Thanks, man. Thanks, Robin.

Do we know when Duff was in Hawaii to sober up? Apparently, that's when he and Linda became a couple. It must have been before June 1992 and after September 1991.

This interview is also the first (and only per 2004) mention of John Reese working for Big FD. Does he disappear from the history of GN'R, or is he worth a mention in the history section?

Soulmonster wrote:Do we know when Duff was in Hawaii to sober up? Apparently, that's when he and Linda became a couple. It must have been before June 1992 and after September 1991.

There is a mention in Matt's (not officially released) book. According to Matt, he and Duff had gone to Hawaii for vacation after the shows in Japan in 1992. Matt says that Duff and Linda first met there (although, obviously, based on what Duff told Stern, they already knew each other).

Soulmonster wrote:This interview is also the first (and only per 2004) mention of John Reese working for Big FD. Does he disappear from the history of GN'R, or is he worth a mention in the history section?

He is included in the UYI tour programs as tour manager and he had participated in the press conference in Argentina
https://www.a-4-d.com/t3903-1992-12-04-press-conference-in-argentina-axl-slash-duff
and in the Making of Estranged video
https://www.a-4-d.com/t4047-1994-04-26-the-making-of-estranged-part-iv-of-the-trilogy

Duff mentions him as tour manager (without naming him) in his book in relation to his version of how the band name was signed over to Axl.

Doug Goldstein also mentions him in later interviews.

I think he's probably worth a mention, yes.

Blackstar wrote:

Soulmonster wrote:Do we know when Duff was in Hawaii to sober up? Apparently, that's when he and Linda became a couple. It must have been before June 1992 and after September 1991.

There is a mention in Matt's (not officially released) book. According to Matt, he and Duff had gone to Hawaii for vacation after the shows in Japan in 1992. Matt says that Duff and Linda first met there (although, obviously, based on what Duff told Stern, they already knew each other).

Right! I remembered that story, but couldn't remember where I had read it. That means Linda and Duff became an item sometime between February (shows in Japan) and July 1992 (when they married).

Blackstar wrote:

Soulmonster wrote:This interview is also the first (and only per 2004) mention of John Reese working for Big FD. Does he disappear from the history of GN'R, or is he worth a mention in the history section?

He is included in the UYI tour programs as tour manager and he had participated in the press conference in Argentina
https://www.a-4-d.com/t3903-1992-12-04-press-conference-in-argentina-axl-slash-duff
and in the Making of Estranged video
https://www.a-4-d.com/t4047-1994-04-26-the-making-of-estranged-part-iv-of-the-trilogy

Duff mentions him as tour manager (without naming him) in his book in relation to his version of how the band name was signed over to Axl.

Doug Goldstein also mentions him in later interviews.

I think he's probably worth a mention, yes.

I must have typed his name wrong when searching for him in my files, but doing it now results in 32 hits. yes, definitely worth a mention.

Do we know when Goldstein founded Big FD Entertainment? The first mention I have for it is from the 1992 UYI tour program. There Goldstein, Chris Jones and Tom Maher was part of the business. So Reese must have joined later (but before Sep 1993).

Soulmonster wrote:Do we know when Goldstein founded Big FD Entertainment? The first mention I have for it is from the 1992 UYI tour program. There Goldstein, Chris Jones and Tom Maher was part of the business. So Reese must have joined later (but before Sep 1993).

Probably Goldstein founded it right after he became manager.

According to Chris Jones' profile on linkedin, he worked with GNR as part of Big FD from May 1991 to December 1995:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/chrisdjones/

About John Reese:

Steve Baltin: Tell me about your background and how you got to this point.

John Reese: I owned a security company in my 20s, had 3,000 employees, eight offices all over the United States. I'm 27 years old, I'm like, "What the hell did I get myself into?"I had three NFL stadiums, 25 race tracks all over the country. My basis is in security and running large events, which goes to where we are now. Middle part, a guy that worked for me was Guns 'N' Roses' tour manager, asked me to do a bunch of work with Guns 'N' Roses, my first big thing when I got entwined with Guns 'N' Roses was in 1989, the "Stoned In L.A." shows when they played with the Rolling Stones, three nights at L.A. Coliseum. Then I became a manager, I managed a bunch of bands in the '80s, I did a ton of deals.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/stevebaltin/2019/03/06/meet-john-reese-the-guy-travis-barker-diplo-eddie-vedder-and-more-trust-with-their-festivals/?sh=3140ca457ec5

Before starting SGE in 2005, Reese's first owned a security company in Phoenix, Arizona with over 3,000 employees. He was able to parlay this into a job as tour manager for Guns N' Roses starting in 1989 after working to establish security detail within the band's ranks.

https://loudwire.com/sge-john-reese-festival-interview/?utm_source=tsmclip&utm_medium=referral

According to Goldstein later interviews, Reese was a partner in Big FD (apparently he became later).