2020.01.20 - Jonesy's Jukebox - Duff McKagan Argues About Whether Rock Is Dead

Article with excerpts from Blabbermouth:
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During a January 20 appearance on Sex Pistols guitarist Steve Jones's radio show, "Jonesy's Jukebox", on the 95.5 KLOS station in Los Angeles, Guns N' Roses bassist Duff McKagan spoke about his involvement with Ozzy Osbourne's upcoming album, "Ordinary Man". Recorded in Los Angeles, the LP features Andrew Watt on guitars, McKagan on bass and Chad Smith (Red Hot Chili Peppers) on drums.

Asked how he came to play on the record, McKagan said (see video below): "The session I got called to do. I'd been playing these gigs with Chad Smith, the drummer from the Chili Peppers — these wild cover-band things. Like, we'd play Van Halne with Taylor Hawkins singing and Mike McCready playing guitar. And we played Montana. But playing with Chad, playing bass, he's such an aggressive drummer, and our styles are pretty similar. And we love playing with each other as a rhythm section.

"This guy Andrew Watt called," Duff continued. "I think it was a Saturday, and I happened to be in L.A. He said, 'Do you have some days this week in the daytime? I need to write an Ozzy record. We have four days to do it.' So, we showed up at Andrew's studio. Everything was kind of set up — Chad's drum kit was set up. And it was basically one of those things: 'Who's got a riff?' And it was really inspired. The three of us — Andrew Watt and Chad and myself — we'd never written together, and that can go sideways in a hot second. But it didn't. The first riff that we threw down… Mick Bob was there, my tech. He's, like, 'You know Ozzy likes The Beatles. Make sure there's some Beatles in there.' So we just [approached it like], 'Who's got a riff, man?' And we just threw down in four days and wrote nine songs. 'Ordinary Man', the ballad, with Elton John on it, is one of 'em. And 'Straight To Hell' [was another one]. I think we wrote and recorded nine songs in four days, and the sounds and everything, which is perfect. And that was it. We were done."

According to Duff, he, Watt and Smith "wrote all the music" for "Ordinary Man" and contributed "melody ideas" before Osbourne got involved in the project. "Ozzy came and Ozzy just loved it," McKagan said. "He just came in and started writing words and laid down the vocals. And it was kind of like that. There was definitely urgency to the whole situation. We had so much time to do it, which was only four days… So, it just happened to work out great. And I think the record is really, really good."

Three songs from "Ordinary Man" have been released so far: the anti-drug anthem "Straight To Hell", featuring a guitar solo by Guns N' Roses' Slash; the ballad "Under The Graveyard", which was Osbourne's first new solo song in nearly a decade; and the "Ordinary Man" title track, which is Ozzy's duet with Elton John. Also appearing on the disc are Post Malone and Tom Morello.

"It all just came together," Ozzy previously said of the guest stars. "Slash is a dear friend of mine, as is Elton. When I was writing 'Ordinary Man', it reminded me of an old Elton song and I said to Sharon, 'I wonder if he would sing on it?' We asked, and lo and behold, he agreed and sings and plays piano on the song."

The "Ordinary Man" album will be released on February 21.

https://blabbermouth.net/news/duff-mckagan-explains-how-he-ended-up-co-writing-and-playing-on-new-ozzy-osbourne-album-ordinary-man

More excerpts from Ultimate Guitar:
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During an appearance on Jonesy's Jukebox, Guns N' Roses bassist Duff McKagan looked back on moving from Seattle to Los Angeles back in 1984 and joining the band.

Duff compared the two cities' music scenes and the overall vibe, while also discussing what made GN'R stand out. He said (transcribed by UG):

"I moved to Hollywood at a time when there was a lot going on, and when our band came together, we were these sort of outsiders. I got here, for me it was a culture shock, coming from Seattle in '84. There were flyers and people flyering over other people's flyers, and in Seattle, bands helped out each other. We would use each other's gear and rehearsal places and ask each other to play gigs together and put up flyers together. Here was, like, this whole other thing, long hair, a lot of pro stuff going on. It was pay-to-play, yeah, which was completely crazy to me. I think then you would pay for the lights and the PA rental and the sound guy, right? That's what you're paying for. Basically, what you're doing, you're buying tickets, assuring the club that they don't have to be on the hook for selling tickets, for selling tickets for your gig. All of that stuff was there. Slash and I were talking the other day - we did the interview, reminded us both, like, there was a really vibrant scene going on here. Jane's Addiction was starting out and Chili Peppers were doing their thing, there were all these other, like, Sunset Strip sort of bands. It was a completely crazy thing with the outfits, like, matching outfits, that's all I remember, like, 'All these guys have matching outfits,' you know? [Laughs]"

McKagan added:

"Our band was completely different. Not that we were trying to be different, we were just different guys, and we had a couple of guys who'd moved from the Midwest and I moved down here and Slash came, putting this really cool, like, his mom and dad were exceptional artists in their own right. And Steven Adler was just this kid who've been through a rough childhood and whatnot, but he was so enthusiastic to do whatever it took. We became this little gang. There's no backup plan, there's no college, no safety net. College wasn't an option or whatever people do. So yeah, I moved here in '84, but I do live in Seattle, I've been back there since '93."

Later in the conversation, Duff said:

"I keep looking for new bands, I'm sure you do that too. I just remember, like, going back to the previous conversation; in Seattle, when I left, there was a scene, there were bands. We would rehearse at each other's house, share gear - there was a scene, bands trying to help other bands, and when somebody else has come to town, everybody would go see them. And when I moved to Hollywood, it was kind of the same thing. Bands wouldn't help each other out, but there was a scene, and everybody would go to a gig - or try to get on the bill. There was a thing, and here it was very competitive, and maybe that's good for rock 'n' roll. Good bands came out of that thing. Steve and I, especially, would go see Jane's Addiction just to watch the rhythm section, to watch [Stephen] Perkins and Eric Avery, like, how they would do their thing. The scene in the city - go out, talk to each other face to face, form a band, go put up flyers, go play a show... I don't know, maybe that's going on; you can just put up a flyer on your Insta."

https://www.ultimate-guitar.com/news/general_music_news/duff_mckagan_talks_what_made_gnr_different_recalls_encountering_pay-to-play_practice_upon_moving_to_la.html