Duff McKagan discussed being asked by Guns N’ Roses guitarist Slash’s girlfriend if he was a member of the LGBTQ community in the new book “Nöthin’ but a Good Time: The Uncensored History of the ’80s Hard Rock Explosion.”
McKagan said, via Rolling Stone
“I moved down to L.A. in September of ’84. As a punk kid from Seattle, it was a total culture shock. Of course, I knew about, like, Eddie Van Halen and that kind of guitar playing.
“And I knew that first Mötley record they had put out themselves. But moving here and seeing all the flyers on the telephone poles and shit…
“It was a lot of bands, a lot of long hair, a lot of outfits, you know what I mean?…
“He [Slash] had this ad that said, ‘Influences: Fear, Aerosmith, early Alice Cooper.’ And his name was Slash.
“So I thought he was a punk rock guy like me. I called him up, we talked on the phone – totally cool guy.
“Then I went to meet him and Steven at Canter’s Deli. He said, ‘We’ll be in the left booth at the end.’ So I look in the left booth and there’s, you know, basically all this fucking hair!
“But also, I was wearing like this long red-and-black, like, super-fly pimp jacket with an anarchy A on the back of it, and I had short blue hair. So I’m sure they’re looking at me and going, ‘Huh?’
“Slash’s girlfriend at the time, she was a very out-front kind of girl, and she goes, ‘Are you gay?’ I’m like, ‘No, I’m not gay.’ She goes, ‘OK, well, maybe we can find you a girlfriend.’
“We ended up that night going back to Slash’s mom’s house. We’re hanging out in his room in the basement and drinking vodka and he starts playing guitar.
“And I’d never been in a room with a guy my age who played guitar like that.
“But the Road Crew thing, there was no singer, and they’re like, ‘Maybe you can sing…’ But I had already moved away from home, I was ready for the next step.
“I wasn’t going to play with some guys who just got out of high school the year before and had a bunch of riffs. Even if they had a fucking guitar player like Slash.”
