Duff McKagan wants Guns N’ Roses to play Rock Hall induction

Former Guns N’ Roses bassist Duff McKagan spoke to Rolling Stone about the March 20th release of the paperback edition of his autobiography “It's So Easy: and Other Lies,” and the conversation turned to the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame induction ceremony next month in Cleveland.

Asked if he knows what the plans are for the evening, Duff said “I don't. I know I'm going to go. I can't, at all, speak for anybody else. And won't. I'll be there with bells on. Is the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame that important to me? No. Is it something I've aspired towards? No. It's not sports. You get into the Baseball Hall of Fame, that's bad ass. But that's a competitive sport. You have stats. Look, we were a good band – but there were a lot of good bands. A lot of people liked our band, eventually. And that's kick ass.”

“What I found out when we got nominated is that there's just a s**t ton of fans around the world who are really psyched,” continued McKagan. “In that case, it's more about them and the people that believed in us and bought our records and came and saw us. Imagine that? All those people believing in our band – a thing we created out of thin air. That part of it is an honor. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as an institution? I really don't know much about it.”

As for GNR reuniting to perform, “I think it would be killer,” begins Duff. “Do I hope to? That's a tricky question. It would be awesome. You have those day dreams like, "We'll go up and play 'Nightrain' and 'Brownstone' and throw down the microphone and drop off! That'll be killer!' But I doubt that'll happen.”

“There's been no communication about anyone playing,” he says. “There was probably a day in the mid-1990s where I would have tried to gather the troops, but I'm just not that guy anymore. It's too frustrating to change anyone else…I'm not even sure I'd want to change how anyone else sees a situation. But I'm going.”

It’s hard to say what GNR fans can expect from the April 14th event, especially given the leak by the people at Envision Radio Networks this week while answering twitter questions using Rock Hall music director Paul Shaffer’s account.

While it appeared that Shaffer had posted "Guns N’ Roses will not be performing, so [the ceremony will] not [be] as long as you would think,” a spokesperson for the company admitted that one of his staff was responsible for the post.

It’s entirely possible that Envision Radio Networks staff posted the real story, since they only admitted that staff were tweeting as Shaffer, while not denying the accuracy of the information.

For more information on the Envision leak, read the news here and here.



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VIDEO: Guns N’ Roses guitarist challenges Hulk Hogan
UPDATE: Guns N’ Roses will not perform at Rock Hall induction
Guns N’ Roses will not perform at Rock Hall induction