He was the bassist of hard rock band Guns N' Roses for twelve years, with whom he achieved worldwide success in the late s and early s. Following his departure from Guns N' Roses in , McKagan briefly reunited with his pre-success Seattle punk band 10 Minute Warning , before forming the still-active hard rock band Loaded , in which he performs lead vocals and rhythm guitar.
He briefly performed with Alice in Chains in , with Jane's Addiction in , and with the supergroup Hollywood Vampires in In addition to his musical career, McKagan has established himself as a writer.
He has written weekly columns on a wide variety of topics for SeattleWeekly. He has been called "Duff" since toddlerhood, to which he once referred as "an Irish thing". In , at the age of 15, McKagan formed the punk band The Vains, in which he played bass. During this time he performed under the stage name Nico Teen. In , McKagan joined the pop-punk band The Fastbacks as their drummer. He first performed with the band in December , and appeared on their debut single "It's Your Birthday", which was issued on guitarist Kurt Bloch's label No Threes Records.
In they recorded an EP, which remained unreleased until April , under the title In , McKagan became the drummer for the hardcore punk band The Fartz , with whom he recorded several demos, five of which were included on their album You, We See You Crawling.
After two days of rehearsal, the line-up played its debut gig at The Troubadour on June 6. In , Guns N' Roses released its debut album, Appetite for Destruction , which to date has sold over 28 million copies worldwide, [ 24 ] 18 million of which were in the United States, making it the best-selling debut album of all time in the U. McKagan took on lead vocals on four songs, including live favorite "Attitude", originally by the Misfits.
