Duff McKagan on Celebrity Rehab: "There's a reason it's anonymous"

examiner.com
Duff McKagan is best known as the bassist and founding member of Guns N' Roses. He is also a founding member of Velvet Revolver. McKagan has sold more than 100 million records worldwide, won a Grammy and an American Music Award.

In 1999 the musician formed Loaded, which saw him move front and center on guitar and lead vocals. On Tuesday, April 19 Loaded released its second album The Taking, and in an interview with Sterling Whitaker of Examiner.com to promote the record, McKagan also spoke of his disdain for Celebrity Rehab, the popular reality TV show that portrays celebrities undergoing treatment for various forms of addiction.

McKagan's former Guns N' Roses band mate Steven Adler appeared on the show, and when asked if he found that exploitative, the musician answered, "Yes. Absolutely. And the same with [Alice in Chains bassist] Mike Starr. I cringe, I think it's the worst thing for so-called sobriety. 'Hold on, we're having a breakthrough . . .wait, we've gotta do makeup.' You know?

"There's a reason it's anonymous, because if you fail, you're failing on camera," he noted. "You're failing after you've been on this rehab show."

McKagan himself has gotten sober, and said that anonymity is crucial to success. "Somebody didn't just come up with it because it sounds good," he stated. "Anonymous, you don't have to succeed all the time. You can fail, and you can still come back and nobody's gonna judge you. I wouldn't have wanted to try and get sober in a public forum. I don't think it's right so . . . whatever. That's how I feel. It's not cool."

The Taking is available now from Armoury Records and Eagle Rock Entertainment. Due in the coming months is the accompanying film to The Taking, shot by Northwest director Jamie Chamberlin and Armoury’s reissue of Sick along with a bonus DVD.

You can stream "Dead Skin" here.

Duff recently talked to Music-News.com about his reunion with Axl Rose this past October. He said, "the cool thing about that, was Axl and I got to reconnect. We're grown-ups, you know. There's been a lot silliness. Lawyers and (expletive). You know, lawyers like to create a situation so that their jobs go on. And I know that. But it was just nice to reconnect. We had a nice dinner. That was much more important to me than actually getting up and playing. It was fun playing with those guys, there are some really good players in that band.”