Hi I'm Duff McKagan, I'm at Amoeba Records and this is What's in My Bag. I'm here at Amoeba, a place that I really like. I like record stores. I'm really getting back into record stores because my vinyl collection over the years has just gone away. Y'know when I was a teenager I would always sell records and buy stuff and trade. When I moved to LA, I sold records to help finance my trip. I sold my drum set and records and stuff, that's what you did. And then CDs came out. Slash and I each got a CD player and we went to the CD store that was in the valley. They were rare at that time. And we kind of started at 'A' and went and bought every cool CD. And then my vinyl collection was just like old D.O.A. I still have my Black Flag 'Nervous Breakdown' original single. I knew stuff that I wanted to keep forever but most of it's gone. So I was going through Amoeba and this Pat Travers record was sitting out in the front. I was 11 years old. I had a paper route and I did like lawn mowing jobs. Took the bus to the record store which was like the cool place I was finally kind of old enough to go in on my own. Didn't know what I was gonna look for. I'm the last of eight kids, so I wanted to find music of my own. Right? So a cool guy, sideburns, cool guitar. You got the record company dude here, like, the man, that's the man. And on the back cover there's smoke and the guy's tie's all askew and the pictures are all cattywampus. Only bought it for the cover and the back cover, as you will if you're 11 years old. And actually, it's a great record. It stands up to time. Oh shit, I never knew this. Nicko McBrain, Iron Maiden, played drums on this. Yeah we used to get a record then look at... you knew where every record was made, who produced it, who engineered it, who played on it. But I wouldn't have put the Nicko McBrain because he wasn't in Maiden yet. Just some guy in Pat Travers' band. If it's not obvious by my hat, I'm a Prince fan. This first record, 'For You' I think he was maybe 18 years old when he made this record. He played everything on it. So I discovered Prince through punk rocker dudes up in Seattle. We were into all kinds of other music. And somebody turned me on to the 'Controversy' record and I kind of went backwards from there. And at that time, 1980-81, I was drummer, and I played bass and I played guitar. He just really filled my imagination with what was possible. This record came out in, I think, '83 or late '82. At that point in Seattle, a bunch of shit was going on like hardcore punk rock, the suburban kids came in and shaved their heads. It was happening all over the country and it kind of ruined punk rock. Y'know, like white power and all that nonsense. Everything punk rock was against. Punk rock was all-inclusive originally. A lot of heroin came into Seattle about '82. I was in a great band. We'd just signed for a record with Jello Biafra's label Alternative Tentacles. We had just toured with Black Flag, Dead Kennedys. Things were looking up for this band and heroin hit the band. My roommate, my girlfriend, pretty much everybody I knew except for me. And this... if they ever say a record saved your life I don't mean literally, I wouldn't have killed myself but I went deep into this record and just played it all the time. I had a car, $300 car. Didn't think it would make it to New York from Seattle but maybe it could make it to LA. Put in my notice at my job and I moved to LA. And this record really gave me the courage to do that somehow. It's not the hit tracks. I mean, I think 'Little Red Corvette' is the best three-chord song ever written. So there's my Prince 1999 story. Horror. My daughter Grace turned me on to this. She's like, dad you gotta watch this video. And I've always liked bands that scare me. Like when my first gig ever was opening for Black Flag in '79. I was 15 or 14 And Ron Reyes was the singer, so 'Decline of Western Civilization' Black Flag, in Seattle. And I would go to gigs when the band actually scared me, that's when I felt alive. This is a band that I saw the video and I couldn't... My mind was like, don't try to figure them out, just go along with the ride. Believe it or not, I just met John Doe for the first time ever on New Year's Eve. Billy Joe had this party where everybody jammed. It was the funnest like house party thing ever. And I finally met John Doe, a guy I've always really respected. I saw X a ton of times back of the day. I don't really read a lot of books about rock history. I read more history history. But I've gotten into this new West Coast punk rock phase lately. I went and saw T.S.O.L. last night, I saw T.S.O.L. and Fear like three weeks ago. I'm kind of fully in again. So this book is about LA punk. And the font is a good for me to read. I usually have to do a Kindle and blow up the font a little bit. Thank you John Doe. Alright, so I just got to make a record with this guy, Shooter Jennings. So the reason I got this record for this discussion is because this is the same band that I made my record with. I'd recorded like three songs with this band. We'd just started making my record. and then he had to go back out on tour. And they were coming through the Troubadour and he goes, do you want to come to see us play? And I took my wife and we went to the Troubadour and it was packed. And they were so good, and I'm like nudging my wife the whole night like, this is my band that I'm using. And they were so, so good. This record, he's such a great songwriter. It's like not that the obvious 'D.R.U.N.K.' like the hits. I mean, I love the song but there's one that... 'Fast Horses and Good Hideouts.' The man, the myth, the legend. 'Black Ribbons,' if you ever get into Shooter Jennings go there too, 'Black Ribbons.' You're welcome. I need to get this record. This is the classic Minor Threat record. If you're a young kid and want to get into old-school punk rock, get this record. And get the Fear record, which you guys didn't have. Godammit. Get The Clash's first record, get The Vibrators' first record, get this record. Again, this is a Southern California punk rock band. Guy's wearing the T.S.O.L. shirt, Rick Agnew. A classic record where every... 'I Hate Children' 'Amoeba.' Amoeba, Amoeba, Amoeba. And then we're gonna cross over from Southern California punk rock. Motörhead made 'Ace of Spades' in 1980, and it really kind of started to blend punk rock and metal. They were the first band to just do their own thing. And they were truth tellers, y'know. No better than Motörhead. And they influenced this whole new British wave. And there was G.B.H. was one of the bands. Exploited and G.B.H. It kind of sounded like a mix between the Pistols and Motörhead. This record I got when it came out. Oh yeah, 'Vietnamese Blues.' 'I just got back from Vietnam' 'Saw a baby in a pram.' I was like, what is a pram? It's a pram. Baby carriage. You learn things when you listen to British punk rock when you're like 17 years old. I put it in my top five. Put Generation X, The Damned's first record And you gotta put the Pistols in there, Clash's first record. and I put this up there. With The Stranglers also. Sorry. I think that kind of sums it up for the short little trip I did to Amoeba. Thank you so much. You're welcome.
