Warner Records
You probably wouldn’t think of Guns ‘N Roses and Prince in the same sentence, but it turns out the two legendary acts have one thing in common: Duff McKagan.
The G’NR bass player is one of several people who’ve penned liner notes for the super-deluxe reissue of Prince’s classic album, 1999, which Duff calls “probably my favorite record of all time.” He’s also posted a video of himself unboxing the hefty package.
McKagan stands in his kitchen sorting through the set, which includes 65 tracks over a number of LPs. Among them: a live 1982 concert in Detroit, demos, B-sides and different mixes, the original album, and a booklet with unseen photos and Prince’s handwritten lyrics. McKagan also gives us a glimpse of the essay he wrote, which is titled “Prince will always live within us.”
“It’s kind of a weird thing for me as a purist Prince fan: I don’t know if some of these things he’d want out, for sure, and I was at a little bit of a crossroads, hearing that stuff,” says Duff. “But it’s out there, so I’m trying to be of service to Prince and write the best liner notes I could, and they did a wonderful job on this packaging.”
1999 was Prince’s fifth studio album but his first to hit the top ten of the Billboard 200 album chart. It includes classics like the title track, “Little Red Corvette,” “Delirious,” and “Let’s Pretend We’re Married.”
In the comments section of the video, Duff writes, “This record taught me so much about music in the early years of forming my style. Truly honored to be a small part of this amazing release!”
The 1999 reissue, which is available in various configurations and price points, is out November 29.
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