At the age of 16, Duff becomes The Fastbacks' second drummer. Before joining The Fastbacks, he had played in the Vains and the Living (with Greg Gilmore). Duff had lived in San Francisco when he was in the hardcore band Silly Killers (drummer). He moved back to Seattle and joined Cannibal (guitar). He also played in the last version of the Fartz.

They recorded four songs: Someone Else's Room, Was Late, It's Your Birthday and You Can't Be Happy.

David Garriques joined on bass. He was succeeded by Daniel House.

Soon Cook, who was the last original Fartz member, quit. His replacement as the new singer was Steve Verwolf. This line-up recorded tracks for an unreleased EP in early 1984.

When drummer Greg Gilmore joined, Duff switched to guitar. While House and Verwolf were in the band, 10 Minute Warning evolved further from hardcore toward a semi-improvisational gothic feel that Henry Rollins compared to a punk version of Hawkwind.

This lineup recorded an album's worth of material, unreleased, before they split at the beginning of 1985. Their last official gig was at Lincoln Arts.

While living in Seattle Duff had been asked to join an English band called Angelic Upstarts. But by joining the band he'd have to move to England, so he declined the offer.

Axl plays in a band called Rapidfire in 1983. In May 1983 they record a demo with the songs Ready To Rumble, All Night Long, The Prowler and On The Run.

Chris Weber met Izzy through Tracii Guns. Izzy introduced Axl to Chris and together they started a band called Rose (which was first called A.X.L.).

Other members in Rose were Chris Weber (guitar) and Johnny Kreiss (aka Johnny Christ) (drums). Johnny was found through an ad in The Recycler. On bass they had Rick Mars and later Andre Roxx.

Later they changed the name to Hollywood Rose.

The band's first show was at the Orphanage. They also played venues such as the Troubadour, the Country Club and Madam Wong's East.

They played shows with bands such as Mondo Cain, Bitch, The Mercenaries and Candy.

While Axl and Izzy were in Rose they wrote a song called "My Way - Your Way". It turned up as "Anything Goes" on "Appetite For Destruction". Other songs from that period are "Shadow Of Your Love" and "Wreckless" (later renamed to "Reckless Life").

Slash plays in Road Crew (with Steven) and London.

Hollywood Rose (Axl, Izzy, Chris Weber and Johnny Kreis) record a demo featuring the tracks "Killing Time", "Anything Goes", "Rocker", "Shadow Of Your Love" and "Reckless Life".

During 1984 Hollywood Rose also opens for the band Stryper at the Music Machine. Also on the bill is Slash's band at the time called Black Sheep. Hollywood Rose breaks up after this show.

Izzy joins a band called London while Axl sings in LA Guns with Ole Beich on bass and Rob Gardner on drums.

Rob Gardner is on drums and Steve Darrow on bass.

Chris Weber was later replaced by Tracii Guns.

Duff decided to start playing the bass instead of guitar.

Through one ad, in the Recycler, Duff met Slash and Steve Adler. They started a band called Road Crew . While in Road Crew Slash came up with a riff that later turned up in a song called "Paradise City".

Greg Gilmore attended a few of their practices, but he decided to move back to Seattle (later he played in Mother Love Bone, which also included Jeff Ament and Stone Gossard, both are now members of Pearl Jam).

The band calls themselves Guns N' Roses (they rejected the names Heads Of Amazon and AIDS).

Later Duff joins the band and the lineup looks like this:

W. Axl Rose (vocals)
Izzy Stradlin (guitar)
Tracii Guns (guitar)
Duff McKagan (bass)
Rob Gardner (drums)

W. Axl Rose (vocals)
Slash (lead guitars)
Izzy Stradlin (rhythm guitar)
Duff McKagan (bass)
Steven Adler (drums)

plays at the Troubadour in Hollywood, CA."A Rock N Roll Bash Where Everyones Smashed"

Duff had some connections in Seattle and booked gigs for the band. Tracii was replaced by Slash since he didn't show up for rehearsal.

GN'R rehearsed for a couple of days and started The Hell Tour. The trip to Seattle wasn't a success. After driving 100 miles their car broke down. They had to hitchhike and when they arrived in Seattle no one cared about them. Most of the shows had been cancelled and they only got $50 a show instead of the promised $250. Their first gig of the first tour was at the Omni Room (The Fastbacks opened). Only 13 people saw the show.

GN'R went back to Los Angeles and continued to rehearse. Their "home" on Sunset Boulevard was called The Hell House. They hadn't money so they lived on cheap wine and biscuits. Sometimes they stole money from the girls that visited the Hell House.

Late 1985:

GN'R plays the clubs in L.A. and record demos. The first LA gig was at the Troubadour.

Guns N' Roses played LA clubs like the Whiskey A Go-Go, the Roxy, the Water Club, the Troubadour and Scream. The sets used to begin with an intro tape of "What's That Noise" by the Stormtroopers Of Death. GN'R played early versions of original songs like "Welcome To The Jungle", "Reckless Life", "It's So Easy" and "Don't Cry". By the end of 1985 the band had already written fourteen original songs.

The band had to play covers to keep the club audiences happy. They played songs by Aerosmith ("Mama Kin"), Elvis Presley ("Heartbreak Hotel") and The Rolling Stones ("Jumping Jack Flash").

This is from Clark Humphrey's book "Loser The Real Seattle Music Story":

Fastbacks-Silly Killers-Vains-Fartz-10 Minute Warning vet Duff McKagan returned from L.A. to perform one show at the Omni Room. It was the first show on the first tour by his new band, first called Hollywood Rose but by then known as Guns n' Roses (the Fastbacks opened). The band hitchhiked part of the way when its van broke down on Interstate 5; the guys only received $50 of their promised $250 fee for a gig only 13 people saw.

The flyer for the show says: "Get Yourself Together, Drink Till You Drop, Forget About Tomorrow, Have Another Shot. Happy New Year! From the boys who brought you the most chaotic shows of 1985."

GN'R begin recording the songs that became " Appetite For Destruction".