Guns N’ Roses: “Iggy Pop got me through a bad mushroom trip”

Guns N’ Roses bassist Duff McKagan has revealed how Iggy Pop helped him through a “bad mushroom trip” when he was a teenager.

• READ MORE: Iggy Pop: “I assumed things would quiet down once I turned 65. That hasn’t been the case”

While appearing on the Rockonteurs podcast, hosted by Spandau Ballet’s Gary Kemp and esteemed session musician Guy Pratt, McKagan opened up about the event that occurred when he was 14 years old and how the former Stooges frontman helped him out.

“Iggy Pop got me through a bad mushroom trip. I went to an Iggy show way too high on mushrooms, thinking I was going to have to go to the hospital, freaking out,” MaKagan told kemp and Pratt.

He continued: “I just watched Iggy the whole, just tripping way too much on psychedelics. But he brought me down. And I was already a big Iggy fan, but then I was like, he means more to me. He’s a waypoint for me in my life.”

The bassist has been open about his past issues with substance abuse and has been sober for 30 years after being hosipitalised with acute alcohol-induced pancreatitis in 1994.

He previously claimed “I didn’t drink any water. I just drank alcohol. I literally didn’t have a glass of water for 12 years,” during an interview with former Van Halen singer Sammy Hagar for the latter’s Rock & Roll Road Trip television programme in 2023.

While speaking to People in an interview last year, the bassist shared that his substance issues started as a crutch for panic attacks and that his heath problems forced him to face his issues.

“I figured out that half a bottle of vodka would kill a panic attack. The problem is when you start drinking and then doing drugs, there’s so much sugar and alcohol and no sleeping, so you’re going to have more panic attacks. So guess what? I self-medicated more and more,” he said.

In other news, McKagan recently released his third studio album ‘Lighthouse’ which features the likes of Pop, his Guns N’ Roses bandmate Slash, and Alice in Chains’ Jerry Cantrell.

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