Duff McKagan has given thousands of interviews over the course of his career, but his recent visit to Nights with Alice Cooper probably produced one of his most memorable conversations.
McKagan stopped by Cooper’s syndicated radio show to promote his new book, How To Be A Man (And Other Illusions), but they didn’t settle for the same old boring Q&A session; instead, he was asked to answer a portion of the Proust Questionnaire, which purports to open a window into the respondent’s personality by asking them to identify things like their greatest fault, their real-life heroes and more.He proved a game participant, offering thoughtful responses to questions about his darkest moment (“being stuck in addiction and not being able to get out”) and his idea of happiness (“self-confidence”). And after it was over, McKagan went a step further, talking about how, during another recent interview, he was asked which three people — living or dead — he’d want to invite to dinner.
“Of course you’d say the Dalai Lama, right? And Oprah,” shrugs McKagan in the above clip. “But I was thinking, like, Hitler.” As he quickly explains, he’d extend the invitation because it’d offer an opportunity to find out whether one of history’s worst genocidal maniacs understood his own evil. “‘What the f— is your deal? What’s your f—ing deal, you know?,” McKagan imagines asking Hitler. “I’ve read about you, I know about you — do you realize that you’re insane, or do you not think you’re insane?’ Or something, you know.”
Admitting he doesn’t remember who else he said he’d invite, McKagan adds that he was tempted to list Prince, but already understands that “I don’t want to know him.” In fact, he says the two already met at one point — but “I didn’t like him … I was so f—ing drunk.”
