‘Mötley Crüe Members Had Code Words For Drugs,’ Guns N’ Roses Bassist Recalls Touring With Them

Guns N’ Roses bass guitarist Duff McKagan talked about his experience touring with Mötley Crüe during a recent appearance on Rock This With Allison Hagendorf.

In the conversation, Duff mentioned that they were an unknown band back in those days and didn’t even release any single. Also, they were working on their debut studio album Appetite for Destruction.

While Duff was saying that it was a great experience for them to tour with Mötley Crüe, he also revealed the things that they were really impressed to see during this period.

According to Duff, they were shocked to see that Mötley Crüe had their own plane and said that they had their own code words for drugs, which sounded pretty cool for them.

Here is what Duff McKagan said:

“I mean, that was during Appetite and it still hadn’t broken. We didn’t have a single on the radio. Nobody knew who we were. And Whitesnake was just the opener for Mötley Crüe. They had blown up so huge that they left that tour and started headlining arenas themselves.

So we got out with Mötley Crüe and it was, you know, it was our three fans in Atlanta, Georgia, you know, like, yeah, we were used to that. Nobody else was in the place yet. So although it looks good on paper like the Mötley Crüe thing was great for us, it was great. We were touring. We didn’t give a fuck.

You know, we’ll play to our three to seven people every night. We hadn’t quite yet broken yet, but it was really cool seeing like the Mötley Crüe guys, they had their own plane. We’re like, fuck, they had code words on their walkie-talkies for drugs and shit, you know what I’m saying? Wow. That’s super pro.”

You can listen to the podcast below.