Watch Guns N' Roses' Duff McKagan unbox Prince's 1999 deluxe box set

Duff McKagan
(Image credit: Scott Dudelson)

Guns N' Roses bassist Duff McKagan has released a video that shows him unboxing the new super deluxe edition reissue of Prince's classic album 1999. The album is released on November 29. 

McKagan provides liner notes for the package, alongside writers Michael Swensson and David Fricke, and Prince scholar Duane Tudahl. The super deluxe edition of 1999 features 23 unreleased tracks from the Prince vault, a collection of seven-inch singles, b-sides and promo edits, a live audio performance from the 1999 tour and a DVD of a previously unreleased show from the same run of dates.

"I was turned on to Prince sometime around 1980, Duff told Classic Rock earlier this year. "I really love For You and Prince and Controversy and Dirty Mind, but there was something about 1999

"A lot of heroin was going through Seattle, and while I wasn't using, a lot of people were getting strung out: my friends, my roommate, my girlfriend, my band. We had just signed to Jello Biafra's record label and were going to be the next big thing, but a couple of the guys got strung out and it was the end of the band. 

"It was 10 Minute Warning, who were a precursor to Soundgarden and Green River and all of that. I was heartbroken, man, seeing all this stuff going on around me, and I knew I had to make a decision. Then 1999 came out in 1982, and I just dove into the record.

"I loved Little Red Corvette. It may be the most perfect three-chord song ever written. But it was the deeper tracks that I loved most. I would get off work and come home and just play the record and it was my escape. 

"Everybody has that record that 'saved their life', and 1999 gave me the courage to stand on my own two feet. It gave me the courage to leave. I knew my car wouldn't make it to New York, but I knew it could get me to LA. Somehow it encouraged me to do that on my own, and it was scary, but I knew music was going to be my thing."

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<a href="https://target.georiot.com/Proxy.ashx?tsid=38569&GR_URL=https%3A%2F%2Famazon.co.uk%2F%2Fdp%2FB07XPRD4S4%2F%3Ftag%3Dhawk-future-21%26ascsubtag%3Dhawk-custom-tracking-21" data-link-merchant="Amazon UK"" target="_blank">Prince: 1999 (Super Deluxe Edition)
Considered one of the most iconic and influential double albums in rock history, Prince's 1999 shattered barriers with its revolutionary blend of rock, funk, R&B and new wave pop.

Prince: 1999 Super Deluxe Edition tracklist

Disc: 1
1. 1999
2. Little Red Corvette
3. Delirious
4. Let's Pretend We're Married
5. D.M.S.R
6. Automatic
7. Something in the Water (Does Not Compute)
8. Free
9. Lady Cab Driver
10. All the Critics Love U in New York
11. International Lover

Disc: 2
1. 1999 (7" Stereo Edit)
2. 1999 (7" Mono Promo-only Edit)
3. Free (Promo-only Edit)
4. How Come U Don't Call Me Anymore ("1999" B-side)
5. Little Red Corvette (7" Edit)
6. All the Critics Love U in New York (7" Edit)
7. Lady Cab Driver (7" Edit)
8. Little Red Corvette (Dance Remix Promo-only Edit)
9. Little Red Corvette (Special Dance Mix)
10. Delirious (7" Edit)
11. Horny Toad ("Delirious" B-side)
12. Automatic (7" Edit)
13. Automatic (Video Version)
14. Let's Pretend We're Married (7" Edit)
15. Let's Pretend We're Married (7" Mono Promo-only Edit)
16. Irresistible Bitch ("Let's Pretend We're Married" B-side)
17. Let's Pretend We're Married (Video Version)
18. D.M.S.R (Edit)

Disc: 3
1. Feel U Up
2. Irresistible Bitch
3. Money Don't Grow On Trees
4. Vagina
5. Rearrange
6. Bold Generation
7. Colleen
8. International Lover (Take 1) [live in Studio]
9. Turn It Up
10. You're All I Want
11. Something in the Water (Does Not Compute)
12. If It'll Make U Happy
13. How Come U Don't Call Me Anymore? (Take 2)

Disc: 4
1. Possessed (1982 Version)
2. Delirious (Full-length)
3. Purple Music
4. Yah, You Know
5. Moonbeam Levels (2019 Remaster)
6. No Call U
7. Can't Stop This Feeling I Got
8. Do Yourself a Favour
9. Don't Let Him Fool Ya
10. Teacher, Teacher
11. Lady Cab Driver/I Wanna Be Your Lover/Head/Little Red Corvette (Tour Demo)

Disc: 5
1. Controversy (Live at Masonic Hall, Detroit, MI, 30/11/1982 - Late Show)
2. Let's Work (Live at Masonic Hall, Detroit, MI, 30/11/1982 - Late Show)
3. Little Red Corvette (Live at Masonic Hall, Detroit, MI, 30/11/1982 - Late Show)
4. Do Me, Baby (Live at Masonic Hall, Detroit, MI, 30/11/1982 - Late Show)
5. Head (Live at Masonic Hall, Detroit, MI, 30/11/1982 - Late Show)
6. Uptown (Live at Masonic Hall, Detroit, MI, 30/11/1982 - Late Show)
7. Interlude (Live at Masonic Hall, Detroit, MI, 30/11/1982 - Late Show)
8. How Come U Don't Call Me Anymore? (Live at Masonic Hall, Detroit, MI, 30/11/1982 - Late Show)
9. Automatic (Live at Masonic Hall, Detroit, MI, 30/11/1982 - Late Show)
10. International Lover (Live at Masonic Hall, Detroit, MI, 30/11/1982 - Late Show)
11. 1999 (Live at Masonic Hall, Detroit, MI, 30/11/1982 - Late Show)
12. D.M.S.R (Live at Masonic Hall, Detroit, MI, 30/11/1982 - Late Show)

Disc: 6
1. Controversy (Live at the Summit, Houston, TX, 29/12/1982)
2. Let's Work (Live at the Summit, Houston, TX, 29/12/1982)
3. Do Me, Baby (Live at the Summit, Houston, TX, 29/12/1982)
4. D.M.S.R (Live at the Summit, Houston, TX, 29/12/1982)
5. Interlude (Live at the Summit, Houston, TX, 29/12/1982)
6. Piano Improvisation (Live at the Summit, Houston, TX, 29/12/1982)
7. How Come U Don't Call Me Anymore? (Live at the Summit, Houston, TX, 29/12/1982)
8. Lady Cab Driver (Live at the Summit, Houston, TX, 29/12/1982)
9. Automatic (Live at the Summit, Houston, TX, 29/12/1982)
10. International Lover (Live at the Summit, Houston, TX, 29/12/1982)
11. 1999 (Live at the Summit, Houston, TX, 29/12/1982)
12. Head (Live at the Summit, Houston, TX, 29/12/1982)

Fraser Lewry

Online Editor at Louder/Classic Rock magazine since 2014. 38 years in music industry, online for 25. Also bylines for: Metal Hammer, Prog Magazine, The Word Magazine, The Guardian, The New Statesman, Saga, Music365. Former Head of Music at Xfm Radio, A&R at Fiction Records, early blogger, ex-roadie, published author. Once appeared in a Cure video dressed as a cowboy, and thinks any situation can be improved by the introduction of cats. Favourite Serbian trumpeter: Dejan Petrović.