When I was a kid, a lot of my parents' friends were in the music business. In the late '60s and early '70s - all the way through the '70s, actually - a lot of the bands that were around had kids at a very young age. So they were all working on that concept way early on. And I figured if they can do it, I could do it, too.

Being a rockstar is the intersection of who you are and who you want to be.

I always loved rock guitar. I just never put it together that that's what I'd end up doing.

I once asked Axl why he left the 'E' off his name. He started crying and said he thought he'd spelled it right.

There are people who have an image of me as being rude and inconsiderate. But I'm completely the opposite, because I was raised not to be. I might have been tripping over myself drunk, but I was always courteous.

That's one of the cool things about going to local bars: seeing what people are doing and jamming with them. I'm a huge advocate of jamming with others; you learn a lot. So I love to go and do that - even if people wipe the stage up with you.

Axl [Rose] is not the type of person to make something up. So I was sort of shocked that he went that direction. That caused me a lot of problems.