Original GUNS N' ROSES bassist Duff McKagan, along with vocalist Axl Rose, guitarists Slash and Izzy Stradlin, drummers Steven Adler and Matt Sorum, and keyboardist Dizzy Reed, will be inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame in Cleveland, Ohio on April 14th.

In his April 11th column for ESPN, McKagan writes:

"My editor has been hoping that somehow I could write about what this whole thing is like from the 'inside'.

Truthfully, it has been hard for me to find a good place from which to start and write such an article, head-space wise.

We are not a band anymore, and haven't been for some time. We are all still alive and well, but there has been some muddy water that has gone underneath the bridge. But water, muddy or otherwise, does indeed flow past and forever away, and I have nothing but the best of memories and highest level of love and admiration and feelings of brotherhood with all of those dudes. Seriously.

I was sent a sort of open letter addressed to us guys in GNR from a fella named Chris Gehert on behalf of 'Worldwide Guns N' Roses Fans', and it sort of stopped me short."

To read the letter in its entirety, click here.

"The one reason that I am going to Cleveland this weekend is not to savor in some polite accolade or because an award show is that important to me. I am going because I have realized how important this is all to those many, many fans that supported us and believed in us, and showed up for us in droves.

Music is not like sports, and hence, a Hall of Fame in music is almost a false pedestal to sit upon. There are no statistics in music and art. No band or artist is "better" than another. Music comes from a primal place. Thin air. Dreams. And a lot of really hard damn work.

No one worked harder than us back then, and we were very fortunate to have met each other in those dirty back alleys of Hollywood sometime in 1984. We meshed and wrote, created thunder and beauty, and parlayed our real-life experience into an album that somehow related to a whole angsty world that felt just like us right then and there. It was a brilliant time.

I, too, now hope that we can just play a couple of songs there, and just sort of throw the microphone down on the stage and walk off. The rock-and-roll world would be set ablaze once again ... and we could make a bunch of fans happy and sated to some degree.

But alas, I am only responsible for me, and can only speak for me. I have forgiven and forgotten. I have grown up and manned up. Part of me growing has been to realize I am powerless over others.

This whole deal, I hope, goes off without a hitch. I do hope we can achieve some grace in our acceptance. And I hope this grace, is enough, in the end, for the best rock and roll fans in the world. The Guns N' (f---ing) Roses fans."