One In A Million being erased from history

[Blackstar]

20 minutes ago, RONIN said:

There's some good arguments here for/against the inclusion of this song. I like the song for what it's worth. 

The entire band (minus Axl) didn't want this song on Lies though - remember? They all publicly disowned it - Izzy, Duff, Steven, and Slash. They also disowned My World and Look at your Game Girl.

Axl put those songs into the albums without the band's approval (and reaped the whirlwind). Maybe he's become a team player now by omitting OIAM from the box set?

They all disowned it publicly afterwards though, after the shit hit the fan. They didn't look so uncomfortable with it at that CBGB show.

And Slash and Duff never disowned My World publicly (Duff even said once that he liked it). The only one who talked about it is Izzy, who said he didn't know it would be on the album. Slash and Duff knew though, as they knew about the Manson song.

Edited May 5, 2018 by Blackstar

[RONIN]

20 minutes ago, Blackstar said:

They all disowned it publicly afterwards though, after the shit hit the fan. They didn't look so uncomfortable with it at that CBGB show.

And Slash and Duff never disowned My World publicly (Duff even said once that he liked it). The only one who talked about it is Izzy, who said he didn't know it would be on the album. Slash and Duff knew though, as they knew about the Manson song.

Fair point. 

But who in the band actually participates on My World and the Manson song? Anyone aside from Axl? Doesn't that speak volumes? 

As for OIAM:

“That’s a song that the whole band says: ‘Don’t put that on there. You’re white, you’ve got red hair, don’t use it’. You know? ‘Fuck you! I’m gonna do it cos I’m Axl!’ OK, go ahead, it’s your fucking head. Of course, you’re guilty by association. [But] what are you gonna do? He’s out of control and I’m just the fucking guitar player…” - Izzy Stradlin'

You're right though - they did publicly disown it after the fact.

Edited May 5, 2018 by RONIN

[estrangedtwat]

I guess they felt OK fucking around in the studio but got cold feet when it was time to sequence the album.

They recorded Cornshucker and that never saw the light of day...they were just having a laugh in the studio.

Did they ever properly record Tastes Good Don't It?  All I have is live versions.

[Blackstar]

44 minutes ago, RONIN said:

“That’s a song that the whole band says: ‘Don’t put that on there. You’re white, you’ve got red hair, don’t use it’. You know? ‘Fuck you! I’m gonna do it cos I’m Axl!’ OK, go ahead, it’s your fucking head. Of course, you’re guilty by association. [But] what are you gonna do? He’s out of control and I’m just the fucking guitar player…” - Izzy Stradlin'

You're right though - they did publicly disown it after the fact.

Before they played it, Axl announced it was going to be on an EP. To be fair to Slash, there's no way to tell if he felt comfortable there. It's likely he didn't because of his mother etc. But Izzy, Duff and Steven didn't look like they had an issue. Izzy and Duff enjoy it and even sing along on some parts, Duff laughs with the "immigrants and...." line and Steven laughs almost all the time, so do West Arkeen and the other guys in the back (they were probably all wasted, of course, but that doesn't change the impression they give).

Duff and West Arkeen were in the room when OIAM was written, and this performance leads me to believe Axl that it was initially conceived as a politically incorrect "joke" about himself as the redneck boy who had those experiences in LA and thought/felt like that.

Edited May 5, 2018 by Blackstar

[-W.A.R-]

1 hour ago, Blackstar said:

they were probably all wasted, of course, but that doesn't change the impression they give

Its no doubt they were.

Check Steven around 4:00. I'd be surprised if he knew where he was at that time.

[killuridols]

 

5 hours ago, chester said:

The fans celebrating this song are the reason Axl is ashamed of it, he grew up and some of the fans still haven't. Like he said, it's a dangerous song. 

Yeah, it is very clear from this thread, some people sit down to masturbate over that song. How pathetic.

2 hours ago, RONIN said:

There's some good arguments here for/against the inclusion of this song. I like OIAM for what it's worth. 

The entire band (minus Axl) didn't want it on Lies though - remember? They all publicly disowned OIAM - Izzy, Duff, Steven, and Slash. They also disowned My World and Look at your Game Girl.

Axl put those songs into the albums without the band's approval (and reaped the whirlwind). Maybe he's become a team player now by omitting OIAM from the box set?

Like I said, if they remove it from Lies, I will not lose sleep on that. But if it's going to stay, it should stay as a piece of nazi museum, quiet, laying low, not celebrated, not promoted, if people find it and use it for their ignorant purposes that will always be their doom as a band and I have no problems with them being slammed for it, as it is obviously their conscious decision to keep it available. 

Going by Slash, Duff and Izzy words, it seems like they didn't want it on the album but they didn't show much opposition to it either. It was like yeah, it's a harsh song but our sympathy towards those groups is not so strong that we are willing to fight the redhead (and get kicked out) in behalf of those people.

I like this paragraph from this article One In A Million: gay-bashing, racism and rock n' roll because it resumes who GN'R were (or still are):

Quote

 

"(...) To then hear Rose spitting poison at blacks, immigrants and homosexuals was a punch in the face. Maybe we were naïve but wasn’t rock’n’roll supposed to stick it to The Man? Yet here was the 80s most authentic rock’n’roll rebel planting his flag on traditional Republican soil and screaming sentiments you’d only expect from Pat Buchannan or Ted Nugent. Today, it’s virtually mainstream Tea Party mindset. It doesn’t get much more establishment than that.

Naive, too, maybe, was the belief that the rock and metal community was more tolerant, inclusive and humane. After all, empathy for the downtrodden should be second nature to people hassled by cops, bosses and mainstream society. For men and women judged, picked on and sneered at for their long-hair, tattoos and studs, accused of Satanism, records containing backward messages inducing suicide and the moral collapse of western civilisation. Yeah, we knew better. Or thought we did. Until that song. A song covered by Ian Donaldson, the goose-stepping frontman of neo-Nazi band, Skrewdriver, for Christ’s sake. We all know where such prejudice, such hatred and loathing of the outsider ends up; just ask Sophie Lancaster…"

 

And also this:

Quote

 

Patti Smith, another white face, didn’t garner the same reaction with Rock’N’Roll hooray for tolerance!, from ten years previously. If Axl had spent just 30 seconds reading her lyrics, he might have grasped the difference: “Those who have suffered understand suffering/and thereby extend their hand/The storm that brings harm/also makes fertile/Blessed is the grass and herb/and the tree of thorn and light”.“

It was left to black US prime-time TV talk-show host, comic and actor, Arsenio Hall to spell out the obvious: “The difference is very clear. N.W.A uses it in a figurative way, whereas Guns N’ Roses uses it in a negative, derogatory way – as a white slavemaster would use it.”

 

Duff's recent comments on it (from 2010 actually) are sort of pathetic... You can find them in that article too.

[Natty]

It s a bullshit move to eraze One in a million. That song is fantastic. I love the melody and everything. I am not a racist at all and I think one can love the song for what is is ignoring politics

[killuridols]

6 minutes ago, Natty said:

It s a bullshit move to eraze One in a million. That song is fantastic. I love the melody and everything. I am not a racist at all and I think one can love the song for what is is ignoring politics

And what is it? This song? (It's a genuine question, not attacking you )

[bigpoop]

15 minutes ago, killuridols said:

 

Duff's recent comments on it (from 2010 actually) are sort of pathetic... You can find them in that article too.

They're totally pathetic. That's from his Seattle Weekly column and I remember leaving a comment there at the time calling him out for lying. And he absolutely was lying there. He knows full well the lyrics weren't a 'third person slant on how fucked up America was in the 80s'.  He knows because Axl said in multiple interview that they were not  that, that they represented his own personal experience/views at the time. It even says that on the fucking cover of Lies!  Are we to believe Duff McKagan has never read the cover of Lies?

[Propaganda]

Nobody will erase anything! One in a Million will still play in my car and be in my IPhone's list!

[Blackstar]

Even Patti Smith's song would be considered offensive these days just because of the use of the word even though it's the opposite of racist. It had caused limited controversy back in the 70s and she got flak for it after it was used in Natural Born Killers in the 90s. 

Some articles, quotes and discussions about it:

http://www.greatwhatsit.com/archives/2336

http://afropunk.com/2011/02/patti-smith-instigates-the-weight-of-the-rock-n-roll-hooray for tolerance!/

https://www.reddit.com/r/LetsTalkMusic/comments/4tvn0q/lets_probably_uncomfortably_talk_patti_smiths/

Btw, Axl was a fan of her.

Edited May 5, 2018 by Blackstar

[estrangedtwat]

Jesus Christ.....can you get off that ridiculously tall horse you're on and get over yourself?

"Nazi museum."

It's a fucking song.  Chill the fuck out.

[killuridols]

Just now, estrangedtwat said:

Jesus Christ.....can you get off that ridiculously tall horse you're on and get over yourself?

"Nazi museum."

It's a fucking song.  Chill the fuck out.

Have the balls to hit the quote button 

[ryanf23]

If the band (minus Axl) didn’t approve of the song they should have stood up for their beliefs and not actually recorded the song or played it live. The fact they recorded and played live says to me they didn’t have a problem with the song. I know Slash said he was embarrassed but again... he fully participated 

[gunsguy]

Maybe not this song specifically but as we move through the digital age with apple, google and spotify we must remember that at any time a song/songs we love could be pulled for reason, or no reason. 

[estrangedtwat]

29 minutes ago, killuridols said:

Have the balls to hit the quote button 

Didn't wanna sift through the drivel...besides, everyone knows who it was directed at!

[killuridols]

31 minutes ago, Blackstar said:

Even Patti Smith's song would be considered offensive these days just because of the use of the word even though it's the opposite of racist. It had caused limited controversy back in the 70s and she got flak for it after it was used in Natural Born Killers in the 90s. 

Some articles, quotes and discussions about it:

http://www.greatwhatsit.com/archives/2336

http://afropunk.com/2011/02/patti-smith-instigates-the-weight-of-the-rock-n-roll-hooray for tolerance!/

https://www.reddit.com/r/LetsTalkMusic/comments/4tvn0q/lets_probably_uncomfortably_talk_patti_smiths/

Btw, Axl was a fan of her.

Patti's song is clearly intellectually superior to OIAM. It's a poem, it uses the word to describe the big deal that is being a pariah.

OIAM is a basic tantrum from an ignorant white kid.

I understand Patti's song have caused controversy because it is a white person using the word and some people have a problem with that. Also the lyrics are not so straight in your face like OIAM, so that might add to the confusion of someone who lacks the tools to fully comprehend the lines.

OIAM is not only about black people, it lashes out at immigrants and homosexuals too. So it doesn't make it comparable to Patti's song.

[estrangedtwat]

The Marilyn Manson cover of RnR N&**&er came out when I was in high school.....I thought it was sooooooooo edgy.

What about Lennon "Woman is the niiggg of the world?"

[Len Cnut]

18 minutes ago, estrangedtwat said:

The Marilyn Manson cover of RnR N&**&er came out when I was in high school.....I thought it was sooooooooo edgy.

What about Lennon "Woman is the niiggg of the world?"

Its pretty simple really, do you need to ask?  One is using the word to equate levels of prejudice between race and gender, where as OIAM is percieved to be an expression of prejudice.  Saying the word in and of itself can't be an offensive, its the intent behind it, there is no prison for words behind which we put all the naughty words, no word is offensive in and of itself, its the intent of the user. 

[AncientEvil80]

4 hours ago, Sergeanur said:

What are you people saying? Look up for Appetite singles - all stuff from LIES was on B-sides except for One In a Million. That's the only reason why it's not in the box set.

Jeez.

Yea, my thoughts too. I don't think it was stupid censorship by Axl etc...

[Blackstar]

5 minutes ago, killuridols said:

 I understand Patti's song have caused controversy because it is a white person using the word and some people have a problem with that. Also the lyrics are not so straight in your face like OIAM, so that might add to the confusion of someone who lacks the tools to fully comprehend the lines.

OIAM is not only about black people, it lashes out at immigrants and homosexuals too. So it doesn't make it comparable to Patti's song.

I didn't say they are comparable, because Patti Smith's song is clearly not racist, whereas Axl's, even if it wasn't conceived as such, is problematic for its context mostly, not the use of a couple of controversial words (and that's why people believing in certain ideas or confused people identified with it). The main reason though both songs have been perceived as offensive by the public opinion is the use of certain words, not so much the context. Of course GnR were a very commercially successful band so the backlash was bigger.

And if you read the articles I posted, you'll see that the level of education of the people arguing there is -at least- above average.

[-W.A.R-]

41 minutes ago, AncientEvil80 said:

Yea, my thoughts too. I don't think it was stupid censorship by Axl etc...

Patience wasn't a b-side. The acoustic version of You're Crazy was also exclusive to Lies.

Edit: The acoustic version of You're Crazy was on 1988 UK reissue of WTTJ.

Edited May 5, 2018 by -W.A.R-

[Len Cnut]

Axls song is BLATANTLY racist and BLATANTLY an expression of prejudice...but so what?  Mans entitled to his perspective.  Or entitled to the perspective he  had at that particular point in his life.  The song is a pretty pre-meditated attempt at shit-stirring quite frankly.  But outside of all of that stuff, and to be what matters most, is that it is actually a good song.  So the man was racist, so what, you can't get behind a racist?  Shit, Tupac said racist shit, John Wayne said racist shit, the founding fathers of America were pretty racist, so what, big wow, y'know, whys this big news, why does it effect how you receive music? 

[jose_gnr]

one of my fav!!!

[username]

What if a group like NWA would remove all their songs containing the N-word from their catalogue. Damn.