Jump to content

one in a million


conehead88

Recommended Posts

I love the song "one in a million", but the lyrics are a bit "faux pas" with the mentioning of immigrants and persons, and all that.

Cant help but feeling awkward if im whisteling it in the street.

Im not racist, but its such a catchy tune, and i was wondering if anyone else has the same problem with the song.

i also heard that the song might not be axl roses opinion, but infact just the opinion of someone who hates people coming into the country, some crazy guy that just hates everything, but he loves this girl who has softened his heart, or something like that.

But i also heard that axl rose inserted speaches from martin luther king into his song "madagaskar" as some sort of appology, but that could be rubbish.

anyways, i was wondering what use all thought.

thanks

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 54
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

Top Posters In This Topic

Nah man....this song was Axl's shit.

But I give him this, because he was from a small town in Indiana; Don't make it right, but culture shock can be a little weird when your 20.

Worst song he ever wrote.

I think even he knows it.

Might as well be one of David Allen Coe's...

Edited by SunnyDRE
Link to comment
Share on other sites

yeh, i think the words in the song can be quite ugly, but i love the riff, and just the chorus itself is beautiful, but the whole racist thing puts me off, and its a shame. Its almost as good as "patience" for me because i love axl's voice when he's singing a bit calmer and softly, but also love it when he rocks out aswell.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

it's a shitty song because of the lyrics. There's no other way to slice it.

I disagree. All the other elements of the song are very strong, musically. It's not like in poetry when the art consists only of words.

Thats like saying even though Hitler was a bad dude, he was still smart......imo.

The song is racist. It is not Axl's finest hour.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I really don't see the big deal about the song, when I hear "black person" in most of the rap songs today. If my friends can listen and sing to a song that says it, then why can't I? It is a beautiful song that is very well written, and if you are gonna be that immature about the use of some words then you have no business listening to GN'R and then bitching about it. People could be offended by tons of words that Axl uses, so I dont see why this song is treated differently.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

it's a shitty song because of the lyrics. There's no other way to slice it.

I disagree. All the other elements of the song are very strong, musically. It's not like in poetry when the art consists only of words.

Thats like saying even though Hitler was a bad dude, he was still smart......imo.

The song is racist. It is not Axl's finest hour.

Hitler wasn't stupid. You can't be bad and smart? I can separate my personal feelings from the facts.

I like a lot of songs with stupid lyrics or a sucky bass line. Doesn't mean there aren't other parts of the song I can still enjoy.

Edited by Rovim
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I really don't see the big deal about the song, when I hear "black person" in most of the rap songs today. If my friends can listen and sing to a song that says it, then why can't I? It is a beautiful song that is very well written, and if you are gonna be that immature about the use of some words then you have no business listening to GN'R and then bitching about it. People could be offended by tons of words that Axl uses, so I dont see why this song is treated differently.

its not just that he says "nasty black person word", he says "nasty word for homosexuals" aswell, lol.

Immigrants and (nasty word for homosexuals)

They make no sense to me

They come to our country

And think they'll do as they please

Like start some mini Iran

Or spread some (swear word lol) disease

They talk so many goddamn ways

It's all greek to me

yeeeeehhhhh........ the lyrics are quite nasty... lol.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I really don't see the big deal about the song, when I hear "black person" in most of the rap songs today. If my friends can listen and sing to a song that says it, then why can't I? It is a beautiful song that is very well written, and if you are gonna be that immature about the use of some words then you have no business listening to GN'R and then bitching about it. People could be offended by tons of words that Axl uses, so I dont see why this song is treated differently.

its not just that he says "nasty black person word", he says "nasty word for homosexuals" aswell, lol.

Immigrants and (nasty word for homosexuals)

They make no sense to me

They come to our country

And think they'll do as they please

Like start some mini Iran

Or spread some (swear word lol) disease

They talk so many goddamn ways

It's all greek to me

yeeeeehhhhh........ the lyrics are quite nasty... lol.

Hah, that was great post. :lol:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

There are way worse songs (rap anybody?) out there that get played loudly without shame, and are even on the radio........

Name some.

Name some songs, that most of the public loves and that contain considerable questionable lyrics?

Especially in terms to race.

Name one?

Song is awesome and by today's standards the lyrics aren't that offensive, has this board been overrun by 12 year old girls :)

By today's standards the lyrics are EVEN MORE offensive.

Edited by SunnyDRE
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think it is a great song, the melody is great and aside from the lyrics everyone seems to like it. I remember why I stopped coming to this forum now. Some of you are such tools to humanity it isn't even worth wasting my energy to point out all the flaws in your pitiful agenda against reality. You are the enablers, you are the problem. We are going through a period of passive/aggressive behavior. First comes the passive, then comes the aggressive. I wonder how many of you will succumb to this hypothesis? Because you are all stuck in the passive phase.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think it is a great song, the melody is great and aside from the lyrics everyone seems to like it. I remember why I stopped coming to this forum now. Some of you are such tools to humanity it isn't even worth wasting my energy to point out all the flaws in your pitiful agenda against reality. You are the enablers, you are the problem. We are going through a period of passive/aggressive behavior. First comes the passive, then comes the aggressive. I wonder how many of you will succumb to this hypothesis? Because you are all stuck in the passive phase.

forgive me lord.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I love the song "one in a million", but the lyrics are a bit "faux pas" with the mentioning of immigrants and persons, and all that.

Cant help but feeling awkward if im whisteling it in the street.

Im not racist, but its such a catchy tune, and i was wondering if anyone else has the same problem with the song.

i also heard that the song might not be axl roses opinion, but infact just the opinion of someone who hates people coming into the country, some crazy guy that just hates everything, but he loves this girl who has softened his heart, or something like that.

I love the music, especially the way the electric and the acoustic guitars combine, the acoustic solo and the catchiness of the melody. Axl does a great vocal performance, one of my favorites, and the way he goes from mellow, smooth singing in the beginning into a very intense, aggressive singing later on is really cool. I am not very fond of the lyrics, though, they are racist and homophobic. It's hard to relate to the song the way I want to with the lyrics being som contrary to my own thoughts. But the music is brilliant.

When it comes to what Axl meant and what other band members have thought about the song, I have compiled a list of this at Appetite for Discussion's Song Database:

Axl: I started writing about wanting to get out of LA , getting away for a little while. I'd been down to the downtown-L.A. Greyhound bus station. If you haven't been there, you can't say shit to me about what goes on and about my point of view. There are a large number of black men selling stolen jewelry, crack, heroin and pot, and most of the drugs are bogus. Rip-off artists selling parking spaces to parking lots that there's no charge for. Trying to misguide every kid that gets off the bus and doesn't quite know where he's at or where to go, trying to take the person for whatever they've got. That's how I hit town. The thing with 'One in a Million' is, basically, we're all one in a million, we're all here on this earth. We're one fish in a sea. Let's quit fucking with each other, fucking with me [The Rolling Stone Interview With Axl Rose" Del James, Rolling Stone August 1989].

Axl: 'One in a million' is about...... I went back and forth from Indiana eight times my first year in Hollywood. I wrote it about being dropped off at the bus station and everything that was going on. I'd never been in a city this big and was fortunate enough to have this black dude help me find my way. He guided me to the RTD station and showed me what bus to take, because I couldn't get a straight answer out of anybody. He wasn't after my money or anything. It was more like, "Here's a new kid in town, and he looks like he might get into trouble down here. Lemme help him get on his way." People kept coming up trying to sell me joints and stuff. In downtown L.A the joints are usually bogus, or they'll sell you drugs that can kill you. It's a really ugly scene. The song's not about him, but you could kinda say he was one in a million. When I sat down after walking in circles for three hours, the cops told me to get off the streets. The cops down there have seen so much slime that they figure if you have long hair, you're probably slime also. The black guys trying to sell you jewelry and drugs is where the line 'Police and black persons, get out of my way' comes from. I've seen these huge black dudes pull Bowie knives on people for their boom boxes and shit. It's ugly (...) I don't have anything against someone coming here from another country and trying to better themselves. What I don't dig is some 7-11 worker acting as though you don't belong here, or acting like they don't understand you while they're trying to rip you off. [Axl mimics an Iranian] "Wot? I no understand you". I'm saying "I gave you a 20, and I want my $15 change!" I threatened to blow up their gas station, and then they gave me my change. I don't need that. I don't know what to think about gays. They're in a world of their own. I'm not too happy about AIDS. When I say I'm a small-town white boy, I'm just saying I'm no better than anyone else I've described. I'm just trying to get through life, that's all. [The world according to W. Axl Rose by Del James; RIP April 1989].

Axl: I used words like police and black persons because you're not allowed to use the word black person. Why can black people go up to each other and say, "black person," but when a white guy does it all of a sudden it's a big put-down. I don't like boundaries of any kind. I don't like being told what I can and what I can't say. I used the word black person because it's a word to describe somebody that is basically a pain in your life, a problem. The word black person doesn't necessarily mean black. Doesn't John Lennon have a song 'Woman Is the black person of the World'? There's a rap group, N.W.A., black persons with Attitude. I mean, they're proud of that word. More power to them. Guns N' Roses ain't bad. . . . N.W.A. is baad! Mr. Bob Goldthwait said the only reason we put these lyrics on the record was because it would cause controversy and we'd sell a million albums. Fuck him! Why'd he put us in his skit? We don't just do something to get the controversy, the press [The Rolling Stone Interview With Axl Rose" Del James, Rolling Stone August 1989].

Axl: When I use the word immigrants, what I'm talking about is going to a 7-11 or Village pantries - a lot of people from countries like Iran, Pakistan, China, Japan et cetera, get jobs in these convenience stores and gas stations. Then they treat you as if you don't belong here. I've been chased out of a store with Slash by a six-foot-tall Iranian with a butcher knife because he didn't like the way we were dressed. Scared me to death. All I could see in my mind was a picture of my arm on the ground, blood going everywhere. When I get scared, I get mad. I grabbed the top of one of these big orange garbage cans and went back at him with this shield, going, "Come on!" I didn't want to back down from this guy. Anyway that's why I wrote about immigrants. Maybe I should have been more specific and said, "Joe Schmoladoo at the 7-11 and persons make no sense to me." That's ridiculous! I summed it up simply and said, "Immigrants." [The Rolling Stone Interview With Axl Rose" Del James, Rolling Stone August 1989].

Duff: That whole thing’s such a bunch of crap, man. Slash is half black. I come from a family that’s a quarter black. And if you [assumes a bullhorn voice] READERS OUT THERE, if you listen to all the lyrics, you might learn something. Axl was a fuckin’ wet behind the ears white boy in LA for the first time and he was scared to death! That’s what the song is about. People are just gonna have to take it whichever way they think is right. I mean, I don’t even like talking about it anymore. All it is, is a tale about a certain part of town. Yes, the story is told by a white kid, but that’s his story. And Axl’s got such a reputation now, he’s so well know, that of course they’re gonna jump all over his fucking ass. He said that dirty word. I mean, tell me about it. I’ve been an uncle since I was two. It was my older sister’s first child and it was a black kid. When I was growing up I was surrounded by nieces and nephews and cousins that were black, plus my own immediate family, who were white of course. Until I started school, I didn’t know there was a difference in black and white. That was the first time I heard anybody call somebody a black person. I didn’t even know what the word meant. I still don’t. So I feel strongly about this. The bottom line is, Axl is not prejudiced. There is no prejudice in this band. It’s just a tale of what happened to a kid from Indiana, okay? And just being scared off his fucking ass by what he finds in the big city. [...] That song was that song. I can’t see us ever doing a song like that again. Not because we’re chicken shit to do it, just because that was then. There’s nothing left in our lives like that [Kerrang, March 1990].

Axl: To appreciate the humour in our work you gotta be able to relate to a lot of different things. And not everybody does. Not everybody can. With ‘One in a million’, I used a word - it’s part of the English language whether it’s a good word or not. It’s a derogatory word, it’s a negative word. It’s not meant to sum up the entire black race, but it was directed towards black people in those situations. I was robbed, I was ripped-off, I had my life threatened! And it’s like, I described it in one word. And not only that, but I wanted to see the effect of a racial joke. I wanted to see what effect that would have on the world. Slash was into it.... I mean, the song says « Don’t wanna buy none of your gold chains today ». Now a black person on the Oprah Winfrey show who goes « Oh, they’re putting down black people! » is going to fuckin’ take one of these guys at the bus stop home and feed him and take care of him and let him babysit the kids? They ain’t gonna be near the guy ! I don’t think every black person is a black person. I don’t care. I consider myself kinda green and from another planet or something, you know? I’ve never felt I fit into any group, so to speak. A black person has this 300 years of whatever on his shoulders. OK. But I ain’t got nothing to do with that. It bores me too. There’s such a thing as too sensitive. You can watch a movie about someone blowing all the crap outta all these people, but you could be the most anti-violent person in the world. But you get off on this movie, like, yeah! He deserved it, you know, the bad guy got shot... Something I’ve noticed that’s really weird about ‘One in a million’ is the whole song coming together took me by surprise. I wrote the song as a joke. West (Arkeen, co-lyricist of ‘It’s so easy’ amongst other songs) just got robbed by two black guys on Christmas night, a few years back. He went out to play on Hollywood boulevard and he’s standing there playing in front of the band and he gets robbed at knife point for 78 cents. A couple of days later we’re all sittin’ around watchin’ TV - there’s Duff and West and a couple other guys - and we’re all bummed out, hungover and this and that. And I’m sitting there with no money, no job, feelin’ guilty for being at West’s house all the time suckin’ up the oxygen, you know? And I picked up this guitar, and I can only play like the top two strings, and I ended up fuckin’ around with this little riff. It was the only thing I could play on the guitar at the time. And then I started ad-libbing some words to it as a joke. And we had just watched Sam Kinison or somethin’ on the video, you know, and I guess the humour was just sorta leanin’ that way anyway or somethin’. I don’t know. But we just started writing this thing, and when I sang « police and black persons, that’s right », that was to fuck with West’s head, cos he couldn’t believe I would write that! And it came out like that....then later on the chorus came about because I was like getting really far away, like ‘Rocket man’, Elton John. I was thinking about my friends and family in Indiana, and I realized those people have no concept of who I am anymore. Even the ones I was close to. Since then I’ve flown people out here, had’em hang out here, I’ve paid for everything. But there was no joy in it for them. I was smashin’ shit, going fuckin’ crazy. And yet, trying to work. And they were going, « Man, I don’t wanna be a rocker any more, not if you go through this ». But at the same time, I brought’em out, you know, and we just hung out for a couple of months - wrote songs together, had serious talks, it was almost like bein’ on acid cos we’d talk about the family and life and stuff, and we’d get really heavy and get to know each all over again. It’s hard to try and replace eight years of knowing each other every day, and then all of a sudden I’m in this new world. Back there I was a street kid with a skateboard and no money dreamin’ ‘bout being in a rock band, and now all of a sudden I’m here. And it’s weird for them to see their friends putting up Axl posters, you know? And it’s weird for me too. So anyway, all of a sudden I came up with this chorus « You’re one in a million », you know, and « we tried to reach you but you were much too high .... »(...) So that’s like, « we tried to reach you but you were much too high », I was picturing ‘em trying to call me if, like, I disappeared or died or something. And « you’re one in a million », someone said that to me real sarcastically, it wasn’t like an ego thing. But that’s the good thing, you use that « I’m one in a million » positively to make yourself get things done. But originally, it was kinda like someone went, « Yeah, you’re just fuckin’ one in a million, aren’t ya? », and it stuck with me. Then we go in the studio, and Duff plays the guitar much more aggressively than I did. Slash made it too tight and concise, and I wanted it a bit rawer. Then Izzy comes up with this electric guitar thing. I was pushing him to come up with a cool tone, and all of a sudden he’s comin’up with this aggressive thing. It just happened. So suddenly it didn’t work to sing the song in a low funny voice any more. We tried and it didn’t work, didn’t sound right, it didn’t fit. And the guitar parts were so cool, I had to sing it like.....HURRHHHH ! so that I sound like I’m totally into this [stick To Your Guns by Mick Wall; Kerrang, 21st and 28th of April 1990].

Axl: I'll get lambasted and filleted all over the place over that song. Dave Marsh will be writing about this 'We Are The World' consciousness, but Dave, I don't know where you were doing your 'We Are The World' consciousness, but we were getting robbed at knifepoint at that time in our lives. 'One In A Million' brought out the fact that racism does exist so let's do something about it. Since that song, a lot of people may hate Guns N' Roses, but they think about their racism now. And they weren't thinking about that during 'We Are the World.' 'We Are the World' was like a Hallmark card [There's A Riot Going On! Musician, September 1991].

Axl: However that song makes them feel, they think that must be what the song means. If they hate blacks, and they hear my lines and hate blacks even more, I'm sorry, but that's not how l meant it. Our songs affect people, and that scares a lot of people. l think that song, more than any other song in a long time, brought certain issues to the surface and brought up discussion as to how fucked things really are. But when read somewhere that l said something last night before we performed "One in a Million," it pisses me off. We don't perform "One in a Million" ["I, Axl" Del James, RIP Magazine - 1992].

Izzy: I have a big problem with that lyric. I've talked to Axl many times about his lyrics. 'You don't need to say that, Axl. You're a fuckin' immigrant yourself. Everyone's a fuckin' immigrant in America. Don't you see you're putting down the whole of fuckin' America? And if they persons, well so what?' Axl... is very... confused. But I was pissed off. I was very against that shit going on our record. 'Why'd you have to say that, Axl. It's hard enough just gettin' by.' [Pauses] But at the same time, y'know, this is just fuckin' rock 'n' roll music. When it's fucked up, it's more interesting. Whoever said this was responsible music, y'know? We're not fuckin' role models. At all. But 'One in a Million' is just flat-out racist. Like that about black persons trying to sell you gold chains [The Face, 1990].

Izzy: Living with that 'One In A Million' fall-out was heavy shit. I don't know if Axl learned anything from the experience - I would hope he did. Actually, Slash said the best things about that in some interview he did when he said that Axl's free expression was all well and good but he'd hate to think what would happen to any of the band if they got thrown in jail and had to explain the lyrics to the other guys doing time. 'Cos during that period I ended up in jail in Phoenix for a day. I found out. It was pretty fucked up [The Vox, 1991].

Izzy: 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...[Classic Rock, 2001].

Axl: My opinion is, the majority of the public can't be trusted with that song. It inspires thoughts and reactions that cause people to have to deal with their own feelings on racism, prejudice and sexuality["I, Axl" Del James, RIP Magazine - 1992].

Slash: When Axl first came up with the song and really wanted to do it, I said I didn't think it was very cool... I don't regret doing 'One in a Million,' I just regret what we've been through because of it and the way people have perceived our personal feelings ["Slash: The Rolling Stone interview" Jeffrey Ressner with Lonn M. Friend, Rolling Stone, February 1991].

Axl: l wrote a song that was very simple and vague. (...)l think I showed that quite well from where l was at. The song most definitely was a survival mechanism. It was a way for me to express my anger at how vulnerable l felt in certain situations that had gone down in my life. It's not a song l would write now. The song is very generic and generalized, and I apologized for that on the cover of the record. Going back and reading it, it wasn't the best apology but, at the time, it was the best apology I could make.["I, Axl" Del James, RIP Magazine - 1992].

Axl: I'm on a fence with that song. It's a very powerful song. l feel, as far as artistic freedom and my responsibility to those beliefs, that the song should exist. That's the only reason l haven't pulled it off the shelves. Freedom and creativity should never be stifled. Had l known that people were going to get hurt because of this song, then l would have been wrong. l was definitely wrong in thinking that the public could handle it ["I, Axl" Del James, RIP Magazine - 1992].

Axl: It was originally written as comedy. It was written watching Sam Kinison during one of his first specials. I was sitting around with friends, drunk, with no money. One of my friends had just gotten robbed for seventy-eight cents on Christmas by two black men [interview Magazine talks to Axl Rose, 1992].

Axl: l played it on guitar and it was done very slow and in a different tone of voice and done very humorously. Well, that didn't work out when we recorded it because I had Duff play it on guitar -- because he could play it better and in better time -- and Izzy put this other guitar thing to it, and it evolved into something of its own. We didn't plan that song to be as forceful as it was. We walked into the studio, and boom, it just happened [interview Magazine talks to Axl Rose, 1992].

Slash: And then as far as the whole racist thing is concerned, it had nothing to do with racism, or us speaking out against blacks or anything. I'm half-black, so I was like: "Ok, this is a good one. And we're definitely not homophobic. Axl's view doesn't maybe match with what you're "supposed" to think. But the experiences Axl had of gays when he came to Los Angeles for the first time, you can't take that away from him [Metal Zone, December 1993].

Duff: That song was meant, to the best of my knowledge, as a third-person slant on how fucked-up America was in the '80s. I don't know. I wouldn't have used the words, but Axl has been known to be amazingly bold at times [Reverb, July 2010].

Steve: 'One In A Million' featured the wildly controversial lyrics about "police and black persons" and "immigrants and persons." I thought that it was a great song that needed strong words. It expressed a heavy sentiment that had to be delivered with no punches pulled. I knew that the words weren't directed to the majority of blacks, gays, or immigrants. It simply described the scumbags of the world. (...) The song explained the shit that Axl, a naive hick from Indiana, had gone through ["My Appetite for Destruction", 2010, pp. 177].

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Song is awesome and by today's standards the lyrics aren't that offensive, has this board been overrun by 12 year old girls :)

no, it's just that we that have been listening to it for decades now, are desensitized to the shock value of the song.

I was never offended by the song back in 88 and feel no differently now, after all it's only a perspective from someone who just came to the big city and it's pretty tongue n' cheek to me.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest
This topic is now closed to further replies.
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.



×
×
  • Create New...