One In A Million being erased from history

[MYWIFEMYLIFE]

That's one of the best songs, in my top 5.

That song as a whole is wonderful, the lyrics just click. As a person who loves Body Count and its so called racist lyrics, I neva understood this shit over the song, and no shit on Body Count or other AfroAmerican bands, Axl's not a racist, and the lyrics are an artistic expression of what he passed thru at the time. I am truly offended as a GNR fan of like 30 years bcuz of this cowardly act from the band. 

Btw, I'm an Turkish immigrant in UK, and my parents are Muslim. 

[AXL_N_DIZZY]

I was all for “OIAM”- and Axl’s right to express himself throughout the late 80s/early 90s... But if the artist no longer stands by/believes in the work- and it was never anything the rest of the band really signed on for- then I have zero problem with them doing what they can to limit its future dissemination (to lessen impact). It will always be part of the band’s history (as is MLK Jr.’s speech on “Madagascar”) and “out there”- so I don’t see it as “whitewashing”. More like trying to be responsible where they can...

Edited May 9, 2018 by AXL_N_DIZZY

[Stro]

I'm alright with it. Even in its time it was an immature, offensive screed. The music is good, Axl's vocals are good, but the content was always trash so whatever. 

Edited May 9, 2018 by Stro

[Nice Boy]

A British newspaper has this 'story about OIAM today -

I say 'story' because they appear to have got their facts completely wrong, though perhaps it's not much of a surprise since the 'newspaper' is The Sun which is terrible (I think it was one of the ones that reported Axl killing his dogs etc in the 80s) though it's one of the best selling here in the UK. 

The music video is the one for Patience but with OIAM dubbed over it, and says: "CONTROVERSIAL LYRICS: Guns n' Roses music video for the controversial song One in a Million, Axl Rose got plenty of pushback for the first hit he wrote solo"

WTF are they on about?

 

https://www.thesun.co.uk/video/news/guns-n-roses-music-video-for-the-controversial-song-one-in-million-axl-rose-got-plenty-of-pushback-for-the-first-hit-he-wrote-solo/

 

 

 

Edited May 9, 2018 by Nice Boy

[killuridols]

26 minutes ago, DieselDaisy said:

Indeed - Latin heritage (singular nominative case: -a, feminine, -us, male).

When the Spanish prohibit their classic initiation ritual of the male giving the female a big hearty slap on the backside, then we know we have problems!

I never heard of such ritual but if, as a male you do that here nowadays, you will undoubtedly receive a huge punch in your face (or your face all over IG and FB with the rapist label attached under)

We are living great times 

[estrangedtwat]

8 minutes ago, killuridols said:

I never heard of such ritual but if, as a male you do that here nowadays, you will undoubtedly receive a huge punch in your face (or your face all over IG and FB with the rapist label attached under)

We are living great times 

 

[killuridols]

^^ and the stupid believes it 

[Gackt]

The song existed the way it was, alongside his public Charles Manson obsession because Axl was edgy as fuck and loved to stir the pot with what he can get away with.   The song could have easily been edited to make it less controversial and be included in the boxset, but I'd guess some people thought rereleasing the song like this would be problematic.  For what it's worth, you can still get OIAM on iTunes in the Lies album.

People complaining about UTLH just didn't spend any time looking into the lyrics, and immediately took it at face value.  Those folk also think you can't tell Lies in music.

[killuridols]

45 minutes ago, Nice Boy said:

A British newspaper has this 'story about OIAM today -

I say 'story' because they appear to have got their facts completely wrong, though perhaps it's not much of a surprise since the 'newspaper' is The Sun which is terrible (I think it was one of the ones that reported Axl killing his dogs etc in the 80s) though it's one of the best selling here in the UK. 

The music video is the one for Patience but with OIAM dubbed over it, and says: "CONTROVERSIAL LYRICS: Guns n' Roses music video for the controversial song One in a Million, Axl Rose got plenty of pushback for the first hit he wrote solo"

WTF are they on about?

https://www.thesun.co.uk/video/news/guns-n-roses-music-video-for-the-controversial-song-one-in-million-axl-rose-got-plenty-of-pushback-for-the-first-hit-he-wrote-solo/

Wow that shit is truly fucked up!! 

Could GN'R sue over that?? It's really really crazy!

[Tom-Ass]

I just stumbled upon the Young Turks Discussing this.. I have seen their stuff in the past and they are pretty much a bunch of giant ass clowns..

 

 

[Blackstar]

All these reissues and box sets have two main purposes (and two basic target groups):

1.To resell the artist's older work to people who are already fans, offering it in a new package with (supposed) better sound quality and extra stuff for their collection.

2.To introduce the artist's old work to a new audience.

The people who know GnR know OIAM and the fans own it in one form or another so they can go and listen to it whenever they like.

So that leaves the second group. Is there any reason for the band to officially re-introduce a song like that to a new audience now with this release, which is not a reissue of the album the song was originally in? None whatsoever, other than satisfy some old fans' (who, again, own it already or know where to find it) fantasies about what it represents, although it apparently represents something else for the person who wrote it. In the end, the potential new fans will still be able to discover it, as it will still be out there on the original album, on youtube etc.

Edited May 9, 2018 by Blackstar

[RussTCB]

8 minutes ago, Tom-Ass said:

I just stumbled upon the Young Turks Discussing this.. I have seen their stuff in the past and they are pretty much a bunch of giant ass clowns..

 

 

So much dumb. So, so, so much dumb. lol.

I have to say, if nothing else it's hilarious to me to see/hear GN'R lyrics being read in plain text by talking heads on news stations. At least I'm getting a laugh out of that aspect of it 

[Blackstar]

Like I said earlier, I bet that what incited all the fuss and the articles about OIAM being omitted is this very thread.

[MYWIFEMYLIFE]

the sun is not a newspaper

[RONIN]

40 minutes ago, Tom-Ass said:

I just stumbled upon the Young Turks Discussing this.. I have seen their stuff in the past and they are pretty much a bunch of giant ass clowns..

 

 

It looks like they're fans of GnR and give them the benefit of the doubt in the end by saying that they don't like censorship and it isn't a big deal whether GnR keep or remove the song - the story isn't deserving of controversy according to them. They mention the time period the song was written in and that the band shouldn't be judged for the controversial lyrics written decades ago. They also bring up Ice Cube's band and mention how offensive some of the lyrics in his songs are which is a point of contention for fans of OIAM here. This is not a popular position for them to take on a progressive show - most of their audience would consider OIAM to be ignorant, offensive, and deserving of censorship/criticism. 

TYT does call out Axl's BS rationalizations for the offensive lyrics because well...his reasoning for writing the lyrics is pretty flawed. Like Lenny said, either he should have not apologized and stood by what he wrote or come up with a better explanation for the lyrics like Duff did. Axl did neither and justifiably got slammed by everyone. NWA supported Axl though - so maybe rap groups aren't all that hypocritical?

The thing some people here have to remember is that this song slurs a lot of different people/groups/communities. If you don't belong to those groups and you think the song is swell - great. But how can anyone be surprised when people who are being dissed in these lyrics find the song offensive? Come on. A little empathy goes a long way. This is a song I like and I'm against censorship. But I totally understand why some people have a problem with it. There are legitimate arguments being made for both sides of the coin here imho.

The last thing I'd add is that the lyrics for OIAM paint an incredibly unflattering portrait of Axl compared to the genius auteur that he/fans envisioned him as during the Chinese Democracy years. The "sophisticated artist" image Axl was chasing for the last 20 years is immediately undone by that song because of the stunning ignorance of OIAM's lyrics. I'd wager Axl is deeply embarrassed by this song (and the Charlie Manson track). 

[Chris 55]

9 hours ago, Bitchisback said:

From that Rolling stone interview with Axl in 99

 

"Rather than simply create a work that's negative and vengeful, though, Rose seems anxious to make something "positive." Along these lines, he recently decided to remove the two most controversial G n' R tracks, "One in a Million," from 1989's GN'R Lies – with its lyrics disparaging "hooray for tolerance!s," "immigrants" and "hooray for tolerance!s" – and the cover of Charles Manson's "Look at Your Game Girl," which ends 1993's The Spaghetti Incident?. While he's always been reluctant to explain or justify his art, Rose has come to believe that "they're too easily misinterpreted." Starting in February, the tracks will be deleted from future pressings."

 

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/features/axl-speaks-20000203

 

Not sure why this was a surprise to anyone.   🤔 

I posted his reasoning twice already but people would rather believe their own versions. 

[Bitchisback]

6 minutes ago, Chris 55 said:

I posted his reasoning twice already but people would rather believe their own versions. 

But the millennials! 

[Blackstar]

1 hour ago, RONIN said:

TYT does call out Axl's BS rationalizations for the offensive lyrics because well...his reasoning for writing the lyrics is pretty flawed. Like Lenny said, either he should have not apologized and stood by what he wrote or come up with a better explanation for the lyrics like Duff did. Axl did neither and justifiably got slammed by everyone. NWA supported Axl though - so maybe rap groups aren't all that hypocritical?

Some of Axl's efforts to explain it were more articulated imo (like the one from Interview Magazine I posted on the second page of the thread as well as the one with Del in 1992) and actually made some sense (without fixing it, of course), butwhat stack was his first reaction, where he focused on rationalising (unsuccessfully) the use of the offensive words as that was where the backlash was focused too.

Duff came up with the explanation of the "third party comment" many years later. When OIAM was released he had said different things:

I think each individual has to interpret it as they like. As for me? I think it's kinda funny! It's real life, and this band has never minced words when it comes to real life. The song is basically Axl's view of coming to downtown L.A. for the first time. He was from Indiana, he was real green--and L.A. blew his mind. [...] You have to remember--we've lived all this stuff. When you saw these dirty white-trash (expletive) guys on Hollywood Boulevard--hey, that was us! [...] I'm sure it'll bother some people--and I can understand that. But the song is a way of describing what happened to us, not making any value judgments. [...] If you're just exposing aspects of life that are already out there, what's the problem with that? When I was 14, I thought Sid Vicious was cool, but I knew that didn't mean I had to OD on heroin. This is just our song--and we're not asking for everyone to like it. I don't think we have to be responsible for everybody else's opinion [Duff, Guns N' Roses Living Up to Notoriety, Los Angeles Times, December 1988]

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 hooray for tolerance!. 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 [Duff, Kerrang, March 1990]

http://www.a-4-d.com/t99-one-in-a-million

The first Duff quote, which is from the time of release, confirms what Axl said about OIAM being initially something like white trash comedy about his real life tale and at a same time a means to express his anger and other feelings about it (also explains the comedy atmosphere at the CBGB show).

Edited May 9, 2018 by Blackstar

[J Dog]

Lies is so good, One in a Million and You're Crazy are two of Axl's best vocals ever.

[Jw224]

There's really no explaining or excusing the lyrics guys. I get we're gnr fans but let's not let that get in the way of common sense. I'm not necessarily for or against removing it but to try to say the controversy was unjustified is kinda stupid. 

[killuridols]

30 minutes ago, Chris 55 said:

I posted his reasoning twice already but people would rather believe their own versions. 

This was already posted by @Blackstar in the beginning of the thread. You guys didnt read it or something.... in spite of Axl intentions or words from year 2000, they never materialized, OIAM is still out there and can be found on Lies.

[AncientEvil80]

1 minute ago, killuridols said:

in spite of Axl intentions or words from year 2000, they never materialized, OIAM is still out there and can be found on Lies.

And thank fucking god for that!!

[Chris 55]

3 minutes ago, killuridols said:

This was already posted by @Blackstar in the beginning of the thread. You guys didnt read it or something.... in spite of Axl intentions or words from year 2000, they never materialized, OIAM is still out there and can be found on Lies.

Nah, that's to an old interview. Posted it on page 2 I think. 

 

Anyway, it's just Axl sticking to his word almost 20 years later. 

[Ratam]

3 hours ago, Nice Boy said:

A British newspaper has this 'story about OIAM today -

I say 'story' because they appear to have got their facts completely wrong, though perhaps it's not much of a surprise since the 'newspaper' is The Sun which is terrible (I think it was one of the ones that reported Axl killing his dogs etc in the 80s) though it's one of the best selling here in the UK. 

The music video is the one for Patience but with OIAM dubbed over it, and says: "CONTROVERSIAL LYRICS: Guns n' Roses music video for the controversial song One in a Million, Axl Rose got plenty of pushback for the first hit he wrote solo"

WTF are they on about?

 

https://www.thesun.co.uk/video/news/guns-n-roses-music-video-for-the-controversial-song-one-in-million-axl-rose-got-plenty-of-pushback-for-the-first-hit-he-wrote-solo/

 

 

 

What ridicoulous mish mash this video😨 mix "Patience" video with WTTJ and UYI tour video 

[Ratam]

2 hours ago, MYWIFEMYLIFE said:

the sun is not a newspaper

Is a trashpaper 😅