One In A Million being erased from history

[username]

Oh, and as for One In A Million, I love it. It's very offensive. I don't like some terms used in it. But I love it for what it is. It has a certain youthfulness and zeitgeist by being offensive and provocative with poorly chosen words directed at much smaller groups of people than the ones that felt attacked. I get it. It's one of those things a lot of people think but don't say about select individuals (not entire minority groups) because it'd be wrong. 

Edited May 4, 2018 by username

[Chris 55]

Wow. NOBODY remembers Axl stating that he was going to remove "One in a Million" and "Look at Your game Girl" from all future pressings because "they're too easily misinterpreted"? He said this some years back. 

[killuridols]

Musically speaking, it is not a bad song. I do like it. Not that is WOW either. It is pretty decent.

Now the lyrics are SHIT. They are the statement of a VERY IGNORANT person. And I can try to understand all the reasons he had to think that way, but 30 years later I would be embarassed of having thought that way and I think he is and that's why he will probably remove it.

I am okay with the removal (if it happens) because we don't need a song like that in 2018. He doesn't need to voice that statement anymore because I guess he's evolved from that dark place.

Some can think of it as "deleting" history but we don't need the song around and more people listening to it, just like we don't need Hitler and the Nazis anymore. We can be aware of it or learn about it, but we don't need to relive it everytime.

Personally, I never play it at all. And if it comes on, I skip it. I will never sing those things and say those words.

They make me sick. I haven't grown up with such hate towards different people.

 

[scooby845]

It's a great fucking song! The embodiment of GNR at the time. 

Why wouldn't they release it anymore? I think it's a bit lame that GNR decided to succumb to labels and stuff, instead of toughening up a bit and releasing it anyway!

[Len Cnut]

If you’re gonna make a song like that, be unrepentant about it, thats what I say, example:

[MyPrettyTiedUpMichelle]

If Axl is the one who wants it removed and it makes him feel better, then so be it, although I'm not a fan of fiddling with the band's history like that, precisely because it's a record of where the band, or Axl at least, was at in a particular time period.  As with any historical record, it shows the good and the bad, and I accept that.  It also shows progression on Axl's part if he no longer thinks that way.  Remove the song, and you remove a link in his evolutionary chain, so to speak.  

But I tend to view these things pragmatically and without much emotion, I suppose.  I get why other people would be glad to see the back of it though.

[lame ass security]

I have performed OIAM acoustically a number of times, although it has been years. I admit I took poetic license and changed some of the offending lyrics.  I changed the "n" word to "leeches" and the gay slur to "facists".  It didn't change the rhyming scheme so it worked out. I always got a good response when I performed it so it was cool.  

[tat2d1]

7 hours ago, mr-fukaji said:

As much as the music bangs, it's the sound of a coddled, white millionaire having a tone deaf temper tantrum and coke meltdown and is possibly the most embarrassing thing a band of that size and stature has ever done. It's to the band's credit that they want to forget about it. If you want to sing along and pretend you're sticking it to some invisible boogie man, you still can, whatever, but you're nuts if you think this band in 2018 is ever want to go near that song again.

The song was written before Axl was a millionaire and represents the ignorant attitude of a Midwestern white boy first arriving at the LA bus station. 

[killuridols]

I had not noticed the song was not included in this box set. Maybe because I think of it as only AFD thing.

But I don't see the point in adding it and opening a whole can of worms just to have it there. Besides, there is no way to defend that song anymore. The excuses Axl gave are warped, complicated, make no sense at times and each one of them can be argued. Actually, that song would make a great piece for a Phd Thesis on cultural studies, black culture studies and things like that.

Going back to that is putting his head under the guillotine, not because of PC bullshit, but because every line is weak. Except for saying "it is just art" and then a whole argument about what art is would ensue, which will probably drag him to the mud even more, lol.

Nah, not worth a dime.

Edited May 4, 2018 by killuridols

[Gnrcane]

18 minutes ago, tat2d1 said:

The song was written before Axl was a millionaire and represents the ignorant attitude of a Midwestern white boy first arriving at the LA bus station. 

Exactly. It's like he was writing it to shock people into saying that those thoughts were wrong. He even ends it with "radicals and racists, don't point your fingers at me" to say not to use him to justify their thoughts. 

Hell, he was in a band with a half black lead guitarist, he idolized Freddie Mercury and Elton John and the band manager and label head were Jewish. He couldn't have really had those beliefs by the time he wrote the song.

[estrangedtwat]

Oh!  And don't forget David Geffen!

 

[killuridols]

Using the gayness of other people you barely know its like saying "yes, but I have a jewish friend" or I have a "gay friend", lol.

Nope. You don't.

[31illusions]

53 minutes ago, tat2d1 said:

The song was written before Axl was a millionaire and represents the ignorant attitude of a Midwestern white boy first arriving at the LA bus station. 

Ignorant? It was based off actual things he saw and went through. Having some dudes try to rape him and the dirty seedy life in LA. That's all.

Edited May 4, 2018 by 31illusions

[cooker]

I really like the guitar work on the song. But the song itself is hard to listen to. I don't see a need to include it on the box set, this is Axl's call, and I think it's the right one. 

[janrichmond]

I really love the song but wouldn't play it at a family BBQ 

[Len Cnut]

9 minutes ago, janrichmond said:

I really love the song but wouldn't play it at a family BBQ 

I would!   

[janrichmond]

Just now, Len Cnut said:

I would!   

I know you would  but what if it said Pakis instead of hooray for tolerance!s wouldn't yer old man go mental?? Or is he like you?!? 

[-W.A.R-]

2 hours ago, tremolo said:

Not much integrity left, huh?

They're selling a box of junk for $1000.

Thats far worse than omitting OIAM - which is not even an Appetite-era song anyway.

[Blackstar]

One of the CDs in the box set contains all Lies songs (except OIAM), but also other songs, so technically it isn't a Lies reissue and the box wasn't advertised as an AFD and Lies reissue, only AFD. So OIAM isn't removed from the album. They just decided not to include it in the box for a variety of reasons.

I wouldn't agree with its removal from the original album, as it would be retrospective self-censorship, but I think there was absolutely no reason to include it in the box.

And since there has been no Lies reissue and there won't be one in the future, the original album with OIAM will be still in circulation so it's not erased from history.

[tat2d1]

38 minutes ago, 31illusions said:

Ignorant? It was based off actual things he saw and went through. Having some dudes try to rape him and the dirty seedy life in LA. That's all.

When I say "ignorant" I mean it as in the Midwest "redneck" attitude. A lot of the song is about his attitude when he first arrived at the LA bus station and the stereotypes that a Midwest teen grows up believing in.  I know about the incident you referred to, some dude let Axl crash on his hotel room floor and then tried to rape Axl, which at that time convinced him that gays were rapists - a negative stereotype that was often perpetuated in those times. Sometimes a person's personal experiences can cause a person to have an ignorant perspective on something, I guess that's what I meant.

[default_]

Its a shame they decided to do it. Its a great song. 

Fuxk the whiners. 

[killuridols]

29 minutes ago, tremolo said:

If an overweight colleague tries to screw you over at work, at least you’re going to think to yourself is “that fat son of a bitch...” Hell, you’d probably even make that comment to others when talking about the situation, and you might even say it to that colleague face to face. It’s just a way to process anger and frustration. It doesn’t mean you are a fatphobe –or whatever made-up term these eternal victims come up with, it doesn’t meanyou hatw fat people or think they are less valuable because of their body shape.

Why would that person remark the overweight of the attacker if being overweight has nothing to do with being a predator?

It could have easily been a slim person and that wouldnt make them less of a predator, unless you prefer being raped by someone with good body 

Clearly the remark is unnecessary and it comes from a place of anger against someone fat. A rapist is a rapist and if you are going to insult them, then better call them by what they are: degenerates low lives. The rest is irrelevant.

Axl became disgusted with gay people because unfortunately he had bad personal experiences with them, not only with that trucker guy but he also said that figuring out his father abused him also influenced his disgust of homosexuals.

His lack of education on the matter made him associate gay people with rapists but being a rapist is more about power and control than sexuality.

[1neophyte]

3 hours ago, killuridols said:

 

Now the lyrics are SHIT. They are the statement of a VERY IGNORANT person.

 

Uh, that's kind of the point. What is so difficult to understand? Axl is knowingly taking on the character of a "very ignorant person" in the song. The fault is not his for singing the song, but in the brain dead listeners with no comprehension skills. Do you feel the same way about "It's So Easy"? Do you think Axl is legitimately advocating sexual harassment and assault in that song? How about in "Pretty Tied Up"? Is he encouraging drug and alcohol abuse when he sings "Brownstone" or "Nightrain"? Why are you a GNR fan at all if you're incapable of understanding and interpreting art?

This is exactly why there will never be any new music. Axl has given up on the legions of idiots in the world, and just exploits them all for enormous financial gain rather than be the artist that he is. It's just not worth the effort of being an artist when you have to contend with this level of stupidity.

1 minute ago, killuridols said:

Why would that person remark the overweight of the attacker if being overweight has nothing to do with being a predator?

It could have easily been a slim person and that wouldnt make them less of a predator, unless you prefer being raped by someone with good body 

Clearly the remark is unnecessary and it comes from a place of anger against someone fat. A rapist is a rapist and if you are going to insult them, then better call them by what they are: degenerates low lives. The rest is irrelevant.

Axl became disgusted with gay people because unfortunately he had bad personal experiences with them, not only with that trucker guy but he also said that figuring out his father abused him also influenced his disgust of homosexuals.

His lack of education on the matter made him associate gay people with rapists but being a rapist is more about power and control than sexuality.

Oh jeez...you're hopeless. Is there just a language barrier or are you sincerely this confused?

[Hollywood Gunner]

shoulda been included in the boxset

[WhazUp]

It is still on GNR Lies and available digitally on every streaming service right?  Obviously Slash has gone on record saying it made him uncomfortable, Axl knows the backlash.  I don't see the big deal in not including it on a AFD boxset of all boxsets anyways