Will Axl ever top One In a Million?

[Realitysucks]

Hands down the best, and most honest song out there. One in a million is from the heart. One parson?s view from the world as he saw it, at THAT moment. And all the world heard was the "n" word. Never listening to the message, but chastising the messenger.  Will there ever be a voice like this again? Will anyone like Axl get to say what's on his mind without being crucified? I think not.. He wore a NWA cap for a reason. Injustice. The hypocrisy, the sheer indignant state of our culture. I hope he has something for the critics in the words of Chinese Democracy.

[EFISH]

How much did Axl pay you to post that? 

Seriously though, One In A Million is one of my favorite GN'R tunes... and nice post. 

[sjgotnitro]

Yea it is one of my favorites. Top 5 favorite.

I don't discriminate, I hate everybody 

[Realitysucks]

So you hear me? Very cool. I appreciate an understanding, a feel for what GNR is about, what LIFE is about. What more is there....except just FUCKING having a good FUCKING time!

[gunns1]

So you hear me? Very cool. I appreciate an understanding, a feel for what GNR is about, what LIFE is about. What more is there....except just FUCKING having a good FUCKING time!

I could change those last 2 words around, to make it sound better , but I wont...


I agree though, one in a million is axl at his most honest, and what people feel probably deep down in their hearts...
after all, in todays world, that song is as true  now, as the day he wrote it..

[Axl_owns_dexter]

Axl couldn't survive another one in a million, not in this media climate, not even if he was as big as he was then.

I don't know what he can really do to shock us, and I really don't care.  Anyway, we've kind of seen it all at this point.

I hope he stays relatively PC, as much as I would love to hear Axl uncensored (about whatever, he's just an interesting dude), I don't want him sabatoging his comeback and his band.

[grog mug]

He could go back to his old look and start playing a new set.  That would shock the HELL OUTTA ME!
LOVE this song though.

[KillKurtzKids]

He won't ever be in a scandle like One In A Million again because he isn't a scared little country boy immensly naive of things he doesn't understand. The song stands out for its honesty, social and historical relevence and the fragility in those words.

[Brundle25]

In fact having quotes from Martin Luther King in Madagascar redresses the balance. I mean how could axl be rasist if he samples Martin Luther king?
Ive always thought that The inclusion of those quotes was to make up for One in a million

[LIGuns]

One in a Million 2K
Police and nappy headed ho's thats right, get away from me"

But seriously seem the "critics" missed the line "Radicals and racist don't point your fingers at me".

As cool of a song as it is, I can't rank it in top 5. It doesn't match up to the Hits or songs like Hair of the Dog, Down on the Farm, Locomotive,Coma,Perfect Crime,You aint the first etc....

[Gargh!]

He already did top it.  With a song called Estranged.

[lennonisgod]

He already did top it.  With a song called Estranged.

I think you missed the point of the thread.

[Loaded NightraiN]

He already did top it.? With a song called Estranged.

I think you missed the point of the thread.

Just a little eh? 

[.Seal]

One In A Million is a great song and so what if the words might be bit offensive to some people. After all they are only words and there are far more worse things in this world than honest words..

[kriss_boy]

One In A Million is a great song and so what if the words might be bit offensive to some people. After all they are only words and there are far more worse things in this world than honest words..

3 people I know really well are gay. And all 3 sleep around, way more than any of my straight pals do. I also know loads of pakistani people and every single one of them owns a shop!!

BUT... that doesnt mean i have a right to write a song, generalising about these people. Its offensive and irresponsible. Obviously theres a lot of truth in stereotypes like these, few are completely fabricated, but you cant start treating people differenlty because they are gay or black or whatever.

I bet Axl regrets One in a Million. Its immature and a bit moronic.

[Verasa]

it's a good song..not a great song and not axl's finest moment by a long shot. i think axl wrote the song honest, but knew what the song was going to bring which was alot of attention. Musicaly & lyricaly he's known by far greater things such as estranged,scom and november rain

[BlowUpYourVideo]

The way things are going, he might get mauled for saying 'black'.

Axl won't do another OIAM because it doesn't apply any more.

[Smoking Guns]

Slash and Izzy are so killer on that song. ?Axl's vocals are simply amazing and the power is bad ass. ?I love the lyrics, because they are honest to how he felt. ?Walking around in LA, seeing a lot of people from the middle east. ?A lot of gang members with gold teeth selling drugs. ?He just had balls to say what he felt. ?

Jarmo, that was when GNR was a dangerous band. ?Ha! ?

Classic song.

[Gargh!]

Quote from: Gargh! on Yesterday at 10:58:45 AM
He already did top it.  With a song called Estranged.


I think you missed the point of the thread.

Nope, I'm pointing out that Estranged is also totally honest etc as well as being a better song.

[Regibold]

If he did One In A Million today, first he would be called a racist, then he'd be forced to go to rehab management for anger control, and last he'd be made to apologize on the radio accompanied by Rev. Jesse Jackson 

[25]

The Rolling Stone Interview With Axl Rose by Del James
August 1989

So far the song that's inspired the most controversy in the band's short career has been "One in a Million." How did you come to write that song?

"One in a Million" was written while sitting in the apartment of my friend West Arkeen, who's like the sixth member of the band. I wrote it at his house, sitting around bored watching TV. I can't really play guitar too well, I only play the top two strings, and I would write a little piece at a time. 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 lyrics have incited a lot of protest, so let's go over them line by line. Let's start with one of the verses, "Police and niggers, that's right/Get outta my way/Don't need to buy none/ Of your gold chains today."

I used words like police and niggers because you're not allowed to use the word nigger. Why can black people go up to each other and say, "Nigger," 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 nigger because it's a word to describe somebody that is basically a pain in your life, a problem. The word nigger doesn't necessarily mean black. Doesn't John Lennon have a song "Woman Is the Nigger of the World"? There's a rap group, N.W.A., Niggers 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.

How about the next verse? Immigrants and faggots/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 fuckin' disease." Why that reference to immigrants?

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 faggots make no sense to me." That's ridiculous! I summed it up simply and said, "Immigrants."

How about the use of the word "faggots"?

I've had some very bad experiences with homosexuals. When I was first coming to Los Angeles, I was about eighteen or nineteen. On my first hitchhiking ride, this guy told me I could crash at his hotel. I went to sleep and woke up while this guy was trying to rape me. I threw him down on the floor. He came at me again. I went running for the door. He came at me. I pinned him between the door and the wall. I had a straight razor, and I pulled the razor and said, "Don't ever touch me! Don't ever think about touching me! Don't touch yourself and think about me! Nothing!" Then I grabbed my stuff and split with no place to go, no sleep, in the middle of nowhere outside of St. Louis. That's why I have the attitude I have.

Are you anti-homosexual then?

I'm proheterosexual. I can't get enough of women, and I don't see the same thing that other men can see in men. I'm not into gay or bisexual experiences. But that's hypocritical of me, because I'd rather see two women together than just about anything else. That happens to be my personal, favorite thing.

How about gay-bashing? Have you ever beaten up somebody simply because of their sexual preference?

No! I never have. The most I do is, like, on the way to the Troubadour in "Boystown," on Santa Monica Boulevard, I'll yell out the car window, "Why don't you guys like pussy?" 'Cause I'm confused. I don't understand it. Anti-homosexual? I'm not against them doing what they want to do as long as it's not hurting anybody else and they're not forcing it upon me. I don't need them in my face or, pardon the pun, up my ass about it.

The "One in a Million" lyrics about "faggots" who "spread some fuckin' disease" got G n' R bounced from an AIDS benefit in New York by the Gay Men's Health Crisis, one of the groups that was involved with putting on the show. How did you feel about that?

We're in no way associated with the Gay Men's Health Crisis, except that David Geffen is on the board of directors for the concert and he's the owner of our record company. We were asked to do this, and we wanted to contribute some money to help stop a deadly disease that's killing humans of all kinds. A friend of mine who's homosexual and was largely responsible for the record companies taking notice of us was upset about it because we didn't even get a chance to clear ourselves, to make good. AIDS is something very scary. The concert was something we wanted to do and felt it was important to do but we were denied the opportunity. We were even denied the opportunity to say anything about it. It was just publicly announced that we weren't allowed to do it because the Gay Men's Health Crisis wouldn't let us. I don't feel they have the right to deny the money and attention they would have gotten from us playing. It's pride, it's ignorant and it's childish.

[Regibold]

Awesome interview, I do remember this. Unfortunately, today if this song was new for the first time, it'd happen all over again. He shouldn't top this song, not unless he wants more controversy, I think we've seen the last of that side of Axl. I mean as far as coming out in a big dose like One In A Million.

[sweetness]

He already did top it.? With a song called Estranged.

No, One in a Million is way more inspired than Estranged.  Theres no comparison.

[bazgnr]

One In A Million is a great song and so what if the words might be bit offensive to some people. After all they are only words and there are far more worse things in this world than honest words..

Kind of brings to mind the lyrics to "Don't Damn Me," doesn't it?   

[Elrothiel]

I think if Axl was going to roar back to the world of controversy, he'd have to include a joke about Islam... because according to the British media (and every single Islamic fanatic) , its the most offensive thing to say... ever.

But I hope he won't (n' I don't think he will), because if he did, it'd be really fucking dangerous if he did and something terrible could happen...

One In A Million for the win!

[acompleteunknown]

I think when an artist uses a slang term like the "n" word, they should be given a little bit of leeway.  Axl is obviously telling the story of a scared 18-year-old kid (himself) who is trying to grasp the right words to describe his view.  He's a bit naive and ignorant and the use of those words exemplifies that.  I don't think the song would have the same power if the lines went...

"Police and African American males please get out of my way..."

Bob Dylan uses the "n" word in the song "Hurricane" and he was praised for that song.

Also, people forget that Slash is half-black.  If that song had "true" racist undertones, I'm sure he would have refused to play it.

[thesloth]

If he did One In A Million today, first he would be called a racist, then he'd be forced to go to rehab management for anger control, and last he'd be made to apologize on the radio accompanied by Rev. Jesse Jackson 

Didn't Jesse Jackson Jr. call all arabs evil?  Personally I suspect that Jesse Jackson preaches way more hate in this world then Axl, one thing I can't stand are radical religous folks they are the true evil in society.