Guns N’ Roses are set to take to the Pyramid Stage at Glastonbury tonight, but there’s one song that almost definitely won’t be making an appearance because of the offensive nature of the lyrics.
Whilst the 80s' rockers have no doubt put together a career that has loads of memorable hits in it, this song remains a dark spot on their resume.
When they’re expected to roll out tracks like ‘Sweet Child O’ Mine’, ‘Welcome To The Jungle’, and ‘November Rain’ tonight at Worthy Farm, it might be worth just keeping the lyrics to ‘One In A Million’ in the back of your mind.
Problematic doesn’t really cover it.
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The track was released back in 1988 and was the fourth track on GNR’s album ‘GN’R Lies’.
It tells the story of lead singer Axl Rose’s encounter at a bus station after arriving in Los Angeles.
However, it uses homophobic and racist slurs – including the N-word – as well as taking aim at ‘immigrants’ and talking about setting up a ‘mini-Iran’.
No wonder it didn’t appear on a recent reissue of their album ‘Appetite for Destruction’ which also included every song but one from ‘GN’R Lies’.
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The lyrics – and here’s a trigger warning, even though we’re going to star out the really offensive stuff – read: “Police and n******, that’s right.
“Get outta my way, don’t need to buy none of your gold chains today.”
Then, it continues: “Immigrants and f******, 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 f***ing disease."
It’s a lot, right?
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In a slightly contradictory statement, the song does actually call out ‘radicals and racists’ as well, adding: “Don't point your finger at me, I'm a small town white boy, just tryin' to make ends meet.”
At the time, Axl Rose gave an interview with Rolling Stone explaining – or trying to – his reasoning behind using the slurs.
He said: “I used words like police and n****** because you're not allowed to use the word 'n*****.'
“Why can black people go up to each other and say, 'N*****,' but when a white guy does it all of a sudden it's a big putdown? I don't like boundaries of any kind.
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“I don't like being told what I can and what I can't say. I used the word 'n*****' because it's a word to describe somebody that is basically a pain in your life, a problem.
“The word 'n*****' doesn't necessarily mean black. Doesn't John Lennon have a song "Woman Is the N***** of the World"?
“There's a rap group, N.W.A. – N****** With Attitude. I mean, they're proud of that word. More power to them.”
He later changed his tune slightly, giving a 1992 interview stating: "I was pissed off about some black people that were trying to rob me.
"I wanted to insult those particular black people.”
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He added: "It was a way for me to express my anger at how vulnerable I felt in certain situations that had gone down in my life."
On the homophobia, he tried to explain how he’d had ‘bad experiences with homosexuals’.
“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,” Rose said.
In more recent times, band member Duff McKagan has said that ‘nobody got it’ and said that ‘so many people have misinterpreted’ the song.
Upon the re-release of the material, guitarist Slash – who is mixed race – said: “We collectively decided that it just didn’t have any place in that box set.
“It didn’t take long. There wasn’t a big roundtable thing over it.”
Topics: Glastonbury, Celebrity, Music, Racism, UK News
Tom Wood