Guns N' Roses: The Story of One in a Million From GN’R Lies, Axl Rose Controversy

Guns N' Roses The huge controversy over the song 'One in a Million' From GN'R Lies

0:00 - Introduction
1:53 - One in a Million
3:50 - Controversy Starts
5:48 - Axl Reacts, Other Musicians
7:39 - Slash/Izzy/Duff Reaction

Izzy Stradlin's Arrest Video

https://youtu.be/QQMfVfHQQk4

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Guns N’ Roses shocked the rock world with their seminal debut album Appetite for Destruction in 1987. It would go on to become one of the biggest selling albums of all time and while the band waited to record their next full length follow up, they released a stop-gap EP, in 1988’ titled GN’R Lies. While successful, the EP ignited a media firestorm over one song . Today we’re going to talk about the controversy over the song and how some people rushed to the band’s defence.

Appetite for Destruction was a slow burn for Guns N’ Roses. The band’s label Geffen Records almost gave up on the album after sales failed to surpass 300,000 copies. But a year of touring with high profile acts including the Cult, Aerosmith and Iron Maiden, along with MTV finally deciding to play Welcome to the Jungle, along with Sweet Child of Mine turned the band’s fortune around and by the end of 1988 the record sold over 6 million copies. And this was despite the fact that many whole salers refused to carry the record because of offensive language and content on the record.

To serve as a stop gap between Guns N’ Roses next full length release, the band cut GN’r Lies. The EP consisted of old material with one side, which was made up of tGuns N’ roses first EP released in 1986. That EP only had 5-10K copies made and with the band’s new found fame, some people were selling it for exorbitant prices.Frontman Axl Rose resented this and wanted fans to have a chance to listen to those songs so the band included those 4 tracks on GN’R Lies. The other side of the EP consisted of new material including the songs “patience”, “used to love her”, “a slowed down version of You’re Crazy” which was on Appetite for Destruction and of course today’s topic of discussion One in a million. One in a Million tells the story of a small town white boy coming to the big city and is really about frontman Axl Rose’s experience at the greyhound bus station and convenience stores in Los Angeles. The song was accused of promoting homophobia, nationalism, and racism. I wanna make it clear I am not here to take one side or the other today, but rather talk about the controversy and give an objective look at the song and let you in the audience make your minds.
Released on November 29, 1988, GN’R Lies was reviewed by the band’s hometown paper The LA Times who on December 4th stated the following: Clearly, “One in a Million"--with its abhorrent epithetical references to gays and ethnic minorities--will be a point of controversy. Does the band agree with the views or is the song a recognition of small-town prejudice as the darker side of the American Dream?” the paper would ask. Of course the LA was completely correct, the song would ignite a media firestorm, but it took a while before things really exploded. Initially the band's record label backed Guns N' Roses putting out the following statement.
We believe in free speech at this record company,”. “We’ve stickered the record, which should serve as ample warning to concerned parents. But we can’t speak for the artist. In fact, it’s important to let our artists speak for themselves--and we hope their audience will judge them in the appropriate context" they'd say.
In the same LA Times article the newspaper would interview Bassist Duff McKagan was asked about the track and he defended the band saying “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!” he'd say.
While GN’R Lies quietly racked up millions in sales and produced a huge single in Patience, the controversy over i

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