The $1,299.99 box set version of Guns N’ Roses’ ‘Appetite For Destruction; Photo: gnrmerch.com
Of the many completely bloated and unnecessary editions of Guns N’ Roses‘ 30th anniversary reissue of their 1987 debut record, Appetite For Destruction, ranging from an $8 cd to a $1,299.99 box set due in June, the band has quietly omitted the contentious song, “One in a Million.”
The homophobic, racist narrative penned by Axl Rose details his “small town white boy” self-reflections en route from Indiana to LA, Axl expressing his version of America in the first verse:
Police and Ni**ers, that’s right Get out of my way
Don’t need to buy none of your
Gold chains today I don’t need no bracelets
Clamped in front of my back
Just need my ticket ’til then
Won’t you cut me some slack?
Continuing his rant in the second verse, Axl lets them opinions fly:
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
They talk so many goddamn ways It’s all
Greek to me
Though it debuted on Appetite…‘s 1988 follow-up, Lies, the song should be included in the bloated bundle of bonus cuts and b-sides, as a full version of Lies is listed amongst the lot along with 25 previously unreleased cuts from sessions at Sound City studios in 1986.
However, as Alternative Nation points out via G N’ R fan rumblings — “One in a Million” is mysteriously absent from product listings on the pre-order site.
There’s a deep rabbit hole of both negative backlash and positive praise of the song over the years, from the band’s iconic guitarist Slash (who is half black) claiming he told Axl at the time of the song’s release that he “didn’t think it was cool” but has “no regrets” about releasing it in a 1991 interview in Rolling Stone, to Body Count‘s guitarist Ernie C (who is also black) also defending Axl’s form of expression on a recent episode of the podcast, Appetite For Distortion.
Axl’s stance though has always been virtually unapologetic, though, playing the entertainment/expression card, adding a retribution thread with an anecdote that he was almost raped by a guy while hitchhiking. Back in another Rolling Stone interview from 1988, the frontman had to say:
“Why can black people go up to each other and say, ‘n****r,’ but when a white guy does it all of a sudden it’s a big putdown? 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 ‘n****r’ because it’s a word to describe somebody that is basically a pain in your life, a problem. The word ‘n****r’ doesn’t necessarily mean black.”
All of this just adds to the curiosity as to why “One in a Million” has been cut, with no reason to date to why.
Listen to “One in a Million below: