'ONE IN A MILLION'

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'ONE IN A MILLION'

1988. Axl Rose walks off a Greyhound in L.A., gets swarmed by hustlers, tweakers, limp-wristed coastal goblins, gets mugged, gets harassed, (almost) gets raped, gets alienated, and then writes a song about it.

Critics today call it 'problematic', telling you it's the worst GNR track - ranking it below 'My World' or demo-tier leftovers - because it violated their worldview, because Axl used words you're not allowed to say, and these are the same types who hear a slur and think that's where thinking ends. That's the IQ cap of liberal morality: word bad = song bad - that's it, that's the whole review.

But 'One in a Million' isn't about slurs - it's about alienation, it's about being white, poor, rural, broke, pissed-off, and dropped in the middle of a city (Los Angeles) you don't understand - a city that wants to devour you, humiliate you, and then call you a bigot when you rebel. Axl didn't write that song with a PR team and three DEI consultants, he wrote it as a human being thrown into an urban jungle full of predators, parasites, and preachers.

Was it racist? No. It was territorial. Was it homophobic? No. It was paranoid. Was it crude? Fuck yes - and that's why it mattered. People say 'One in a Million' is hard to listen to. Good, it was meant to be. It was a gutpunch from a kid who didn't belong, and all the hand-wringing critics pretending they didn't understand that are just cowards with press passes. Sometimes the world's just a pile of shit, plain and simple - and yes, sometimes, you do feel that gut-punch hate, that panic-in-your-chest fear, and that grease-under-your-nails kind of disgust - that's life, and real art is supposed to show you that mess. That's what rock 'n' roll is, in my opinion.

I don't really care if pitchforks keep ranking it last, or if Rolling Stone is seething because they hate hearing a white dude say 'nigger'. They don't understand Axl, and probably never will - but I hate it when they claim that Axl is a 'racist' or a 'sexist' because he wrote down his own personal experience and saw through the bullshit: the poor, angry, white kid with no college degree, no 'allyship', and no media training. I respect Axl so much for it, and I will never forget this song, no matter how 'outdated' it is considered. It is more relevant for America than ever - thirty years later, and we're still scared of what he said.

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gnr history

"Im actually a nice shy kid"- Slash

Dude be so for real. Nice shy kid lmao

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slash

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svankj

2 months ago

Following the previous post, there’s also a report of young Axl being hit by a car when crossing the road. He really seemed to have caught no break in life, poor boy.

And there’s a picture I found of Izzy’s cousin who, according to Izzy, was a bit of a bully to them in high school and Axl fought him in Izzy’s absence. Turned out he was a professional athlete. Pretty brave of Axl to pick a fight with that guy given their size difference tbh.

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guns n roses axl rose izzy stradlin izzy gnr axl gnr rock band trivia

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svankj

2 months ago

Axl Rose is my favorite trans woman.

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guns n roses axl rose

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svankj

3 weeks ago

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slash guns n roses izzy stradlin love their outfits here tbh it’s a shame they no longer dress up on tour :(

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svankj

2 months ago

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legs axl rose

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svankj

2 months ago

I Was 17 And Left Indiana Because I Had A Disagreement With One Of The Juvenile Detectives. He Was Determined

I was 17 and left Indiana because I had a disagreement with one of the juvenile detectives. He was determined to put my ass in jail, and I was determined to get the fuck out of Dodge. As he was driving to my house, I was getting my clothes out of the dryer, and getting the fuck out of Dodge. I had about 35 bucks and I took a bus to St. Louis...Then I went out by whatever freeway I was closest to and hitched a ride with some air conditioning repairman in a van. It all seemed pleasant and safe enough, and nothing really much happened. I was exhausted, beaten, never been out of my fucking town on my own, in my life. We went to some fucking hotel and I crashed out, and this guy crashed out, and I woke up, and this guy was trying to fuck me. I don't care - you can be male, female, you can be a fucking dog - I don't care what you are, man. That shit ain't right...Anyway, I pinned this guy against the wall between the door of the hotel with my straight razor, and it took everything I had inside of me not to fucking slice his jugular vein. So that was kinda my first experience of knowing where I was. Do you know where you are?

- Axl Rose, 1991

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axl rose stage rant

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svankj

2 months ago

Axl Rose Interview

"There's a lot of violence in the world. That's the environment we live in and we like to show what we live in rather than hide it and act like everything is nice and sugary.

Everybody likes to paint their pretty pictures, but that just ain't how it is.

It just seems easier to know the rougher side (of life) than the more pleasant side just because it's more readily accessible.

It seems like when you come to this town unless you are part of the mommy's-boy-daddy's-money poseur rock scene they try to puke you right out," said Rose.

"You fight for your place.

I remember two years of standing at the Troubadour and talking to no one, not knowing what to do, and everybody thinking they're so cool. Eventually we did our own thing, made new friends, and brought a new crowd to the Troubadour."