In a recent interview, the rocker stated that removing the song from the tracklist was a no-brainer.
- Aug 17, 2018
AceShowbiz - Slash has insisted there was no debate about removing a controversial Guns N' Roses song from an album reissue.
The band re-released their famed debut album Appetite for Destruction in June, but deliberately chose to omit the song "One in a Million" as part of a 73-track deluxe box set of their early work, which includes their hit tunes "Welcome to the Jungle" and "Sweet Child o' Mine". The track, which featured on the group's second album "G N' R Lies", has been accused of having racist and homophobic content for decades, due to lyrics including: "Police and n****rs, that's right," and "immigrants and f*gots (sic) / They make no sense to me."
In a recent interview with Rolling Stone, Slash explained that removing the song was a no-brainer.
"We collectively decided that it just didn't have any place in that box set," the guitarist said. "It didn't take long. There wasn't a big roundtable thing over it."
Slash - real name Saul Hudson - previously admitted that while he didn't directly oppose One in a Million, he "didn't think it was very cool" and regretted "the way people perceived our personal feelings." However, bandmate Axl Rose defended the work in the past, asking: "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?"
The 53-year-old, who was born to an African-American mother and British father, added that he would never: "differentiate myself from anybody else because of colour."
"I went through a lot of that as a kid - in school you're pigeonholed into being more aware of your background," the rocker continued. "When I started doing my own thing, especially playing guitar, it wasn't so much of a thing. I never really cared to have to identify one way or another."
