I grabbed the top of one of these big orange garbage cans and went back at him with this shield, going, "Come on!" When I was first coming to Los Angeles, I was about eighteen or nineteen. Earlier you touched on the rock-star image and people falling into the music just because it adheres to a certain attitude and look. After all, there's a new BMW, a new condo, a parcel of land in Wisconsin on which he plans to build his dream house and, of course, the adoration of millions. Then he hooked up with Adler and Indiana exiles W. Axl Rose and Izzy Stradlin in a succession of rock outfits until 1985, when the four teamed up with bassist Duff McKagan and formed Guns n' Roses. The band's debut, Appetite for Destruction, and its quickly released follow-up record, the extended EP G n' R Lies, have put Guns n' Roses at the top of the hard-rock heap. I summed it up simply and said, ‘Immigrants.’” 
 
 The original cover artwork for G N’ R Lies included a preemptive apology regarding “One in a Million” that read, “This song is very simple and extremely generic or generalized, my apologies to those who may take offense.” Pitchfork has reached out to reps for Guns N’ Roses for further information about the box set release. Why can black people go up to each other and say, "Nigger," but when a white guy does it all of a sudden it's a big putdown? The most I do is, like, on the way to the Troubador in "Boystown," on Santa Monica Boulevard, I'll yell out the car window, "Why don't you guys like pussy?" But I'd want him to talk about what he listened to with me, and have him show me new things, and me show him new things. I just go to my friends' houses, but people I don't know show up wanting autographs. It's another form of the art I'm not afraid of what people think about different ways I look. At this point in your life, what's your biggest regret? The two records I always buy if there's a cassette deck around and I don't have the tapes in my bag are Never Mind the Bullocks and Queen II. It might change, and I don't want to mislead anybody. What I'd tell any kid in high school is "Take business classes." Our basic root is hard rock, a bit heavier than the Stones, more in a vein like Aerosmith, Draw the Line-type stuff. I don't care what else you're gonna do, if you're gonna do art or anything, take business classes. I think I'd be in a bind to figure out which one I'd want if I was stranded on a desert island. It's really strange and takes some getting used to. I never thought we were a naive band; I always thought we were pretty hip to what's going on. One In a Million, from the band’s 1988 G N’ R Lies EP, has been cut from a reissue of the album Appetite for Destruction thanks to lyrics such as: ‘Immigrants and faggots, they make no sense to me’ 
 
 Guns N’ Roses have removed the song One in a Million from a forthcoming reissue of their album Appetite for Destruction. People find out where I live and show up at my building. Aren't you afraid that some people may be turned off by the band straying from the sound that got them to the top? The most important songs at this point are the ones with piano, the ballads, because we haven't really explored that side of the band yet. You can say, "Well, I don't want to get commercial," but if you do anything to make any money, you're doing something commercial. Rose doesn't want to discuss exactly what set him off and made him destroy his belongings. That's not the case, but you can believe what you want, I don't give a fuck. He didn't say anything, and he probably didn't know who we were. I escaped from one group where I was looked down on for being a poor kid that doesn't know shit, and now I'm, like, a rich, successful asshole. So I dropped out and started drawing and painting at home and spending a lot of my time in the library. Not that any of our songs compare, but if you hear a short version of "Layla," I think you're gonna be pissed off, especially if you're planning on hearing the big piano part at the end. “Maybe I should have been more specific and said, ‘Joe Schmoladoo at the 7-11 and faggots make no sense to me,’” he said. “Why can black people go up to each other and say, 'nigger," but when a white guy does it all of a sudden it's a big putdown?,” he said. The concert was something we wanted to do and felt it was important to do, but we were denied the opportunity. Everyone and their mother seems to have a G n' R story involving junkie debauchery . When I was writing it, I wasn't planning on putting it with this song, but all of a sudden it just flowed. It finally reached a point where I realized I was gonna end up in jail, 'cause I kept fucking with the system. The closest I've had to anything like that is I've dreamed about it a couple of times. We were asked to do this, and we wanted to contribute some money to help stop a deadly disease that's killing humans of all kinds. They tried to put me into rehab, but I left in three days. That happens to be my personal, favorite thing. "One in a Million" was written while sitting in the apartment of my friend West Arkeen, who's like the sixth member of the band. Did you ever in your wildest dreams think your first album, Appetite for Destruction, would do as well as it did? "When I was growing up, I was never really popular," he says. You can think they're attractive, and you want to touch them, have a great time with them. Maybe at that moment you are in love. Does the business end of rock & roll ever interfere with your creative attitude? It just appeared out of nowhere, like the verses – just little pieces that have come whole. The other, heavier stuff also makes me feel like an artist and can be difficult to write. A friend of mine who's homosexual and was largely responsible for the record companies taking notice of us was upset about it because we didn't even get a chance to clear ourselves, to make good. I can't really play guitar too well, I only play the top two strings, and I would write a little piece at a time. 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. I could have just walked away, but I could tell in my heart that the guy could really use that money. Do you think these excesses might hurt other members of the group? At the same time, I have my favorite symphony pieces, orchestra pieces if you will. [Laughs] But if he could back it up and convince us there was a reason, then it would be cool. I'm the most uptight about all of this. Why do you think he gets into so much trouble? You seem to have an exceptionally strong bond with your friends. I don't want to talk about Axl, because everybody is constantly trying to pit us against each other. As long as I've known Axl, we've had so many differences that have been like the end of the line as far as we were concerned. When I put on my clothes or do a photo session, I want to look the best I can. I used the word ‘nigger’ because it’s a word to describe somebody that is basically a pain in your life, a problem. But when it came down to it, the sessions were so unorganized. I got a call three months later to do it at such and such a date, but when that date came, it wouldn't happen. Whenever their newest record would come out and have all these other kinds of music on it, at first I'd only like this song or that song. I'm creating, and finally I have an environment in which I can work. I couldn't figure out where I was sleeping at night, let alone try to have a place for a piano. Last night, I wrote a whole new intro to that. What influence do you think your small town had in shaping you? It's really hard to maintain a one-on-one relationship if the other person is not going to allow me to be with other people. If you haven't been there, you can't say shit to me about what goes on and about my point of view. A lot of groups are trying to outsell it.
– A re-released version of a Guns N' Roses' album won't sound quite how fans remember it. "One in a Million," a song that made waves upon its release because it featured the N-word, an anti-gay slur, and anti-immigrant sentiments, has been omitted from a box set reissue of the band's 1987 album Appetite for Destruction. The song was actually on the 1988 album G N' R Lies, but the box set's bonus tracks include all the other songs on G N' R Lies, reports Pitchfork. Frontman Axl Rose defended the use of the N-word to Rolling Stone in 1989, saying "it's a word to describe somebody that is basically a pain in your life" and "doesn't necessarily mean black." A few years later, guitarist Slash, born to a black mother and white father, had this to say: "I don't regret doing 'One in a Million,' I just regret what we've been through because of it and the way people have perceived our personal feelings," he told Rolling Stone in 1991, per the Guardian. Despite an apology for "One in a Million" included in the original cover art for G N' R Lies—"This song is very simple and extremely generic or generalized, my apologies to those who may take offense," it reads—people were outraged by the song's lyrics. "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," they read in part. The band has yet to explain why the song was cut.