Music / G N'R Lies

She bitched so much, she drove me nuts
And now I’m happier this way

Guess I needed sometime to get away
I needed some peaece of mind
Some peace of mind that'll stay
So I thumbed it down to nine o six ten L.A.
Maybe a Greyhound could be my way

—"One in a Million"

G N'R Lies is the second studio album recorded by American Hard Rock band Guns N' Roses. It was released through Geffen Records on November 29, 1988.

The first half of the album consists of tracks from the EP Live ?!*@ Like a Suicide, which is basically a studio EP with the audience recordings taken from a 1970's rock festival. "You're Crazy" was originally released on Appetite for Destruction, and was re-recorded acoustically (as originally intended) for this album.

It is also their final studio album to fully feature drummer Steven Adler, who was fired due to his heroin addiction between this album and Use Your Illusion I. Adler would appear on just one song following this album — "Civil War," which ended up on Use Your Illusion II.

---

Tracklist:

1. "Reckless Life" (3:20)
2. "Nice Boys" (3:03)
3. "Move to the City" (3:42)
4. "Mama Kin" (3:57)
5. "Patience" (5:56)
6. "Used to Love Her" (3:13)
7. "You're Crazy" (4:10)
8. "One in a Million" (6:10)

---

Principal Members:

• Steven Adler - drums, vocals
• Duff McKagen - bass, vocals, guitar
• W. Axl Rose - lead vocals, piano
• Slash - guitar
• Izzy Stradlin - guitar, vocals

---

I said woman, list some tropes, it'll work itself out fine...

• Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking: "One in a Million:"
  Immigrants and faggots don't 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 fucking disease
  And they talk so many Goddamn ways! It's all Greek to me
• Black Comedy: "Used to Love Her."
• Boomerang Bigot: If Axl came across as racist with "One in a Million", the intended target of his alleged racism was, believe it or not, the male and pale from whose point of view the song is sung. Unfortunately, it ended up misfiring.
• Call-Back: "Reckless Life" was first performed by Hollywood Rose, a pre-Guns N' Roses band that had every member of their classic line-up bar Duff.
• Canon Discontinuity: When Appetite for Destruction was reissued for its 40th anniversary, they included almost all of the tracks from G N'R Lies, except for "One in a Million", which the entirety of the band, including Axl, had disavowed.
• Cover Version: "Nice Boys" (Originally by Rose Tattoo) and "Mama Kin" (Originally by Aerosmith).
• Distinct Double Album: The first half is a faked Live Album while the second half is all acoustic numbers.
• Humans Are Bastards: "One in a Million" was intended to take this stance on white humans.
• In the Style of: The album cover is done in the style of a gossip magazine.
• Live Album: The first half is a rare faked live album. Word of God calls it a joke based on the band's unpopularity at the time of recording, a joke completely lost after Appetite for Destruction exploded.
• Mood Whiplash: With all the other crazy and hardcore themes, they still put in a ballad: "Patience".
• Murder Ballad: "Used to Love Her", which runs on humorous Lyrical Dissonance.
• N-Word Privileges: Axl doesn't understand them. See "One in a Million."
• One-Word Title: "Patience."
• Packaged as Other Medium: The album cover is designed to look like a newspaper article.
• Precision F-Strike: "One in a Millon:"
  Like start some mini Iran,
  Or spread some fuckin' disease
  • Also a Precision N-Strike on the same song:
    Police and Niggers, that's right
    "Get out of my way"
  • And another F-Strike on "You're Crazy:"
    "You're crazy (oh yeah) You're fucking crazy!"
• Red Herring: Slash has said that "Used to Love Her" is a true story...about a dog Axl had to euthanize.
• Re-release the Song: Aside from the Live Like a Suicide material, "You're Crazy" returns from Appetite for Destruction.
• Sex, Drugs, and Rock & Roll: The album cover has the headline "sex, drugs and violence." Of course, the rock 'n' roll is on the CD itself.
• Shout-Out:
  • The album cover is a based on the album cover from Some Time In New York City by John Lennon and Yoko Ono.
  • The first verse of "One in a Million" notes the numbers "9-0-6-10". 90610 is one of the ZIP Codes for Whittier, on the east side of Los Angeles.
• Surprisingly Gentle Song: The lone single, "Patience," is a simple love ballad.
• Unplugged Version: The entire second half of the album is acoustic-based.

---

I've been walkin' the street at night
Just tryin' to get it right
Hard to see with so many around
You know I don't like being stuck in the crowd
And the streets don't change, but maybe the name
I ain't got time for the game
'cause I need you, yeah yeah, but I need you
Oh, I need you
Whoa, I need you
All this time

---