It’s because lyrics are written from the perspective of a moron.
Whew, you’d better stay away from “one in a million” by guns n roses then!
Of course, the two songs are very different, but if you have ever only heard the “radio” version of OIAM (which still doesn’t get played on radio) and then hear the original, you’ll shit yourself.
They’re completely opposite in intent and usage. Dire straits are poking fun at an idiot saying the things in the song. Axl Rose was saying what he thought in the worst possible way. Dude is batshit, and a homophobe. Well, was for sure, I guess even someone that much of an asshole could have changed by now.
Kinda sucks because the song itself isn’t bad, just really nasty. Like, as a slice of life from a person that’s full of anger and hate and wants to run away from his self generated fears, the song is successful. It paints a realistic picture of not only the person that wrote it, but of people that think like that. It’s just really hard to listen to because of that accurate slice of hate.
My understanding was both Mark Knophler and Axl Rose were doing the same thing, writing a song from a dumbass bigots perspective, it’s just that people hate Axl and automatically ascribe the worst motives (despite a literal black man playing guitar on that GNR track).
Ehhh, Axl has gone on record about when and why he wrote the song, and why he used the words he used. He outright said that he didn’t like gay people unless it was lesbians he could watch because that’s his fetish. He did say that he was only using the slurs to point at part of the groups, but the way he said it was still both racist and homophobic.
Slash has said on the record that he objected to the song, and wished it hadn’t been made, but that (at the time) the band didn’t interfere with each other creatively. He also didn’t play much on the track, btw. Afaik, Axl wrote all the acoustic guitar on it, because he’s stated on the record that he sucked at the guitar and was essentially just strumming two strings. I’ve never seen any breakdown of who played what on the recording though, so I can’t say who is playing on the track.
However, Slash has also said that while he didn’t like the song, he wasn’t pissed at Axl because of it. But you can’t use that as a guideline for the song being acceptable or not because a shit ton of other musicians were quite vocal in their objections at the time (including the band that toured with them during that era, Living Color).
It isn’t anyone ascribing anything to him (axl), it’s what he himself has said in interviews, and on stage.
In later interviews he’s outright said that he as a person was a rage junkie (abridged version lol, he did a lot of interviews), and absolutely had hatred for gay people as a whole. He’s given multiple reasons for that, and none of those are self-contradictory. However, none of them excuse his behavior towards gay people.
As far as other things he’s said about his racial beliefs, I don’t know if it’s fair to say he’s full on racist, as in hating black people or any given ethnic group. What is fair to say is that his excuses for use the n slur in the song amount to stereotyping and was certainly intended to attack at least the black people he was stereotyping.
Now, I’m pulling this from having been a fan of the band since they broke into national awareness, and all the stuff I read and heard along the way. But, the interviews are usually available online. I know the Rolling Stone magazine stuff is. There’s still concert ,footage of him from the era ranting about being accused of bigotry, though that was pretty much just him saying “fuck you” to anyone that didn’t like him.
Very specifically, Axl has said that he wrote it from his own perspective, talking about his experiences and his anger. The “one in a million” sections of the song are him repeating something said to him in real life because he was a raging asshole (again, he’s said that on record).
So, the worst motives being ascribed to him aren’t ONLY because he isn’t well liked. Hell, I’ve still got the vinyl of Lies, and have the rest of the pre-breakup albums on at least CD, if not multiple formats. I don’t hate Axl, much less the band.
Knopfler has also been open about how his song was written, and it’s intent. It was, just as you said, holding up the kind of speech and behavior in the song to ridicule. That’s been his public stance on the song from the beginning, and it has never changed afaik. The lyrics support that stance. He’s told the story of writing down many of the lines from the song after hearing them in person by another person. The lyrics are saying that the musicians on stage and screen are the yo-yos playing Hawaiian music, so the f slur in the song would be directed at Knopfler himself even if he was writing from his own perspective.
I know, that’s a lot of words for a decades old song lol. But anyone that was a fan of the band back then had to negotiate the matter. My best friend still hates Axl because of the song. The debate about exactly how bad the lyrics are was a nearly daily thing for a few weeks after the EP came out. I never hated Axl, I don’t waste my hate on strangers very often (and never on strangers that can’t really do anything with whatever bullshit they spew). But I get why people do.
My main reasoning was the lyrics claim to hate racists too. I thought the whole thing was a joke of sorts.
Yeah, that’s in there too. But definitely not a joke. Just Axl being Axl
Woosh
😀 Listening to that really catchy song from America when you’re not a native speaker
😧 Once you learn a bit of English and realize they’re singing about doing a school shooting
It’s okay, native speakers only caught that one because it’s in the chorus. Some people still think “Born In The USA” is a patriotic anthem. David Bowie called it the most anti-American song he’d ever heard. Davie Bowie co-wrote “I’m Afraid Of Americans.”
Born down in a dead man’s town The first kick I took was when I hit the ground End up like a dog that’s been beat too much 'Til you spend half your life just to cover it up, now
Born in the U.S.A. I was born in the U.S.A. I was born in the U.S.A. Born in the U.S.A., now
Got in a little hometown jam So they put a rifle in my hands Send me off to a foreign land To go and kill the yellow man
Born in the U.S.A. I was born in the U.S.A. Born in the U.S.A. I was born in the U.S.A.
Come back home to the refinery Hiring man said, “Son, if it was up to me” Went down to see my V.A. man He said, “Son, don’t you understand, now?”
I had a brother at Khe Sanh Fighting off all the Viet Cong They’re still there, he’s all gone He had a woman he loved in Saigon I got a picture of him in her arms, now
Down in the shadow of the penitentiary Out by the gas fires of the refinery I’m ten years burning down the road Nowhere to run, ain’t got nowhere to go
Born in the U.S.A. I was born in the U.S.A., now Born in the U.S.A. I’m a long gone daddy in the U.S.A., now
Born in the U.S.A. Born in the U.S.A. Born in the U.S.A. I’m a cool rocking daddy in the U.S.A., now
Isn’t he talking about people talking about him in the cut verse? Referring to himself? He’s not calling anyone a bundle of sticks, he’s repeating what he’s been called
About some other guy on MTV, according to Wikipedia
As someone not affected by this, I am curious. Are gay people offended by this song? My guess was no because the lyrics are making fun of the people who called them that, but now I am uncertain.
It’s literally impossible to be offended when the guitar is that good. You wanna know what happens to Money for Nothin when your sound system gets twice as good? it doubles in quality. This rule applies for any sound system ever invented.
I think the fact that the radio edit cuts out that verse answers your question.
By that logic black people cringe in pain listening to every other hip hop release for including that word. Which I also doubt.
Point being, radio stations censoring themselves preemptively because someone, somewhere, might take offense isn’t a good indicator of how the affected people actually feel about it.
bisexual. was bullied with the f-slur intensely in school. I can’t reclaim it because it’s too painful for me. Happy when other people can, but it makes me too uncomfortable, so in the remit of “would I enjoy hearing a song that uses it”
The answer is no, and that’s okay.
Perhaps you can test this for yourself?
Wait outside your nearest gay bar and call anyone that walks out a removed?
That’s not what the song it doing. It’s more.like waiting outside a gay bar and telling everyone “guess what that asshole over there just called me?”
The song does not call anyone a faggot, it’s quoting an (probably) hypothetical person thoughts.
(Sorry for spelling it out - but I am convinced not using an evil word does only make the word an even stronger weapon)
How is that in any way the same thing? I wouldn’t call a black person the other word either, in music or art it’s fine though.
Are you gay?
Only on Sundays.
Are you offended?
Yeah buddy, that’s his own hair.
Worst of all, radio edits of “Sultans of Swing” that cut the guitar solo…
