Zane Lowe interviewed Elton John on Beats 1 last week to celebrate his 70th birthday. John discussed his friendships with Guns N’ Roses frontman Axl Rose and Eminem, and why they aren’t homophobes.
“I’m always a supporter of the people that are getting trashed. For me Eminem was never homophobic. I listened to the whole of the Marshall Mathers album when I drove to a show in South Hampton and I was floored by it. And I thought how could anyone think this is… he’s just writing about the way things are. Not how he thinks but the way things are. And the same with Axl. Never in a million years did I think he was homophobic. So I did things. I did the MTV Music Awards with him and the Guns N’ Roses and I did the Grammys with Marshall and I became very big friends with Marshall. I’ll fight for anyone who is misunderstood and misrepresented by the idiots out there.”
Rose received criticism for his lyrics to Guns N’ Roses’ track “One in a Million” on the GN’R Lies EP in 1988.
The cover of the GN’R Lies EP, which was designed as a mock-tabloid newspaper front page, actually contained an advance apology for the song, suggesting controversy was anticipated. A small “article” entitled “One in a Million”, credited to Rose, ended: “This song is very simple and extremely generic or generalized, my apologies to those who may take offense.”
In response to the following accusations of homophobia, Rose initially stated that he was “pro-heterosexual” and “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”, and spoke of negative experiences in his past, such as a seemingly friendly man who let him crash on his hotel room floor and then tried to rape him.[2] He later softened this stance, and insisted that he was not homophobic, pointing out that some of his icons, such as Freddie Mercury and Elton John, as well as David Geffen, the head of his record label, were bisexual or gay.
Read the “One in a Million” lyrics below.
Yes I needed
Some time to get away
I needed some peace of mind
Some peace of mind that’ll stay
So I thumbed it
Down to 6th in L.A
Maybe a Greyhound
Could be my way
Police and n**gers
That’s right
Get out of my way
Don’t need to buy none of your
Gold chains today
Now don’t need no bracelets
Clamped in front of my back
Just need my ticket
‘Til then, won’t you cut me some slack
You’re one in a million
Yeah that’s what you are
You’re one in a million, babe
You’re a shooting star
Maybe someday we’ll see you
Before you make us cry
You know we tried to reach you
But you were much too high
Much too high
Much too high
Much too high
Immigrants and f**gots
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 fucking disease
They talk so many God damn ways
It’s all Greek to me
Well some say I’m lazy
And others say that’s just me
Some say I’m crazy
I guess I’ll always be
But it’s been such a long time
Since I knew right from wrong
It’s all the means to and end, I’m
I keep it moving along
Hey, hey, hey, yeah
You’re one in a million
You’re a shooting star
You’re one in a million, babe
You know that you are
Maybe some day we’ll see you
Before you make us cry
You know we tried to reach you
But you were much too high
Much too high
Much too high
Much too high
Radicals and racists
Don’t point your finger at me
I’m a small town white boy
Just trying to make ends meet
Don’t need your religion
Don’t watch that much TV
Just making my living, baby
Well, that’s enough for me
