APPETITE FOR DISCUSSION
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APPETITE FOR DISCUSSION
Welcome to Appetite for Discussion -- a Guns N' Roses fan forum!

Please feel free to look around the forum as a guest, I hope you will find something of interest. If you want to join the discussions or contribute in other ways then you need to become a member. We especially welcome anyone who wants to share documents for our archive or would be interested in translating or transcribing articles and interviews.

Registering is free and easy.

Cheers!
SoulMonster

My Michelle

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My Michelle Empty My Michelle

Post by Soulmonster Wed 4 Aug 2010 - 17:27

My Michelle Newbor11
MY MICHELLE
Album:
Appetite for Destruction, 1987, track no. 7.



Written by:
Lyrics: Axl Rose.
Music: Axl Rose and Izzy Stradlin.

Musicians:
Vocals: Axl Rose; lead guitar: Slash; rhythm guitar: Izzy Stradlin; bass: Duff McKagan; drums: Steven Adler.

Live performances:
The song was played live for the first time on January 4, 1986, at The Troubadour, USA. In total it has, as of {UPDATEDATE}, at least been played {MYMICHELLESONGS} times.
Lyrics:

Your daddy works in porno
Now that mommy's not around
She used to love her heroin
But now she's underground
So you stay out late at night
And you do your coke for free
Drivin' your friends crazy
With your life's insanity

Well, well, well you just can't tell
Well, well, well my Michelle

Sowin' all your wild oats
In another's luxuries
Yesterday was Tuesday
Maybe Thursday you can sleep
But school starts much too early
And this hotel wasn't free
So party till your connection calls
Honey I'll return the keys

Well, well, well you just can't tell
Well, well, well my Michelle
Well, well, well you never can tell
Well, well, well my Michelle
     
Everyone needs love
You know that it's true
Someday you'll find someone
That'll fall in love with you
But oh the time it takes
When you're all alone
Someday you'll find someone
That you can call your own
But till then ya better...

Now you're clean
And so discreet
I won't say a word
But most of all this song is true
Case you haven't heard
So c'mon and stop your cryin'
'Cause we both now money burns
Honey don't stop tryin';
An' you'll get what you deserve

Well, well, well you just can't tell
Well, well, well my Michelle
Well, well, well you never can tell
Well, well, well my Michelle


Quotes regarding the song and its making:

Michelle Young, the song's muse, was a girl Slash had dated Young when he was 13-14 and who would later date Axl:

[Slash] used to out with her when he was about 13 and I went out with her, then later on. And we got into a little hassle or whatever, and then I wrote this song.
Interview with Axl and Slash, 1988

I'm the subject of the song 'My Michelle'. I was driving Axl to a gig and "Your Song" by Elton John came on the radio. I said that I wished somebody would write a beautiful song about me. But, you know the song. At the time, I didn't care because I was so fucked up, but what it says is all true: My dad does distribute porno films and my mom did die.
"Appetite for Self-Destruction". Spin (SPIN Media LLC) 15 (7): 87. July 1999. ISSN 0886-3032

We were driving to a show I think it was and that song came on and I was like “Oh, that’s such a beautiful song; I wish someone would write a song like that about me”.  And then, lo and behold came “My song” (laughs). [...] I heard it [for the first time] when I was at my dad’s house.  I was in my bedroom.  I remember it was the daytime and the phone rang and the first call was from Slash.  He called and said something to the effect of “Axl wants to talk to you”  or “Axl’s going to call you Michelle”.  I don’t remember if they were together but I remember that Slash called first and said something like “Please be honest about this, I’m really scared” or something like that.  Then I remember, Axl called.  He would always call me and sing me new songs.  He would play this drumbeat on his knee and sing and snap to me on the phone whenever he had a new song, he would call me and sing a little and ask my opinion of it.  So, when he called again with that I was just like “Okay, go ahead” so then he sang it and was just like “What do you think?” and you know [...] I was so out of it at the time, I was always high back then so when I heard it and heard the lyrics I was like “Oh, it’s fine, it’s cool (laughs)…do whatever you want”.  To be honest, I didn’t really care.   I was like “Okay, whatever, you wrote a song about me”.  I didn’t really honestly think that the album was going to be THAT huge or even that that song was gonna be on their album for that matter. [...] I figured it wouldn’t even be recorded, I had no idea.  I also didn’t know it was going to influence my life the way it did.  As much as I love watching people love the song when I would go see them in concert, it was a strange thing to have influence my life.  It was amazing seeing them play it in a big coliseum and seeing people bust out their lighters for the intro and then rocking out when the verse starts and I’m looking around thinking it’s amazing because I’m watching it and I’m anonymous and no one knows it’s me because I can watch it from a distance.  That part of it is really special and cool, seeing people react to it but at the time when the song came out I can say it was never a blessing, it was always a curse, let’s just say.




Young and Slash
Unknown date



In 2010, Rolling Stone would publish excerpts from a letter Slash had written to Young in 1979, mentioning how he regrets that his love of the guitar ruined his relationship with her and that he one day would have a band and play at the Starwood [Rolling Stone, March 1, 2010].

The song had started out as a typical love song, but Axl decided to make the lyrics more true to reality:

We have a song about a girl I met called Michelle, and when I’d written it all nice I thought, That’s not how it really is. So I wrote the real story down, kind of as a joke. The first lines go: ‘Your mommy works in porno/Now that daddy’s not around/She used to love her heroin/But now she’s underground.’ She and her dad ended up loving it. It’s a true story, and that’s what works, I think
Sounds Magazine, April 1987

But... And it was basically the truth, and it says some nice stuff, by, you know, how...[...]No, in the middle of it, you know, "Everybody needs love" and "you know that is true" and stuff. I like to destroy... Sometimes like, you won't touch the subject because you don't wanna expose it. It might hurt someone. But then, if the subject's really that interesting you just rip it apart and expose it. And that's what we did and basically it worked out good for everybody. In the long run, she's happy about the song and her dad even liked the fact that it was very accurate. So...
Interview with Axl and Slash, 1988

I knew a girl named Michelle and she became a really good friend of the band and I was going out with her for a while. It's a true story. Slash and some other members of the band said that it was too heavy to say to poor, sweet Michelle; she'll freak out. I'd written this nice sweet song about her, and then I looked at it and thought that really doesn't touch any basis of reality. So I put down an honest thing. It describes her life. This girl leads such a crazy life with doing drugs, or whatever she's doing at the time, you don't know is she's going be there tomorrow. Every time I see Michelle, I am really relieved and glad. O showed her the lyrics after about three weeks of debating, ans she was so happy that someone didn't paint just a pretty picture. She loves it. It was a real song to her, not something hokey
Geffen Press Kit, 1987

It’s a true story. Slash went out with this girl when he was 13. I met her and I went out with her for a long time. Her name’s Michelle, her mother OD’d on heroin and she runs around doing a lot of coke. I wrote this nice cosy little song about it not working out and I thought, “That's nice and cute, but that’s not how it is.” So, right off the top of my head, I wrote this cruncher of a song, the true story, and the rest of the band said, “You can’t use that, man, Michelle is going to freak out.” After a few weeks I just shelved it, but it kept bothering me. So I asked Michelle’s opinion, she read it and she loved it.
Melody Maker, July 18, 1987

I used to go out with [Michelle] when I was, like, 14 or 13, something like that. [...] When Axl first wrote the lyrics to it, some of them were so realistic. I mean, it was just like so upfront realistic and so cruel, in a way, that I thought, “Oh God, you can’t do it that way. You’re gonna crush this girl.” And she didn’t mind it, so we used it.

[...] it’s also true that the wording sounds really a little harsher than it should be in the sense that it’s true but also not true at the same time.  My dad did, in fact, distribute adult films so he wasn’t like “John Holmes” or “in porno” in that sense, my mom did die of drugs but she died of an accidental overdose of pills, not heroin, even though she was also a heroin addict.  So, while there’s definitely truth there, it’s exaggerated or suggested at times.


Commenting on the "now you're clean and so discreet, I won't say a word" line:

I know exactly why he wrote that line.  I had went to a program and gotten sober and was still in the program but it was New Year’s Eve and Axl was at a party at (late co-writer/collaborator) Wes Arkeen’s house.  I went over there and I started using again and I told Axl, “Please don’t tell anyone” and that’s where the “I won’t say a word” part came from.  My favorite part of the song is the very beginning because it’s so reflective of how it was when people met me back in those days, like it’s not clear where it it’s going, it’s a little dark and scary and that’s pretty indicative of how I had no idea I would go from where I was to this totally wild kid just going crazy in Hollywood.


Axl would mention getting approval from both Michelle and her dad:

Like the song 'My Michelle' for example, I had to take that song to her and see what she thought of it. So we went, took it to her dad, to see what he thought of it. I mean, this guy could shoot me. "When it says, 'You're daddy works in porno...' her dad's Vice President of one of the top video companies.
Rock Scene, April 1988


Introducing the song in 1988:

This is a song about doing a little too much cocaine, and [?] needing it to fill the empty spaces in your life. This is a song called 'Michelle'.
Live from stage in Calgary, May 1988


During the Use Your Illusion touring of 1991-1993, Axl would occasionally add insults to Michelle in the song:

That’s because he was mad at me at the time, again it was always tumultuous even though we really didn’t see each other that much it was always on and off and always tumultuous.  He was mad at me at that point, for what I don’t even remember because he would get mad at me all the time for various different things.  One minute it would be “Oh, Michelle is such a good friend of mine, I love her so much, the song’s about her” and the next time it would be “Oh that fucking bitch didn’t show up for my concert because she’s doing acid with her friends, I fucking hate her”.  That actually happened once.  He was getting tickets for my little cousins and I to go to the concert and I was supposed to be there to meet him, I believe it was in Anaheim or something.  My younger cousins went and were just shocked and came back and said “Oh my god Michelle, he talked sooo much shit about you” and that was all because I didn’t show up.  I told him “I can’t Axl, I’m on acid” which I was (laughs) but I was like “Wow, he didn’t have to tell everybody” (laughs).


Writing the song:

I remember 'My Michelle' coming together. Slash had a great riff, a typical Slash riff. It was a slinky, spidery thing, but he was playing it really fast at first. (His initial riff shows up, slowed down, in the intro to the recorded version - that brooding, eerie horror movie bit at the beginning.) While working on it together with the whole band - collaboration was the magic ingredient for almost all our songs - we hit on that bomp, bad-a-dam, bad-a-bad that kick-starts the song in its final version.
Duff's autobiography, "It's So Easy", 2011, p. 97

For 'Michelle' Axl called up and said he had this melody. I had a riff and it was a slow smooth melody. When we were playing with it, Slash turned his amp up and went into this bashing thing and we said wow. It turned into a hard rock song, but it started as an acoustic song.
In The Classic Way, Guitar - September 1988

There was one more classic that we wrote back there in the garage: 'My Michelle.' The music originated there, I think over the course of a few afternoons. I believe Izzy and I came up with the basic structure, and then, as usual, Duff came through with exactly what the song needed to evolve.
"Slash", 2007

Basically, [the writing of My Michelle] started with the heavy riff. I remember doing the riff first, then making up the intro to it. I am really into good intros. The Stones, the Beatles, the Who, and Aerosmith often had great intros, and those were some of my favorite songs of all time - something that started off quiet and crescendoed into this big crash. If I ever came up with a good riff, I'd always have to think of a great intro to support it.
Back to the Jungle, Guitar Edge Magazine, March 2007

'My Michelle', for example, went through so many different phases as a song. It was all half-time for a while.
Reckless Road, 2010

“My Michelle” got written electric—you can kind of tell.
The Onion A.V. Club, May 2011

[Being asked how you can tell My Michelle was written electric]: Ah, shit. You know what, that’s a very good question. You’re right, I don’t know. Why would that be obvious to a listener? It wouldn’t. I retract that sentence. I’m not able to back it up. But I kind of found out through that process that if a song doesn’t sound good on acoustic, you’re not going to make it any better by it being electric, in most cases.
The Onion A.V. Club, May 2011

My Michelle, it starts off slow and the funny thing is, the first couple times they played it the song was slower. Then [Axl] starts out slow and then, you know, jumps in and knocks it out. But that actually showed another one of his voices, you know, just like a regular voice before the screaming voice where, "Your daddy works in porno," you know? [...] The first time he's sung it, he sang it low. And then he started screaming it later, after a couple gigs he changed it to double time or whatever you wanna call it.

You know, Steven, you know, some of the beats that he would start would inspire a riff, you know. And how do you give that credit to a drummer who doesn't have a guitar on? How do you, you know... Axl's like, "You gotta credit him with what's like pushing us to get the riff for Michelle." [...] it was double time and that original riff for Michelle wasn't the riff it was, it was this fast kind of.


Talking about the song:

I don't know [what my favorite song to play is], there's a load of songs I like. For many a year "My Michelle" was the song I loved to play the most, but towards the end of the Illusions tour my favorite was "Pretty Tied Up"
Popular 1, July 2000


Epilogue:

In 1999, Michelle would talk about having lost contact with the band as they grew famous:

Axl used to stay over at my house a lot because he had nowhere else to go. After they got famous, there were better places to stay-and shopping. They would call and say, "I got this. I got that. I got a new car."

The song isn't so flattering, but that whole process at that time in my life was awesome. I though, "Oh my God, this is great", but then there are ramifications of having a song written about you. I know in my heart I'm part of the history. I lived with them and I'm glad I did. I'm here and I survived it along with many others. I would prefer if people didn't know that song was about me. especially since I have a pretty high-powered job and I'm a mom. I meet the occasional person who knows that I'm that person, and they'll introduce me and say, "Guess who this is"
Marc Canter, "Reckless Road", 2007



My Michelle Newbor11


Last edited by Soulmonster on Thu 17 Aug 2023 - 13:47; edited 16 times in total
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My Michelle Empty Re: My Michelle

Post by Soulmonster Tue 31 Jul 2012 - 9:35

Michelle Young: I'm the subject of the song 'My Michelle'. I was driving Axl to a gig and "Your Song" by Elton John came on the radio. I said that I wished somebody would write a beautiful song about me. But, you know the song. At the time, I didn't care because I was so fucked up, but what it says is all true: My dad does distribute porno films and my mom did die ["Appetite for Self-Destruction". Spin (SPIN Media LLC) 15 (7): 87. July 1999. ISSN 0886-3032].

Michelle Young: The song isn't so flattering, but that whole process at that time in my life was awesome. I though, "Oh my God, this is great", but then there are ramifications of having a song written about you. I know in my heart I'm part of the history. I lived with them and I'm glad I did. I'm here and I survived it along with many others. I would prefer if people didn't know that song was about me. especially since I have a pretty high-powered job and I'm a mom. I meet the occasional person who knows that I'm that person, and they'll introduce me and say, "Guess who this is" [Marc Canter, "Reckless Road", 2007].
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My Michelle Empty Re: My Michelle

Post by Soulmonster Wed 19 Nov 2014 - 9:48

From a long interview with Michelle Young in Legendary Rock Interviews:

LRI: So, the long standing story was that you were in a car with Axl and Elton John, “Your Song” came on and you told him you always wanted someone to write a song for you. Careful what you wish for but is that fairly accurate, is that how you remember that going down?

Michelle: (laughs) Yeah, that’s pretty much how that played out. We were driving to a show I think it was and that song came on and I was like “Oh, that’s such a beautiful song; I wish someone would write a song like that about me”. And then, lo and behold came “My song” (laughs).

LRI: Axl had written an earlier version of the song and it was felt that it most of it was too sappy and sweet so it was scrapped and the lyrics we all know were written and the song was re-arranged. As everyone knows, there is still that whole sweet and gentle part at the end that remains. Did you ever hear the softer, kinder, earlier version of “My Michelle” before the re-write?

Michelle: (laughs) No, I never heard the 99% sweet version of the song.

LRI: Did you ever even see the original lyrics?

Michelle: No, no, no, I was never given the opportunity to see that version of the song whatsoever.

LRI: Was your first time hearing the song when they debuted it live?

Michelle: No, I heard it when I was at my dad’s house. I was in my bedroom. I remember it was the daytime and the phone rang and the first call was from Slash. He called and said something to the effect of “Axl wants to talk to you” or “Axl’s going to call you Michelle”. I don’t remember if they were together but I remember that Slash called first and said something like “Please be honest about this, I’m really scared” or something like that. Then I remember, Axl called. He would always call me and sing me new songs. He would play this drumbeat on his knee and sing and snap to me on the phone whenever he had a new song, he would call me and sing a little and ask my opinion of it. So, when he called again with that I was just like “Okay, go ahead” so then he sang it and was just like “What do you think?” and you know….I hate saying this around my son, just a moment….

LRI: No worries….

Michelle: I had to walk away a little because I hate saying this around my son but I was so out of it at the time, I was always high back then so when I heard it and heard the lyrics I was like “Oh, it’s fine, it’s cool (laughs)…do whatever you want”. To be honest, I didn’t really care. I was like “Okay, whatever, you wrote a song about me”. I didn’t really honestly think that the album was going to be THAT huge or even that that song was gonna be on their album for that matter.

LRI: It’s a legendary track on one of the biggest selling albums of all time but who knew then??

Michelle: Exactly. I figured it wouldn’t even be recorded, I had no idea. I also didn’t know it was going to influence my life the way it did. As much as I love watching people love the song when I would go see them in concert, it was a strange thing to have influence my life. It was amazing seeing them play it in a big coliseum and seeing people bust out their lighters for the intro and then rocking out when the verse starts and I’m looking around thinking it’s amazing because I’m watching it and I’m anonymous and no one knows it’s me because I can watch it from a distance. That part of it is really special and cool, seeing people react to it but at the time when the song came out I can say it was never a blessing, it was always a curse, let’s just say.

LRI: On Wikipedia, which we know is always accurate (laughs) it states that a source said that at the time it was written you were pleased with the honesty of the new lyrics and how it came across, is that accurate?

Michelle: (laughs) I might have been (laughs). Like I said, I honestly don’t remember everything from those days and it was a long time ago. Maybe I was, okay, I probably was…I could see me being pleased with it at the time because like I said, I was under the influence so I was probably like “Yeah, this is cool!!” but at some point it became clear that it had a lot of repercussions in my life, for lack of a better word.

LRI: I was just talking to my wife Michelle about how brutal that first verse lyric is. It might be one of the most unflinching lyrics ever, Mr. Rose….

Michelle: Uhh, yeah. You know, and it’s also true that the wording sounds really a little harsher than it should be in the sense that it’s true but also not true at the same time. My dad did, in fact, distribute adult films so he wasn’t like “John Holmes” or “in porno” in that sense, my mom did die of drugs but she died of an accidental overdose of pills, not heroin, even though she was also a heroin addict. So, while there’s definitely truth there, it’s exaggerated or suggested at times. You know what though, it is what it is, can’t take it back and it’s great that people still to this day love it, that makes me happy. I also had to realize that it didn’t have to be a bad influence in my life; I allowed it to be a bad influence in my life.

LRI: People can talk smack but I can totally understand how it could be a bad influence or easily become a self-fulfilling prophecy for just about anyone, particularly because of just how big that album became. Was it just the way the song portrayed you or was it also how people treated you as a result?

Michelle: It was both. It suddenly became that everyone wanted to be my friend because they wanted to get closer or get to know the band. They thought that by getting tight with me or giving me free drugs that they would get to know the band, because in the song it says I got my drugs for free which again, wasn’t entirely true. I never did my drugs for free; nobody really does anything for free. Then you just get the people that think that since that’s “my song” I should just be that way or act that way that I’m portrayed. People will meet me and I don’t necessarily fit their idea of who they thought I would be in real life. They’ll say “I thought you would have like jet black hair and black lipstick and be all dark or be like tan and blond and wearing pink like Barbie but you’re not”. They’d all be really surprised that I’m just a regular person or that I just looked like an average girl.

LRI: You said you were using when you first heard the song but the later verse says “Now you’re clean and so discrete, I won’t say a word”. What did you attribute that particular line to?

Michelle: Uh yeah, yeah, I know exactly why he wrote that line. I had went to a program and gotten sober and was still in the program but it was New Year’s Eve and Axl was at a party at (late co-writer/collaborator) Wes Arkeen’s house. I went over there and I started using again and I told Axl, “Please don’t tell anyone” and that’s where the “I won’t say a word” part came from. My favorite part of the song is the very beginning because it’s so reflective of how it was when people met me back in those days, like it’s not clear where it it’s going, it’s a little dark and scary and that’s pretty indicative of how I had no idea I would go from where I was to this totally wild kid just going crazy in Hollywood.

LRI: They used an SG guitar to create an ominous tone in that song and that intro kind of sets the tone.

Michelle: I really like that and it’s very indicative and reflective of how I was. It’s kind of mysterious and then it just kind of explodes, which is pretty easily relatable to how I was as a person.

LRI: What about the romantic or sweet parts of the song where he speaks to falling in love and finding someone and all of that part of “My Michelle”?? Were you and he or any of the other guys in the band involved at that point or at any point romantically?

Michelle: Yeah, we had a ummm….love affair, I mean I’m trying to make it sound better than what it was (laughs). We had “romantic involvings” (laughs) for many years. It was on and off for many years and it was a tumultuous relationship for sure.

LRI: Wow, for years you said?

Michelle: At least four or five years, possibly six or seven years yeah. Even after “November Rain” and the second and third album came out we were having encounters yeah. It was mostly because we really were such good friends but when I would see him it would be once or twice a year and we would have (laughs) sexual relations (laughs).

LRI: “My Michelle” is one of many songs on Appetite that has almost a high/low, sweet/sour dynamic to it; there are quite a few that are like that and others. Everyone has heard rumors of Axl supposedly being bipolar or at least having some kind of childhood post traumatic stress disorder. Do you think that a lot of Appetite’s up and down nature is just a byproduct of Axl’s personality?

Michelle: Uh yes….very much so reflective of Axl himself, very much so. I do indeed think that but you know that’s true of a lot of artists, not just Axl.

LRI: The GNR “Live Era” version of “My Michelle” somehow manages to crank up the rage even more than the studio version with Axl changing “Party til your connection calls” to “FUCK til your connection calls” and even calling you a “little bitch” during the chorus. What did you think when you heard that version, which I’m thinking was recorded during the Illusion tour?

Michelle: That’s because he was mad at me at the time, again it was always tumultuous even though we really didn’t see each other that much it was always on and off and always tumultuous. He was mad at me at that point, for what I don’t even remember because he would get mad at me all the time for various different things. One minute it would be “Oh, Michelle is such a good friend of mine, I love her so much, the song’s about her” and the next time it would be “Oh that fucking bitch didn’t show up for my concert because she’s doing acid with her friends, I fucking hate her”. That actually happened once. He was getting tickets for my little cousins and I to go to the concert and I was supposed to be there to meet him, I believe it was in Anaheim or something. My younger cousins went and were just shocked and came back and said “Oh my god Michelle, he talked sooo much shit about you” and that was all because I didn’t show up. I told him “I can’t Axl, I’m on acid” which I was (laughs) but I was like “Wow, he didn’t have to tell everybody” (laughs). He would stay with me at my dad’s house a lot, he would sleep over a lot and I would take him all over, to shows and stuff, because he didn’t drive so I would take him to concerts and gigs all around. I would wait for him when he’d get ready to go and put up with his tantrums and hissy fits and all of that shit so no the live version of that song doesn’t surprise me to answer your question.
Source: http://www.legendaryrockinterviews.com/2014/11/10/well-well-well-you-never-can-tell-an-interview-with-guns-n-roses-insider-my-michelle-young/
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My Michelle Empty Re: My Michelle

Post by Soulmonster Tue 25 Jul 2017 - 7:39

Jeff Giles wrote:Guns N’ Roses Find Warped Inspiration From Elton John on ‘My Michelle': The Story Behind Every ‘Appetite for Destruction’ Song

Elton John is far from the first artist anyone would think of while listening to Guns N’ Roses‘ Appetite for Destruction, but his classic early hit “Your Song” played a key role in the composition of one of its songs.

John’s romantic ballad offered the early spark for the seventh song on the album, “My Michelle” — something of a surprising connection, given the latter song’s opening lines, “Your daddy works in porno / Now that mommy’s not around / She used to love her heroin / But now she’s underground.” That’s a far cry from the flowery sentiments expressed in Bernie Taupin‘s lyrics for “Your Song,” but frontman Axl Rose didn’t really have John in mind when he penned the lyrics — it’s just that John’s song happened to be on the radio when a female friend of the band told Rose she’d always wanted someone to write a song about her.

“We were driving to a show … and that song came on, and I was like ‘Oh, that’s such a beautiful song; I wish someone would write a song like that about me,'” laughed Michelle Young in a 2014 interview. “And then, lo and behold came ‘My song.'”

As it happens, Rose’s initial draft of the lyrics might have been much closer to Taupin’s sweet tone. He reportedly wrote a version — described as “99 percent sweet” by Young, who said she never heard it or saw the lyrics — that was ultimately abandoned in favor of something that offered a much more honest, albeit exaggerated, picture of her life. Given the somewhat unflattering details and Rose’s blunt approach, there were some concerns among the Gunners who’d known Young for years, particularly guitarist Slash, whom she’d dated when the two were in school.

“Slash called first and said something like ‘Please be honest about this, I’m really scared’ or something like that. Then I remember Axl called,” Young recalled. “He would always call me and sing me new songs. He would play this drumbeat on his knee and sing and snap to me on the phone whenever he had a new song, he would call me and sing a little and ask my opinion of it. So, when he called again with that I was just like ‘Okay, go ahead,’ so then he sang it and was just like ‘What do you think?'”

Young offered her casual approval, not thinking much of it at the time — partly because she was, as she later put it, “so out of it at the time” and partly because she naturally never expected it to be recorded, let alone end up on one of the biggest hit albums of the era. Given that she ended up sitting for an interview about the song more than 20 years after Appetite for Destruction was released, “My Michelle” obviously ended up being a far bigger part of her life than she could have guessed, and although her connection to the GNR legacy hasn’t always been a happy one, she eventually came to appreciate it.

“As much as I love watching people love the song when I would go see them in concert, it was a strange thing to have influence my life,” admitted Young. “It was amazing seeing them play it in a big coliseum … I’m looking around thinking it’s amazing because I’m watching it and I’m anonymous and no one knows it’s me because I can watch it from a distance. That part of it is really special and cool, seeing people react to it, but at the time when the song came out I can say it was never a blessing, it was always a curse, let’s just say.”

Rose and John became friends later, and even performed together from time to time. They appeared onstage at the Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert in 1992, performing “Bohemian Rhapsody.” The bond helped Rose overcome his previous homophobic statements he made in public and occasionally in his songs. Later that same year, John joined Guns N’ Roses onstage at the MTV Video Music Awards for “November Rain.” And in 2004, Rose inducted John into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Source: http://ultimateclassicrock.com/guns-n-roses-my-michelle/
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My Michelle Empty Re: My Michelle

Post by Soulmonster Fri 8 Jan 2021 - 12:55

New "old" quote from Slash:

I used to go out with [Michelle] when I was, like, 14 or 13, something like that. [...] When Axl first wrote the lyrics to it, some of them were so realistic. I mean, it was just like so upfront realistic and so cruel, in a way, that I thought, “Oh God, you can’t do it that way. You’re gonna crush this girl.” And she didn’t mind it, so we used it.
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My Michelle Empty Re: My Michelle

Post by Soulmonster Sun 14 Aug 2022 - 13:38

My Michelle, it starts off slow and the funny thing is, the first couple times they played it the song was slower. Then [Axl] starts out slow and then, you know, jumps in and knocks it out. But that actually showed another one of his voices, you know, just like a regular voice before the screaming voice where, "Your daddy works in porno," you know? [...] The first time he's sung it, he sang it low. And then he started screaming it later, after a couple gigs he changed it to double time or whatever you wanna call it.
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My Michelle Empty Re: My Michelle

Post by Soulmonster Thu 17 Aug 2023 - 13:46

You know, Steven, you know, some of the beats that he would start would inspire a riff, you know. And how do you give that credit to a drummer who doesn't have a guitar on? How do you, you know... Axl's like, "You gotta credit him with what's like pushing us to get the riff for Michelle." [...] it was double time and that original riff for Michelle wasn't the riff it was, it was this fast kind of.
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My Michelle Empty Re: My Michelle

Post by ludurigan Thu 17 Aug 2023 - 22:28

Soulmonster wrote:
You know, Steven, you know, some of the beats that he would start would inspire a riff, you know. And how do you give that credit to a drummer who doesn't have a guitar on? How do you, you know... Axl's like, "You gotta credit him with what's like pushing us to get the riff for Michelle." [...]  it was double time and that original riff for Michelle wasn't the riff it was, it was this fast kind of.

THAT is a very interesting topic. This is absolutely true. Very frequently when writing songs a drummer starts a beat and THAT guides or pushes or leads other musicians to "join" and very frequently a song is born right there and then.

Drummers are absolutely crucial on every moment and every dimension of a band existence and they are a key, crucial element to a band success or lack of.

Songwriters get royalties -- and rightly so. I believe that anyone who contributes to the arrangement of a recording should get royalties too.

Steven drumming is absolutely crucial to GN'R magic
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My Michelle Empty Re: My Michelle

Post by Blackstar Fri 18 Aug 2023 - 0:28

Listening to that part in the Talk Is Jericho interview with Duff, I'm not quite sure if Duff says that Axl said that they should give credit to Steven, or if he's referring to Axl meaning that Axl was the one who pushed them to make the riff faster. The former makes more sense because he was talking about Steven, but from the way Duff says it, it's not completely clear to me. It's at 54:10 minute mark:

https://www.a-4-d.com/t2852-2017-09-06-talk-is-jericho-30-years-of-gnr-with-duff-mckagan
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My Michelle Empty Re: My Michelle

Post by ludurigan Fri 18 Aug 2023 - 1:04

Blackstar wrote:Listening to that part in the Talk Is Jericho interview with Duff, I'm not quite sure if Duff says that Axl said that they should give credit to Steven, or if he's referring to Axl meaning that Axl was the one who pushed them to make the riff faster. The former makes more sense because he was talking about Steven, but from the way Duff says it, it's not completely clear to me. It's at 54:10 minute mark:

https://www.a-4-d.com/t2852-2017-09-06-talk-is-jericho-30-years-of-gnr-with-duff-mckagan

I just listened to it and I am pretty sure that Duff is saying that Axl said that Steven should get a credit for "leading" them to "adjust" the Michelle riff to what it eventually became

According to Duff the Michelle riff was like "this" (double time etc) and thanks to Steven drumming they (the band) were able to change and adjust the riff to "that" (how it sounds on the album)

This is very common in songwriting. These "tempo" adjustments (and other adjustments) happen all the time when writing a song and they are usually crucial to the song.

On another subject, AIN'T IT FUN that Duff "the guy with a degree, mountain biker, writer, Playboy magazine columnist, Martial Arts fighter and 'Not Today Satan' Seattle home boy" Mckagan spent about 5.890 years saying that Izzy was the unsung hero of GN'R and now when a "REUNION" (hysterical laughter) happens all of sudden Izzy is no unsung hero no more?

It is like "yeah, here I am, my name is Duff, yeah, I am playing to 1.000 people at this dive bar, and I am true rock n' roller, and I am gonna tell you all the truth that you don't know about GN'R, look, that Axl guy, the one who took over GN'R from us, yeah, everybody thinks that Axl is GN'Rm and Slash, but it was actually Izzy who did a lot on that band and, please note, I am on Izzy's side, I actually play on 5 of his home made records, I am a rock n' roll guy, just like Izzy, I am not part of the machine like Axl, I am cool guy like Izzy, look at me"

But then Duff is friends with Axl again and ready to play to 100.000 people every night again and ready to make more money in one single day than he made in the past two decades and all of a sudden Izzy is no unsung hero no more

Seriously, these guys are hysterical XD
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My Michelle Empty Re: My Michelle

Post by Soulmonster Fri 18 Aug 2023 - 4:21

Blackstar wrote:Listening to that part in the Talk Is Jericho interview with Duff, I'm not quite sure if Duff says that Axl said that they should give credit to Steven, or if he's referring to Axl meaning that Axl was the one who pushed them to make the riff faster. The former makes more sense because he was talking about Steven, but from the way Duff says it, it's not completely clear to me. It's at 54:10 minute mark:

https://www.a-4-d.com/t2852-2017-09-06-talk-is-jericho-30-years-of-gnr-with-duff-mckagan

Yeah, I remember I struggled transcribing that part and actually added a question mark into the description, but then probably concluded that I had it right. I will go over it again with fresh ears, which often helps.
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My Michelle Empty Re: My Michelle

Post by Soulmonster Fri 18 Aug 2023 - 5:04

I will leave it as it is, that's how I hear what Duff is saying (although what comes after "Axl" is not entirely clear), and it also makes sense in the context of Duff talking about how Steven should be credited, and finally we have lots of precedents of Axl wanting a fair share of credit and could be arguing that Steven should get his due.
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My Michelle Empty Re: My Michelle

Post by Soulmonster Sat 27 Jan 2024 - 11:22

I went to a couple rehearsals at Nickey's Love House [?] lockout over there at Gardner Studios. Yeah, a bunch, man. I was over there all the time, like at least every day. And like I was sitting there rehearsals [?]. It was a little space, it couldn't have been more than like 250 square feet. And I would sit right there. You know, and they didn't have a PA. So I remember like once, like, right when the song My Michelle started, I heard them playing that, and before Axl showed up and we were talking out front, I was like, "Man, I really like" - I called it their AC/DC song - it's like, "Oh, I really like that," you know, and he went and got the lyrics he showed me, I was like, "Oh, it's pretty cool man." And then when they were ready for him he went in to like working it out with them and I was right there. You know, Slash's like about, you know, a foot and a half away and Axl came up and they started playing the song and he just sang straight into my ear.
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