When Guns N’ Roses took on music critics in its 1991 song “Get In The Ring” from Use Your Illusion II, the group didn’t leave anything open to interpretation, or let anything get lost in lyrical subtlety. Songwriters Axl Rose, Duff McKagan, and Slash got specific in their complaints about writers who gave the band negative press for their work and offstage antics. The fourth, spoken-word verse of the song sounds more like a spur-of-the-moment rant than actual lyrics: “And that goes for all you punks in the press that want to start shit by printin’ lies instead of the things we said—that means you, Andy Secher at Hit Parader, Circus magazine, Mick Wall at Kerrang!, Bob Guccione Jr. at Spin—What, you pissed off ’cause your dad gets more pussy than you? Fuck you! Suck my fuckin’ dick.” Allegedly, at least one critic name-checked in the song responded to the challenge, as an article in the Washington Post reported that Guccione wrote a letter to Rose, accepting his offer to get in said ring, but the tussle never occurred.
via Praise, then crucify: 25 anti-music-journalist songs | Music | Inventory | The A.V. Club.
