Get In the Ring by Guns N' Roses Song Info
"Get in the Ring" is the fifth song on the Guns N' Roses album Use Your Illusion II. It was written by Axl Rose, Duff McKagan, and Slash and is directed at music critics who gave the band negative reviews because of their actions on stage. Critics from Hit Parader (Andy Secher), Circus, Kerrang! (Mick Wall) and Spin (Bob Guccione, Jr.) are all mentioned by name. For many years there was a myth that Mick Wall of Kerrang! music magazine at that time, was mentioned because of his book 'Guns N’ Roses: The Most Dangerous Band in the World’, which was a no holds barred collection of interviews and stories about the band. Mick Wall himself has refuted these claims and alleges that the real reason for his mention was an interview he wrote in early 1990 for Kerrang! about Axl Rose’s threat to harm Vince Neil of Mötley Crüe over an incident involving Vince’s wife and Izzy Stradlin. The jab on Guccione uses a reference on his father being the founder of Penthouse magazine. Guccione actually responded in a letter to Axl Rose, saying that he accepted the challenge; however, no fight ever occurred. The song is notorious for its amount of swearing. The song was originally written by McKagan with the title "Why Do You Look at Me When You Hate Me?". Nevertheless, the title was shortened, and the original title became the first line in the final version. The song heard on the album was actually not performed live, but was rather recorded in the studio and crowd noises were added to it (similar to all the songs on Live ?!*@ Like a Suicide), recorded from a concert in Saratoga Springs, New York on June 10, 1991. Such noises included the "Guns N' Roses" chant in the beginning and the "get in the ring" chant at the end.
