"My Michelle" is a song by American rock band

Guns N' Roses Guns N' Roses is an American hard rock band formed in Los Angeles, California in 1985 as a merger of local bands L.A. Guns and Hollywood Rose. When they signed to Geffen Records in 1986, the band's "classic" line-up consisted of vocalist Axl R ...

, featured on the band's 1987 debut studio album ''

Appetite for Destruction ''Appetite for Destruction'' is the debut studio album by American hard rock band Guns N' Roses, released on July 21, 1987, by Geffen Records. It initially received little mainstream attention, and it was not until the following year that ''App ...

''.

Recording

For the recording of this song, guitarist

Slash Slash may refer to: * Slash (punctuation), the "/" character Arts and entertainment Fictional characters * Slash (Marvel Comics) * Slash (''Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles'') Music * Harry Slash & The Slashtones, an American rock band * Nash th ...

used a slightly different setup. For the rest of the album, he used a

Gibson Les Paul The Gibson Les Paul is a solid body electric guitar that was first sold by the Gibson Guitar Corporation in 1952. The guitar was designed by factory manager John Huis and his team with input from and endorsement by guitarist Les Paul. Its typic ...

copy through a modified Marshall amplifier on the same settings for each song. However, for this song, he swapped to a 1960s Gibson SG because he felt it had a darker sound.

Composition and lyrical intent

The song is about a friend of the band, a girl named Michelle Young who is thanked in the ''Appetite for Destruction'' cover sleeve. Slash knew Young throughout junior high, as she was a friend of Slash's first girlfriend. According to

Axl Rose W. Axl Rose ( ; born William Bruce Rose Jr., February 6, 1962) is an American singer and songwriter. He is the lead vocalist and lyricist of the hard rock band Guns N' Roses, and has been the band's sole constant member since its inception in ...

, he and Young were in a car together when " Your Song" by

Elton John Sir Elton Hercules John (born Reginald Kenneth Dwight; 25 March 1947) is a British singer, songwriter and pianist. His music and showmanship have had a significant, lasting impact on the music industry, and his songwriting partnership with l ...

came on the radio and Young happened to mention that she had always wanted someone to write a song about her. Rose's first attempt was a sweet, almost romantic song, but one that had absolutely nothing to do with the reality of Michelle's life. He was unhappy with this version and re-wrote it, this time seeking to be completely honest. Several members of the band expressed concern over this version of the song, especially Slash, fearing it would upset Young.Bozza, Anthony, & Slash (2007). ''

''. Harper Entertainment: New York. pp. 120 Rose himself then became hesitant, but finally decided to show it to her. She liked the song and the attention it brought to her, and was especially pleased with its honesty, most notably regarding her drug addiction, the death of her mother and her father's work in the

pornography Pornography (colloquially called porn or porno) is Sexual suggestiveness, sexually suggestive material, such as a picture, video, text, or audio, intended for sexual arousal. Made for consumption by adults, pornographic depictions have evolv ...

industry, all of which are mentioned within the first verse. According to '' The Autobiography of Slash'', Young managed to clean up and move across the country to escape her lifestyle. During the 2006 New York and European tours, Axl Rose shared the vocal duties with former

Skid Row A skid row, also called skid road, is an impoverished area, typically urban, in English-speaking North America whose inhabitants are mostly poor people " on the skids". This specifically refers to people who are poor or homeless, considered disre ...

singer Sebastian Bach.

Personnel

* W. Axl Roselead vocals *

lead guitar *

Izzy Stradlin Jeffrey Dean Isbell (born April 8, 1962), known professionally as Izzy Stradlin, is an American guitarist, singer, and songwriter. He was a co-founder, rhythm guitarist, and backing vocalist of the hard rock band Guns N' Roses, with whom he re ...

rhythm guitar, backing vocals * Duff "Rose" McKaganbass, backing vocals *

Steven Adler Steven Adler (born Michael Coletti; January 22, 1965) is an American musician. He was the drummer and co-songwriter of the hard rock band Guns N' Roses, with whom he achieved worldwide success in the late 1980s. Adler was fired from Guns N' R ...

drums

Covers

*The song was covered by the punk group AFI for the compilation called '' Punk Goes Metal''. *In the

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Sega Saturn The is a home video game console developed by Sega and released on November 22, 1994, in Japan, May 11, 1995, in North America, and July 8, 1995, in Europe. Part of the fifth generation of video game consoles, it is the successor to the succes ...

, and

PlayStation is a video gaming brand owned and produced by Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE), a division of Japanese conglomerate Sony. Its flagship products consists of a series of home video game consoles produced under the brand; it also consists ...

versions of the game '' Mega Man X3'', Neon Tiger's stage theme music is extremely similar to this song. Surprisingly,

Capcom is a Japanese video game company. It has created a number of critically acclaimed and List of best-selling video game franchises, multi-million-selling game franchises, with its most commercially successful being ''Resident Evil'', ''Monster ...

confirmed this is a coincidence. *The song was also covered by

The Dillinger Escape Plan The Dillinger Escape Plan is an American metalcore band. The band was formed in 1997 in Morris Plains, New Jersey by guitarist Ben Weinman, bassist Adam Doll, vocalist Dimitri Minakakis, and drummer Chris Pennie. The band's use of Consonance and ...

for the controversial tribute album ''Bring You to Your Knees: A Tribute to Guns N' Roses''. Members of the DEP now admit in interviews that the album was terribly recorded, but they were happy with their song.Decoymusic.com - Greg Puciato of The Dillinger Escape Plan

References

{{authority control Guns N' Roses songs 1987 songs Songs written by Axl Rose Songs written by Izzy Stradlin