You Could Be Mine
Encyclopedia
"You Could Be Mine" is a song by American rock
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...

 band Guns N' Roses
Guns N' Roses
Guns N' Roses is an American hard rock band, formed in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, in 1985. The band has released six studio albums, three EPs, and one live album...

, featured on their 1991 fourth studio album Use Your Illusion II
Use Your Illusion II
Use Your Illusion II is the fourth studio album by the American rock band Guns N' Roses. It was one of two albums released in conjunction with the Use Your Illusion Tour, and as a result the two albums are sometimes considered a double album...

. It was released as the band's seventh single, and the first from the Use Your Illusion albums, in June 1991. Backed with "Civil War
Civil War (song)
"Civil War" is a song by the rock band Guns N' Roses, which originally appeared on the 1990 compilation Nobody's Child: Romanian Angel Appeal and later on the 1991 album Use Your Illusion II...

" from Use Your Illusion II, the single reached number twenty-nine on the Billboard Hot 100
Billboard Hot 100
The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...

 chart and number three on the UK Singles Chart
UK Singles Chart
The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...

.

History

Contrary to popular belief, "You Could Be Mine" was not originally going to be the official theme of Terminator 2: Judgment Day
Terminator 2: Judgment Day
Terminator 2: Judgment Day is a 1991 science fiction action film directed by James Cameron and written by Cameron and William Wisher Jr.. It stars Arnold Schwarzenegger, Linda Hamilton, Robert Patrick, and Edward Furlong...

. However, the references to Guns N' Roses that were made in the film (from John Connor's friend's Guns N' Roses t-shirt to the T-800
T-800
"The Terminator" refers to a number of fictional characters portrayed by Arnold Schwarzenegger – a cyborg, initially portrayed as a programmable assassin and military infiltration unit...

 taking out his shotgun from a box of roses, thus playing a pun on the band's name) were so clear and obvious that it was a wise business decision to make when director James Cameron
James Cameron
James Francis Cameron is a Canadian-American film director, film producer, screenwriter, editor, environmentalist and inventor...

 decided to recruit the band to perform a song. As it would turn out, "You Could Be Mine" was selected to be included in the film. Arnold Schwarzenegger
Arnold Schwarzenegger
Arnold Alois Schwarzenegger is an Austrian-American former professional bodybuilder, actor, businessman, investor, and politician. Schwarzenegger served as the 38th Governor of California from 2003 until 2011....

 had the band members over for dinner at his own home to negotiate the deal.

The lyric "With your bitch slap rappin' and your cocaine tongue you get nothin' done" from the chorus appeared on the inner sleeve of Guns N' Roses' debut album Appetite for Destruction
Appetite for Destruction
Appetite for Destruction is the debut studio album by American rock band Guns N' Roses, released in July 1987 on Geffen Records. It was well-received by critics and topped the American Billboard 200 chart...

, released in 1987 (the song had already been written by then). This "tradition" was followed by the line "Ain't It Fun" on the Use Your Illusion albums released in 1991 - two years later GN'R cover of the song "Ain't It Fun
Ain't It Fun
"Ain't It Fun" is a song written by written by Peter Laughner and Gene O'Connor and performed by their protopunk band Rocket from the Tombs. The song was first released by O'Connor's later group, The Dead Boys, on their 1978 second studio album We Have Come for Your Children...

" appeared on "The Spaghetti Incident?"
"The Spaghetti Incident?"
"The Spaghetti Incident?" is the fifth studio album by the American rock band Guns N' Roses. The album is unique for the band, consisting entirely of cover versions, mostly of punk and glam rock songs of the late 1970s and early 1980s....

album. Slash states that the song's writing began at the first preproduction session for Appetite for Destruction.

The song has a minute-long drum
Drum
The drum is a member of the percussion group of musical instruments, which is technically classified as the membranophones. Drums consist of at least one membrane, called a drumhead or drum skin, that is stretched over a shell and struck, either directly with the player's hands, or with a...

 and guitar
Guitar
The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...

 intro. It was played during the ending credits of Terminator 2 and was heard in the film itself in early scenes with John Connor
John Connor
John Connor is a character appearing in the American science fiction Terminator franchise and he serves as the series main protagonist. Created by writer and director James Cameron, the character is first referred to in the 1984 film The Terminator and first appears portrayed by teenage actor...

. The original script called for The Ramones
Ramones
The Ramones were an American rock band that formed in the New York City neighborhood of Forest Hills, Queens, in 1974. They are often cited as the first punk rock group...

 song "I Wanna Be Sedated
I Wanna Be Sedated
"I Wanna Be Sedated" is a song by the American punk rock band the Ramones. It is one of the band's best known songs. It was originally released on their fourth album, Road to Ruin, in September 1978 and was the b-side of the UK single "She's the One" released on January 10, 1979. The song was later...

" to be played instead. The song also featured in another part of the Terminator
Terminator (franchise)
The Terminator series is a science fiction franchise encompassing a series of films and other media concerning battles between Skynet's artificially intelligent machine network, and John Connor's Resistance forces and the rest of the human race....

 series, Terminator Salvation
Terminator Salvation
Terminator Salvation is a 2009 American science fiction action film directed by McG and starring Christian Bale and Sam Worthington. The fourth installment in the Terminator series, the film is set in 2018 and focuses on the war between Skynet and humanity, with the human Resistance fighting...

.

Music video

Schwarzenegger appears in the music-video as the T-800
T-800
"The Terminator" refers to a number of fictional characters portrayed by Arnold Schwarzenegger – a cyborg, initially portrayed as a programmable assassin and military infiltration unit...

 Terminator from the film who arrives at a Guns N' Roses concert, having mission orders to assassinate the band members. When the song is finished, the Terminator confronts the band and individually assesses each member except for Izzy Stradlin
Izzy Stradlin
Jeffrey Dean Isbell , known by his stage name Izzy Stradlin, is an American musician and songwriter. He is best known as the co-founder and former rhythm guitarist of the hard rock band Guns N' Roses, which he left at the height of its fame in 1991. Following his departure, he led his own band Izzy...

, as he was conspicuously absent in this section of the video. He gets to Axl and assesses that killing him would be "a waste of ammo." He then stares at Axl Rose for a while and walks off. Edited by Jeffrey Abelson, it was one of the most requested music videos during that period, and contributed to the hype surrounding Terminator 2. At the end of 1991, MTV placed it at #1 on their top 100 videos for that year.

As the video features clips from the movie, it could not be put on the DVD Welcome to the Videos
Welcome to the Videos
Welcome to the Videos is a DVD released in 1998 featuring music videos by the American rock group Guns N' Roses. All the videos featured were made between 1987 and 1994...

due to licensing issues. The video was also not included on any of the DVD releases of Terminator 2: Judgment Day, although it was included with a special double tape edition of the film, released on VHS in 1993.

Live

Early live versions of "You Could Be Mine" featured Slash using a B.C. Rich Mockingbird (as in the video) instead of his usual Gibson Les Paul, due to his use of a tremolo
Tremolo arm
A whammy bar, tremolo arm/bar, or vibrato arm/bar is a component of a guitar, used to add vibrato to the sound by changing the tension of the strings, typically at the bridge or tailpiece...

 during the solo. It was first played live at Rock in Rio II on January 20, 1991 and has been a staple ever since.

Track listing

CD single Geffen 19039
  1. "You Could Be Mine" - 5:45
  2. "Civil War
    Civil War (song)
    "Civil War" is a song by the rock band Guns N' Roses, which originally appeared on the 1990 compilation Nobody's Child: Romanian Angel Appeal and later on the 1991 album Use Your Illusion II...

    " – 7:41


7" Single Geffen GES 19039
  1. "You Could Be Mine" (LP version) - 5:48
  2. "Civil War
    Civil War (song)
    "Civil War" is a song by the rock band Guns N' Roses, which originally appeared on the 1990 compilation Nobody's Child: Romanian Angel Appeal and later on the 1991 album Use Your Illusion II...

     (LP Version)" – 7:38


Personnel

  • Axl Rose
    Axl Rose
    W. Axl Rose is an American singer-songwriter and musician. He is the lead vocalist and only remaining original member of the hard rock band Guns N' Roses, with whom he enjoyed great success and recognition in the late 1980s and early 1990s, before disappearing from the public eye for several years...

     – lead vocals
    Lead vocalist
    The lead vocalist is the member of a band who sings the main vocal portions of a song. They may also play one or more instruments. Lead vocalists are sometimes referred to as the frontman or frontwoman, and as such, are usually considered to be the "leader" of the groups they perform in, often the...

    , production
    Record producer
    A record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...

  • Izzy Stradlin
    Izzy Stradlin
    Jeffrey Dean Isbell , known by his stage name Izzy Stradlin, is an American musician and songwriter. He is best known as the co-founder and former rhythm guitarist of the hard rock band Guns N' Roses, which he left at the height of its fame in 1991. Following his departure, he led his own band Izzy...

     – rhythm guitar
    Rhythm guitar
    Rhythm guitar is a technique and rôle that performs a combination of two functions: to provide all or part of the rhythmic pulse in conjunction with singers or other instruments; and to provide all or part of the harmony, ie. the chords, where a chord is a group of notes played together...

    , backing vocals
    Backing vocalist
    A backing vocalist or backing singer is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists...

    , production
  • Slash
    Slash (musician)
    Saul Hudson , known by his stage name Slash, is a British-American musician and songwriter. He is best known as the former lead guitarist of the American hard rock band Guns N' Roses, with whom he achieved worldwide success in the late 1980s and early 1990s. During his later years with Guns N'...

     – lead guitar
    Lead guitar
    Lead guitar is a guitar part which plays melody lines, instrumental fill passages, guitar solos, and occasionally, some riffs within a song structure...

    , production
  • Duff McKagan
    Duff McKagan
    Michael Andrew "Duff" McKagan is an American musician and writer. He is best known for his twelve-year tenure as the bassist of the hard rock band Guns N' Roses, with whom he achieved worldwide success in the late 1980s and early 1990s...

     – bass
    Bass guitar
    The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....

    , backing vocals, production
  • Matt Sorum
    Matt Sorum
    Matthew William Sorum is an American rock drummer and percussionist. Sorum is most famous for his 7-year stint in Guns N' Roses and supergroup Velvet Revolver , which is comprised in part of former Guns N' Roses members Duff McKagan and Slash .-Early career :Matt Sorum was born Matthew William...

     – drums
    Drum kit
    A drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....

    , backing vocals, production on "You Could Be Mine"
  • Steven Adler
    Steven Adler
    Steven Adler is an American musician. He is best known as the former drummer of the hard rock band Guns N' Roses, with whom he achieved worldwide success in the late 1980s...

      – drums on "Civil War"

Chart positions

Chart (1991) Peak position
Australian Singles Chart 3
Austrian Singles Chart 8
Canada RPM Top 100 Singles 30
Dutch Singles Chart 4
French Singles Chart 8
German Singles Chart 5
Irish Singles Chart
Irish Singles Chart
The Irish Singles Chart is Ireland's music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by the Irish Recorded Music Association and compiled on behalf of the IRMA by Chart-Track. Chart rankings are based on sales, which are compiled through over-the-counter retail data captured...

1
Italian Singles Chart 2
Japan Oricon Top Singles 23
New Zealand Singles Chart 1
Norwegian Singles Chart 2
Swedish Singles Chart 2
Swiss Singles Chart 1
Tokio Hot 100 6
U.S Billboard Hot 100 29
U.S Billboard Mainstream Rock
Mainstream rock
Mainstream rock is a radio format used by many commercial radio stations in the United States and Canada.-Format background:...

2
UK Singles Chart
UK Singles Chart
The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...

3
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