"You Could Be Mine" is American rock band Guns N' Roses's second-highest selling single and one of their most popular songs. It appears at number 12 on the 1991 album Use Your Illusion II. The song was written by Izzy Stradlin and Axl Rose, Stradlin and Rose wrote the lyrics together and Stradlin wrote the music. Originally, this song was written about Izzy's failed relationship with ex-fiance Angela Nicoletti. Some fans believe that one of the lines in the chorus You could be mine, but you're way out of line was directed at Angela, after she broke up with him.
Interestingly the line "With your bitch slap rappin' and your cocaine tongue you get nuthin' done" from the chorus appeared on the inner sleeve of Guns N' Roses' debut Appetite For Destruction album 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 appeared on "The Spaghetti Incident?" album. Slash states that the song first started being written at the first preproduction session for Appetite for Destruction.
Contrary to popular belief, You Could Be Mine was not originally going to be the official theme of Terminator 2: Judgment Day. 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 taking out his shotgun from a box of roses (thus playing a pun on the band) were so clear and obvious that it was a wise business decision to make when Cameron decided to recruit the band to perform a song. As it would turn out, "You Could Be Mine" was selected. Arnold Schwarzenegger had Axl and the band members over for dinner at his own home to negotiate the deal. Axl and Arnold soon became very good friends and Arnold admitted that he loved Guns N' Roses' music in future interviews.
Schwarzenegger appears in the music-video as the T-800 Terminator from the film who arrives at a Guns N' Roses concert, having mission orders by (presumably) Skynet to kill and assassinate the band (fearing that the band's musical influence and raucous style may be the fuel the humans may need in the battle against the Machines). However, when the song is finished, the Terminator confronts the band and individually assesses each member. He gets to Axl and assesses that killing him would be a "A waste of ammo." He then stares at Axl Rose for a while and then walks off. The video, edited by Jeffrey Abelson, was one of the most requested music-videos during that period, and it most definitely built up a lot of hype around the release of Terminator 2. Izzy Stradlin was conspicuously absent from the end section of the video.
As the video features clips from the movie, it could not be put on the DVD Welcome to the Videos for legal reasons.
The song is remembered for its minute-long drum and guitar intro. It was played during the ending credits of Terminator 2 and was heard in the film itself in early scenes with John Connor. The original script called for The Ramones song I Wanna Be Sedated to be played.
Live versions included some twin-guitar parts by Izzy and Slash, where Slash would use a BC Mockingbird (as in the video) instead of his usual Gibson Les Paul. At Rock In Rio II, Axl's microphone failed and Izzy had to sing most of the second verse and chorus . It was first played live at Rock in Rio II festival on January 20th, 1991.
