Negotiating and clearing song rights for use in small and large films, also known as sync rights, has become big business. It often even succeeds in reviving the back catalog of a band or an artist (see also Kate Bush) brilliantly.
Against this mercantile background, the anecdote from the early 1990s, which former Guns N’ Roses manager Alan Niven told in an interview, feels like a classic rock ‘n’ roll stand. In order not to say: “Fuck you!”. Then lay a roll backwards.
In any case, Niven reports on the rock portal “Louder Sound” that Guns N’ Roses initially categorically refused to write a song for Tom Cruise and his blockbuster “Days of Thunder”. Rough justification: Cruise’s film would be awful – and with his Scientology cravings this guy would be “crazy anyway”.
Niven Literally: “Our house label Geffen wanted a track from “Appetite” (for Destruction) for the ‘Days Of Thunder’ soundtrack. So I called around beforehand and found out that this film wasn’t that great. Also, I’m not a fan of Scientology. We didn’t need a media alarm at this point either. So I said ‘NO’”.
Tom Cruise was immediately on the battlefield: “As expected, he completely freaked out. We yelled at each other on the phone. When things calmed down a bit, I just thought, ‘He made things dance, so at least he deserves a follow-up call.’”
The manager got in touch with Axl Rose and reported on the beef with the world star: “I suggested during our conversation that we should record something else for him. Axl suggested ‘Door’ (“Knockin on Heaven’s Door”). They once played it live in memory of Todd Crew, who substituted in as bassist for Duff and died of a heroin overdose. I thought that was an excellent idea: everyone sings Dylan better than Dylan—especially Axl.”
Guns N’ Roses recorded or re-licensed tracks for several box office hits throughout the late 1990s and 2000s, including Terminator 2, Interview With A Vampire and End of Days.
The “Vampire” sessions marked the final GN’R recording of guitarist Slash’s departure. “End of Days” in turn meant the release of “Oh My God”, the first GN’R recording after the “Era Slash”.
The end of the song is long history: Despite the Scientology caveats, the release of “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door” in the GN’R version was the beginning of a series of loose co-ops with the Cruise team.
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