Certain movie-song combos are just written into the very fabric of popular culture. Top Gun and Danger Zone. Titanic and My Heart Will Go On. Men In Black and, er, Men In Black. In the early 90s, few comings together of cinema and music were as instantly iconic as that of James Cameron's spectacular blockbuster sequel Terminator 2: Judgement Day and Guns N' Roses banger You Could Be Mine.
Selected especially for the film after some direct involvement from Terminator star Arnold Schwarzenegger himself, the track is heard playing in one early scene courtesy of young John Connor and his chum, as well as playing over the film's end credits. The video for the single even got in on the act, uniting Schwarzenegger with Guns N' Roses along with footage from the film.
In a new interview, however, T2 star Robert Patrick, who played the villainous T-1000 in the film and has also appeared in the likes of The X-Files and Peacemaker, revealed that had he had his way, it wouldn't have been Guns N' Roses' music appearing in the sequel at all.
"When I was making Terminator 2, I used to work out to Head Like A Hole by Nine Inch Nails, because my younger brother, Richard Patrick, was a touring guitarist for them," Patrick reveals to The Guardian. "I took it to Jim Cameron and tried to get him to use it for the soundtrack to Terminator 2, but he said: 'No. Arnold prefers Guns N’ Roses,' who went on to record You Could Be Mine, an original song for Terminator 2. It’s ironic because Trent Reznor from Nine Inch Nails has won a couple of Oscars for his soundtracks now."
Patrick also reveals that he's a huge Jimi Hendrix and Black Sabbath fan, noting: "I vividly remember riding my Stingray bicycle to Kmart in Kettering, Ohio, to buy Hendrix In The West – the live album by Jimi Hendrix – and Master Of Reality by Black Sabbath, both in the early 70s, with the money I’d made from doing rough carpentry work. I rode home, listened to the one after the other and blew my mind."
Guns N' Roses recently wrapped up their 2022 European tour and kick off a trek through South America tomorrow, September 1, in Manaus, Brazil.
