Used to Love Her

Contrary to popular belief that the song is about a girlfriend of Axl Rose, the song was written as a joke. Izzy Stradlin stated, "I was sitting around listening to the radio and some guy was whining about a broad who was treating him bad. I wanted to take the radio and smash it against the wall. Such self-pity! What a wimp! So we rewrote the same song we heard with a better ending." Slash perversely quipped, "People think it's about one of our old girlfriends, but it's actually about Axl's dog."[6]

The band debuted the song live at CBGB in October 1987, during the Appetite for Destruction Tour.[7] The song has been a live staple at Guns N' Roses concerts.[8] After last being played with the previous lineup in 1993, the song re-debuted in 2006 during the Chinese Democracy Tour.[9] It was played at every tour since, being played by the reunited lineup in 2016 during the Not In This Lifetime... Tour stop at Coachella.[10]

Stephen Thomas Erlewine of Allmusic described the song as a "country-fried boogie", but criticized it as misogynistic.[1] Rolling Stone described it as a "hilarious countryish number that will probably have feminist hot lines jammed across the country".[2]

In 2016, Spin ranked the song 42nd out of 79 on their rankings of every Guns N' Roses song, saying "strip away the misogynist, dark, and twisted fantasy, though, and you’ve got a terrific, rootsy little mimic of an Allman Brothers’ on-the-road jam."[11] That same year, Medium ranked the song 20th out of 80, stating "The crowning achievement of the “remember this was written in 1988 [1987]; that doesn’t make it right, but still” manifesto that encompasses so much of Guns’ oeuvre."[12] L.A. Weekly ranked the song 18th of 64,[13] and Ultimate Classic Rock ranked it 28th out of 80.[14]

In 2018, Loudwire ranked the song 83rd out of 87, stating "This song feels like their attempt at the Stones’ “Dead Flowers”... The song was likely meant to be taken with a grain of salt, but that was tough to swallow given that Axl’s ex-wife Erin Everly accused him of domestic abuse."[15] Houston Press named the song 5th on their list of "10 Worst Guns N' Roses Songs".[16]

White Lung covered the song as part of a SiriusXMU live session.[17][18][19] In February 2018, Guns N' Roses rhythm guitarist Richard Fortus joined Blackberry Smoke on stage to cover the song.[8] L7 released a cover of the song as the B-side to their 1992 single "Monster", changing the lyric and title to "Used to Love Him".[20]