The title pays homage to Jon Bon Jovi's admiration for Old West heroes, and how he identifies with them as being hated and loved at the same time ("wanted dead or alive", so to speak). During an interview on Inside the Actors Studio, Jon said he got the inspiration for the song early one morning when he could not sleep while riding in a tour bus. The "lifestyle of every rock band" was similar to that of outlaws in that each was, "a young band of thieves, riding into town, stealing the money, the girls, and the booze before the sun came up."
As a bynote, in 2019, "Once Upon a Time in Hollywood" has Leonardo di Caprio as a slightly aging, drinking, famous cowboy actor from "The Bounty Hunter", it paid homage to Steve McQueen, the star of "