That was when it was released, right? I remember it was a summer release. My mother took me to see it when I was 11 or 12.

Judgment Day was August 1997. I don't recall the day... for all the times I typed it into my DVD player to unlock the Extended Director's Cut on the DVD (Skynet Edition, IIRC). August 29? 082997? Not sure. Too lazy to look it up.

John Connor and his friend blasting You Could Be Mine implies the movie takes place pretty close to release. If that song was a single, it did not receive a lot of radio airplay. I was a little younger than John then. I remember the other singles from the Use Your Illusion twin albums; November Rain in particular received heavy airplay. Might have varied from station to station, but I don't recall our rock station playing You Could Be Mine. John could have also been playing it on cassette.