powderfinger

I can't sleep, so here's a list of reasons why Neil Young is a complete badass. Any objections? Good.

-After Re-Ac-Tor and Trans, Neil wanted to release a country album "Old Ways". David Geffen had a work with Neil and told him he wasn't happy. He told Neil that he wanted more of the Neil Young HE knew - when Neil asked him what he meant, he said he wanted more "rock and roll". Neil's next album was recorded under the guise of "Neil & The Shocking Pinks" and was an album entirely of 50s style "rockabilly". Neil insisted that this was (rightly so) "rock and roll". Geffen sued the fuck out of him, with the rationale that he was "making music uncharacteristic of Neil Young."

-Following this, Neil DID release "Old Ways". Following a rockabilly album with a country album, it was obvious what he should do next... "Trans", an electronica album which featured a vocoder on 5 of the 9 tracks. He was still being sued by Geffen at the time.

-His next album, "Landing On Water", showed a return to rock although with an electronic twist. It featured big-sounding 80s stadium drums and a variety of synthesizers. It featured a few pot shots at David Crosby and the rest of the hippie movement which Crosby (and others) were desperate not to let go. It's extremely likely that this record was made and released solely to piss off Geffen, who was still suing him. At this time he said he'd never work with Crazy Horse again, but less than a year later he released the album "Life' with them.

-His next album "This Note's For You"'s title track took a shot at musicians lending themselves to advertising - for example, Michael Jackson. It featured the lyric: "Ain't singin' for Pepsi/Ain't singin' for Coke/I don't sing for nobody/Makes me look like a joke/This note's for you"

-"Tonight's The Night"'s title track was referring to Bruce Berry, a former roadie of Neil's who died of a heroin overdose. "Sleeps With Angels"'s title track was referring to Kurt Cobain, as well as the entire album being dedicated to him. This was after Neil discovered that Kurt had quoted him in his suicide note ("It's better to burn out than to fade away" - My My Hey Hey/Hey Hey My My). He now always plays either Hey Hey, My My or My My, Hey Hey in concert.

-On the album "Living With War", Young re-wrote the song "City Of New Orleans" which had been made famous by good-ol' patriotic Southern boy Willie Nelson. The new song was re-named "Let's Impeach The President". Take that, patriots.

-The album artwork to "Silver & Gold" was taken on a GameBoy Camera. In a similar vein, the artwork to his new album "Fork In The Road" was taken on a crappy webcam, as was the video to the title track of the same album - a video which featured Neil singing the song, listening to the song by plugging headphones into an apple (a real apple), eventually using the apple as a shaker, then giving up and air-guitarring. Trust me, no-one else could pull it off.

-And finally, Cortez The Killer fades out after 7:31, which was actually due to an electrical failure which killed the mixing console. In the middle of an amazing take, the failure cut off the last verse. When the producer broke the news to the band, Neil simply replied "I never liked that verse anyway." and has never played it since. It's highly possible that it contained the meaning of life.

Now I'm going to try and sleep again.

xx