Neil Young has penned protest songs on just about everything, from the Iraq War to Michael Jackson‘s Pepsi endorsement. Yet it seems that his resolve has only strengthened with age. Now, the ever outspoken Young – and 2017’s Bluesfest headliner – will continue waging the campaign for waging heavy peace with his latest album Peace Trail.
Predominantly an acoustic helping, Young’s latest album was cut in Rick Rubin‘s Shangri-La Studios alongside accomplished session musicians Jim Keltner on drums and Paul Bushnell on bass. If the Candian ex-pats recent track Indian Givers is anything to go by, the singer’s creaky, but ever-emotive vocals will drive the album.
Indian Givers protests the controversial construction of an oil access pipeline close to a Dakotan Indian reserve. Taken in conjunction with newly revealed song titles My New Pledge and Texas Rangers, there’s little question the album will continue on this overtly political bent.
This said, track titles like Terrorist Suicide Hang Gliders and My New Robot hint at more lighthearted and surrealistic helpings; Young’s ambitious creative strides have often led to his most compelling work, so these tracks may well be the most engaging spins.
The singer has also teased that he’ll be eschewing some of his usual proclivity for good old fashioned recording and working in some auto-tuned vocals. It’s not the first time the artist has modulated his voice, a vocoder obsession in 1982 led to Trans one of the singer’s most outlandish records. Nevertheless, auto-tuned Neil Young certainly will be interesting.
While a final release date has yet to emerge, Young has let drop that the album will be available in January. Peace Trail will be available released as a CD, digital download, cassette, vinyl and of course via Young’s hi-fidelity Pono format.
Check out the full tracklist, below.
https://youtu.be/CM-NkM-dIDA
Peace Trail:
01 Peace Trail
02 Can’t Stop Workin’
03 Indian Givers
04 Show Me
05 Texas Rangers
06 Terrorist Suicide Hang Gliders
07 John Oaks
08 My Pledge
09 Glass Accident
10 My New Robot
Image: Mercury News
“Tonight we’re not going to do any age jokes,” Mick Jagger said as he walked onto the Desert Trip stage alongside his Rolling Stones bandmates. “But welcome to the Palm Spring retirement home for genteel English musicians.”
The legendary rockers were bringing a showstopping end to the first night of the Desert Trip festival, which has taken place this week in California, organised by the same team behind Coachella. Bob Dylan played before the Stones, and over the next two nights Paul McCartney, Neil Young, The Who and Roger Waters would all also perform.
Dubbed “Oldchella”, it is almost definitely the last chance to see some of the most significant and defining artists of the last five decades, the Desert Trip offered a remedy to the rough year for deaths in the arts that 2016 has inflicted, which has undoubtedly led to serious thinking about musical mortality.
After the year had already started off on a bad foot with Motorhead’s Lemmy passing away at the end of 2015, in early January, David Bowie’s death caused the world to grind to a standstill. Since then, news of cultural and much loved icons passing away have kept on coming. Prince, Glenn Frey, Alan Rickman, and Phife Dawg just some of the more notable names that have reminded us of how temporary life can be.
Icons who we have all grown up watching and listening to, can’t and won’t last forever. So with that in mind it is easy to understand why an event such as Desert Trip, featuring a stable of 60’s music legends all in one place, appealed to so many. It offered a chance to see the undisputed greats of the last five decades across one extravagant event, the likes of which will probably never be seen again.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wtGQfzDbEGY
It’s fair to say that the founder and producer of the Coachella and Desert Trip festivals, Paul Tollett, has had a fair old year. Already responsible for reuniting the classic Guns N’ Roses line-up at this year’s Coachella festival, Tollet wasn’t done with just yet.
The idea first came to him in May last year, but it wasn’t until he had watched each respective act live again that it really started to gain momentum in his mind. What if he could put together the greatest rock and roll line-up ever assembled and combine it with a festival experience like no other?
Joining The Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, Paul McCartney, Neil Young, the Who and Roger Waters together to do this became closer to reality when Tollet actually gained a permit for two weekends at the Empire Polo Club in Indio, California.
Convinced that these six pioneering and legendary acts had the capabilities and followings in order to attract an audience demographic unlike anything witnessed before, the job then became about locking down the artists. With a rumoured talent and production budget of around $100M- the financial aspects of it were already extraordinary.
“I was in slow talks with each of the six,” Tollet explained to Billboard. “Once the specific concept was confirmed, I sent a financial offer out with a short window to accept.”
He billed it as one of the greatest shows of all time and after some initial trepidation from the artists involved all six of his targets signed on.
“A couple of them asked, ‘What are you going to do if we don’t do it?’ [I said] ‘If we don’t get these six, we’re not going to do the show.’”
Over the years, Coachella has become the prominent festival on the American music calendar. A success story that has made eye-wateringly high amounts of money in all of its recent showings. Just take last year for example, when it raked in over $84M in profit. Or in 2014, when it made $78M.
Latching onto the festival’s mass appeal and popularity, promoter Goldenvoice noticed a glaring gap in the market though which wasn’t being attended to. While festivals nowadays are catering to the youth of the day, there were none that were being constructed around the tastes of older generations, like the baby boomers. Yet this was essentially an untapped market full of disposable incomes, who were willing to spend a bit more money if what was on offer was deemed as worth it. Add to that the context in which so many musical greats have passed away, the timing couldn’t have been better.
The three day event spanning across the weekend promised to fix this, with a festival which offered not only great music but also the chance of recapturing youth. The Desert Trip was rooted firmly in nostalgia, but it needed to offer more than just that if it was to be classed as a success.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rQEu65sZEP0
When news broke of its happening in early May, the fan response was unequivocal. Tickets for the first weekend sold out in just three hours. While amongst the mad scramble, it was decided by Goldenvoice that they would do a second weekend which they had initially remained silent about when tickets first went on sale.
“We were on the fence about a second weekend right up until the day we announced and saw the reaction,” Tollet said. “It generated four times the traffic of a typical Coachella announcement.”
The sense of being there at a significant cultural moment in music history weighed heavily as a drawcard for people who dashed to buy tickets.
“The audience is going to feel real special about being able to see all of this at once. It’s a celebration,” Neil Young declared.
Meanwhile, Gary Bongiovanni of Pollster magazine described it as a game-changing approach to festival creating.
“The event is expanding the boundaries of what a concert can be. This is a new concept and is aimed at a much different audience,” he said.
Alongside the two concerts performed each evening, there was also a wealth of other activities to do within the festival grounds. It appealed purposely to a mass selection of people looking for something more than just camping in mud and listening to music all day.
Clearly catering to an older and more comfort-driven audience, a “culinary experience” was offered with 40 of the country’s best chefs descending into Indio, California to serve up cooking classes as well as food. Luxurious RV camping packages were available as opposed to the old trusty tent. While there were free shuttle rides to the grocery stores nearby, before an afternoon of pampering at the “Beauty Bar” or a browse around arts and crafts stalls beckoned. More than just a music show, Desert Trip was packaged as a sort of all-inclusive weekend vacation. However, despite having so much variables to offer, the festival would have failed without the strength of its line-up.
“All the bands you’re seeing here have been playing music for 50 years or more,” Jagger told the crowd during last Friday’s set. “We think it’s pretty amazing you still want to see us, so thank you.”
The fact that all six acts are still highly regarded after such a long time in the industry is testament to not only their enduring appeal but also their talent. It comes as no real surprise that so many people still want to watch Jagger theatrically bounce around the stage like he’s still in his 20’s. Or Bob Dylan while he refuses to let his face be put up on the big screens as he strums through Like A Rolling Stone, one of the many songs which have just earned him a Nobel Prize in Literature.
At a time where many are mourning the loss of Bowie, Prince and others, this festival catered to an audience who not only wanted to take a journey back in time, but a chance to see artists who, quite seriously, may not all be around for decades to come. It acts as a reminder of the fragility of human existence but while also being a joyful celebration of the past and present.
Image: Billboard
Goldenvoice, the company behind Coachella and the new Panorama Music Festival in New York City have announced plans to arrange a super-festival of sorts. The event reads more like a best-of classic rock ‘n roll record collection than a lineup, and is sure to pull one hell of a crowd.
According to the Los Angeles Times, Goldenvoice are set to coordinate an event featuring Sir Paul McCartney, The Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd’s Roger Waters, The Who, Bob Dylan and Neil Young. If the event goes ahead, it will mark the first time that these legends have all been featured on a single event.
The event would no doubt be a once-in-a-lifetime experience (and with that I’m sure we can expect an equally monumental ticket price) and is set to take place from October 7 – 9 at the Empire Polo Field in Indio, California, with Dylan and the Stones headlining the Friday night, Young and McCartney on Saturday, with The Who and Waters closing the weekend on Sunday. Attendees can look forward to “full stage productions, with full sets,” which is a remarkable offer for a festival, which usually features strictly shortened setlists and minimal personalised stage production.
“It’s so special in so many ways.” said Young’s manager Elliot Robert. “You won’t get a chance to see a bill like this, perhaps ever again. It’s a show I look forward to more than any show in a long time.”
No further details are available, including whether other bands will play ahead of the mammoth headliners, all of whom are Rock ‘n Roll Hall of Fame inductees, or if it will essentially just be six concerts rolled into three huge days.
Personally, the most exciting thing about this announcement is dreaming about a Bonnaroo-style mega jam between these artists. It’s a ridiculous thought, but you never know, right?!
Look out for an official announcement from Goldenvoice across the next few weeks.
Image: Ha Aretz
Politics and music certainly do mix. Mostly when it’s the latter waxing lyrical on the former though. Artists like Bob Dylan, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Joan Baez, Marvin Gaye, Rage Against The Machine and Public Enemy (countless others as well) have all made long and prosperous careers off of their politically-charged music in the US. Closer to home we have artists like Paul Kelly, Yothu Yindi, Midnight Oil, and The Smith Street Band who have done exactly the same (and countless others as well).
And it works, because these artists and their music serve to give a voice to the voiceless, oftentimes capturing the feelings of the common citizen perfectly. We recently outlined the success of Kendrick Lamar‘s Alright as a political anthem when it was chanted at rallies in Washington, D.C.
It’s when politicians try and be hip and use popular music in their campaigns that things get a bit dicey. Unintentionally hilariously dicey. And sometimes a little awful and tragic. Here are some of the most baffling song choices for political campaigns ever made:
5: Bob Dole – Dole Man
When confirmed zombie Bob Dole ran for President against Bill Clinton and Ross Perot back in ’96, he decided that he would put forth an honest campaign based on a solid foundation of jokes. Dad jokes. Awful dad jokes. Which is why he decided that taking Sam And Dave‘s 1967 hit Soul Man and tagging ‘Soul’ out for his surname because the two rhymed was a proper good idea.
How’d that go you think?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pYh-LwbUwoQ
Everyone’s face when ‘Dole Man’
Well for starters, terribly. Soul Man was written by David Porter and Isaac Hayes (yep, Chef from South Park) in the middle of the African American Civil Rights struggle, the song a proud anthem about rising up out of one’s shitty circumstances. A song meant to empower African Americans everywhere. It was fiery and full of attitude and it was absolutely brilliant, and here we have an over-privileged old white guy from Kansas, who wouldn’t know struggle if it turkey slapped him in his withered old jowls, appropriating it for a political campaign because it conveniently rhymes with his surname.
Gross.
Unsurprisingly, both Sam and Dave were suitably pissed about this (as were a lot of other people), and went so far as to demand $100 000 in damages for every time Dole played his version of it.
How big a douchebag do you have to be for an artist to decide that you’re damaging them financially just by playing their music?
A real Dolebag, apparently.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Yn9ZuXSvDk
4. Angela Merkel – Angie
We’ll chalk this one up perhaps to being a little lost in translation? As the Chancellor of Germany, a position she has held now for an entire decade, Angela Merkel is one of the most powerful women on the planet. That doesn’t stop her from making the odd mistake here and there though, not one bit.
In her re-election campaign back in 2005, she decided to run with a Rolling Stones number. Who wouldn’t? They’re a Hall Of Fame rock and roll band, they’re the epitome of longevity, which is definitely something you want in a political career and they have a whole discography full of hard rocking tunes that would probably go alright as a curtain raiser on a campaign tour. Which one did old Angela pick?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RcZn2-bGXqQ
Of course. Of course she picked Angie.
I mean, it’s a great, great song don’t get me wrong. Released back in 1973, it was a huge hit for the Stones, as was just about everything they even breathed on. Here’s the trouble though: it’s a break-up song. A break-up song about a woman named Angie. One who Messrs Jagger, Richards and co. certainly weren’t gushing over in that song. Just some of the lyrics:
“With no loving in our souls, and no money in our coats/You can’t say we’re satisfied…/All the dreams we held so close seemed to all go up in smoke/…Ain’t it time we said goodbye?”
She was the incumbent Chancellor at this point, so, you know, using a break-up song in her political campaign is about as awful as foreshadowing goes. Didn’t matter in the end though, Germany didn’t give her the flick and she’s still going strong in office today, hopefully making better song choices come election time!
3. Reclaim Australia – Khe Sanh
As far as political campaigns go, it’s more a demonstration, I’m aware, but I’m still going to use it as an example.
On our own shores, right-wing nationalist groups like Reclaim Australia and the United Patriots Front are inherently awful. Aside from being general shitbags, they’re also often abhorrently, undereducated-ly racist and xenophobic as all get out. Their political message, what little you can discern from the awful spelling and non-existent grammar of their mandatory caps lock rants, is basically a roundabout explanation of a ‘Fuck Off, We’re Full’ bumper sticker.
So when some of the loud and obnoxious troglodytes of Reclaim Australia decided they’d care to have a bit of a meet up and a good old fashioned bogan yell at people who look foreign earlier this year, one that had all the intelligence and subtlety of a YouTube comments section, they wanted to make sure that everyone else in Australia got the bloody message. They’re not ‘racist’ or ‘bigoted’ or ‘FUCKEN ZENAFOBIC’, they just love the utter Christ out of Australia and don’t want anyone who doesn’t look or talk like them playing silly buggers in their beautiful country, ya hear?
Nothing but the most Aussie song of all time would reinforce that message of course. Cue up the inimitable sounds of Cold Chisel and their 1978 smash hit Khe Sanh. It’s one of the most important songs in Australian music history. A song that is iconically Australian in every facet.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BNA4ELdkYCo
A song about a disenfranchised Vietnam veteran drifting aimlessly around Australia and South East Asia and dealing with his crippling PTSD by taking lots of hard drugs and having lots of casual sex.
We’re uh… we’re not sure how that story is in any way cohesive with yours, Reclaim Australia. Cold Chisel frontman Jimmy Barnes wasn’t having a bar of their nonsense, demanding they stop playing any of his or Cold Chisel’s music at their gatherings immediately and denouncing whatever message they were trying and failing laughably to get across.
Given that he is himself a Scottish-born immigrant to Australia who then married his wife Jane, originally born in Thailand, you can see why the people of Reclaim Australia might piss Barnesy off just a little.
2. Saddam Hussein: I Will Always Love You
There’s nothing I can really say that will truly get across how utterly surreal this would have been, but yes, Saddam Hussein had a Syrian pop singer’s cover version of the hit ballad by Dolly Parton (and later an even bigger hit ballad by Whitney Houston) as his official campaign song back in 2002.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ck_WRsgYrYA
His idea of subtle and strategic placement was to just blast it over Iraqi airwaves night and day, as though that wasn’t cruel and unusual punishment. The artist whose cover was used, Mayada Bselis, does an admirable job chanelling her inner Whitney here, but there are only so many listens to a song about a respectfully terminated romance being misappropriated to musically represent a murderous dictator that one could take before you’re left wishing you had an incurable case of tinnitus.
There’s ridiculous, and then there’s Saddam Hussein.
1: Donald Trump: Literally Everything
It doesn’t matter if you Google Image search ‘Donald Trump slimy’, ‘Donald Trump dirtbag’ or ‘Donald Trump awful’, the results will be exactly the same as just searching ‘Donald Trump’. Donald Trump says things that even Pauline Hanson would find in poor taste. The next time Donald Trump calls a woman something derogatory, the dictionary are going to mark the occasion by replacing the word ‘misogyny’ with his picture. Donald Trump’s proposed foreign policies read like a list of rejected Onion headlines. Donald Trump looks and acts like the villain in a movie where the hero is a dog. Donald Trump is what a lizard person would look like if they stopped giving a shit about concealing their identity.
‘You fools, this isn’t even my final form. It’s gonna be yuge’.
All hyperbole aside, Donald Trump is the absolute worst. And he doesn’t even realise that he’s the worst. And so pretty much everything he does subsequently has an air of tragic comedy behind it. Especially his choices of campaign music.
Donald Trump changes campaign songs probably more often than he changes socks (or sheds his outer skin). This isn’t because he’s the kind of degenerate song skipper you wouldn’t put an aux cord five feet in front of, but because every time he tries to use a song in his current Presidential campaign it’s usually wildly inappropriate and the artist wants straight nothing to do with it. Here’s some he’s tried:
There was Rockin’ In The Free World by Neil Young. A song that originally railed against the changes brought on by former Republican President George Bush Sr.’s election when it was released back in 1989 and then became the unofficial anthem for the demise of Communism when the Berlin Wall fell.
Unless you interpreted Neil Young’s original to be a middle finger to poor people in developing nations, this song has approximately zip to do with anything Donald Trump is about. His ‘bomb everything in Syria and steal their oil’ policy he actually outlined with a straight face (possibly because it can barely move anyway) is the polar opposite of a free world really. Neil Young is one of the most anti-Republican musicians going to boot and he of course told Donald to cut this the fuck out.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PdiCJUysIT0
Trump also gave It’s The End Of The World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine) by R.E.M. a red hot go too. A song that’s about everything and nothing at the same time, full of apocalyptic themes and stream-of-consciousness nonsense lyrics that are somehow brilliant. It’s a feel-good track to the ear and what he was probably going for was a ‘things are gonna change around here’ kind of vibe, but when people are literally terrified that your successful election would bring about the fulfillment of the Mayan prophecy then perhaps you’ve chosen the wrong campaign song, hey Donald. Michael Stipe put a swift and merciful end to this one too.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z0GFRcFm-aY
And of course, Dream On by Aerosmith. A song about the common man (who has nothing in common with Donald Trump in any way apart from the fact that you can be poor and still a racist misogynist too) rising up and achieving his dreams. Well, if Donald Trump rising up out of the utterly squalid nightmare of being a New York City real estate developer’s son, inheriting his parents’ company and fortune and using it to try and achieve his dream of being the worst President of all time doesn’t exactly fill you with inspiration, I don’t know what will.
Steven Tyler and the Donald are even reportedly friends and he still wasn’t about to have his music within a ten-foot clown pole of him. Watch Trump doing the most cringeworthy air drums in the history of hands to it and you’ll understand partly why.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2S99dXE-Soc
No word yet on whether even Chris Brown wouldn’t let Donald use his music. I’d really just be all for politics keeping its filthy talons off of music henceforth though. It’s for the best.
There’s good guitar teachers and there’s average guitar teachers. For some particularly lucky people – like triple-Oscar winner Meryl Streep, there’s also Neil Young.
Streep is set to take on the big screen again, this time as an aspiring rock ‘n roll guitarist in upcoming film Ricki and the Flash. To help her prepare for her role as a guitarist, she called on none other than master of the trade Neil Young, to give her a few tips and tools.
This isn’t uncommon – actors turn to lessons and experience working all sorts of odd jobs and honing their skills for fighting, fencing, horse riding, martial arts, the list goes on. But this one feels particularly special to us, given that Young is not only a master of the trade, but, obviously, an absolute legend.
The short video below goes to prove how awesome this would be. Young schools the actress about reverb, heavy chords and using the guitar’s own movements to create distortion, while Streep looks on in awe. The video ends with a humbled Streep bowing down to the iconic artist – and we’re all bowing with her.
Ricki and the Flash was written by Diablo Cody, best known for indie flick Juno. The film will be out in Australian theatres on Friday August 21.
Neil Young has long been a harsh critic of music streaming services, so much so that he began development of his super high-quality music player, Pono, thanks to a Kickstarter compaign. Here is the ridiculously preachy first paragraph of Pono’s About Us page:
“Pono means righteous. It is a Hawaiian word, the one, the pureness. On behalf of Pono, we thank you for helping us give music a voice. You have helped to set the stage for a revolution in music listening. Finally, quality enters the listening space so that we can all hear and feel what the artists created, the way they heard and felt it.”
However, now it seems that old man Young has had enough of inferior streaming services altogether, having this to say on Facebook:
‘Streaming has ended for me. I hope this is ok for my fans.
It’s not because of the money, although my share (like all the other artists) was dramatically reduced by bad deals made without my consent.
It’s about sound quality. I don’t need my music to be devalued by the worst quality in the history of broadcasting or any other form of distribution. I don’t feel right allowing this to be sold to my fans. It’s bad for my music.
For me, It’s about making and distributing music people can really hear and feel. I stand for that.
When the quality is back, I’ll give it another look. Never say never.
Neil Young‘
Young’s decision to take down his music echoes that of Taylor Swift, who removed her music from Spotify late last year. Swift, however, recently rescinded by consenting to have her music on Apple Music after the company increased artist compensation. Interestingly, Young’s issue is not one of royalties, but of sound quality, which would appear an honourable pursuit of artistic integrity, if not for Young’s presence behind the production of the expensive Pono player.
By leaving the door ajar for a return of his music to streaming services, Young could be acknowledging the growth of services such as TIDAL and Deezer, which offer tiered sound qualities. But until Young softens his opinion of streaming, it’s back to the CD/ vinyl player if you’re searching for a Heart of Gold.
Neil Young’s song Rockin’ in the Free World rose to fame in 1989 in the wake of the George H. Bush administration, and became an anthem for a generation that was dissatisfied with their government and what it stood for. The song’s lyrics reference a nation asleep at the wheel, plagued with social inequality, overlaid with the catchy and ironical chorus. It was this chant that not only garnered a following at home, but released only weeks before the fall of the Berlin Wall, became the unofficial and arguably misplaced soundtrack to the fall of communism in eastern Europe.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PdiCJUysIT0]
This week when the song was used to launch the presidential bid of Republican candidate Donald Trump, it left a taste in the mouth so bad it made the Sex Pistol’s branded credit card seem like lemonade. The song’s raw vigour, when contrasting with the toupee-wearing magnate, seems to be so diametrically opposed it is hard to conjure an image where they might intersect. It is like trying to push two magnets together; a basic universal force exists to push them apart.
Young openly came out after the event and assured that the usage of the song was unauthorised. “Had I been asked to allow my music to be used for a candidate – I would have said no,” he declared in the official statement he released on his Facebook page pictured in full below. “Increasingly, democracy has been hijacked by corporate interests. The money needed to run for office, the money spent on lobbying by special interests, the ever increasing economic disparity and the well funded legislative decisions all favor corporate interests over the people’s.”
https://www.facebook.com/NeilYoung/posts/10155658389810317
It begs the question of how the song came to be used in such a contextual faux pas in the first place. It certainly isn’t the first time that politicians have taken the liberty of employing music to win over supporters – Springsteen had a similar spat with Reagan over his song Born in the USA in 1984 when the then presidential candidate clearly misunderstood the song, which at it’s core portrays another critical reflection of the times.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z8BRWNaOdlc]
Springsteen says of the track: “In my songs, the spiritual part, the hope part, is in the choruses. The blues, your daily realities, are in the details of the verses. The spiritual comes out in the choruses, which I get from Gospel music and the church.” It feels the same for Young, but this format makes it easy to filter out the message in favour of a driving refrain and is the exact formula that politicians seek.
Earlier this year, the Dropkick Murphys also tweeted at Governor Scott Walker after the use of track I’m Shipping Up to Boston with the statement:
@ScottWalker @GovWalker please stop using our music in any way…we literally hate you !!! Love, Dropkick Murphys
— Dropkick Murphys (@DropkickMurphys) January 25, 2015
So like those before him, Trump and his people may have had no idea what the song really meant to the creator. Or, maybe they did, and decided to use it anyway as a cheap advertising gimmick to garner the favour of an audience, otherwise untapped through the use of buzzwords that resonate little with actual policies of paradigms. One only needs to take a superficial look at Trump’s policies to see the disparity. As an example, in an interview with Bill O’Reilly he says on ISIS:
“I say that you can defeat ISIS by taking their wealth. Take back the oil. Once you go over and take back that oil, they have nothing. You bomb the hell out of them, and then you encircle it, and then you go in. And you let Mobil go in, and you let our great oil companies go in. Once you take that oil, they have nothing left.”
And that is just the tip of a vitriolic and dangerous set of ideas that are clearly manufactured to appeal to a portion of the American public dredged in fear and hatred. In contrast, Young has a strong stance on the environment having released an album about his electric car, another about the Monsanto issue, and just yesterday supporting the recent statement on global warming from the Pope. With that in mind alongside his Rockin lyrics the whole issue becomes a saddening loop. The message of the song rings truer than ever, and the perpetrators employ it to push the very ideals it speaks out against.
We got a thousand points of light
For the homeless man
We got a kinder, gentler,
Machine gun hand
We got department stores
and toilet paper
Got styrofoam boxes
for the ozone layer
Got a man of the people,
says keep hope alive
Got fuel to burn,
got roads to drive.
–excerpt from Rockin in the Free World
Unsurprisingly, Trump isn’t the only one using famous songs to win fans. Democratic opposition Hillary Clinton recently used a play on the words from a classic Beatles track to strengthen her case:
“Now, there may be some new voices in the presidential Republican choir, but they’re all singing the same old song…A song called “Yesterday.” You know the one — all our troubles look as though they’re here to stay … and we need a place to hide away… They believe in yesterday.”
All this use of musical diatribe from another time comes while right here in the present the USA continues to grapple with the Charleston shootings, a topic that deserves a conversation all of it’s own. Musicians like Killer Mike, Kanye West and Lupe Fiasco have spoken out, using their platform to broadcast social commentary like those before them. The white placards of Dylan are now easily replaced with those of twitter.
[vimeo 72540087 w=500 h=281]
Young signs off in his statement with the mandate to “Keep Rockin’ in The Free World” and we are reminded that music isn’t a currency that can be stolen to buy support. It will continue to be a free market where artists and audiences can exchange commentary on collective issues, in an attempt to make a little bit of sense in this maddening world. A world where another megalomaniacal billionaire candidate runs for the White House, and it’s just another day in the office.
Neil Young is not happy with Starbucks, and it’s not because of their shitty coffee. The rocker voices his concerns about the coffee giant not properly labeling some of their products, which could contain Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs), in a song called Rock Starbucks.The track is from his forthcoming album The Monsanto Years, out June 16th
Once a huge Starbucks fan, Neil Young boycotted the coffee company after they aligned with the GMO giant Monsanto in a lawsuit against the state of Vermont.
In an interview with CNN in December, Starbucks refuted Young’s accusations, saying that it “is not aligned with Monsanto.” Starbucks stated that it isn’t part of any lawsuit pertaining to GMO labelling.
A Monsanto representative claimed that many at the corporation were indeed fans of the outspoken Young, but, “We recognise there is a lot of misinformation about who we are and what we do – and unfortunately several of those myths seem to be captured in these lyrics.”
Young recorded the album with Willie Nelson’s sons, Micah and Lukas Nelson and debuted Rock Starbucks online on May 22 on the Democracy Now radio show. He played the song for the first time, along with 10 other tracks likely bound for The Monsanto Years, at a secret show at San Luis Obispo, California’s SLO Brewing Co. on April 16th.
Check out the video of the song and a transcription of Nelson’s lyrics below:
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ep1z1ayADqU&w=560&h=315]
Rock Starbucks
If you don’t like to rock Starbucks, a coffee shop
Well, you better change your station ’cause that ain’t all that we got
Yeah, I want a cup of coffee, but I don’t want a GMO
I like to start my day off without helping Monsanto
Monnnn-saaaan-toooo
Let our farmers grow
What they want to growFrom the fields of Nebraska to the banks of the Ohio,
The farmers won’t be free to grow what they want to grow
When corporate control takes over the American farm
The fascist politicians and chemical giants walking our name off
Monnnn-saaaan-toooo
Let our farmers grow
What they want to growWhen the people of Vermont voted to label food with GMOs
So they can find out what was in what the farmer grows
Monsanto and Starbucks through the grocery manufacturers alliance
Sued the state of Vermont to overturn the people’s will
Monnnn-saaaan-toooo (and Starbucks)
Others want to know
What they feed their childrenMonnnn-saaaan-toooo
Let our farmers grow
What they want to grow
Ever since one disgruntled fan shouted ‘Judas!’ at Bob Dylan for the folk singer having the gall to incorporate electric guitars into his music, the phrase ‘selling out’ has entered our day-to-day lexicon. Sometimes the gripe is legitimate, the change in sound or image of our beloved musicians so blatantly, cash-grabbingly obvious. Other times it’s less ‘selling out’ and simply a creative decision to head into a direction largely unfamiliar and rankling to their swathe of fans.
And sometimes, musicians simply say ‘fuck that’ and keep on keeping on, refusing to bend to the allure of gargantuan money or explosive fame. These are some of them:
5: The Ramones
God rest the Ramones. One of the most important and seminal bands of the last 60 years, they distilled music down to its rawest elements and created a sound equivalent to sheer power. Despite their militaristic pledge to make every song of theirs three minutes of three simple chords and shouted vocals, they never felt boring. Not for me anyway.
And they’re on this list because they never changed their sound to fit the scene or make a shit-ton of money. They made it through the 70s, 80s and early 90s riding those three chords all the way. They just kept playing on like a long-haired, leather jacketed version of the Titanic band, through disco, new wave, the MTV wave of pop, hair metal and grunge, with other artists changing sounds as often as underwear.
Doing the same thing over and over again is often called insanity, the Ramones called it punk.
4: Nick Cave
Few have shunned the bright lights and big stage the way Nick Cave so consistently has. And forget Sia and her ARIAs giveaway, Nick Cave recoils with horror from the mere idea of awards as though they’re made of cyanide or Creed albums.
Having received a nomination for Best Male Artist at the 1996 MTV EMAs following chart-rocketing duets with Kylie Minogue and PJ Harvey, this could have been the catalyst that sparked a lengthy and insanely profitable mainstream career for the Aussie crooner. His response to such a prestigious nomination may have been the politest form of insanity I’ve ever seen:
Dear MTV, up yours. Nick.
He cites appeasement of his muse as the reason, but I like to think it’s just because he had approximately zero time for the sickening pomp and bullshit of MTV, even as far back as 1996. Good on you, Nicko.
3: The Beastie Boys
For a Caucasian rap group who bordered on comedic act in the late 80s (before absolutely CRUSHING it in the 90s mind you), the Beastie Boys have surprisingly looked upon the act of selling out with nothing but disdain. Hell, Flavor Flav was in Public Enemy, one of the most ornery, politically-charged rap groups of all time, and even he thought that ‘Flavor Of Love’ money was too good to pass up.
Not the Beasties though, who have staunchly refused to allow any of their songs to be used in advertising, ever. They took on Monster Energy and even a company trying to push the concept of Lego blocks for girls for misappropriating their music. They also pissed off a great deal of their fans over the years by famously refusing to play their biggest hit, (You Gotta) Fight For Your Right (To Party!), live, simply because they loathed how people had misinterpreted it as anything more than satire.
How much do they hate the idea of selling out? From beyond the grave, that’s how much. When MCA tragically passed away in 2012, he went as far as to include a ‘No Sell Out’ clause in his will.
Bad. Ass.
2: Neil Young
The amount of shits Neil Young gives about anything ranges between ‘minimal’ and ‘none, absolutely none’. He once walked out on Stephen Stills mid-tour and only left a telegram telling him to eat a peach, to give you some idea of his level of shit-giving.
He’s made an entire career out of just doing what he wants, regardless of how it will affect album sales or his public reputation. And when he’s responsible for classic albums like Harvest, Zuma and After The Gold Rush, you can’t fault him for that. Flea of the Red Hot Chili Peppers put it remarkably:
“He’s made whole albums that aren’t great, and instead of going back to a formula that he knows works, he would rather represent where he is at the time. That’s what’s so awesome: watching his career wax and wane according to the truth of his character at the moment”.
He also isn’t one for the Almighty Dollar of big business either. He donates proceeds from his concerts to go to environmental causes all the time and drives a Lincoln that runs on corn-based fuel. He’s the man.
Flea again:
“Maybe we could whore ourselves out for the right price someday. But I always think, “Would Neil Young do this?” And the answer is no. Neil Young wouldn’t fuckin’ do it”.
Amen to that.
1: ABBA
Hear me the fuck out on this one, alright? Despite the inherent coolness of everyone else on this list, despite ABBA being a crock of unequivocal cat shit and the undisputed soundtrack to everybody’s mother drunkenly swaying and trilling out of tune to at family gatherings, they are the Beatles of not selling out.
They turned down one billion dollars for a reunion tour.
One.
Billion.
FUCKING.
Dollars.
I’ll let NBA player Andre Iguodala demonstrate my feelings
Dr. Dre had to come up with a new line of luxury headphones, overprice the unholy dick out of them and make them successful enough to sell to Apple to earn within the same realm of money as some raving lunatic was willing to pay fucking ABBA just to put on their ridiculous costumes and warble their way through their litany of musical excretions onstage one last time. And they looked that person dead in the eye (or from any of the strange angles they employed in their music videos) and said ‘nah’ in a Swedish accent.
Unheard of. Unfathomable. It would be one thing were they a respected, beloved band like Zeppelin or somebody who didn’t want to ruin a lasting legacy, better bands have reunited for much, much less, but this is ABBA we’re talking about. They’re the butt of so many jokes, and they somehow still had too much pride to take that veritable Mount Everest of scrilla and run.
Well, say what you will about ABBA. They’re either shitrat insane or, behind the feathery hair and unsettling weirdness, are some of the biggest stones in music history. Turning that offer down makes them the heavyweight champions of this list, an incredibly sobering idea.