Let’s start back into this with something easy: a little bit of linkbloggery. I had a few moments of amusement, reading The Top 10 Corporate Moments In Rock at Earvolution the other day. The classic one for me, and also a favourite of my pal Doug, is this one:
3. Geffen Sues Neil Young For Not Sounding Like Neil Young
In 1983, David Geffen enticed Neil Young to sign with Geffen Records for considerably less money than Shakey was being offered elsewhere. The incentive that brought Young into Geffen’s fold was the assurance that he could make whatever records he wanted without commercial restraint. Right off the bat, Young explored the new found territories of his freedom, testing the patience of his new label by experimenting with computer generated synth-rock and recording Trans, which gave the world an opportunity to hear what might have happened had “Mr. Soul” been recorded by robots. For his next effort, Young recorded Everybody’s Rockin’, an album of middling Fifties-style rockabilly tunes. Despite the fact that Young was exerting the exact creative freedom promised to him, Geffen wondered exactly they were getting out of their deal and sued Young for making “uncharacteristic music with no chance of commercial success.”
Not mentioned in the article, but even funnier than Neil Young’s situation, is the whole Van Morrison Contractual Obligation thing. I can’t explain the genius of “Have A Danish”. Go see for yourself.
