Why We Do Need Neil Young Around, Anyhow

Full disclosure: I love Neil Young, he's one of my top five artists that I do not want to live without.

Also full disclosure: I do not use Spotify.

If you look at the dates on this blog, you will notice it's been a minute since I wrote about anything here.  I was burnt out.  The Trump administration had nearly exhausted my capacity for howling into the void.  I told myself I would get back to it when I had something useful to say, not angry, not just venting, but something important and maybe helpful.  Then a pandemic hit and all of the useful and important things I had to say needed to be said elsewhere.  I needed to spend my time communicating with the people to whom I am a pastor.  I found it to be a rather odd phenomenon that when I suddenly had to communicate entirely over the interweb I found the idea of writing a blog every few days to be exhausting, perhaps even soul crushing.  When it's like the salt on an otherwise very "in person" sort of work, it's good, but when everything suddenly turns to salt, you just don't want any more.

So that's my excuse; here's the thing that has brought me back.  A few days ago, Neil Young issued an ultimatum to the online music streaming service Spotify.  Either drop Joe Rogan or take my music off of your platform.  Rogan has recently emerged once again from the moldy basement of showbizness to bless the public ears with a podcast called the Joe Rogan Experience.  It is about what you would expect from a former host of Fear Factor and The Man Show (which would get #metoo'd so fast these days). He talks to celebrities and bloviates opinions about various things with a macho libertarian vibe.  Lately though he decided to be the voice of COVID... let's just say skepticism, to give him the benefit of the doubt.  Others, including Mr. Young, would call it misinformation.  Which is becoming a big problem these days, and which is why this is important and not just another celebrity beef.

Neil Young had Polio as a child, before the vaccines were available (yes, he is old). He has also never been one to shy away from calling out people he thought were being destructive to society (see Southern Man, Ohio, Keep on Rockin' in the Free World).  It should really surprise no one that Neil might not want his musical legacy sharing space with a guy who parlayed his experience making people eat worms on TV into a semi-serious commentary on epidemiology.  And Neil doesn't really need Spotify money anyway, most of his fans are quite happy to own Harvest on Vinyl, Harvest Moon on CD and numerous other albums across the years and recording media.

The reaction to this little spat has been rather more energetic than I would have thought.  Some just figured Young was that grumpy old man shouting at kids to get off his lawn.  Others thought he might inadvertently be taking a stand against freedom of speech and expression.  Spotify was speechless for several days before glumly saying, "okay, I guess no more Neil Young here." In a few days, Joni Mitchell joined Neil in the Spotify walkout, which again, should surprise no one.  Joni has probably been waiting for something to protest for over a year.  It seemed like there might be a sort of movement happening, which didn't really make anyone sad, because no one is going to have too much sympathy for Joe Rogan or a huge faceless internet conglomerate who mostly gets rich by cheating both artist and audience.  Then Joe Rogan did something unexpected, he has (sort of) apologized.  What he actually says is that he will try to balance out some of his more controversial guests with people who aren't loopy conspiracy types.  I do not doubt that this was after Spotify had a serious Come-to-Jesus talk with him, but it's a step.

Do I believe that he will reform himself along the lines of a Howard Stern?  No probably not, but what Neil, Joni and the rest have just done is demonstrate the power of being an ally and using your voice. They are both in a place to do this work in way that younger, less known, less financially secure artists just can't do.  I don't actually believe that Neil's target was Mr. Rogan at all, it was Spotify, he wanted them to take better care of what they were putting out there into the world.  He could have picked any number of podcasters that express similar sentiments, but he picked the most visible.  He could have just pulled his music, but he was making a point.  The point is important: there is too much at stake with public health to allow people to just spout any kind of nonsense they want when it comes to the public health precautions they need to take.

Neil has some experience in dealing with opposing viewpoints.  Back in the 1970s he got into a "feud" with Ronnie Van Sant of Lynyrd Skynyrd.  Neil Young wrote some scathing critiques of the racism and oppression of the South in songs like Southern Man  and Alabama.  Van Sant took exception and included the line: "I heard Mr. Young sing about her, I heard ole Neil put her down. But I hope Neil Young will remember: A southern man don't need him around anyhow," in Skynyrd's song Sweet Home Alabama.  The thing was Ronnie and Neil were friends, they liked each other's music and weren't about to get into a fistfight or anything.  Neil was criticizing the big cultural forces at work in the south, Van Sant expressed the rather understandable perspective of a Southern Man that Neil ought to keep his Canadian opinion to himself.

People who speak up about things that are wrong often get that treatment.  Neil has gotten it more than a few times over the course of his life, but he's still doing it.  All of us need some allies in the fight against corporate greed.  It's the one great flaw of capitalism: you can trust the markets to do the right thing as long as it aligns with their self interest. If they can do good and make money, everything is fine, if they start to need to bend the truth or the rules to make money,  you can bet they will, especially if they think they can get away with it. Consumer boycotts have to reach a huge critical mass before they can make a dent in the profits of a joint like Spotify, but having to publicly remove Neil Young from their catalogue? That gets noticed.

I think the story we need these days, and one that we might actually get, is Joe Rogan interviewing Neil Young.  The Meathead meets the grumpy old grandad of grunge.  So thanks, Neil and Joni and the rest of you who decided to pull the reins back on some irresponsible broadcasting.  I know it's probably a hassle you don't need at this point, but you took the time, and I, for one, think I know why you did it.

P.S. If you're curious, my top five music artists (solo) I will always need in my life are: 1. Bob Dylan, 2. David Bowie, 3. Tom Waits, 4. Neil Young, 5. Peter Gabriel.