09 Oct
459: Neil Young sued for not sounding like Neil Young
In 1984, two years after wooing the eclectic and unpredictable Neil Young away from his long time home at Reprise Records, David Geffen and his label, Geffen Records, actually sued Young for intentionally making “uncharacteristic and uncommercial music.” During Young’s five years on Geffen Records he made musical detours in to electronic music on the album Trans, rockabilly on Everybody’s Rockin’ and country on Old Ways. Young returned to Reprise in 1988 and the lawsuit was eventually dropped.
Here’s a video of Neil doing “Cry Cry Cry” from Everybody’s Rockin’.