politicnewsbusterinsiderpostreview: Attention, liberals: Neil Young is not your savior

Tuesday 25 January 2022

Attention, liberals: Neil Young is not your savior

January 25, 2022

Hey, I'm Jacob Rosenberg, an Assistant Editor at Mother Jones.

Let's start this newsletter in an insane place, shall we?

A while ago, after a not-too-hard-feelings break-up—in that brief haze where you get a little extra honest and jokey and spill out a secret or two as you chat about why it didn't work—someone explained to me that I was "way too into Neil Young." It was a red flag, she explained. And most importantly, she continued, it was annoying.

Hmm, I thought. That just can't be right! Because liking Neil Young is cool—he rocks—and yes, I am obsessive about it. I listen to him most days, buy multiple books about him, and read his ersatz newspaper cum blog The Neil Young Archives Times Contrarian also daily. But real heads of Neil Young take it to another level. They can tell you in Deadhead-esque tones the best bootlegged live shows from the 1990s, the exact backstory of each members of his band Crazy Horse, and why he made a song for the 2017 feature film Bright. Honestly, I'm a poser. Plus, how could it be annoying to want to talk about whether or not Chrome Dream II (and especially that opener, "Beautiful Bluebird") is "all-time underrated?" Everyone is asking. (Editor's note: No one is asking.)

So, this is a long way of saying two things: I am still single, and I learned a lesson that, actually, it can be annoying to talk too much about Neil Young.

I wish many people on the internet had the same experience.

Over the past day or so, there has been way too much talk of Neil Young. On Monday, Rolling Stone reported that Young had posted on his website (that newspaper I mentioned, The NYA Times Contrarian, to be exact) an open letter to his management team requesting his music be taken off Spotify because the streaming service was spreading vaccine misinformation by paying tons of money to Joe Rogan. Since then, this blew up into a little war among the most annoying posters online. It's been trending on Twitter for a good bit now.

No matter that Young quickly deleted the post and that, since then, he hasn't really said anything, although his manager did tell the Daily Beast vaccine misinformation is important to him. Still, everyone continues spilling out, posting about whether Neil Young is hero or delusional idiot trying to take down lord of clout Joe Rogan. It's a good example of how some small news item—this Rolling Stone post is like three paragraphs—can start a Rube Goldberg machine of posters who must respond with their take.

It's just kind of dumb though. Young just barely put his stuff back on Spotify three years ago, in 2019. His protest then? Sound quality. Since then, over the past year or so, he has been working with Amazon (yes, them! Amazon!) to release music that has a higher quality. He wrote a book (that I bought, yes) about his quest. I can dive more deeply into all the reasons you shouldn't deify Neil: the Reagan phase in the 1980s, his pretty bad response to January 6, the thing about me being single still.

But suffice it to say: Neil Young's politics are as imperfect, weird, and fascinating as his music. They are not built for this sort of good/bad binary. You're going down a dark hole. He's not going to save you.

—Jacob Rosenberg

P.S. We're hiring! Mother Jones is looking for a climate reporter who will dig deep on environmental justice in a flexible position tailored to the right candidate's individual passions. We're an equal opportunity employer committed to creating a diverse and inclusive work environment, and we especially encourage members of traditionally underrepresented communities to apply. Oh, and we offer great benefits, including health, dental, and vision coverage with premiums fully paid by the company. Check out the full job description here, and apply using this form. We can't wait to hear from you!