Neil Young hangs up on reporter, insists he use Pono

i thought we were talking about his current release, not his "recent releases". i believe this is called "moving the goalposts". 45 bucks for 3 lps seems like a good deal to me.

not too long ago neil young was putting out 3 lp releases and charging 60-80 bucks. "fans" bitched to the high heavens. now it's down to a reasonable 45 bucks (that's 15 dollars a disc, i did the math for you) and, what do you know, now "fans" are.....bitching to the high heavens.

 

I have no idea what Young's main concern was, but considering his manager sent the author a Pono device and headphones for the purpose of the upcoming interview, it seems listening on Pono was pretty important as well.

 

Acually that's finally a realistic price for a triple LP set. He usually would charge $80 for that like the way overpriced Psych Pill

 

He was probably just hangry.

Been there.

 

I find value in his recent work, but its experimental quality and the frequency in which it is released seems to call for prices that fall on the discounted side, I would think. That is if Young wants people to hear it.

 

Maybe I should've quoted the beginning of the piece:

The first step was: get ahold of a PonoPlayer.

"Neil is going to ask you if you've listened to the album on Pono," I had been warned. I needed to have an answer. That answer needed to be yes.
​

It turns out Neil didn't ask about Pono, but that's only because he already knew -- as probably every interviewer did -- that this was explicitly stipulated as his interview prerequisite, and/or because Neil hung up after 3 minutes.

 

Sounds like dementia.

 

Yes, I got that. I was just expecting something different from the title.

 

Reading the article it seems to me that Young got upset by the question about the animal noises. He seems to have thought that the author didn't listen to the entire album because if he had, he'd have understood the point of the album and wouldn't have needed to ask the question. Neil doesn't want to explain the album to anyone. He expects them to listen to it and get his point.

That's my take on it, anyway. But who the heck knows what may have been going on in Neil's head at that precise moment.

 

I'm with you here.
Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar and all that.
The interviewer hadn't said anything improper nor did Neil seem agitated from the little that got reported.

UPDATE:

It's essential that everyone read the actual NEWSWEEK article in its entirety before commenting. The end of the piece, not included in the excerpt above, makes clear that Neil *did* intentionally hang up on NEWSWEEK's reporter, and for no good reason at all, I say. And refused to reschedule or otherwise resume and complete the interview. In this particular case, Neil Young behaved like a spoiled a - - hole.

 

What an outrage! A rock star being tempestuous? Who ever heard of such a thing?! *clutches pearls*

I love it. It's good to see the old feisty Neil once again. If anything, he's become super-accommodating in recent years, not the other way around. He's played along with the goofiness of Colbert and Fallon on several occasions, and has granted many more interviews than he used to. So he hung up on this one guy. Who cares? He didn't call him names or kick his dog. And the reporter got way more mileage out of this "story" than he would've by just asking the same boring questions about animal sounds.

 

this makes no sense. an artists puts an album out and charges the going rate for an album. name an artist who has based the price of their album on "quality and frequency of release".

 

I wish I could've hung up on this comment.

 

"More barn"!

 

Name an artist who insists on charging $26 for a single album.

 

Well, reading the entire article makes clear it wasn't a bad connection.

 

earth is a double album. and, again, the cd release of this double album is 15 bucks. i couldn't care less what the pono version costs...that's a premium product.

 

I didn't see the link to the full article.

 

Neil Young Finally Confirms The Most Popular Legend About Him »

 

It's a good article. The author is clearly a big Young fan and it's really more a story about realizing your heroes are just human beings. He's not upset with Young for hanging up on him. He does seem to think Pono is a waste of money, but whatever.

He ends the article with this:

Fandom is a strange drug. Suddenly, I knew how Chris Christie feels when Bruce Springsteen—his longtime idol—rejects his repeated overtures. You can worship a songwriter for decades of your life. Doesn’t mean he gives half a **** about you.

Young’s recording career has spanned nearly 50 years. Any artist is bound to baffle and disappoint in that time span. I remembered a story my dad told me about going to see Young perform at Carnegie Hall in 1970. Irritated by noisy fans shouting out requests, a disgruntled Young stormed offstage mid-performance. Today, there’s a trope of depicting pop stars as gods, queens—existing on a plane beyond the human realm. Not Neil Young, whose records have always veered away from studio-polished perfection. (That’s what makes Tonight’s the Night so great.) He’s not a god. He’s a 70-year-old man. He gets moody. So do you. And it’s better to hang up than to fade away.

Anyway, the week wasn't a total wash. Two days later, I interviewed an actual dog. It was a lot easier than interviewing Neil Young

 

Neil Young with EARTH?

 

again, it's a DOUBLE album. but hey, to answer that dude's question, the beach boys. lots of their albums on the pono website are going for 25 bucks (regular price). but nevermind, nothing to see here.

 

Young: Yeah. They were processed. Like GMOs are.

Neil Young is not crazy. I suspect Newsweek is being paid by the powerful corporation Monsanto to run a smear campaign against Neil and everything he stands for. This evil organization has a pro GMO agenda and will do everything in their power to discredit Neil and paint him as some sort of madman. I respect Neil for standing up for what is right and using his money and fame for the greater good of mankind.

 

Well, he was from Newsweek. Wait until you hear what Neil did to the Reader's Digest guy.

 

I would think the reporter would try to follow up on why the interview ended? It doesn't sound like Neil was leading up to hanging up the phone.
Seems like crappy reporting.