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Neil

Hugh Jackman, Kate Hudson Neil Diamond Movie

by jummy84 October 27, 2025

written by jummy84

The best Neil Diamond songs share a few simple traits: they’re catchy enough to unite the largest crowds on the planet, deeply sentimental, and refuse to make even the slightest effort to be cool. They have a real egalitarian streak to them, making the case that everyone has a voice worth using and the world is a better place when we all sing along at the top of our lungs.

All of the same could be said about Craig Brewer’s “Song Sung Blue,” a soapy film about the stranger than fiction story of Mike and Claire Sardina, a couple whose Neil Diamond tribute band Lightning & Thunder propelled them to the apex of the Milwaukee tribute band circuit in the 1980s and ’90s. Adapted from Greg Kohs’ 2008 documentary of the same name, it treats a middle-aged mechanic and hairdresser who cover “Cracklin’ Rosie” in sequined jumpsuits with all the seriousness that you’ll find in any “Walk Hard”-esque rock and roll biopic. The stakes might be infinitely lower, but the rise, fall, and rise again are all there.

Kris Bowers and Ben Proudfoot of the 'The Last Repair Shop' attend 96th Oscar Week Events: Live Action Short Film, Documentary Short Film, and Documentary Feature Film at Academy Museum of Motion Pictures.

Mike Sardina (Hugh Jackman) has already lived a few full lives by the time we meet him on the 20th anniversary of his sobriety. A former Marine who battled addiction after coming home from Vietnam, he now plays music in any dive bar and county fair that will have him. Whether he’s playing guitar in a Black soul cover band or singing “Eye of the Tiger” under his preferred stage name Lightning, he follows the music wherever it takes him. But he becomes more and more frustrated with the fact that all of his paying gigs seem to require him to impersonate someone else. Everything seems to collapse out from under him when he backs out of playing Don Ho on a tribute act bill organized by a 52-year-old Buddy Holly impersonator (Michael Imperioli), who has been singing “Not Fade Away” for three decades longer than the real Holly ever got a chance to. Mike can’t understand why he can’t just perform as himself for a change, but a beautiful Patsy Cline impersonator points out that “nostalgia sells.”

That wise woman turns out to be Claire (Kate Hudson), who soon becomes Mike’s second wife and first (and only) performing partner. They form a new act called Lightning & Thunder — not a tribute band, they insist, but a Neil Diamond experience. A notable difference from the competition is that Mike never claims to be presenting himself as Diamond (even if his costumes are sparkly enough). They’re simply being themselves, offering interpretations of the music without the pressure to be carbon copies. Bolstered by an elite management team that includes Mike’s dentist (Fisher Stevens) and a local casino tour bus mogul (Jim Belushi), they soon find their local popularity skyrocketing once Mike reluctantly agrees to start opening with “Sweet Caroline.”

But every great music story needs a downfall, and “Song Sung Blue” offers plenty of them. At the risk of spoiling a 30-year-old true story, Claire loses a leg in a freak car accident and spirals into depression as she recovers. Mike also battles his own problems, and the pressure of keeping their blended family together while finding a way to pay their bills as working class performers weighs on them. Music brought them together and gave them the happiest years of their lives, but they’re forced to decide if it’s still enough.

Both Jackman and Hudson pour everything they have into their characters, and “Song Sung Blue” is at its most infectious when we’re watching this couple bask in the dorky pleasures of singing Neil Diamond songs loudly enough to drown out the painful realities of life. At two hours and 11 minutes, the film often feels overstuffed and too melodramatic for its own good — this movie did not need a single dream sequence, let alone multiple — and it touches on so many sensitive topics that its takes on addiction, teen pregnancy, PTSD, health insurance bureaucracy, and other social ills often feel shoehorned in with insufficient time for exploration. But even with those flaws, it’s still hard to look away from the silly sincerity that powers the film.

A dominant theme throughout “Song Sung Blue” is its defense of the kind of life that seems average and unremarkable compared to the other stories you’ll find playing at your local multiplex. “Sobriety makes you confront some hard truths,” Mike says at one point. “I know I’m not a star or a songwriter, I just want to entertain people and make a living.” The rest of the film tries to answer the question of whether someone who, by their own admission, does not have any particularly unique talent has any business pursuing such a dream. Its tensest story beats revolve around Milwaukee casino residencies and karaoke hosting gigs at all-you-can-eat Thai buffets. The biggest opportunity that’s ever at stake is the chance to play a theater show of Neil Diamond covers on the same night the real Neil Diamond is playing a show across town — even at the height of their powers, Mike and Claire are competing for the chance to be the second best opportunity to hear “Sweet Caroline” in a 25-mile radius.

But rather than mock their small-time dealings or direct them to chase brighter lights, “Song Sung Blue” treats Mike and Claire’s pursuit of tribute band glory as a sufficient driving force for a meaningful life. This isn’t a story about how you’re never too old to chase your wildest dreams and play in the big leagues; it’s about how there shouldn’t be any shame in realizing that you are. There’s no real money to be made or legacy to be forged in their line of work, but their love was never stronger than when they were belting out Neil Diamond covers together on stage. The satisfied customers who left the venue smiling each night were just an added bonus.

If that all sounds too sentimental for your tastes, fair enough — though in that case, it’s hard to imagine you were ever particularly moved by a song like “Forever in Blue Jeans,” and thus not the target audience for “Song Sung Blue.” But if the right Diamond song at the right time can turn you into mush, you’re likely to find that Brewer’s film is capable of tugging on the same heartstrings.

At the film’s AFI Fest premiere, Jackman told the audience that he had just finished a FaceTime conversation with the real Diamond (who retired from performing in 2018 due to his battle with Parkinson’s Disease) before taking the stage, and asked the legendary songwriter if he had a message for the crowd. Jackman said that Diamond’s response was simple: “Just keep singing.” Brewer’s film embodies that message to its core, and anyone who wishes they had a little more Neil Diamond in their life now has an excuse to sing a little more.

Grade: B-

“Song Sung Blue” premiered at AFI Fest 2025. Focus Features will release it in theaters on Thursday, December 25.

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October 27, 2025 0 comments

TV & Streaming

Hugh Jackman Leads Neil Diamond Tribute Band

by jummy84 October 27, 2025

written by jummy84

I’ve never been wild about the term “faith-based movie” — or, at least, the idea that it should only be applied to PG-rated calamity-meets-redemption Sunday-school soap operas micro-targeted to Evangelicals. “Song Sung Blue,” in almost every way, is a faith-based movie, though this one is rooted in the holly holy dream of devotion to the church of Neil Diamond. It’s based on the true story of Mike and Claire Sarina (played by Hugh Jackman and Kate Hudson), who in the late ’80s and ’90s formed a Neil Diamond tribute band, performing as Lightning & Thunder (he’s Lightning, she’s Thunder). At first, the movie may strike you as a parable of more kitsch than faith.

The two meet at a performance at a scuzzy casino in their hometown of Milwaukee, where assorted semi-amateurs get up to impersonate dead legends like Elvis and Buddy Holly. She’s dressed as Patsy Cline and does a pretty good rendition of “After Midnight.” He’s supposed to go on as Don Ho and sing the 1966 novelty hit “Tiny Bubbles,” but he’s so tired of singing it that he quits on the spot. As we learn pretty quickly, Mike and Claire are both broken-down middle-aged Middle Americans toting around a private load of sorrow.

Each is divorced with kids. He’s a Vietnam veteran and 20-years-sober alcoholic who works odd jobs as a mechanic and plays in just about any band that will have him. She’s a hairdresser and struggling single mother who isn’t so much thriving as surviving. Together, they hatch an idea: What it they formed a band and sang Neil Diamond songs, not just doing the same old wax-museum versions of old rock stars but tapping into what the people really want?

“Song Sung Blue” was written and directed by Craig Brewer, who has made one amazing movie (“Hustle & Flow”), one good one (“Dolemite Is My Name”), and a few middling ones (“Footloose,” “Coming 2 America”), and the first thing you notice about the film, which Brewer based on a 2009 documentary of the same title, is how unironically it celebrates Karaoke Culture. By that, I don’t just mean what transpires in karaoke bars (though the movie has a number of scenes set in them). I’m talking about the impulse that started in karaoke and carried over to “American Idol” and to something larger: the whole religious dream about pop music that someone who was a nobody could stand up and sing a song made famous by a somebody, and if they did it with enough skill and passion they could channel what was great about that star in a way that turned the very act of channeling into its own sublime expression. Brewer navigates this terrain like a jukebox Jonathan Demme.

Mike worships Neil Diamond, to the point that when he sings, he’s no mere impersonator — he’s closer to a Neil Diamond avatar, coaxing out and dramatizing Diamond’s essence. Hugh Jackman is, of course, a marvelous singer in his own right, and while the film makes the point that Mike isn’t trying to sound exactly like his idol, in “Song Sung Blue” Jackman’s musical performances are transcendent in their ability to signify what we love about Neil Diamond: the low command of his voice, the smooth articulation, the crackling rosiness of it all.

We might look at Mike, in his overcoat of blue glitter, with his long hair cut and styled into a neatly parted Diamond pageboy, and Claire, in her spangled red dress with the gold piping, providing her cascading harmonies, and assume, for a moment, that the movie wants us to see them as some played-straight version of the Culps on “SNL.” But there’s nothing jokey or tacky about their presence, and the actors’ performances do nothing so much as bring the love.

Jackman, with his scuffed fortitude, and Hudson, radiating a stubborn wholesomeness, have an easy-listening camaraderie, to the point that when Mike and Claire fall in love and get married, it feels both casual and inevitable. With a booker (Jim Belushi) who has casino connections all over the Midwest, they start to work the circuit and develop a following. Their ascent becomes complete when they’re in their living room and Mike gets a call from Eddie Vedder, who he’s never heard of (he wonders if Pearl Jam is a fruit preserve). It’s the early ’90s, and grunge hipsters have embraced the pop legends of their youth. When Lightning & Thunder end up opening for Pearl Jam in Milwaukee, and Eddie comes out onstage to sing along with them, they’ve basically just gone to karaoke heaven.

The adversity comes out of nowhere. Literally, as in a bad dream. Claire is standing on her front lawn, and suddenly…a life upended, a body and soul severed, a reality redefined. This is where “Song Sung Blue” flirts, and not so lightly, with becoming that other kind of faith-based movie. I raise the issue because I actually think it has demographic meaning; this is the rare film that feels like it could exert a blue-state-meets-red-state appeal. Or, given how over a certain age Neil Diamond’s nostalgic fan base is, the whole thing could wind up slipping between the cracks. After the calamity occurs, the movie, for a while, loses its pace. Yet Hudson’s anguished performance holds it together. This is let-it-rip acting with the fussiness burned off. And Hudson and Jackman don’t just have chemistry; they have an emotional synergy that grows more moving as Mike and Claire bond together — and fuse, once again, with the power of Neil — to heal themselves.

Mike has physical problems of his own (he keeps having what look like mini-heart attacks, which he ignores since he’s too poor to have health insurance), and on the day of their big reunion show, which is supposed to end with them meeting Neil Diamond at an ice-cream stand, Mike tries to heal a gaping head wound with nail glue. You know he’s in for a hot August night.

As the movie recognizes, there are two kinds of Neil Diamond fans: those who, like Mike, hear the beautiful depths in dozens of his songs (“Cherry, Cherry,” “Brother Love’s Travelling Salvation Show,” “Cracklin’ Rosie”), and the bom bom bom people — the ones Mike can’t stand, who at a Neil Diamond concert experience an epiphany when they pump their fists in the air and sing-shout “bom! bom! bom!” in the middle of the chorus of “Sweet Caroline,” even though it’s not even a lyric. They’re singing along with the trumpet. These are the people who have to enhance the line “Good times never seemed so good!” (“So good! So good! So good!”) until it becomes an existential declaration of the miracle of life.

“Song Sung Blue” is certainly a movie for the bom bom bom crowd. Mostly, though, it’s for the Neil Diamond fans who will listen to Mike and Claire, in their solo show at the Ritz Theater in Milwaukee, in a state of slow-burn bliss. When Mike starts to sing the Arabic chant of “Soolaimon,” Diamond’s single from 1970, it sounds eerie and mysterious, but when the groove kicks in it’s so ecstatic you want to revel in its majesty, the same way Mike does: as a Diamond shining through the darkness.

October 27, 2025 0 comments

Music

See Lana Del Rey Cover Neil Young’s ‘The Needle and the Damage Done’

by jummy84 October 26, 2025

written by jummy84

“I thought we’d get started with a little bit of Neil,” singer says before playing Harvest classic at charity show

Lana Del Rey took the stage Saturday at Neil Young’s “Harvest Moon” charity concert, with the singer opened her set with a rendition of the host’s “The Needle and the Damage Done.”

“I thought we’d get started with a little bit of Neil,” Del Rey told the crowd as she walked onstage at Lake Hughes, California’s Painted Turtle Summer Camp. She and her band then launched into a faithful and stirring take on the Harvest classic.

Del Rey’s set also included performances of her own “Arcadia,” “Video Games,” “Summertime Sadness,” and “Norman Fucking Rockwell,” as well as her first-ever solo performance of “Let the Light In.”

Saturday’s gig marked Del Rey’s last scheduled performance of 2025 — and the last show on her live itinerary in general — but there’s always the slim chance she might randomly hop up onstage if the moment strikes her. The singer previously revealed that her country-inspired album has been pushed to 2026.

This year’s Harvest Moon concert also featured sets from Beck, John Mayer, and Neil Young and the Chrome Hearts. Proceeds from the concert will benefit the Painted Turtle, which provides a summer camp experience for kids with serious medical issues, and the Bridge School, which educates children with severe speech and physical disabilities.

October 26, 2025 0 comments

Music

Neil Young, Joan Baez Not Playing TPUSA Halftime

by jummy84 October 22, 2025

written by jummy84

For anyone eagerly awaiting an “alternative” to the Super Bowl halftime show featuring Bad Bunny, the “All-American Halftime Show” appears to be on, and for the same day, Feb. 8.

But contrary to what you may have seen on social media, Joan Baez and Neil Young, at the very least, will not be part of it.

AI slop continues to seep into social media, with Boomer-era musicians continually depicted in false photos. As Rolling Stone has previously reported, bogus images of classic rockers in hospitals or singing at the graves of other rockers have flooded the internet — fooling some fans in the process and provoking laughs in just as many. (No, Steven Tyler did not visit Robert Plant in a hospital after he “collapses on stage.”)

The lineup for Turning Point USA‘s “All-American Half-Time Show” — “celebrating faith, family and freedom” — hasn’t yet been announced. (One can, however, go to TPUSA’s website to vote for which category of music you’d like to see and hear, which includes, tellingly, “Anything in English.”) But that hasn’t stopped the AI machine from churning out at least one fake TPUSA half-time ad announcing that Baez and Young will be co-headlining “a heartfelt and patriotic alternative to the Super Bowl 60 halftime event” that will “honor the enduring legacy of Charlie Kirk.” To ram home the point, a football field and large American flag are shown in the background. In overblown language familiar to anyone who tracks such things, the post adds, “With Joan’s golden voice and Neil’s grace-filled harmony, the All-American Halftime Show will turn the world’s biggest stage into a moment of hope and homecoming.”

Reps for Young and Baez declined to comment, much like reps for Bob Dylan, Phil Collins, Bruce Springsteen, and others who have passed on making statements about AI imagery that’s hoodwinked whatever percentage of their fan bases.

The inclusion of Baez and Young, two particularly devoted Trump bashers, is especially amusing in light of Young’s new anti-Trump protest song “Big Crime” and Baez’s criticisms of the president. And let’s not forget their participation in the L.A. stop of this year’s Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez “Fighting Oligarchy” tour, where they were also joined by Maggie Rogers. There, Baez sang the folk song “Ain’t Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me Around” with updated Trump-era lyrics ( “Ain’t gonna let no white supremacists turn me around”) and Young led the crowd in a sing-along of “Rockin’ in the Free World.”

Another bogus post claims that “six legends” of country, including Willie Nelson, will be partaking in the same bizarro-universe halftime show. “More AI horseshit about Willie,” a rep for Nelson tells Rolling Stone. “They obviously don’t know anything about Willie, do they?”

To quote one commentator on the Young-Baez fabrication: “I don’t think so, but nice try, dingbats.”

October 22, 2025 0 comments

Music

Neil Young was “really sick”, “drained” and “bummed out” before forming Chrome Hearts

by jummy84 October 20, 2025

written by jummy84

Neil Young was reportedly feeling “really sick” and “drained” before he formed the Chrome Hearts, according to a bandmate.

The comments were shared by Micah Nelson, who is a longtime bandmate of Young, and played with him in Promise of The Real and Crazy Horse before joining him in as part of the Chrome Hearts.

In a new interview with Rolling Stone, Nelson – who is also the son of country icon Willie Nelson – revealed that the ‘Harvest Moon’ singer was going through a rough patch towards the end of 2024, and seemed to be taking a step back from music.

This was due to his tour with Crazy Horse being halted due to a number of health issues among members.

Sharing how it took a toll on the frontman, Nelson shared: “I knew how bummed out Neil was. He wasn’t feeling like making music. He was really sick. He was trying to get over that and just get his energy back.

“Then he was really bummed out about what happened and how it all went down. And that just kind of drained him a lot, and doused this flame. I was like: ‘Is Neil fading away? This is unacceptable’.”

The musician then shared with RS that he was adamant to rekindle Young’s love of music and encourage him to pursue a new project – ultimately helping lead to the formation of the Chrome Hearts.

“I’d call him a lot and check in on him and remind him how he’s not old,” he told the outlet. “I was like: ‘Do whatever you got to do, man. Take your time. I get it. Recharge. The tank has got to fill back up, and that can take time, but whenever you want to do the thing again, just call me up and I’m ready to go’.”

“I kept that idea going and reminding him that he didn’t play for four years, and he felt the rust,” Nelson continued. “And then it took a few years once he started again to really, really get back in the groove.”

The Chrome Hearts would later form with Nelson, and Young’s Promise of the Real bandmates Corey McCormick and Anthony LoGerfo. Organ player Spooner Oldham completed the line-up and they went on tour earlier this year – with dates including a headline slot at Glastonbury.

“It took a minute of sort of just micro-dosing with this idea of: ‘We don’t have to stop. I know you’re not done’,” Nelson concluded. “Then the natural organic process of seasons of inspiration, how they come around. But I was just planting those seeds so that when that started coming around, he had something to pick out of the ground and harvest… That’s what became the Chrome Hearts. It just feels right.”

Neil Young live at Glastonbury 2025. Credit: Derek Bremner for NME

Young’s headline slot at Glastonbury was given a four-star review, and described by NME as “a headline set that proves that sometimes, there’s still power to be found in an old-school approach.

“It is, in short, the definition of no frills,” it read. “It’s testament to the power of Young’s songwriting, then, just how brilliantly it all works, how little the momentum drops.”

Since then, the singer-songwriter has announced a 50th-anniversary re-release of his 1975 album ‘Tonight’s The Night’ and announced that he was removing his music from Amazon Music.

“The time is here. FORGET AMAZON,” he said, announcing the latter. “Soon, my music will not be there. It is easy to buy local. Support your community. Go to the local store. Don’t go back to the big corporations who have sold out America.”

October 20, 2025 0 comments

Music

Neil Young Announces Tonight’s the Night 50th Anniversary Edition

by jummy84 October 18, 2025

written by jummy84

Neil Young has announced a 50th anniversary edition of his 1975 album Tonight’s the Night.

Due out on November 28th, the limited-edition release contains six bonus tracks, including unreleased original versions of “Lookout Joe” and “Walk On,” both recorded during the 1973 album sessions at S.I.R. in Los Angeles. In particular, “Lookout Joe” replaces the original album version on the 50th anniversary reissue.

The tracklist also contains an unreleased version of “Tonight’s The Night,” as well as bonus tracks “Everybody’s Alone,” “Raised on Robbery” (featuring Joni Mitchell,) and “Speakin’ Out” originally released in Neil Young Archives Vol. II. Also of note is the presence of an early version of “Wonderin’”, recorded during the sessions for Tonight’s the Night, which was previously only to stream on Young’s website. All six of these bonus tracks are being released on vinyl for the first time.

The reissue also includes a newly imagined take of the album’s original artwork.

As Young recently pulled his music from Amazon, calling on his fans to boycott the company and “support your community.” As such, the 50th anniversary edition of Tonight’s the Night will be available via independent record stores and Warner Records’ website.

Neil Young announces 50th anniversary reissue for ‘Tonight’s The Night’

by jummy84 October 18, 2025

written by jummy84

Neil Young has announced a 50th anniversary re-release for his 1975 album ‘Tonight’s The Night’.

The limited-edition reissue will contain the full album alongside six bonus tracks, made up of unreleased alternate versions of songs from the era and a collaboration with Joni Mitchell.

The album will include a version of ‘Lookout Joe’ that was recorded at S.I.R. Studio in Los Angeles in 1973 in place of the original and a new take on the record’s title track. Also included are unreleased versions of ‘Walk On’, ‘Everybody’s Alone’ and ‘Speakin’ Out’, an early version of ‘Wonderin’’ and a collaborative version of Mitchell’s ‘Raised On Robbery’.

The reissue will be released on 2LP, clear 2LP and CD versions on November 28 and you can pre-order your copy here.

‘Tonight’s The Night’ was Young’s sixth studio album, released in June 1975. It had been recorded two years earlier but label Reprise delayed its release, reportedly due to the bleakness of the subject matter and its rough sound.

Young wrote the songs while grieving the deaths of Crazy Horse guitarist Danny Whitten and his friend Bruce Berry, and it formed the third part of his ‘Ditch Trilogy’ (after ‘Time Fades Away’ and ‘On The Beach’), recorded during Young’s deliberate retreat from fame after the success of 1972’s ‘Harvest’.

‘Tonight’s the Night’ 50th anniversary edition tracklist:

‘Tonight’s The Night’
‘Speakin’ Out’
‘World On A String’
‘Borrowed Tune’
‘Come On Baby Let’s Go Downtown’
‘Mellow My Mind’
‘Roll Another Number (For The Road)’
‘Albuquerque’
‘New Mama’
‘Lookout Joe [New 1973 version]’
‘Tired Eyes’
‘Tonight’s The Night (part II)’

Bonus tracks (from original sessions at S.I.R. Studio):

‘Walk On’
‘Wonderin’’
‘Everybody’s Alone’
‘Raised On Robbery’ [feat. Joni Mitchell]
‘Speakin’ Out Jam’
‘Tonight’s The Night (take 3)’

Elsewhere, Young recently announced he was removing his music from Amazon Music. “The time is here. FORGET AMAZON,” he wrote. “Soon my music will not be there. It is easy to buy local. Support your community. Go to the local store. Don’t go back to the big corporations who have sold out America.”

He also deactivated his Facebook and Instagram accounts over Meta’s reported “unconscionable use of chatbots with children” earlier this year.

Earlier this summer, Neil Young and The Chrome Hearts headlined Glastonbury 2025 and in a four-star review, NME described the performance as “a headline set that proves that sometimes, there’s still power to be found in an old-school approach”.

“It is, in short, the definition of no frills,” it read. “It’s testament to the power of Young’s songwriting, then, just how brilliantly it all works, how little the momentum drops.”

Young released his first studio album with the Chrome Hearts, ‘Talkin To The Trees’, in June, and shared the anti-Trump song ‘Big Crime’ last month.

October 18, 2025 0 comments

Music

Neil Young to Remove Music From Amazon as Singer Slams Jeff Bezos

by jummy84 October 11, 2025

written by jummy84

Neil Young is pulling his music from Amazon, the legendary singer-songwriter revealed in a blog post published on his personal website on Wednesday (Oct. 8).

In an apparent protest against the Trump administration, Young wrote, “The time is here. FORGET AMAZON,” under a header that includes the words, “BEZOS SUPPORTS THIS GOVERNMENT,” a reference to Amazon founder Jeff Bezos.

“Soon my music will not be there,” Young continued of Amazon. “It is easy to buy local. Support your community. Go to the local store. Don’t go back to the big corporations who have sold out America.”

The revelation came in a post that included a larger call by Young for people to discontinue shopping at Amazon and the upscale grocery chain Whole Foods, which the online retail giant acquired in 2017. He also seemed to call for a boycott of Facebook, writing “FORGET FACEBOOK” under a logo of the social media platform’s parent company, Meta. In August, Young left Facebook after a Reuters report claimed Meta had allowed AI chatbots to communicate with minors using “romantic or sensual” language.

“We all have to give up something to save America from the Corporate Control Age it is entering,” Young continued. “They need you to buy from them. Don’t.”

The singer also referenced the current shutdown of the U.S. government, writing, “They shut down our government your income your safety your family’s health security. Take America Back together, stop buying from the big corporations support local business. Do the right thing. Show who you are.”

Young has been openly critical of President Trump over the years. Last month, he released the song “Big Crime” with his band Chrome Hearts that railed against recent actions by the president — who is never mentioned by name — with lyrics like, “No more money to the fascists/ The billionaire fascists/ Time to blackout the system/ No more great again.”

Young’s music remained available on Amazon Music at the time of publishing. Representatives for Amazon Music and Young’s label, Warner Music/Reprise, did not immediately return requests for comment.

This isn’t the first time Young has boycotted a digital music provider. In January 2022, the star pulled his catalog from Spotify over its lucrative deal with Joe Rogan, through which it retained exclusive rights to, but not ownership of, the host’s wildly popular Joe Rogan Experience podcast. In a post on his website at the time, Young accused Rogan of spreading “misinformation” about the COVID vaccine on the podcast. “They can have Rogan or Young. Not both,” he wrote.

Young’s stance inspired several other artists to remove their catalogs from the service, including Joni Mitchell and Young’s Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young bandmates David Crosby, Graham Nash and Stephen Stills. Young restored his music to the streaming giant in March 2024 following the expiration of its exclusive deal with Rogan. The previous September, Billboard estimated that Young’s decision to remove his catalog from Spotify cost him roughly $300,000 in lost recorded music and publishing royalties up to that point.

More recently, artists including Massive Attack, King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard, Deerhoof and Sylvan Esso have pulled their catalogs from Spotify over founder Daniel Ek‘s reported $1 billion investment into defense company Helsing, which sells AI software to inform military decisions.

October 11, 2025 0 comments

Music

Neil Young Pulling Music from Amazon, Calls for Boycott: “Support Your Community”

by jummy84 October 10, 2025

written by jummy84

Neil Young has had enough of Amazon.

The classic rocker has announced that he’ll be pulling his music from the massive online retailer, and is calling for a boycott of the Jeff Bezos-founded company.

“FORGET AMAZON AND WHOLE FOODS. FORGET FACEBOOK. “BUY LOCAL. BUY DIRECT,” reads his post on the Neil Young Archives website. “BEZOS SUPPORTS THIS GOVERNMENT. IT DOES NOT SUPPORT YOU OR ME.”

Young’s message continues:

“The time is here.
FORGET AMAZON.
Soon my music will not be there. It is easy to buy local. Support your community.
Go to the local store.
Don’t go back to the big corporations who have sold out America.
We all have to give up something to save America from the Corporate Control Age it is entering.
They need you to buy from them.
Don’t.
They shut down our government
your income
your safety
your family’s health security.
Take America Back
together, stop buying from the
big corporations
support local business.
Do the right thing. Show who you are.”

It has yet to be revealed if Young is just pulling his music from the Amazon Music streaming platform, or if he’ll be removing his physical products from the store as well.

Of course, this isn’t the first time Young has pulled his music from a platform. It was back in 2022 when he demanded that his music be removed from Spotify over misinformation about vaccines spread on The Joe Rogan Experience podcast. Just last year, he announced his unenthusiastic return to the streaming platform after Rogan’s podcast was no longer exclusive to Spotify.

Neil Young pulling discography from Amazon Music

by jummy84 October 10, 2025

written by jummy84

Neil Young has announced that he is removing his discography from Amazon Music – find out more below.

READ MORE: Neil Young live at Glastonbury 2025: a no frills set that proves that sometimes, the old ways are the best

In January 2022, Neil Young announced that he would be removing his music from Spotify after episodes of Joe Rogan’s controversial podcast spread misinformation about the COVID-19 vaccines. At the time, Joe Rogan’s podcast was signed exclusively to Spotify.

He reluctantly returned to the streaming platform in 2024 after Apple Music and Amazon picked up the podcast. Young said at the time: “Spotify, the #1 streaming of low res music in the world – Spotify where you get less quality than we made, will now be home of my music again.”

“My decision comes as music services Apple and Amazon have started serving the same disinformation podcast features I opposed at Spotify. I cannot just leave Apple and Amazon, like I did with Spotify, because my music would have very little streaming outlet to music lovers at all.”

Neil Young live at Glastonbury 2025. Credit: Derek Bremner for NME

Now, however, Young has announced that his music will be leaving Amazon “soon”. He wrote in a new entry on his Neil Young Archives blog: “The time is here. FORGET AMAZON. Soon my music will not be there. It is easy to buy local. Support your community. Go to the local store. Don’t go back to the big corporations who have sold out America.”

He then went on to urge his fans to boycott corporations like Amazon, Meta – who owns Facebook and Instagram – and Whole Foods. Young deactivated his Facebook and Instagram accounts over Meta’s reported “unconscionable use of chatbots with children” earlier this year.

Young wrote of his boycott plea: “We all have to give up something to save America from the Corporate Control Age it is entering. They need you to buy from them. Don’t. They shut down our government, your income, your safety, your family’s health security. Take America back together, stop buying from the big corporations. Support local business. Do the right thing. Show who you are.”

He also quit X/Twitter in late 2023 after Elon Musk appeared to endorse an anti-Semitic conspiracy theory. On his website, he wrote: “We are stopping all use of X we can control. For reasons that should be obvious to the richest man on Earth, we are taking this action against his company.”

Neil Young live at Glastonbury 2025, photo by Derek Bremner — Neil Young live at Glastonbury 2025. Credit: Derek Bremner for NME

Earlier this summer, Neil Young and The Chrome Hearts headlined Glastonbury 2025 and topped the bill at BST Hyde Park in London. They also played a concert at Malahide Castle in Dublin, among numerous other European dates.

In a four-star review of Young’s return to the Pyramid Stage at Glasto, NME described the performance as “a headline set that proves that sometimes, there’s still power to be found in an old-school approach”.

“It is, in short, the definition of no frills,” it read. “It’s testament to the power of Young’s songwriting, then, just how brilliantly it all works, how little the momentum drops.”

Young released his first studio album with the Chrome Hearts, ‘Talkin To The Trees’, in June.

October 10, 2025 0 comments

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