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''Everybody's Rockin'' is the 14th studio album by Canadian / American musician
Neil Young Neil Percival Young (born November 12, 1945) is a Canadian and American singer-songwriter. After embarking on a music career in Winnipeg in the 1960s, Young moved to Los Angeles, forming the folk rock group Buffalo Springfield. Since the begi ...
, released on July 27, 1983. The album was recorded with the Shocking Pinks (a band made up just for the occasion), and features a selection of
rockabilly Rockabilly is one of the earliest styles of rock and roll music. It dates back to the early 1950s in the United States, especially the Southern United States, South. As a genre, it blends the sound of Western music (North America), Western musi ...
songs (both covers and original material). Running 25 minutes, it is Young's shortest album. ''Everybody's Rockin'' is typical of his 1980s period in that it bears little or no resemblance to the album released before it (''
Trans Trans- is a Latin prefix meaning "across", "beyond", or "on the other side of". Used alone, trans may refer to: Sociology * Trans, a sociological term which may refer to: ** Transgender, people who identify themselves with a gender that di ...
'' (1983), a
synth A synthesizer (also synthesiser or synth) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis a ...
-heavy, electro-rock album), nor the one released after it ('' Old Ways'' (1985), which is pure
country A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. When referring to a specific polity, the term "country" may refer to a sovereign state, state with limited recognition, constituent country, ...
).


Background

Having already created tension with his label,
Geffen Records Geffen Records (formerly The David Geffen Company from 1980 to 1992 and Geffen Records Inc. from 1993 to 2004) is an American record label, founded in late 1980 by David Geffen. Originally a music subsidiary of the company known as Geffen Pi ...
, with the previous year's ''Trans'', in 1983 Young offered the label a country album he had recorded the previous fall called '' Old Ways''. Young's music had previously shown the influence of country music, including his most successful album, ''
Harvest Harvesting is the process of collecting plants, animals, or fish (as well as fungi) as food, especially the process of gathering mature crops, and "the harvest" also refers to the collected crops. Reaping is the cutting of grain or pulses fo ...
'' (1972). Geffen, however, reeling from the commercial and critical failure of ''Trans'', rejected ''Old Ways'' and demanded "a rock & roll album". Young explains for PBS' '' American Masters'': Young went into the studio and quickly produced an album with a sound reminiscent of the early period of rock & roll, including
Jimmy Reed Mathis James Reed (September 6, 1925 – August 29, 1976) was an American blues musician and songwriter. His particular style of electric blues was popular with a wide variety of audiences. Reed's songs such as "Honest I Do" (1957), "Baby Wha ...
's "Bright Lights, Big City" and "Mystery Train", recorded by
Elvis Presley Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977) was an American singer and actor. Referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Elvis Presley, one of the most significant cultural figures of the ...
in his early days at
Sun Records Sun Records is an American independent record label founded by producer Sam Phillips in Memphis, Tennessee on February 1, 1952. Sun was the first label to record Elvis Presley, Charlie Rich, Roy Orbison, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins, and Jo ...
. The production included '50s-style vocal reverb and backing choruses. Most songs were Young originals, such as "Kinda Fonda Wanda" that had originally been written to amuse his wife. Young wrote the song "Wonderin" long before the sessions for ''Everybody's Rockin''. It dates from at least the ''
After the Gold Rush ''After the Gold Rush'' is the third studio album by the Canadian-American musician Neil Young, released in September 1970 on Reprise Records. It is one of four high-profile solo albums released by the members of folk rock group Crosby, Still ...
'' era, and was part of his setlist at solo acoustic shows in 1970, as well as at
Woodstock The Woodstock Music and Art Fair, commonly referred to as Woodstock, was a music festival held from August 15 to 18, 1969, on Max Yasgur's dairy farm in Bethel, New York, southwest of the town of Woodstock, New York, Woodstock. Billed as "a ...
with Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young in 1969. "Wonderin'" and "Cry, Cry, Cry" were released as singles and both featured accompanying music videos, but MTV gave them little airtime. Like with ''Trans'', Young conducted a supporting tour for ''Everybody's Rockin'' and played material from the album live despite the poor reception and low attendance at his concerts. According to Young, ''Everybody's Rockin'' had been intended to be a concept album, with two additional songs, "Get Gone" and "Don't Take Your Love Away from Me", that would have "given a lot more depth to The Shocking Pinks". However, an infuriated Geffen Records cancelled the recording sessions, preventing Young from finishing the album, and released it as it was. The two songs later appeared on Young's compilation '' Lucky Thirteen''. Young explained the inspiration for the album in 1995, saying that "there was very little depth to the material obviously. They were all 'surface' songs. But see, there was a time when music was like that, when all pop stars were like that. And it was good music, really good music. Plus it was a way of further destroying what I'd already set up. Without doing that, I wouldn't be able to do what I'm doing now. If I build something up, I have to systematically tear it right down before people decide, 'Oh that's how we can define him." He also said of his rockabilly persona, "I was that guy for a year and a half, almost like being in a movie."


Writing

The song "Payola Blues" satirizes the business side of the music industry and Young's troubled relationship with Geffen, suggesting that the payola scandal days of the
Alan Freed Albert James "Alan" Freed (December 15, 1921 – January 20, 1965) was an American disc jockey. He also produced and promoted large traveling concerts with various acts, helping to spread the importance of rock and roll music throughout Nor ...
era never really went away. In a 1986 interview with
Bill Flanagan Bill Flanagan (born January 14, 1955) is an American author, television executive and radio host. He was born in Rhode Island and graduated from Brown University in 1977. His books include ''Written in My Soul'' (1986), ''Last of the Moe Haircut ...
, Young explains: "I guess...it was kind of an embarrassment to some people. But it was all in good fun. That's the way it is anyway, everybody knows that. It's all about money, the whole thing. Anybody who thinks it isn't is kidding themselves and everybody else. Because what goes on in parking lots is nobody's business but those people who are there, and believe me they're out there. This is still America. I know what payola is and there are different kinds of payola; there is payola where the artist puts his money into it, and there is payola where the record company puts their money into it." "Wonderin'" dates back to 1970 and the sessions for the album ''
After the Gold Rush ''After the Gold Rush'' is the third studio album by the Canadian-American musician Neil Young, released in September 1970 on Reprise Records. It is one of four high-profile solo albums released by the members of folk rock group Crosby, Still ...
''. Young would perform the song with
Crazy Horse Crazy Horse ( , ; – September 5, 1877) was a Lakota people, Lakota war leader of the Oglala band. He took up arms against the United States federal government to fight against encroachment by White Americans, White American settlers on Nativ ...
during their tour that year. The song would feature on the ''Archives'' release '' Live at the Fillmore East'' in 2006. Young also made an effort to record the song during the sessions for '' Tonight's the Night'' in 1973. The music video, directed by Tim Pope, features Young driving around in a pink convertible, filmed at half-speed to show Young and the group out of touch with the world zooming by around them. Young explained in an October 1983 '' Rockline'' interview: "We played back the music at half speed and I lipped the words at half speed, then everything in the background was going at regular speed, so when we played it back at normal speed, everything in the background was going twice as fast. When we transferred it from 16mm to videotape, there is a slight jump in the transfer which gave it a slight jerky quality as well: A Keystone Cops type of quality."


Reception and legacy

At the time of its release, ''Everybody's Rockin received among the worst critical reviews of Young's career.
Robert Christgau Robert Thomas Christgau ( ; born April 18, 1942) is an American music journalist and essayist. Among the most influential music critics, he began his career in the late 1960s as one of the earliest professional rock critics and later became a ...
of the '' Village Voice'' wrote that "The covers are redundant or worse, as are all but two of the originals....I hope Neil realizes that for all the horrible truth of 'Payola Blues,' nobody's three thou's gonna get this on top forty." ''
New Musical Express ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming and culture website, bimonthly magazine, and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a " rock inkie", the ''NME'' would become a maga ...
'' added: "At least Neil Young has yet resisted rejoining Crosby, Stills and Nash, although this foray into rockabilly pastiche is hardly much less regressive than that." Young himself expressed fondness for the album, comparing it favorably to his acclaimed 1975 album '' Tonight's the Night'', yet also acknowledging the truth of some of its harsher criticisms: "What am I? Stupid? Did people really think I put that out thinking it was the greatest fuckin' thing I'd ever recorded? Obviously I'm aware it's not." ''Everybody's Rockin'' was included in ''Q'' magazine's 2006 list of the 50 worst albums ever made.


Lawsuit

In November 1983, following the commercial failure of ''Everybody's Rockin'', Geffen sued Young for $3.3 million (about $10 million in 2023), on the grounds that this record and its predecessor were "not commercial", and "musically uncharacteristic of isprevious recordings." Young filed a $21 million countersuit (about $65 million in 2023), alleging breach of contract since Young had been promised no creative interference from the label. The suit backfired against Geffen, with label owner David Geffen personally apologizing to Young for the suit and for interference with his work. Reflecting on the album and the lawsuit on his website, Young states "No hard feelings." The year before the lawsuit, just after Young had signed to Geffen, his longtime manager Elliot Roberts was asked why Young had changed labels, and said, "I did have a much larger offer from RCA, about $4 million more. David Geffen and I used to be partners and David has worked with Neil for a very long time. He totally relates to Neil as an artist and has no preconceived notions about Neil. He knows that he's capable of doing anything at any point, at any time... He will have the freedom to practice his art as he sees it, as opposed to when you make a deal where someone is paying you $1-2 million an album you feel obligated to give them commercial music that they can sell large numbers of. Neil's not concerned with selling large numbers of his records, he's concerned with making records that he's pleased with. Unfortunately they are not always commercial from the record company's point of view. David Geffen relates to that. He knows Neil may do a country album and then he may do an electric album because there's no rhyme or reason with Neil. It's what he's moved by."


Track listing


Personnel

*Neil Young –
vocals Singing is the art of creating music with the voice. It is the oldest form of musical expression, and the human voice can be considered the first musical instrument. The definition of singing varies across sources. Some sources define sing ...
,
piano A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an Action (music), action mechanism where hammers strike String (music), strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a c ...
,
guitar The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...
,
harmonica The harmonica, also known as a French harp or mouth organ, is a free reed wind instrument used worldwide in many musical genres, notably in blues, American folk music, classical music, jazz, country, and rock. The many types of harmonica incl ...
, production *The Shocking Pinks *: Larry Byrom – piano,
backing vocals A backing vocalist is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists. A backing vocalist may also sing alone as a lead-in to the main vocalist's entry or to sing a counter-melody. Backing vocalists are us ...
*: Anthony Crawford – backing vocals *: Tim Drummond –
upright bass The double bass (), also known as the upright bass, the acoustic bass, the bull fiddle, or simply the bass, is the largest and lowest-pitched string instrument, chordophone in the modern orchestra, symphony orchestra (excluding rare additions ...
*:Karl Himmel –
snare drum The snare drum (or side drum) is a percussion instrument that produces a sharp staccato sound when the head is struck with a drum stick, due to the use of a series of stiff wires held under tension against the lower skin. Snare drums are often u ...
*: Ben Keith –
alto The musical term alto, meaning "high" in Italian (Latin: '' altus''), historically refers to the contrapuntal part higher than the tenor and its associated vocal range. In four-part voice leading alto is the second-highest part, sung in ch ...
saxophone The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed on a mouthpiece vibrates to p ...
,
lead guitar Lead guitar (also known as solo guitar) is a musical part for a guitar in which the guitarist plays melody lines, instrumental fill passages, guitar solos, and occasionally, some riffs and chords within a song structure. The lead is the featur ...
*:Rick Palombi – backing vocals Additional roles * Elliot Mazer – production *Dennis Keeley, Rebeca Keeley – photography *Tommy Steele, Art Hotel – art design * Elliot Roberts – direction *Tim Mulligan, John Nowland, Mike Herbick – engineering *George Horn – mastering


Charts


References


External links


Lyrics
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HyperRust.org
{{Authority control 1983 albums Albums produced by Elliot Mazer Albums produced by Neil Young 1980s covers albums Geffen Records albums Neil Young albums Rockabilly albums