The Neil Young album that made REM reject a huge record deal
Every band needs to have some integrity to thrive in the industry. Anyone can spend their time selling out and trying their best to cater to the musical machine half the time, but the ones that get put in the history books are those that go against the grain and put the suits in their place whenever they step out of line. And while REM was never known to be the most confrontational band, they were never going to be enablers when they saw someone getting jerked around by some clueless record executive.
Then again, the fact that the college rock legends became one of the biggest bands in the world almost felt like an accident. They still wrote incredible music throughout every facet of their career, but when looking at how much press Murmur got when it first came out, it’s shocking to think that ‘Radio Free Europe’ was being talked about in the same conversation as acts like Madonna and Michael Jackson.
Even if their star was high, though, they didn’t seem to care. They had been making music on their own terms, and no amount of MTV exposure was going to stop them from going even further when making their later records. And while Warner Bros. was able to stand by the time for years before they took off again with albums like Green and Automatic for the People, Neil Young was never cut the same break.
Despite being known as one of the biggest names in rock and roll, Young found out that writing masterpieces didn’t equate to calling one’s own shots at the record label. He was still going to do what he wanted, but his label would not roll over and accept it when he started making wild musical detours that sounded nothing like ‘Heart of Gold’ or ‘Hey Hey My My’.
Two could play at that game, though, and if Geffen Records kept pressuring Young to put out a rock album, Everybody’s Rockin’ was his swift middle finger back at them. Sure, it was still a “rock” album, but giving them a project so criminally short that consisted of nothing but 1950s-style rock and roll tunes is still one of the most expert moves that any rockstar has ever tried to pill, practically making an album that’s bad on purpose to get his point across.
Even though REM could respect the hustle, Young remembered being told years later by Peter Buck that seeing Geffen jerking him around was the reason the alternative legends turned down the label, saying, “REM were going to go with Geffen, then they heard I was being sued and everything, they just dropped all contact with Geffen and signed with Warner Bros instead. Geffen actually lost REM simply for suing me over Everybody’s Rockin’!”
Still, can anyone really blame Michael Stipe and co.? There are a million what-if scenarios whenever someone signs with a record company, and if one of their heroes was being sued strictly for being himself, that would be enough red flags for any prospective musician to give up the rights to their songs.
While it’s hard to think of a label as gigantic as Warner Bros to be indie or alternative, R.E.M. at least knew they had a home there looking at the way that people like Tom Petty were getting treated. Most labels are looking to make a quick buck anyway, but it’s easy to appreciate a label that has their artists in mind rather than worrying about when to drop them if they make a mistake.
