Neil Young ain’t singing for Pepsi or Coke, and he apparently isn’t thrilled about Beck singing for the NFL.
Over the weekend, the “Loser” artist released a cover of Young’s song “Old Man” for an ad promoting NBC’s upcoming Sunday Night Football match-up between the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Kansas City Chiefs. On Monday, the cover was released as a digital single.
Seemingly in response, Young posted a throwback photo on his Instagram page Monday of him holding up a bottle labeled “Sponsored by nobody.” That same label appears on a beer can in Young’s video for his 1988 song “This Note’s for You,” which famously criticized the commercialization of music and artists taking corporate sponsorships.
Beck has not publicly responded to Young.
As for how Beck was able to release the “Old Man” cover seemingly without Young’s approval, it may be because the “Heart of Gold” rocker sold 50% of his song catalog to the company Hipgnosis Songs in 2021.
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