Let's take a trip in the old Wayback Machine, shall we? No, not all the way back to the '60s when Neil Young was actually relevant. For today, we'll just go back a couple of years to the COVID hysteria of 2022. You may recall there was a certain dustup and attempted boycott of Spotify by the leftists. Why? Because the platform's uber-popular podcast host, Joe Rogan, questioned the COVID narratives from the government. Rogan chose to speak with doctors like mRNA pioneer Robert Malone and perhaps the most published cardiologist in history, Peter McCollough, both of whom were skeptical of the COVID 'vaccine' as well as government lockdowns and mandates.
Rogan also touted preventive behaviors like -- you may want to sit down for this heresy -- eating well, getting exercise, and plenty of vitamin D.
HOW DARE HE?
Because of all of this, and the fact that Rogan also successfully treated his case of COVID with monoclonal antibodies and ivermectin (which the media disgracefully labeled 'horse paste'), musical artists on the left, such as Neil Young threatened to remove their music from Spotify unless the platform canceled Rogan. And then Young did remove his music. He was even joined in his boycott by such musical luminaries as ... The USA Singers.
And the world yawned and kept spinning.
Bear in mind, Rogan never actually told anyone ELSE what they should do regarding medications. He just expressed concern about an experimental vaccine and told everyone what worked for him. But that was dangerous 'disinformation' for the left and Young (who, by the way, has said WAY worse things in his history).
OK, let's flash back forward to 2024 and check in on how Young is doing with his Spotify boycott.
Neil Young backtracks protest & puts his music catalog back on Spotify after 2022 Joe Rogan Vaccine comments:
— Pop Crave (@PopCrave) March 13, 2024
“My decision comes as music services Apple and Amazon have started serving the same disinformation podcast features I had opposed at SPOTIFY. I cannot just leave Apple… pic.twitter.com/qxrycMxHM1
Oh.
Guess he really misses those royalty checks, huh?
You can read Young's full statement in the tweet above, but pay close attention to this part:
'My decision comes as music services Apple and Amazon have started serving the same disinformation podcast features I had opposed at SPOTIFY. I cannot just leave Apple and Amazon, like I did Spotify, because my music would have very little streaming outlet to music lovers at all, so I have returned to Spotify ...'
LOL. EVERYONE KEEPS SPREADING 'DISINFORMATION.'
With that in mind, what choice did Young have but to abandon his misplaced principles and join back in?
And people actually followed this guy in the '60s? We can't imagine how many drugs they must have taken.
Just so we’re clear on this… Neil Young pulled his music from Spotify over the seriousness of @joerogan spreading “dangerous misinformation” … but now that this “dangerous misinformation” is on even more platforms Young has decided to, no, not to pull his music from the other… pic.twitter.com/6qdlM4OD54
— Five Times August (@FiveTimesAugust) March 13, 2024
It only makes sense if you are also a permanently broken COVID hysteric ... and still like angry folk rock.
Dr. Malone took particular umbrage to the announcement since he was personally made a pariah after talking to Rogan about mRNA vaccines and the government's insistence upon them.
“They can have Rogan or Young. Not both”
— Robert W Malone, MD (@RWMaloneMD) March 13, 2024
Neil Young returns to Spotify and hopes no one will notice.
Yeh, for me - this is personal.
The link to the essay and my thoughts is in the comments. pic.twitter.com/Yy03Y2ELB2
From his Substack:
Of course, nothing I said on that show was misinformation. Over the past two years- what was said during the interview has been validated again and again.
For me, I am still banned or shadow banned on many platforms - including a permanent ban on Linked-in. State sponsored media still has no interest in reporting on facts surrounding the pandemic lock-downs, masks, vaccine safety, a corrupted vaccine pre-clinical and clinical trials process, adverse events associated with the jab, the corruption of academic journals - including capture by the WEF. The fact is that the world went crazy and transnational corporations used that season of madness to increase profits and market share.
Not once has Neil Young or Joni Mitchell ever reached out to discuss their concerns. Not that I expected them to. The once-rebels have turned into the status-quo.
It's a long essay but very much worth reading.
Neil Young ended his silly Spotify boycott. What does that mean?
— Jon Miltimore (@miltimore79) March 13, 2024
It means Joe Rogan won.
Free speech won.
Markets won.
Sanity won.
Young's weird boycott over alleged "misinformation" never made sense. But it makes even less sense now, something even Young admits. (Other… pic.twitter.com/gHclX3w6ng
Malone didn't win, unfortunately, but his ideas and his expertise did.
As for Young himself, who can blame Twitter for reacting to the announcement with all the cynicism it deserved?
Translation: Need more royalties.
— Cleavage Crumbs (@CleavageCrumbs) March 13, 2024
Turns out principles get a tad fungible when the royalties dry up.
— JawjaJim 🇺🇸 (@JimJawja) March 13, 2024
"Yeah turns out I was broke..."
— ᵞⁱᵏᵉˢ (@TrueBeefSupreme) March 13, 2024
Brok-EN, that's for sure. And no amount of royalties will ever fix that.
lmao at his explanation. https://t.co/RkzPJc1qwD
— Noam Blum (@neontaster) March 13, 2024
Hey, hey. My my! 😂 https://t.co/hMPQGnzmpK
— Dave Gordon 🇺🇸 🇮🇱 (@D_Gordzo) March 13, 2024
While it's true that 'rock and roll can never die,' Young's principles sure did.
“Backtracks” = Mouthing off in the press ended up costing him too much $$$ https://t.co/DeZnJeAYy0
— Brad Slager: Flips On The Highbeams In Fog Of War (@MartiniShark) March 13, 2024
Neil Young is returning to Spotify after saving eleventy bajillion lives by opposing allowing adults to have conversations
— Tom Woods (@ThomasEWoods) March 13, 2024
LOL. Conversations are DANGEROUS. Maybe even a 'threat to democracy.' Or something.
And now Rogan's Spotify deal is worth DOUBLE what it was worth when Neil Young left. pic.twitter.com/7ZQ1BhgOFq
— Kneon (@Kneon) March 13, 2024
Oops. Maybe Young isn't as important a figure as he thought he was. Or maybe everyone just recognized that he was full of it.
This is great because my wife HATES Neil Young’s music (she says he has a whiny voice)
— Enguerrand VII de Coucy (@ingelramdecoucy) March 13, 2024
Next long car trip I’ll make sure to have some of his songs cued up to annoy her, it’ll be funny https://t.co/FeGwQ378ru
The wife is correct. And that is just cruel and unusual punishment from the man behind the 'Frog of Shame.'
JONI NEXT https://t.co/y0KEMvM3rA pic.twitter.com/CTYGopraey
— jár (@jarodzsz) March 13, 2024
Oh, right. Fellow '60s counterculture musician Joni Mitchell ALSO removed her music from Spotify in protest back in 2022. You'll have to forgive us. We completely forgot. As did the rest of the world.
Snarkiness aside, we understand that many people did -- and still do -- love Young's and Mitchell's music. So, for all those people, we're happy that Young is back and they can listen to him on Spotify.
What would be even MORE worthy of celebration, though, would be if Neil Young would ever open up his narrow, closed mind and recognize that maybe he doesn't know everything, not every opinion he disagrees with is 'disinformation,' and maybe even look at all of the studies since 2022 that have shown that Rogan, Malone, McCollough, and so many others were correct.
We won't hold our breath for that 'backtrack' though.
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