Neil Young revitalized his career by embracing the spirit of punk while staying true to his roots with this half acoustic, half electric tour de force. After recording the country folk of 'Comes a Time' in 1977, Young was ready to move on to something new. He became involved in the film 'Human Highway' with Devo, who recorded a version of his song 'Out of the Blue' with him in the film. During the performance, Mark Mothersbaugh was chanting the phrase "rust never sleeps" which was part of an advertising campaign he had done for Rustoleum paint. Young put it in the song and used it as the template for his next big project: a choreographed concert to be recorded and filmed. The shows would begin acoustic and, after the road crew put together huge amplifiers during the concert, end with a raucous electric set with Crazy Horse.
Young would reveal at the time: "I wanted people to leave saying that Neil Young's show was the loudest fucking thing they'd ever heard...I first knew something was going on when we visited England a year and a half ago. Kids were tired of the rock stars and the limousines and the abusing of stage privileges as stars. There was new music the kids were listening to. As soon as I heard my contemporaries saying, 'God, what the fuck is this....This is going to be over in three month,' I knew it was a sure sign right there that they're going to bite it if they don't watch out. And a lot of them are biting it this year. People are not going to come back to see the same thing over and over again. It's got to change. It's the snake that eats itself. Punk music, New Wave. You call it what you want. It's rock & roll to me, it's still the basis of what's going on...I knew I had to get out there and rock. But I also knew that I couldn't see myself out there doing it the way it had always been. Standing out there with a microphone. It's got to continue to be as new as when it started...The music business is so big these days, I feel dwarfed by it. I mean, I put out a record and, you know, it does okay. Somebody like Foreigner or Boston, they come out with a record and sell ten times as many as I do. I think that's great. But I still feel like this...little guy...You know, I do the same thing over and over and over again. It has a slightly different look to it every time. This tour seemed to wrap something up. It's a retrospective, but it's looking back on right now. I think I broke through to another arena; now, people won't be surprised if I enhance the program with actors and diverge totally away from music, then come back out of it into music again. It's making rock & roll more visible to me...I'm lucky. Somehow, by doing what I wanted to do, I manage to give people what they don't want to hear and they still come back. I haven't been able to figure that out yet...People don't understand sometimes, how I can come in and go out so fast, how I can be there and want to do something and then when it's over, for me it's over. To other people it's just a beginning. Sometimes that's hard for people to take. I can see how that would be. I just don't like to stay in one place very long. I move around, I keep doing different things...Just different things...I only follow the [impulses] I get. And if it makes me laugh... I know it's a good one. Basically I've had a really good time, even though my songs have mostly expressed the down side. I like that there's a lot of humor in rock & roll now. A lot of people take me so seriously. They don't know what to do with me not taking myself so seriously anymore. I guess it's just that a lot of people from the Sixties and early Seventies...just aren't that funny...I've got a job to do, The Eighties are here. I've got to just tear down whatever has happened to me and build something new. You can only have it for so long before you don't have it anymore. You become an old-timer... which... I could be... I don't know. After all, it's just me and Frank Sinatra left on Reprise Records."
Much of 'Rust Never Sleeps' was recorded live at San Francisco's Boarding House and during the Neil Young tour with Crazy Horse in late 1978. Overdubs were added later and two songs were recorded in the studio before the tour. Produced by Neil Young, David Briggs, and Tim Mulligan, the album features Neil Young on guitar, harmonica, organ, and vocals; Frank "Pancho" Sampedro on guitar and vocals on side two; Billy Talbot on bass and vocals on side two; Ralph Molina on drums and vocals on side two; Nicolette Larson on vocals on "Sail Away"; Karl T. Himmel on drums on "Sail Away"; and Joe Osborn on bass on "Sail Away".
'Rust Never Sleeps' hit number twenty-eight in Canada, thirteen in the UK, nine in Sweden, eight in Australia and the US, and number seven in New Zealand. The electric sound presaged the grunge movement and gave Young new credibility with the kids.
http://www.neilyoung.com/
'Rust Never Sleeps'
film trailer
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ir9VmO0cBbQ
film playlist
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL67A9D7A1299DB8BC
"My My, Hey Hey (Out of the Blue)" (Young, Jeff Blackburn) – 3:45
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fpr8Y39FLMA
"Thrasher" – 5:38
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t00MXZKbW0M
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4PsdaoKuNLg
"Sail Away" – 3:46
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vrd03CvfbQs
"Hey Hey, My My (Into the Black)" (Young, Blackburn) – 5:18
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GQhEvfeJocM
My my, hey hey
Rock and roll is here to stay
It's better to burn out
Than to fade away
My my, hey hey.
Out of the blue and into the black
They give you this, but you pay for that
And once you're gone, you can never come back
When you're out of the blue and into the black.
The king is gone but he's not forgotten
This is the story of a Johnny Rotten
It's better to burn out than it is to rust ('cause rust never sleeps)
The king is gone but he's not forgotten.
Hey hey, my my
Rock and roll can never die
There's more to the picture
Than meets the eye.
Hey hey, my my.
full album:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLrQRSk_JRU4Xt4u5a5UMqd4GPGnIxk2ZO
All tracks written by Neil Young except where noted
Side one (acoustic)
1."My My, Hey Hey (Out of the Blue)" Neil Young, Jeff Blackburn 3:45
2."Thrasher" 5:38
3."Ride My Llama" 2:29
4."Pocahontas" 3:22
5."Sail Away" 3:46
Side two (electric)
1."Powderfinger" 5:30
2."Welfare Mothers" 3:48
3."Sedan Delivery" 4:40
4."Hey Hey, My My (Into the Black)" Neil Young, Jeff Blackburn 5:18
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