Neil Young has been in the process of breaking up with Spotify and moving on to greener pastures in recent days: He took his music off the platform due to it being home of The Joe Rogan Experience and has started pushing Spotify competitors. Now, Joe Rogan himself has finally addressed the Young situation (and the Joni Mitchell situation, as she followed Young in removing her music from Spotify).
In a near-ten-minute video posted on Instagram hours ago, Rogan starts by discussing the “distorted perception of what I do,” the alleged “misinformation” that has been shared on his podcast, and hosting people who have a variety of perspectives on the show. Then, at 3:29 into the clip, he addresses Young and Mitchell, saying, “Now, because of this controversy — and I’m sure there’s a lot of other things going on behind the scenes with these controversies — but Neil Young has removed his music from the platform of Spotify, and Joni Mitchell, and apparently some other people want to as well. I’m very sorry that they feel that way. I most certainly don’t want that. I’m a Neil Young fan. I’ve always been a Neil Young fan. I’ll tell you a story at the end of this about that.”
He later told his Young story:
“I’m not mad at Neil Young. I’m a huge Neil Young fan. I’ve always been a Neil Young fan. When I was 19, I was a security guard at a place called Great Woods in Mansfield, Massachusetts. It’s an outdoor concert amphitheater and Neil Young was playing there, and it was the last day I worked there. I quit during the Neil Young concert. The job was kind of crazy because a lot of times, fights broke out and stuff and I think I probably got like 15 bucks an hour, and I was not about to get beat up for 15 bucks an hour. So I would bring a hoodie with me whenever I worked, so in case the sh*t hit the fan and it got too crazy, I would just put my hoodie on and leave and cover my security outfit, my security shirt.
So one day during a Neil Young concert, […] it got a little rowdy, it was cold out, and [the audience] started bonfires, so they had these raging fires on the lawn and we were supposed to go and put these fires out and stop them. So we tried for a little while but then brawls started breaking out and it started getting crazy, and I was like, ‘F*ck this.’ So I put my hoodie on, I zipped it up, and I left, and I drove home. And as I was driving home, I was singing, ‘Keep on rockin’ in the free world.’ That was my last day on the job, I don’t even think I collected my last check.
So, no hard feelings towards Neil Young, and definitely no hard feelings towards Joni Mitchell. I love her, too. I love her music. ‘Chuck E’s In Love’ is a great song.”
Watch the full video above.
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