This Note's For You

This Note's for You is the seventeenth studio album by Canadian musician Neil Young, released on April 11, 1988. It was originally credited to Young and the Bluenotes. Most of the album's concept centered on the commercialism of rock and roll, and tours in particular (the title track is a social commentary on concert sponsorship). The music is marked by the use of a horn section. It also marked Young's return to the recently re-activated Reprise Records after a rocky tenure with Geffen Records. The video for the title track famously included a Michael Jackson look-alike whose hair catches fire. The video parodied corporate rock, the pretensions of advertising, and was patterned after a series of Michelob ads which featured contemporary rock artists such as Eric Clapton, Genesis and Steve Winwood. The video also featured parodic inserts from other commercials featuring singers including impersonators of Jackson and Whitney Houston, as well as popular characters including a look-alike Spuds McKenzie. The title itself even mocks Budweiser's This Bud's For You ad campaign. It was initially banned by MTV after legal threats from Michael Jackson's attorneys (although the Canadian music channel, MuchMusic, ran it immediately). After becoming a hit on MuchMusic, MTV reconsidered their decision to yank the video and put it into heavy rotation, finally giving it the MTV Video Music Award for Best Video of the Year for 1989. The video was directed by Julien Temple and written by Charlie Coffey. It was nominated for a Grammy in the category of Best Concept Video of 1989 but lost to Weird Al Yankovic's Michael Jackson video spoof of Bad, Fat. Since Harold Melvin, founder of the R&B group Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes, took legal action against Young over use of the Bluenotes name, the album is now credited as a Neil Young solo recording. The backup band Young used for this album was renamed Ten Men Workin' (after the album's lead-off song).