On July 6, 1988, MTV famously refused to play Neil Young’s music video for his then-new song, “This Note’s For You”. The heartland rock tune wasn’t particularly vulgar. Rather, the reason MTV banned it is kind of silly, considering the context of the song.
Videos by American Songwriter
Neil Young’s “This Note’s For You” was famously banned because the music video was a parody of brand advertisements. The lyrics of the song refer to everything from Coca-Cola to Pepsi to Bud and Miller beers. MTV banned the video because of their strict policy about not mentioning real-life products in the music videos they aired.
It was a silly reason, sure, but not the first rule of its kind. Back in the 1960s, the BBC famously banned The Beatles’ legendary song “Come Together”, simply because it mentioned Coca-Cola in its lyrics. That made the song “inappropriate” for radio waves, though they would later raise that ban.
To a degree, I get it. Nobody wants to get sued for using intellectual property. Certainly not MTV, a network only a few years old by 1988. However, Young seemed to think it was less about their reasoning and more about the fact that the video might offend their sponsors.
Neil Young’s Video for “This Note’s for You” Is Actually Pretty Cool, Even Though It Got Banned by MTV
Neil Young’s music video for “This Note’s For You” was directed by Julien Temple. The video packs a few punches aimed at the standard advertising efforts of the 1980s. Remember the “The Night Belongs To Michelob” advertising campaign? In the video, Young takes the place of Eric Clapton. The video also takes a jab at Michael Jackson and Whitney Houston for their advertising work with soda pop giants Pepsi and Coca-Cola. And Young couldn’t leave out a sharp jab at those iconic Calvin Klein commercials, either.
Obviously, there’s a deeper meaning behind these parodies. Young has quite famously never allowed any of his songs to appear in brand advertisements. He could have easily made millions of dollars doing so.
Just as well, MTV wasn’t the kind of network to air much of Young’s work. His last Top 40 chart-topper was produced back in 1972 with the song “Old Man”. But the fact that they wouldn’t air “This Note’s For You” still rubbed Young the wrong way.
“MTV, you spineless twerps,” Young wrote in an open letter. “You refuse to play ‘This Note’s For You’ because you’re afraid to offend your sponsors.”
MTV eventually flipped its stance after the controversy and even gave Young the Video of the Year award at the MTV Video Music Awards.
Photo by Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images
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