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 on Reprise. It was originally credited to Young and the Bluenotes. Part 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.

In 2015, Young released a live album from the album's accompanying tour, entitled Bluenote Café.

Release
The video for the title track – directed by Julien Temple and written by Charlie Coffey – included a Michael Jackson lookalike whose hair catches fire. The video parodied corporate rock and the pretensions of advertising, and was patterned after a series of Michelob ads that featured contemporary rock artists such as Eric Clapton, Genesis and Steve Winwood. The video also featured parodic inserts from commercials featuring impersonators of Jackson and Whitney Houston, as well as popular characters such as a Spuds McKenzie lookalike. The title itself 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 Canadian music channel MuchMusic ran it immediately. After it was a hit on MuchMusic, MTV reconsidered their decision and put it into heavy rotation, finally giving it the MTV Video Music Award for Best Video of the Year for 1989. It was nominated for a Grammy in the category of "Best Concept Video" of 1989 but lost to "Weird Al" Yankovic's spoof of Michael Jackson's "Bad", "Fat".

When NME challenged David Lee Roth about his own corporate sponsorship (by Toshiba), citing 'This Note's For You', the singer responded: "That's just hippy bullshit from the '60s. If your message is not strong enough to transcend a soda-pop commercial, you got problems!"

Artwork
The cover of this album is reportedly a photo taken in the back lane of the 200 block of Main Street Winnipeg, which housed the Blue Note Cafe. Neil was known to play unannounced in the Blue Note Cafe while in Winnipeg.

Outtakes
"Ordinary People", an epic 18-minute outtake described as "Cortez the Killer" with horns", finally saw its release on Young's 2007 studio album, Chrome Dreams II.

Track listing
All songs written by Neil Young

Personnel

 * Neil Young – vocals, guitar
 * Chad Cromwell – drums
 * Rick Rosas – bass
 * George Whitsell – bass
 * Frank Sampedro – keyboards
 * Steve Lawrence – lead tenor saxophone
 * Ben Keith – alto saxophone
 * Larry Cragg – baritone saxophone
 * Claude Cailliet – trombone
 * John Fumo – trumpet
 * Tom Bray – trumpet