Ever seen the movie Almost Famous? The scene where they go in for the radio interview and the radio host is so stoned he ends up falling asleep while interviewing the band and they start swearing and joking around amongst themselves while the DJ slept. Well, in the commentary Cameron Crowe mentions that the scene was inspired by that incident happening to Neil Young. The more you know..
Ever seen the movie Almost Famous? The scene where they go in for the radio interview and the radio host is so stoned he ends up falling asleep while interviewing the band and they start swearing and joking around amongst themselves while the DJ slept. Well, in the commentary Cameron Crowe mentions that the scene was inspired by that incident happening to Neil Young. The more you know..
TRUE STORY: A dj named Steven Clean (real name: Steven Segal) interviewed Neil Young in the early 1970s on an LA radio station (KPPC or KMET). Recently the station had gotten ahold of the "Harvest" album early and played it on the air and Neil was reportedly upset about it. During the interview, Neil asked Steven to remove his headphones, feeling they were isolating. Steven said he needed them on to keep the levels right for the interview, but Neil insisted. So Steven angrily countered that next time Neil was onstage he should unplug...
TRUE STORY: A dj named Steven Clean (real name: Steven Segal) interviewed Neil Young in the early 1970s on an LA radio station (KPPC or KMET). Recently the station had gotten ahold of the "Harvest" album early and played it on the air and Neil was reportedly upset about it. During the interview, Neil asked Steven to remove his headphones, feeling they were isolating. Steven said he needed them on to keep the levels right for the interview, but Neil insisted. So Steven angrily countered that next time Neil was onstage he should unplug his guitar. Then Steven walked out, leaving Neil "alone at the microphone." Steven sent an engineer into the studio to show Neil how to work the controls and left him there to finish the radio program.
As he sings about the radio interview, Neil says "the seagulls are out of reach," a hidden reference to Segal. And as he begins the song on a bootleg from the Bottom Line, Neil says, "I'm coming for you, Steven!"
rocket88's story is the way I remember it. "Clean" had come from the legitimately underground, long-defunct KPPC. He was more than a handful but somehow managed to get hired on KMET which was owned by a major chain (Metromedia) who were trying to figure out how to steal fire from the real underground FM scene. He was a quirky radio personality, seeming to affect a conscious stutter at times and having sometimes extremely strong opinions about what he played. I really liked him for a long time but in the mid-70s he seemed to retrench to dinosaur rock. I remember...
rocket88's story is the way I remember it. "Clean" had come from the legitimately underground, long-defunct KPPC. He was more than a handful but somehow managed to get hired on KMET which was owned by a major chain (Metromedia) who were trying to figure out how to steal fire from the real underground FM scene. He was a quirky radio personality, seeming to affect a conscious stutter at times and having sometimes extremely strong opinions about what he played. I really liked him for a long time but in the mid-70s he seemed to retrench to dinosaur rock. I remember the only time I heard him play the Sex Pistols. I was excited because I thought my then-favorite DJ was finally catching up to the times. But on the outro he said something like, "Well, that's the Sex Pistols and you'll never hear them again on my show." And he was right, because I stopped listening right after that and found a station that wasn't mired in the early 70s.
Great song. I agree that it is about Neil being fed up of fame and the necessary trappings of leading a successful music career.
The part I struggle to understand is "I went to the radio interview, but I ended up alone at the microphone".
That sounds like a very specific instance. Neil's songs are full of these. Anyone have any ideas?
Ever seen the movie Almost Famous? The scene where they go in for the radio interview and the radio host is so stoned he ends up falling asleep while interviewing the band and they start swearing and joking around amongst themselves while the DJ slept. Well, in the commentary Cameron Crowe mentions that the scene was inspired by that incident happening to Neil Young. The more you know..
Ever seen the movie Almost Famous? The scene where they go in for the radio interview and the radio host is so stoned he ends up falling asleep while interviewing the band and they start swearing and joking around amongst themselves while the DJ slept. Well, in the commentary Cameron Crowe mentions that the scene was inspired by that incident happening to Neil Young. The more you know..
TRUE STORY: A dj named Steven Clean (real name: Steven Segal) interviewed Neil Young in the early 1970s on an LA radio station (KPPC or KMET). Recently the station had gotten ahold of the "Harvest" album early and played it on the air and Neil was reportedly upset about it. During the interview, Neil asked Steven to remove his headphones, feeling they were isolating. Steven said he needed them on to keep the levels right for the interview, but Neil insisted. So Steven angrily countered that next time Neil was onstage he should unplug...
TRUE STORY: A dj named Steven Clean (real name: Steven Segal) interviewed Neil Young in the early 1970s on an LA radio station (KPPC or KMET). Recently the station had gotten ahold of the "Harvest" album early and played it on the air and Neil was reportedly upset about it. During the interview, Neil asked Steven to remove his headphones, feeling they were isolating. Steven said he needed them on to keep the levels right for the interview, but Neil insisted. So Steven angrily countered that next time Neil was onstage he should unplug his guitar. Then Steven walked out, leaving Neil "alone at the microphone." Steven sent an engineer into the studio to show Neil how to work the controls and left him there to finish the radio program.
As he sings about the radio interview, Neil says "the seagulls are out of reach," a hidden reference to Segal. And as he begins the song on a bootleg from the Bottom Line, Neil says, "I'm coming for you, Steven!"
rocket88's story is the way I remember it. "Clean" had come from the legitimately underground, long-defunct KPPC. He was more than a handful but somehow managed to get hired on KMET which was owned by a major chain (Metromedia) who were trying to figure out how to steal fire from the real underground FM scene. He was a quirky radio personality, seeming to affect a conscious stutter at times and having sometimes extremely strong opinions about what he played. I really liked him for a long time but in the mid-70s he seemed to retrench to dinosaur rock. I remember...
rocket88's story is the way I remember it. "Clean" had come from the legitimately underground, long-defunct KPPC. He was more than a handful but somehow managed to get hired on KMET which was owned by a major chain (Metromedia) who were trying to figure out how to steal fire from the real underground FM scene. He was a quirky radio personality, seeming to affect a conscious stutter at times and having sometimes extremely strong opinions about what he played. I really liked him for a long time but in the mid-70s he seemed to retrench to dinosaur rock. I remember the only time I heard him play the Sex Pistols. I was excited because I thought my then-favorite DJ was finally catching up to the times. But on the outro he said something like, "Well, that's the Sex Pistols and you'll never hear them again on my show." And he was right, because I stopped listening right after that and found a station that wasn't mired in the early 70s.