Neil Young corporate targets hit back

Companies targeted by Neil Young on his latest album The Monsanto Years have hit back at the veteran musician.

Young has long spoken out against Monsanto and Starbucks – naming his latest album after the agricultural firm who specialise in genetically modified seeds.

Now the two companies have responded to the lyrics on the album Young recorded with Promise Of The Real – the band featuring Willie Nelson’s son Lukas and Micah.

Monsanto tell Billboard: “Many of us at Monsanto have been, and are, fans of Neil Young. Unfortunately for some of us his current album may fail to reflect our strong beliefs in what we do every day to help make agriculture more sustainable.

“We recognise there is a lot of misinformation about who we are and what we do – and unfortunately several of those myths seem to be captured in these lyrics.”

The coffee giant add: “Starbucks has not taken a position on the issue of genetically modified organism labeling. As a company with stores and a product presence in every state, we prefer a national solution.”

Young released a promo for the album track A Rock Star Bucks A Coffee Shop last month.

The Monsanto Years is released on June 29 and comes bundled with a DVD featuring extra tracks. It’s available to pre-order via iTunes and Amazon.

THE MONSANTO YEARS TRACKLIST

  1. A New Day For Love 2. Wolf Moon 3. People Want To Hear About Love 4. Big Box 5. A Rock Star Bucks A Coffee Shop 6. Workin’ Man 7. Rules Of Change 8. Monsanto Years 9. If I Don’t Know

DVD

  1. Big Box 2. A Rock Star Bucks A Coffee Shop 3. Rules Of Change 4. Workin’ Man 5. Monsanto Years 6. A New Day For Love 7. Wolf Moon 8. People Want To Hear About Love 9. If I Don’t Know

Neil Young: The Monsanto Years

Scott Munro
Louder e-commerce editor

Scott has spent more than 30 years in newspapers, magazines and online as an editor, production editor, sub-editor, designer, writer and reviewer. Scott joined our news desk in the summer of 2014 before moving to the e-commerce team in 2020. Scott maintains Louder’s buyer’s guides, scouts out the best deals for music fans and reviews headphones, speakers, books and more. He's written more than 11,000 articles across Louder, Classic Rock, Metal Hammer and Prog and has previous written for publications including IGN, the Sunday Mirror, Daily Record and The Herald, covering everything from daily news and weekly features, to video games, travel and whisky. Scott's favourite bands are Fields Of The Nephilim, The Cure, New Model Army, All About Eve, The Mission, Cocteau Twins, Drab Majesty, Marillion and Rush.