It’s no surprise that 1989 saw Neil Young’s transformation from folk-rock legend to a growling, snarling pre-grunge harbinger of Nirvana and Pearl Jam’s impact on music. “Rockin’ In The Free World” is filled with anger at an increasingly conservative, backward-looking American culture and laid the foundation for the rock music genre that would change the industry by 1991. Show Written during February of 1989 while Neil Young was touring the Pacific Northwest, “Keep On Rockin’ In The Free World” offers listeners a scathing commentary on the era. It was released a few months before the fall of the Berlin Wall and became an anthem as democracy spread throughout Eastern Europe. Crazy Horse guitarist, Frank “Poncho” Sampedro recalled to Mojo Magazine in a 2018 interview that there was supposed to have been a cultural exchange between Russia and the United States. “Russia was getting Neil Young and Crazy Horse and we were getting the Russian ballet! All of a sudden, whoever was promoting the deal, a guy in Russia, took the money and split. We were all bummed, and I looked at Neil and said, ‘Man I guess we’re just gonna have to keep on rockin in the free world. He said, ‘Well, Poncho, that’s a good line. I’m gonna use that, if you don’t mind.'” This song, like Springsteen’s Born in the U.S.A., is sometimes used as a pro-America anthem, which completely ignores many of the ironic overtones of the lyrics. While the chorus does seem to celebrate the United States, it’s laced with grim verses that paint an alarming picture of life in modern America. Some lyrics mock Bush era campaign speeches: “We got 1,000 points of light, for the homeless man,” and “We got a kinder, gentler machine gun hand” – a paraphrase of the famous line “I want a kinder, gentler nation” from Bush I’s nomination acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention in 1988. The video attached is as close to a Time Capsule as we can get; It’s not a simpler time considering the global changes going on during the period, but perhaps it was a time when we were more connected and centered in our collective goals? As the camera pans the crowd, there are a lot of different faces, and all walks of life represented during this memorable performance. I’ve felt this collective, positive, life-affirming energy in these same situations and hope you keep Rockin’ In the Free World. Remember, America is a beacon of light in the darkness. Hold on to that, and don’t let it go. Neil Young, “Keep On Rockin’ In The Free World”
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