On Dec. 1, 1983, Neil Young was served with papers from his then label, Geffen Records. The suit charged Young with recording “unrepresentative” and "uncharacteristic" albums, essentially arguing that Neil Young no longer sounded like Neil Young.
In early 1982, Young was looking for a change. He’d released 13 albums with Reprise Records and finished his commitment under the contract with the label. Thus, the singer-songwriter found himself searching for a new home.
He signed a contract with Geffen Records as a new outlet for his creative and artistic ideas. Neither got what they had hoped for. Young’s first release under the Geffen flag was Trans. Layered with synthesizers and vocoders, the album represented a foray into electronic music. Listeners were shocked by the stylistic change, and, though not a commercial success, Trans still made it to No. 19 on the Billboard 200 chart.
Geffen was disappointed with the album and expressed their opinions to the singer. In return, he offered them a country album that he'd recorded the previous fall titled Old Ways. The label rejected it and demanded a rock n' roll album. In an attempt to appease Geffen, Young recorded and released the rockabilly-style album Everybody's Rockin'. "They told me they wanted me to play rock 'n' roll, and told me I didn't sound like Neil Young," the singer recalled. "So I gave them Everybody's Rockin' and said, 'This is a rock 'n' roll album by Neil Young after someone tells him what to do; this is exactly what you said you wanted.' And we got way into it.”
Exacerbated with what they viewed was Young's refusal to make commercially viable music, Geffen took the unprecedented step of suing the artist. In response, Young countersued, claiming his contract gave him complete artistic freedom. After a messy war of words, the suit eventually settled, with Geffen apologizing to Young. The label would go on to release Old Ways, along with two more Young albums: Landing on Water (1986) and Life (1987). Following the completion of his commitment to Geffen, Young returned to Reprise Records. He continues releasing albums on the label to this day.