Rust Never Sleeps

This article is about the album. For the company whose slogan originated the phrase, see Rust-Oleum. For the episode of the 1987 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cartoon, see Rust Never Sleeps (TMNT 1987 episode).
Rust Never Sleeps
Studio album with live recordings[2] by
Neil Young with Crazy Horse
ReleasedJune 22, 1979 (1979-06-22)[1]
RecordedSeptember 4, 1977 – October 22, 1978
VenueThe Boarding House, San Francisco
McNichols Arena, Denver
St. Paul Civic Center
Cow Palace, San Francisco
Studio
  • Indigo Ranch, Malibu
  • Triiad Studios, Ft. Lauderdale
  • Woodland, Nashville
Genre
Length38:16
LabelReprise
Producer
Neil Young chronology
Comes a Time
(1978) 		Rust Never Sleeps
(1979) 		Live Rust
(1979)
Crazy Horse chronology
Crazy Moon
(1978) 		Rust Never Sleeps
(1979) 		Live Rust
(1979)
Singles from Rust Never Sleeps

Rust Never Sleeps is the tenth album by Canadian American singer-songwriter Neil Young and his third with American band Crazy Horse. It was released on June 22, 1979, by Reprise Records and features both studio and live tracks.[5] Most of the album was recorded live, then overdubbed in the studio, while other songs originated in the studio. Young used the phrase "rust never sleeps" as a concept for his tour with Crazy Horse to avoid artistic complacency and try more progressive, theatrical approaches to performing live.[6]

The album peaked at No. 8 on the Billboard 200 album chart and spawned the hit single "Hey Hey, My My (Into the Black)" that peaked at No. 79 on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart.[7] It also included one of Young's most popular and critically acclaimed songs, the enigmatic "Powderfinger".[8][9] The album, along with Young's 1990 release Ragged Glory, has widely been considered a precursor of grunge music with the bands Nirvana and Pearl Jam having cited Young's heavily distorted and abrasive guitar style on the B side to this album as an inspiration.[10]

  1. ^ "Neil Young Archives". Neilyoungarchives.com. Retrieved August 8, 2018.
  2. ^ Young directly states that he considers this to be a studio album in the "Letter to the Editor" section on his website.
  3. ^ Schinder, Scott; Schwartz, Andy, eds. (2007). Icons of Rock: An Encyclopedia of the Legends Who Changed Music Forever. ABC-CLIO. p. 460. ISBN 978-0-313-33845-8. Retrieved November 27, 2013. ...Rust Never Sleeps mixed acoustic material with squalling, feedback-laden hard rock.
  4. ^ "50 Greatest Grunge Albums". Rolling Stone. Retrieved June 14, 2019.
  5. ^ Mendelsohn, Jason (June 14, 2013). "Counterbalance No. 133: Neil Young's 'Rust Never Sleeps'". PopMatters. Retrieved November 27, 2013.
  6. ^ Daniel Durchholz, Gary Graff (2012). Neil Young: Long May You Run: The Illustrated History, Updated Edition. Voyageur Press. pp. 112–13. ISBN 978-0-7603-4411-8. Retrieved November 27, 2013.
  7. ^ "Billboard 200 December 21, 1979". Billboard. Retrieved March 26, 2023.
  8. ^ "Rolling Stone Readers Poll; The Best Neil Young Songs". rollingstone.com. Retrieved March 26, 2023.
  9. ^ "Neil Young Releases a Never-Before-Heard Version of His 1979 Classic, "Powderfinger"". openculture.com. Retrieved March 26, 2023.
  10. ^ "This is why Neil Young is called the 'Godfather of Grunge'". Faroutmagazine.co.uk. Retrieved March 26, 2023.