“Never one to pander to industry expectations, Neil Young spent his 80s wrongfooting even those who expected a certain contrariness from the singer-songwriter, releasing a string of albums that confused fans and led to his label suing him for making unrepresentative records. It’s unsurprising, then, that he viewed the then-fledgling trend for musicians endorsing brands with some cynicism.

The title track of his 1988 album, This Note’s For You, offered no illusions as to how he felt about the growing corporate influence on music, with Young in a defiant mood: “Ain’t singing for Pepsi, ain’t singing for Coke/I don’t sing for nobody, makes me look like a joke.” To accompany the song’s single release, Young made a video that went further still – mocking advertising tropes (the smoky bar, stylized black-and-white perfume ads) and including Michael Jackson and Whitney Houston lookalikes, as a dig at some of the performers who’d taken the advertising dollar. The all-important MTV, however, was not amused, banning the video.

Young wrote a fantastically blunt open letter to the TV station, beginning, “MTV, you spineless twerps,” and ending with, “What does the ‘M’ in MTV stand for: music or money? Long live rock and roll.” Still, the controversial song became a hit, MTV eventually caved and, in 1989, “This Note’s For You” won their Video Of The Year award.”