Neil Young Slyly Slams Beck's 'Old Man' Cover Being Used In NFL Commercial

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Beck appeared in an NFL promo spot over the weekend. The commercial features the singer-songwriter covering Neil Young's Harvest hit "Old Man" on an acoustic guitar interspersed with footage of Tom Brady and Patrick Mahomes to promote the Buccaneers vs. Chiefs Thursday Night Football game.

The NFL somehow found a loophole to use Young's music in an ad, because it's something that the singer-songwriter has famously refused. In fact, he wrote a song about his disdain for corporate-sponsored rock music in 1988 called “This Note’s For You."

“Ain’t singin’ for Pepsi, ain’t singin’ for Coke/ I don’t sing for nobody/ Makes me look like a joke,” he sings in the song. Its video, which ironically won Video of the Year at the MTV Video Music Awards, is a collection of visual jokes about ads that use pop and rock songs.

Young shared a screenshot of the video on Instagram. There isn't a caption, but it's an image of him holding a bottle with the label "Sponsored By Nobody." The timing of it cannot be a coincidence, but rather a sly jab at the use of his song, albeit a cover, in an ad.

Watch the NFL commercial and see Young's Instagram post below.


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