Neil Young fans call for new merch as songwriter hits out at Elon Musk with new song

Fans of the legendary rock musician Neil Young are calling for new merch after his latest song hit out at Tesla CEO Elon Musk.

Young will headline Glastonbury Festival next month and is set to tour across Europe and North America to support new album, Talkin’ to the Trees. The lead single, Big Change, dropped earlier this year, and the second track, Let’s Roll Again, was released on May 2. Fans are now hoping for a merch line to be released with a line from the song featured on the front. While there is no confirmation of new merchandise on the way, fans are staying hopeful that Young’s team will use a line from his recent song on a print. A fan took to the r/NeilYoung subreddit and wrote: “If Neil’s not selling ‘if you’re a fascisct, then get a Tesla,’ shirts on the next tour he’s missing an opportunity.”

The user added they would “buy a few for myself and holiday gift giving” should the shirt be made. The quote is a reference to a lyric featured on Let’s Roll Again, which has Young take aim at Tesla CEO Musk. Fans wondered whether printing the shirts would be plausible, given the carbon footprint of producing and shipping the item.

One user suggested: “Carbon footprint from producing and shipping novelty merch, I don’t know man.” Another added: “Yeah. And the irony of doing that ot protest an electric car company.” Others have since praised the design idea, and suggested they would purchase a shirt if it were made available.

One user wrote: “I’m ordering boxes!” Another added: “I’d buy one.” Not everyone was convinced the shirt would work, though, suggesting Young would need to write “a better song” if he wished to move merchandise.

“It would probably help if Young wrote a better song,” one wrote. The reception to the song has been mixed, with some fans left underwhelmed by the track. One gig-goer recalled there being a “flat” response to the line.

They wrote: “Was at the Greek Theater show. That line kinda fell flat in Los Angeles after Tesla was the best seller in 2021, 2022, and 2023. I thought about that line in the context of the song. It seems like he is promoting buying EV, even if you are a fascist. A fascist may find Tesla more palatable than Kia. Who knows.”

Young debuted the track at a charity event at the Greek Theater in Los Angeles, where he also played Big Box, Ordinary People, Human Highway, and Rockin’ in the Free World. Young was joined by Stephen Stills on the final two songs of the night, and performed Ordinary People live for the first time since 1989 at the show.

In a three-star review of Let’s Roll Again, Cult Following called the track a song where “rough hyperspecifics” prevail. It reads: “Where Big Change was a call to arms, Let’s Roll Again is the rough side of hyperspecifics.

“Young has clear points of protest to his political references. These are blunt force comments on the world around him, from the force of fascism to the specific, electric car they may drive.”