Writer: Neil Young
Producer: Neil Young
Recorded: Early 1979 in northern California
Released: June 1979
| Players: | Neil Young — vocals, guitar Frank Sampedro — guitar, keyboards Billy Talbot — bass, vocals Ralph Molina — bass, vocals |
| Album: | Rust Never Sleeps (Reprise, 1979) |
One of Neil Young's best-known anthems, “Hey Hey, My My (Into The Black)” reached Number 79 on the Billboard Hot 100.
An early version of the song can be heard in Young's oddball film Human Highway, performed at San Francisco's Mabuhay Gardens club with members of the group Devo.
Recorded with the band Crazy Horse, “Hey Hey, My My” is a companion piece on the Rust Never Sleeps album to “My My, Hey Hey (Out Of The Blue),” an acoustic track recorded live. Interestingly, while former Moby Grape member Jeff Blackburn is credited as co-writer on “My My, Hey Hey,” Young is listed as the sole writer for the nearly identical, albeit electrified, “Hey Hey, My My”.
Young took some criticisms for the songs' glorification of Sex Pistols frontman Johnny Rotten and for the lyrics that “it's better to burn out/than to fade away.” The latter took on new resonance when it was quoted in Nirvana leader Kurt Cobain's 1994 suicide note.
Regarded as one of Young's finest albums, Rust Never Sleeps reached Number Eight on the Billboard 200 and Number 13 on the U.K. album chart.
Many songs from the album were subsequently featured in the concert film of the same name.