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Neil Young nearly got a record deal for Charles Manson.
Young met the notorious Charles Manson in 1968 at the home of Beach Boys drummer Dennis Wilson.
In his memoir Neil recalls:
“A guy showed up, picked up my guitar, and started playing a lot of songs on it. His name was Charlie. He was a friend of the girls and now of Dennis. His songs were off-the-cuff things he made up as he went along, and they were never the same twice in a row. Kind of like Dylan, but different because it was hard to glimpse a true message in them, but the songs were fascinating. He was quite good.”
Manson’s music impressed Neil so much that Young put in a good word with a record label for him.
“I asked him if he had a recording contract. He told me he didn’t yet, but he wanted to make records. I told Mo Ostin at Reprise about him, and recommended that Reprise check him out…. Shortly afterward, the Sharon Tate-La Bianca murders happened, and Charlie Manson’s name was known around the world.”
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