Skip to content
Search

Luxury Brand Chrome Hearts Drops Lawsuit Against Neil Young Over Band Name

Fashion label sued rocker in September 2025 over the Chrome Hearts backing band, but voluntarily dismissed the copyright infringement lawsuit Thursday

Luxury Brand Chrome Hearts Drops Lawsuit Against Neil Young Over Band Name

Luxury fashion brand Chrome Hearts has dropped their copyright infringement lawsuit against Neil Young and his similarly named backing band.

In September 2025 —a few months after Young and his then-new band released their first album Talkin to the Trees — Chrome Hearts (the brand) sued Young and the Chrome Hearts (the band), claiming they never “granted a license” or gave Young “any form of permission to use intellectual property belonging to Chrome Hearts”; the fashion company has existed since the late Eighties, while Young branded the band in late 2024.


In not only using the name Chrome Hearts, but by making and selling merchandise emblazoned with the name “Neil Young and the Chrome Hearts,” the brand said Young and his bandmates would “likely cause confusion” in the marketplace.

However, before the dispute made its way to court, Chrome Hearts said in a court filing Thursday that they would voluntarily dismiss the lawsuit against Young and the band, Billboard reports. The filing did not elaborate as to whether a settlement was reached between the two parties or whether the lawsuit was dropped with resolution.

Despite the lawsuit, Young and the Chrome Hearts continued to operate under that moniker, playing a string of gigs together before Young canceled the entirety of their 2026 tour. As part of the recent Record Store Day, Young and the Chrome Hearts released their live album As Time Explodes, and Young recently finished recording a second studio album with the band.

More Stories

The 2027 Grammys Contenders for Song of the Year Should Be Predominantly Women

The 2027 Grammys Contenders for Song of the Year Should Be Predominantly Women

Leading up to the Grammy nominations on Nov. 16, “Rolling Stone” is breaking down 11 different categories. For each, we’re predicting the nominees, as well as who will (and who should) win on Grammy night.

If there’s one through line for the likely 2027 Song of the Year nominees, it’s that it’s a wide-open field. “There isn’t something like a ‘Not Like Us,’ the song that everyone is anointing as the great song,” says Tony Gervino, editor-in-chief of Tidal, citing 2025’s big winner by Kendrick Lamar.

Keep ReadingShow less
Thom Yorke and Harry Styles Come Together in Epic Conversation
Photographs by Anthony Pham

Thom Yorke and Harry Styles Come Together in Epic Conversation

Two years ago, in the summer of 2024, Harry Styles was strolling down a small cobblestone side street in Rome, when he suddenly noticed a face he recognized. It was Radiohead’s Thom Yorke, one of his biggest musical heroes. He introduced himself — just two stars walking the streets incognito, with no entourage. As Styles confesses to Yorke now, with a shy grin, “You, to me, had always been that person that I was scared of meeting.”

Yorke and Styles might seem like they’re from two different worlds — the planet’s most dazzling glam-pop prince versus the high priest of art-rock angst. But today, they’re busy making each other laugh on a sunny July afternoon in London, at a studio near Camden Town. Yorke has been known to be a thorny interview subject, ever since the early days of Radiohead. Yet today he lets down his guard, as he basks in the presence of the equally notorious charm of Harry Edward Styles. They crack each other up like mischievous schoolboys.

Keep ReadingShow less
No Stairway? Denied! Five Times Led Zeppelin Declined to License Their Song Prior to ‘Narnia’

Led Zeppelin in 1971, before they began approximately 50 years of turning down requests to use "Stairway" onscreen.

Chris Walter/WireImage

No Stairway? Denied! Five Times Led Zeppelin Declined to License Their Song Prior to ‘Narnia’

The trailer for Greta Gerwig’s long-awaited Netflix movie Narnia: The Magician’s Nephew dropped earlier this week. Narnia fans were delighted to catch their first glimpse of child actors David McKenna and Beatrice Campbell as the characters Digory Kirke and Polly Plummer, along with a peek of author C.S. Lewis’ mythical land and its magical inhabitants. But classic rock fans were barely able to process any of that once “Stairway to Heaven” began playing.

Simply put, “Stairway to Heaven” is one of the most difficult works in music history to license for on-screen use. There have been several notable attempts over the years, but Jimmy Page and Robert Plant control their own publishing, and they hold onto this particular song quite tight for more than 50 years.

Keep ReadingShow less
Drake Makes Billboard History With 18th No. 1 R&B/Hip-Hop Album
Drake onstage in Toronto last year
Sammy Kogan/The Canadian Press/AP

Drake Makes Billboard History With 18th No. 1 R&B/Hip-Hop Album

Drake has become the artist with the most No. 1 albums in the history of Billboard’s Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart, claiming the record outright with his 18th chart-topper.

The Toronto rapper reached the milestone as HABIBTI returned to the top following the October 2 release of HABIBTI (FOMO), a deluxe edition featuring four additional tracks. The album climbed from No. 35 to No. 1 on the chart dated October 17, according to Billboard, earning 71,000 equivalent album units in the United States during the October 2-8 tracking week. That represented a 506 per cent increase over the previous week.

Keep ReadingShow less
Charlotte Cardin Announces Third Album 'Midnight, Mon Amour'

Charlotte Cardin Announces Third Album 'Midnight, Mon Amour'

Charlotte Cardin will release her third studio album, Midnight, Mon Amour, on January 29, 2027. The Montréal-born, Paris-based singer announced the 17-track record on Tuesday, October 13, alongside a new music video for her latest single, “Memories.”

The album follows Phoenix (2021) and 99 Nights (2023). Cardin has described the upcoming project as a “shadow album,” exploring private desires, vulnerability, shame and the contradictions people keep hidden.

Keep ReadingShow less