Neil Young's 6th solo studio album was released on 20 June 1975.
Written in the wake of the deaths of Crazy Horse guitarist Danny Whitten (Young had fired Whitten from the band on 18 November 1972 and gave him $50 and a plane ticket - Whitten died of an overdose that night. "That night the coroner called me and told me he'd died. That blew my mind. Fucking blew my mind. I loved Danny. I felt responsible. And from there, I had to go right out on this huge tour of huge arenas," Young said.) and roadie Bruce Berry (who died of a drug overdose in June 1973), Tonight's the Night was recorded in August 1973, but Young waited almost 2 years before releasing it (Young has said that he played the completed Homegrown and Tonight's the Night for Rick Danko and Danko encouraged him to release Tonight's the Night).
Released over the objections of his label (Warner Bros. told Young the album could mean the end of his career), mixed reviews, and disappointing sales (although it still peaked at #25 in the US), the album is now considered one of Young's best, and one of the best albums of all time (#302 on Rolling Stone's list). Young has described it as the closest he ever came to art.
