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Founded in 1980 by record mogul David Geffen, Geffen Records had signed some of pop music's most dependable hitmakers – Elton John, Peter Gabriel and Joni Mitchell. Part of this roundup effort was the 1982 signing of Neil Young, the Canadian-born songwriter who, by the end of the 1970s, had become one of rock's true visionaries. Young signed on for the price of $1 million per album and the often elusive "creative freedom." But after one flop album and one batch of songs left on the shelf, Geffen executives started asking questions.

David came to me and said, ‘Listen, you've got to talk to Neil,'" said manager Elliot Roberts in the 2002 Neil Young biography Shakey. "But the one thing that I could never tell Neil – or even talk to Neil about – is what he should record."

After another flop, Geffen filed a $3.3 million lawsuit against Young in November of 1983, terming his recent work "not commercial" and "musically uncharacteristic of [his] previous recordings." Young responded with a $21 million countersuit. Both suits were dropped within a matter of months, and David Geffen wound up personally apologizing to Young.

But while it might seem unwise for a record label to sue one of its own artists, the picture comes into slightly better focus when one examines Young's work from this time.

"Sometimes in a bar, you will hear someone try to defend Neil Young's '80s albums," wrote Rob Sheffield in the 2004 edition of The New Rolling Stone Album Guide. "This is technically known as ‘a desperate cry for help.' They actually are as bad as they seemed at the time."

Trans (1983) Critics and fans were baffled by this exercise in electronica, inspired by German "robot pop" collective Kraftwerk and Young's inability to communicate with son Ben, who was born quadriplegic and nonverbal. Five of the album's nine tracks – including a blip-bloop version of his Buffalo Springfield chestnut, "Mr. Soul" – feature Young singing through a vocoder, lending the album an overall mood of chilly detachment.

Everybody's Rockin' (1983) A 25-minute set of goofy rockabilly tunes ("Kinda Fonda Wanda," "Jellyroll Man") originally written to amuse his wife, Young and a pickup band called the Shocking Pinks knocked this album out in response to Geffen rejecting his country project, Old Ways. Often referred to as Young's career nadir, this was the one that prompted the Geffen lawsuit.

Old Ways (1985) After a two-year hiatus, Young rerecorded this collection of hard country tunes with the International Harvesters, receiving help from his new friends Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson. While further alienating his core audience, the newly bearded, bandana-wearing Young failed to catch on with the Nashville crowd. And it's easy to see why, with songs like "Misfits," being about "see-through hookers" and astronauts watching reruns of Muhammad Ali fights in space.

"Back off or I'm going to play country music forever," Young recalled telling Geffen record executives after a performance at the Grand Ole Opry. "And then you won't be able to sue me anymore because country will be what I always do."

Landing on Water (1986) Now we're talking career suicide. Desperate for even a slight return on investment, Geffen brought in hotshot producer Danny Kortchmar to coproduce Young's return to straight rock and roll. But Young insisted on arena-ready drums and synthesizers, burying the mediocre songs under a New Wave sludge. Five years later, Young told "Rockline" deejay Dave Ferrin that Landing on Water was "a piece of crap."

Life (1987) Compiled from his turbulent 1986 tour with Crazy Horse, Life seemed like a good-faith attempt at commercial and critical viability. Still, what was foremost on Young's mind was what went on the album: "Prisoners of Rock ‘N' Roll" features the telling chorus, "That's why we don't want to be good."

Finally, Reprise Records bought Young out of his Geffen contract for $4 million in October of 1987. "[Reprise] can withstand the fact that they pay me millions of dollars and the records sell only, like, a hundred thousand," Young said. "Go to a smaller company, do that, it breaks them. You feel the responsibility. I don't want that."

After one last genre exercise (1988's big band flirtation This Note's For You), Young shut the door on the 1980s with Freedom, a return to form that contained the Bush-baiting classic, "Rockin' in the Free World."

David Geffen sold Geffen Records to MCA Music Entertainment (later named Universal Music Group) in 1990. That same year he started a subsidiary label, DGC Records, which profited hugely from the alternative rock movement of the early 1990s, signing acts like Sonic Youth, Beck and Counting Crows – all of whom cite Young as a major influence.

Number nine in our series "From the Vault: Financial Analyses of the Sometimes Rich and Famous," an ongoing ReZoom.com Finance feature that spotlights celebrities and their money. To learn about the marital and financial woes of actress Kim Basinger, click here.