Neil Percival Young
(born November 12, 1945) is a Canadian-American singer and songwriter. After embarking on a music career in
Winnipeg
Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the province of Manitoba in Canada. It is centred on the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine rivers, near the longitudinal centre of North America. , Winnipeg had a city population of 749,6 ...
in the 1960s, Young moved to Los Angeles, joining the
folk-rock group
Buffalo Springfield
Buffalo Springfield was a rock band formed in Los Angeles by Canadian musicians Neil Young, Bruce Palmer and Dewey Martin and American musicians Stephen Stills and Richie Furay. The group, widely known for the song "For What It's Worth", relea ...
. Since the beginning of his solo career, often with backing by the band
Crazy Horse
Crazy Horse ( lkt, Tȟašúŋke Witkó, italic=no, , ; 1840 – September 5, 1877) was a Lakota war leader of the Oglala band in the 19th century. He took up arms against the United States federal government to fight against encroachment by wh ...
, he has released critically acclaimed albums such as ''
Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere
''Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere'' is the second studio album by Canadian-American musician Neil Young, released in May 1969 on Reprise Records, catalogue number RS 6349. His first with longtime backing band Crazy Horse, it peaked at number 3 ...
'' (1969), ''
After the Gold Rush
''After the Gold Rush'' is the third studio album by the Canadian-American musician Neil Young, released in September 1970 on Reprise Records, catalogue number RS 6383. It is one of four high-profile albums (all charting within the top fifteen) ...
'' (1970), ''
Harvest
Harvesting is the process of gathering a ripe crop from the fields. Reaping is the cutting of grain or pulse for harvest, typically using a scythe, sickle, or reaper. On smaller farms with minimal mechanization, harvesting is the most labor-i ...
'' (1972), ''
On the Beach'' (1974), and ''
Rust Never Sleeps
''Rust Never Sleeps'' is an album with both studio and live tracks by Canadian American singer-songwriter Neil Young and American band Crazy Horse. It was released on June 22, 1979, by Reprise Records. Most of the album was recorded live, then o ...
'' (1979). He was also a part-time member of
Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young
Crosby, Stills & Nash (CSN) were a folk rock supergroup made up of American singer-songwriters David Crosby and Stephen Stills and English singer-songwriter Graham Nash. When joined by Canadian singer-songwriter Neil Young as a fourth member ...
, with whom he recorded the chart-topping 1970 album ''
Déjà Vu
''Déjà vu'' ( , ; "already seen") is a French loanword for the phenomenon of feeling as though one has lived through the present situation before.Schnider, Armin. (2008). ''The Confabulating Mind: How the Brain Creates Reality''. Oxford Univer ...
''.
His guitar work, deeply personal lyrics and signature high
tenor
A tenor is a type of classical music, classical male singing human voice, voice whose vocal range lies between the countertenor and baritone voice types. It is the highest male chest voice type. The tenor's vocal range extends up to C5. The lo ...
singing voice define his long career. Young also plays piano and harmonica on many albums, which frequently combine
folk
Folk or Folks may refer to:
Sociology
*Nation
*People
* Folklore
** Folk art
** Folk dance
** Folk hero
** Folk music
*** Folk metal
*** Folk punk
*** Folk rock
** Folk religion
* Folk taxonomy
Arts, entertainment, and media
* Folk Plus or Fol ...
,
rock
Rock most often refers to:
* Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids
* Rock music, a genre of popular music
Rock or Rocks may also refer to:
Places United Kingdom
* Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...
,
country
A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. It may be a sovereign state or make up one part of a larger state. For example, the country of Japan is an independent, sovereign state, while the ...
and other musical genres. His often distorted electric guitar playing, especially with Crazy Horse, earned him the nickname "
Godfather of
Grunge
Grunge (sometimes referred to as the Seattle sound) is an alternative rock genre and subculture that emerged during the in the American Pacific Northwest state of Washington, particularly in Seattle and nearby towns. Grunge fuses elements of p ...
" and led to his 1995 album ''
Mirror Ball'' with
Pearl Jam
Pearl Jam is an American rock band formed in Seattle, Washington, in 1990. The band's lineup consists of founding members Jeff Ament (bass guitar), Stone Gossard (rhythm guitar), Mike McCready (lead guitar), and Eddie Vedder (lead vocals, guita ...
. More recently he has been backed by
Promise of the Real
Lukas Nelson & Promise of the Real, sometimes referred to as POTR, is an American country rock group based in California. The band consists of Lukas Nelson (lead vocals, guitar), Anthony LoGerfo (drums, percussion), Corey McCormick (bass guitar ...
.
Young directed (or co-directed) films using the pseudonym "Bernard Shakey", including ''
Journey Through the Past'' (1973), ''Rust Never Sleeps'' (1979), ''
Human Highway
''Human Highway'' is a 1982 American comedy film starring and co-directed by Neil Young under his pseudonym Bernard Shakey. Dean Stockwell co-directed the film and acted along with Russ Tamblyn, Dennis Hopper, and the band Devo. Included is a ...
'' (1982), ''Greendale'' (2003), ''
CSNY/Déjà Vu
''CSNY/Déjà Vu'' is a 2008 documentary film directed by Bernard Shakey, a pseudonym for Neil Young. It focuses on the career of Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, its musical connection to its audience and the turbulent times with which its music ...
'' (2008), and ''Harvest Time'' (2022). He also contributed to the soundtracks of the films ''
Philadelphia
Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...
'' (1993) and ''
Dead Man
''Dead Man'' is a 1995 American acid western film written and directed by Jim Jarmusch. It stars Johnny Depp, Gary Farmer, Billy Bob Thornton, Iggy Pop, Crispin Glover, John Hurt, Michael Wincott, Lance Henriksen, Gabriel Byrne, Mili Avital, an ...
'' (1995).
Young has received several
Grammy
The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pre ...
and
Juno Award
The Juno Awards, more popularly known as the JUNOS, are awards presented annually to Canadian musical artists and bands to acknowledge their artistic and technical achievements in all aspects of music. New members of the Canadian Music Hall of ...
s. The
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (RRHOF), sometimes simply referred to as the Rock Hall, is a museum
A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and othe ...
inducted him twice: in 1995 as a solo artist and in 1997 as a member of Buffalo Springfield. In 2000, ''
Rolling Stone
''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...
'' named Young No. 34 on their list of the 100 greatest musical artists. According to
Acclaimed Music
Acclaimed Music is a website created by Henrik Franzon, a statistician from Stockholm, Sweden in September 2001. Franzon has statistically aggregated hundreds of published lists that rank songs and albums into aggregated rankings by year, deca ...
, he is the seventh most celebrated artist in popular music history.
21 of his albums and singles have been certified Gold and Platinum in U.S. by
RIAA certification
In the United States, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) awards certification based on the number of albums and singles sold through retail and other ancillary markets. . Young was awarded the
Order of Manitoba
The Order of Manitoba (french: Ordre du Manitoba) is a civilian honour for merit in the Canadian province of Manitoba. Instituted in 1999 when Lieutenant Governor Peter Liba granted Royal Assent to The Order of Manitoba Act, the order is administe ...
in 2006
and was made an Officer of the
Order of Canada
The Order of Canada (french: Ordre du Canada; abbreviated as OC) is a Canadian state order and the second-highest honour for merit in the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, after the Order of Merit.
To coincide with the ...
in 2009.
Early life (1945–1963)
Neil Young was born on November 12, 1945, in
Toronto
Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...
, Canada. His father,
Scott Alexander Young (1918–2005), was a journalist and sportswriter who also wrote fiction. His mother, Edna Blow Ragland "Rassy" Young (1918–1990) was a member of the
Daughters of the American Revolution
The Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) is a lineage-based membership service organization for women who are directly descended from a person involved in the United States' efforts towards independence.
A non-profit group, they promote ...
. Although Canadian, his mother had American and French ancestry. Young's parents married in 1940 in
Winnipeg
Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the province of Manitoba in Canada. It is centred on the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine rivers, near the longitudinal centre of North America. , Winnipeg had a city population of 749,6 ...
, Manitoba, and moved to Toronto shortly thereafter where their first son, Robert "Bob" Young, was born in 1942.
Shortly after Young's birth in 1945, the family moved to rural
Omemee, Ontario
Omemee is a community within the city of Kawartha Lakes, Ontario, Canada, formerly known as Victoria County. Located on Ontario Highway 7, which is the Trans-Canada Highway, Omemee is one of the communities in the Kawartha Lakes, as the proclaim ...
, which Young later described fondly as a "sleepy little place". Young contracted
polio
Poliomyelitis, commonly shortened to polio, is an infectious disease caused by the poliovirus. Approximately 70% of cases are asymptomatic; mild symptoms which can occur include sore throat and fever; in a proportion of cases more severe s ...
in the late summer of 1951 during the last major outbreak of the disease in Ontario, and as a result, became partially paralyzed on his left side. After the conclusion of his hospitalization, the Young family wintered in Florida, whose milder weather they believed would help Neil's convalescence. During that period, Young briefly attended Faulkner Elementary School in
New Smyrna Beach, Florida
New Smyrna Beach is a city in Volusia County, Florida, United States, located on the central east coast of the state, with the Atlantic Ocean to the east. Its population is 30,142 in 2020 by the United States Census Bureau.
The downtown section of ...
. In 1952, upon returning to Canada, Young moved from Omemee to
Pickering (1956), and lived for a year in Winnipeg (where he would later return), before relocating to Toronto (1957–1960). While in Toronto, Young briefly attended
Lawrence Park Collegiate Institute
Lawrence Park Collegiate Institute (''Lawrence Park CI'', ''LPCI'', "LP", or ''Lawrence Park'') is a semestered, public high school institution with over 1,267 students enrolled. The school is located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It teaches grade ...
as a first year student in 1959. It is rumoured that he was expelled for riding a motorcycle down the hall of the school.
Young became interested in popular music he heard on the radio. When Young was twelve, his father, who had had several extramarital affairs, left his mother. His mother asked for a divorce, which was granted in 1960. Young went to live with his mother, who had moved back to Winnipeg, while his brother Bob stayed with his father in Toronto.
During the mid-1950s, Young listened to
rock 'n roll
Rock and roll (often written as rock & roll, rock 'n' roll, or rock 'n roll) is a genre of popular music that evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It originated from African-American music such as jazz, rhythm an ...
,
rockabilly
Rockabilly is one of the earliest styles of rock and roll music. It dates back to the early 1950s in the United States, especially the Southern United States, South. As a genre it blends the sound of Western music (North America), Western music ...
,
doo-wop
Doo-wop (also spelled doowop and doo wop) is a genre of rhythm and blues music that originated in African-American communities during the 1940s, mainly in the large cities of the United States, including New York, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Chica ...
,
R&B,
country
A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. It may be a sovereign state or make up one part of a larger state. For example, the country of Japan is an independent, sovereign state, while the ...
, and western pop. He idolized
Elvis Presley
Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977), or simply Elvis, was an American singer and actor. Dubbed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, King of Rock and Roll", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Elvis Presley, one ...
and later referred to him in a number of his songs. Other early musical influences included
Link Wray
Fred Lincoln "Link" Wray Jr. (May 2, 1929 – November 5, 2005) was an American guitarist, songwriter, and vocalist who became popular in the late 1950s.
''Rolling Stone'' placed Wray at No. 45 of the 100 greatest guitarists of all time. In 2013 ...
,
Lonnie Mack
Lonnie McIntosh (July 18, 1941 – April 21, 2016), known as Lonnie Mack, was an American singer-songwriter and guitarist. He was an influential trailblazer of blues rock music and rock guitar soloing.
Mack emerged in 1963 with his breakthroug ...
,
Jimmy Gilmer and the Fireballs
The Fireballs, sometimes billed as Jimmy Gilmer and the Fireballs, were an American rock and roll group, particularly popular at the end of the 1950s and in the early 1960s. The original line-up consisted of George Tomsco (lead guitar), Chuck ...
,
The Ventures
The Ventures are an American instrumental rock band formed in Tacoma, Washington, in 1958, by Don Wilson and Bob Bogle. The band, which was a quartet for most of its existence, helped to popularize the electric guitar across the world during the ...
,
Cliff Richard
Sir Cliff Richard (born Harry Rodger Webb; 14 October 1940) is an Indian-born British musican, singer, producer, entrepreneur and philanthropist who holds both British and Barbadian citizenship. He has total sales of over 21.5 million s ...
and
the Shadows
The Shadows (originally known as the Drifters) were an English instrumental rock group, who dominated the British popular music charts in the late 1950s and early 1960s, in the pre- Beatles era. They served as the backing band for Cliff Richard ...
,
Chuck Berry
Charles Edward Anderson Berry (October 18, 1926 – March 18, 2017) was an American singer, songwriter and guitarist who pioneered rock and roll. Nicknamed the " Father of Rock and Roll", he refined and developed rhythm and blues into th ...
,
Hank Marvin
Hank Brian Marvin (born Brian Robson Rankin, 28 October 1941) is an English multi-instrumentalist, vocalist and songwriter. He is widely known as the lead guitarist for The Shadows, a group which primarily performed instrumentals and was the ba ...
,
Little Richard
Richard Wayne Penniman (December 5, 1932 – May 9, 2020), known professionally as Little Richard, was an American musician, singer, and songwriter. He was an influential figure in popular music and culture for seven decades. Described as the " ...
,
Fats Domino
Antoine Dominique Domino Jr. (February 26, 1928 – October 24, 2017), known as Fats Domino, was an American pianist, singer and songwriter. One of the pioneers of rock and roll music, Domino sold more than 65 million records. Born in New O ...
,
The Chantels
''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the ...
,
The Monotones
The Monotones were a six-member American doo-wop vocal group in the 1950s. They are considered a one-hit wonder, as their only hit single was " The Book of Love", which peaked at No. 5 on the Billboard Top 100 in 1958.
Biography
The Monotones ...
,
Ronnie Self
Ronnie Self (July 5, 1938 – August 28, 1981) was an American rockabilly singer and songwriter. His solo career was unsuccessful, despite being signed to contracts with Columbia and then Decca from the late 1950s through the early 1960s. His ...
, the
Fleetwoods,
Jerry Lee Lewis
Jerry Lee Lewis (September 29, 1935October 28, 2022) was an American singer, songwriter and pianist. Nicknamed "The Killer", he was described as "rock & roll's first great wild man". A pioneer of rock and roll and rockabilly music, Lewis made ...
,
Johnny Cash
John R. Cash (born J. R. Cash; February 26, 1932 – September 12, 2003) was an American country singer-songwriter. Much of Cash's music contained themes of sorrow, moral tribulation, and redemption, especially in the later stages of his ca ...
,
Roy Orbison
Roy Kelton Orbison (April 23, 1936 – December 6, 1988) was an American singer, songwriter, and musician known for his impassioned singing style, complex song structures, and dark, emotional ballads. His music was described by critics as ...
and
Gogi Grant
Myrtle Audrey Arinsberg (September 20, 1924 – March 10, 2016), known professionally as Gogi Grant, was an American pop singer. She is best known for her No. 1 hit in 1956, "The Wayward Wind".
Life and career
Grant was born Myrtle Audrey Arin ...
. Young began to play music himself on a plastic
ukulele
The ukulele ( ; from haw, ukulele , approximately ), also called Uke, is a member of the lute family of instruments of Portuguese origin and popularized in Hawaii. It generally employs four nylon strings.
The tone and volume of the instrumen ...
, before, as he would later relate, going on to "a better ukulele to a banjo ukulele to a baritone ukulele – everything but a guitar."
Career
Early career (1963–1966)
Young and his mother settled into the working-class area of
Fort Rouge, Winnipeg
Fort Rouge is a district of Winnipeg, Manitoba, in Canada. Located in the south-central part of the city, it is bounded on the north by the Assiniboine River, on the east and south by the Red River, and on the west by Stafford Street and Pembina ...
, where he enrolled at Earl Grey Junior High School. It was there that he formed his first band, the Jades, and met
Ken Koblun
Ken Koblun is a Canadian musician who played alongside Neil Young in The Jades, the Squires, the Stardusters, and briefly Buffalo Springfield. He replaced Comrie Smith in 3's a Crowd, playing with the band from 1966 to 1967.
Early years
Koblu ...
. While attending
Kelvin High School
Kelvin High School is a public high school in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. The school is located in the neighbourhood of River Heights. Kelvin teaches grades 9 to 12 and is part of the South District of the Winnipeg School Division.
History
T ...
in Winnipeg, he played in several instrumental rock bands, eventually dropping out of school in favour of a musical career. Young's first stable band was
the Squires
The Squires or Neil Young & The Squires were a Canadian band formed in 1963 in Winnipeg. It was one of the first bands of singer-songwriter Neil Young.
Recordings
Young formed the Squires in 1963, and the group played at community clubs, high ...
, with Ken Koblun, Jeff Wuckert and Bill Edmondson on drums, who had a local hit called "The Sultan". Over a three-year period the band played hundreds of shows at community centres, dance halls, clubs and schools in Winnipeg and other parts of Manitoba. The band also played in
Fort William (now part of the city of
Thunder Bay
Thunder Bay is a city in and the seat of Thunder Bay District, Ontario, Canada. It is the most populous municipality in Northwestern Ontario and the second most populous (after Greater Sudbury) municipality in Northern Ontario; its population ...
, Ontario), where they recorded a series of demos produced by a local producer, Ray Dee, whom Young called "the original Briggs". While playing at The Flamingo, Young met
Stephen Stills
Stephen Arthur Stills (born January 3, 1945) is an American musician, singer and songwriter best known for his work with Buffalo Springfield and Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young. As both a solo act and member of two successful bands, Stills has com ...
, whose band
The Company was playing the same venue, and they became friends. The Squires primarily performed in Winnipeg and rural Manitoba in towns such as
Selkirk,
Neepawa
Neepawa is a town in Manitoba, Canada located on the Yellowhead Highway at the intersection with Highway 5. its population was 5,685. Neepawa was incorporated as a town in 1883. It is bordered by the Municipality of North Cypress – Langford and ...
,
Brandon
Brandon may refer to:
Names and people
*Brandon (given name), a male given name
*Brandon (surname), a surname with several different origins
Places
Australia
*Brandon, a farm and 19th century homestead in Seaham, New South Wales
*Brandon, Q ...
and Giroux (near
Steinbach), with a few shows in northern Ontario.
After leaving the Squires, Young worked folk clubs in Winnipeg, where he first met
Joni Mitchell
Roberta Joan "Joni" Mitchell ( Anderson; born November 7, 1943) is a Canadian-American musician, producer, and painter. Among the most influential singer-songwriters to emerge from the 1960s folk music circuit, Mitchell became known for her sta ...
. Mitchell recalls Young as having been highly influenced by
Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan, born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Often regarded as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture during a career sp ...
at the time. Young said
Phil Ochs
Philip David Ochs (; December 19, 1940 – April 9, 1976) was an American songwriter and protest singer (or, as he preferred, a topical singer). Ochs was known for his sharp wit, sardonic humor, political activism, often alliterative lyrics, and ...
was "a big influence on me," telling a radio station in 1969 that Ochs was "on the same level with Dylan in my eyes." Here he wrote some of his earliest and most enduring folk songs such as "
Sugar Mountain", about lost youth. Mitchell wrote "
The Circle Game" in response. The Winnipeg band
The Guess Who
The Guess Who are a Canadian rock band formed in Winnipeg, Manitoba, in 1965. The band originated in 1962 and achieved an international hit single with a cover of "Shakin' All Over" in 1965 under the name Chad Allan and the Expressions. After c ...
(with
Randy Bachman
Randolph Charles Bachman (; born September 27, 1943) is a Canadian guitarist, singer, and songwriter. He was a founding member of the bands The Guess Who and Bachman–Turner Overdrive. Bachman recorded as a solo artist and was part of a num ...
as lead guitarist) had a Canadian Top 40 hit with Young's "Flying on the Ground is Wrong", which was Young's first major success as a songwriter.
In 1965, Young toured Canada as a solo artist. In 1966, while in Toronto, he joined the
Rick James
James Ambrose Johnson Jr. (February 1, 1948 – August 6, 2004), better known by his stage name Rick James, was an American singer-songwriter, musician and record producer. Born and raised in Buffalo, New York, James began his musical career in ...
-fronted
Mynah Birds
The Mynah Birds was a Canadian Rhythm and blues, R&B band formed in Toronto, Ontario, that was active from 1964 to 1967.Chong. 2005. Although the band never released an album, it is notable as featuring a number of musicians, such as Rick James ...
. The band managed to secure a record deal with the
Motown
Motown Records is an American record label owned by the Universal Music Group. It was founded by Berry Gordy Jr. as Tamla Records on June 7, 1958, and incorporated as Motown Record Corporation on April 14, 1960. Its name, a portmanteau of ''moto ...
label, but as their first album was being recorded, James was arrested for being
AWOL
Desertion is the abandonment of a military duty or Military base, post without permission (a Pass (military), pass, Shore leave, liberty or Leave (U.S. military), leave) and is done with the intention of not returning. This contrasts with u ...
from the Navy Reserve. After the Mynah Birds disbanded, Young and the bass player
Bruce Palmer
Bruce Palmer (September 9, 1946 – October 1, 2004) was a Canadian musician best known as the bassist in the seminal Canadian-American folk rock band Buffalo Springfield, who were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1997.
Early y ...
decided to pawn the group's musical equipment and buy a
Pontiac Pontiac may refer to:
*Pontiac (automobile), a car brand
*Pontiac (Ottawa leader) ( – 1769), a Native American war chief
Places and jurisdictions Canada
*Pontiac, Quebec, a municipality
** Apostolic Vicariate of Pontiac, now the Roman Catholic D ...
hearse
A hearse is a large vehicle, originally a horse carriage but later with the introduction of motor vehicles, a car, used to carry the body of a deceased person in a coffin at a funeral, wake, or memorial service. They range from deliberately ano ...
, which they used to relocate to Los Angeles.
Young admitted in a 2009 interview that he was in the United States illegally until he received a "green card" (
permanent residency permit) in 1970.
[
]
Buffalo Springfield (1966–1968)
Once they reached Los Angeles, Young and Palmer met up with Stephen Stills
Stephen Arthur Stills (born January 3, 1945) is an American musician, singer and songwriter best known for his work with Buffalo Springfield and Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young. As both a solo act and member of two successful bands, Stills has com ...
and Richie Furay
Paul Richard Furay (born May 9, 1944) is an American singer, guitarist, songwriter, and Rock & Roll Hall of Fame member (with Buffalo Springfield). He is best known for forming the bands Buffalo Springfield with Stephen Stills, Neil Young, Bruc ...
after a chance encounter in traffic on Sunset Boulevard
Sunset Boulevard is a boulevard in the central and western part of Los Angeles, California, that stretches from the Pacific Coast Highway in Pacific Palisades east to Figueroa Street in Downtown Los Angeles. It is a major thoroughfare in t ...
. Along with Dewey Martin, they formed Buffalo Springfield
Buffalo Springfield was a rock band formed in Los Angeles by Canadian musicians Neil Young, Bruce Palmer and Dewey Martin and American musicians Stephen Stills and Richie Furay. The group, widely known for the song "For What It's Worth", relea ...
. A mixture of folk, country, psychedelia
Psychedelia refers to the psychedelic subculture of the 1960s and the psychedelic experience. This includes psychedelic art, psychedelic music and style of dress during that era. This was primarily generated by people who used psychedelic ...
, and rock, lent a hard edge by the twin lead guitars of Stills and Young, made Buffalo Springfield a critical success, and their first record ''Buffalo Springfield
Buffalo Springfield was a rock band formed in Los Angeles by Canadian musicians Neil Young, Bruce Palmer and Dewey Martin and American musicians Stephen Stills and Richie Furay. The group, widely known for the song "For What It's Worth", relea ...
'' (1966) sold well after Stills' topical song "For What It's Worth
"For What It's Worth (Stop, Hey What's That Sound)" (often referred to as simply "For What It's Worth") is a song written by Stephen Stills. Performed by Buffalo Springfield, it was recorded on December 5, 1966, released as a single on Atco Reco ...
" became a hit, aided by Young's melodic harmonics played on electric guitar. According to ''Rolling Stone'', the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and other sources, Buffalo Springfield helped create the genres of folk rock and country rock.
Distrust of their management, as well as the arrest and deportation of Palmer, worsened the already strained relations among the group members and led to Buffalo Springfield's demise. A second album, ''Buffalo Springfield Again
''Buffalo Springfield Again'' is the second album by Buffalo Springfield, released on Atco Records in November 1967. It peaked at #44 on the Billboard 200. In 2003, the album was ranked number 188 on ''Rolling Stone'' magazine's list of the 500 gr ...
'', was released in late 1967, but two of Young's three contributions were solo tracks recorded apart from the rest of the group.
From that album, "Mr. Soul
"Mr. Soul" is a song recorded by the Canadian-American rock band Buffalo Springfield in 1967. It was released June 15, 1967, as the B-side to their fourth single "Bluebird" and later included on the group's second album ''Buffalo Springfield Agai ...
" was the only Young song of the three that all five members of the group performed together. " Broken Arrow" features snippets of sound from other sources, including opening the song with a soundbite of Dewey Martin singing "Mr. Soul" and closing it with the thumping of a heartbeat. " Expecting to Fly" featured a string arrangement that Young's co-producer for the track, Jack Nitzsche
Bernard Alfred "Jack" Nitzsche ( '; April 22, 1937 – August 25, 2000) was an American musician, arranger, songwriter, composer, and record producer. He first came to prominence in the early 1960s as the right-hand-man of producer Phil Spec ...
, dubbed "symphonic pop".
In May 1968, the band split up for good, but to fulfill a contractual obligation, a final studio album, ''Last Time Around
''Last Time Around'' is the third and final studio album by the Canadian-American folk rock band Buffalo Springfield, released in July 1968. The line-up at the time officially consisted of Neil Young, Stephen Stills, Richie Furay, Dewey Martin, ...
'', was released. The album was primarily composed of recordings made earlier that year. Young contributed the songs "On the Way Home" and "I Am a Child", singing lead on the latter. In 1997, the band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame; Young did not appear at the ceremony. The three surviving members, Furay, Stills, and Young, appeared together as Buffalo Springfield at Young's annual Bridge School Benefit on October 23–24, 2010, and at Bonnaroo in the summer of 2011.
Young played as a studio session guitarist for some 1968 recordings by The Monkees
The Monkees were an American rock and pop band, formed in Los Angeles in 1966, whose lineup consisted of the American actor/musicians Micky Dolenz, Michael Nesmith and Peter Tork alongside English actor/singer Davy Jones. The group was conc ...
which appeared on the ''Head
A head is the part of an organism which usually includes the ears, brain, forehead, cheeks, chin, eyes, nose, and mouth, each of which aid in various sensory functions such as sight, hearing, smell, and taste. Some very simple animals may ...
'' and ''Instant Replay
Instant replay or action replay is a video reproduction of something that recently occurred which was both shot and broadcast live.
The video, having already been shown live, is replayed in order for viewers to see again and analyze what had j ...
'' albums. Young had known Monkee Mike Nesmith
Robert Michael Nesmith or Mike Nesmith, (December 30, 1942 – December 10, 2021) was an American musician, songwriter, and actor. He was best known as a member of the pop rock band the Monkees and co-star of the TV series ''The Monkees'' (1966 ...
since their folk shows at The Troubadour in 1965.
Going solo, Crazy Horse (1968–1969)
After the breakup of Buffalo Springfield, Young signed a solo deal with Reprise Records
Reprise Records is an American record label founded in 1960 by Frank Sinatra. It is owned by Warner Music Group, and operates through Warner Records, one of its flagship labels.
Artists currently signed to Reprise Records include Enya, Michael ...
, home of his colleague and friend Joni Mitchell
Roberta Joan "Joni" Mitchell ( Anderson; born November 7, 1943) is a Canadian-American musician, producer, and painter. Among the most influential singer-songwriters to emerge from the 1960s folk music circuit, Mitchell became known for her sta ...
, with whom he shared a manager, Elliot Roberts
Elliot Roberts (born Elliot Rabinowitz,Tom King, ''The Operator: David Geffen Builds, Buys, and Sells the New Hollywood'', p. 54, Broadway Books (New York 2001). February 25, 1943 – June 21, 2019)''The Guardian'' article:Lady of the Canyon" ...
. Roberts managed Young until Roberts' death in 2019. Young and Roberts immediately began work on Young's first solo record, ''Neil Young
Neil Percival Young (born November 12, 1945) is a Canadian-American singer and songwriter. After embarking on a music career in Winnipeg in the 1960s, Young moved to Los Angeles, joining Buffalo Springfield with Stephen Stills, Richie Furay ...
'' (January 22, 1969), which received mixed reviews. In a 1970 interview, Young deprecated the album as being "overdubbed rather than played." The album contains songs that remain a staple of his live shows, including " The Loner."
For his next album, Young recruited three musicians from a band called the Rockets: Danny Whitten
Danny Ray Whitten (May 8, 1943 – November 18, 1972) was an American guitarist and songwriter, best known for his work with Neil Young's backing band Crazy Horse, and for the song "I Don't Want to Talk About It", a hit for Rod Stewart and Every ...
on guitar, Billy Talbot
William Hammond Talbot (born October 23, 1943) is an American singer-songwriter and musician, best known as the bassist of Crazy Horse.
Music career
Born in New York City, Talbot started his musical career singing on street corners at the age o ...
on bass guitar, and Ralph Molina
Ralph Molina (born June 22, 1943) is an American musician, best known as the drummer for Neil Young's backing band Crazy Horse.
Born in Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico (; abbreviated PR; tnq, Boriken, ''Borinquen''), officially the Commonwealth o ...
on drums. These three took the name Crazy Horse
Crazy Horse ( lkt, Tȟašúŋke Witkó, italic=no, , ; 1840 – September 5, 1877) was a Lakota war leader of the Oglala band in the 19th century. He took up arms against the United States federal government to fight against encroachment by wh ...
(after the historical figure of the same name), and ''Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere
''Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere'' is the second studio album by Canadian-American musician Neil Young, released in May 1969 on Reprise Records, catalogue number RS 6349. His first with longtime backing band Crazy Horse, it peaked at number 3 ...
'' (May 1969) is credited to "Neil Young with Crazy Horse." Recorded in just two weeks, the album includes "Cinnamon Girl
"Cinnamon Girl" is a song by Neil Young. It debuted on the 1969 album ''Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere'', which was also Young's first album with backing band Crazy Horse.
Songwriting Music
Like two other songs from ''Everybody Knows This ...
", "Cowgirl in the Sand
"Cowgirl in the Sand" is a song written by Neil Young and first released on his 1969 album ''Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere''. Young has included live versions of the song on several albums and on the Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young album '' 4 Wa ...
", and " Down by the River." Young reportedly wrote all three songs in bed on the same day while nursing a high fever of .
Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young (1969–1970)
Shortly after the release of ''Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere,'' Young reunited with Stephen Stills by joining Crosby, Stills & Nash
Crosby, Stills & Nash (CSN) were a folk rock supergroup made up of American singer-songwriters David Crosby and Stephen Stills and English singer-songwriter Graham Nash. When joined by Canadian singer-songwriter Neil Young as a fourth member, ...
, who had already released one album ''Crosby, Stills & Nash
Crosby, Stills & Nash (CSN) were a folk rock supergroup made up of American singer-songwriters David Crosby and Stephen Stills and English singer-songwriter Graham Nash. When joined by Canadian singer-songwriter Neil Young as a fourth member, ...
'' as a trio in May 1969. Young was originally offered a position as a sideman, but agreed to join only if he received full membership, and the group – winners of the 1969 Best New Artist Grammy Award – was renamed Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young
Crosby, Stills & Nash (CSN) were a folk rock supergroup made up of American singer-songwriters David Crosby and Stephen Stills and English singer-songwriter Graham Nash. When joined by Canadian singer-songwriter Neil Young as a fourth member ...
. The quartet debuted in Chicago on August 16, 1969, and later performed at the famous Woodstock Festival
Woodstock Music and Art Fair, commonly referred to as Woodstock, was a music festival held during August 15–18, 1969, on Max Yasgur's dairy farm in Bethel, New York, United States, southwest of the town of Woodstock, New York, Woodstock. ...
, during which Young skipped the majority of the acoustic set and refused to be filmed during the electric set, even telling the cameramen: "One of you fuckin' guys comes near me and I'm gonna fuckin' hit you with my guitar". During the making of their first album, ''Déjà Vu
''Déjà vu'' ( , ; "already seen") is a French loanword for the phenomenon of feeling as though one has lived through the present situation before.Schnider, Armin. (2008). ''The Confabulating Mind: How the Brain Creates Reality''. Oxford Univer ...
'' (March 11, 1970), the musicians frequently argued, particularly Young and Stills, who both fought for control. Stills continued throughout their lifelong relationship to criticize Young, saying that he "wanted to play folk music in a rock band." Despite the tension, Young's tenure with CSNY coincided with the band's most creative and successful period, and greatly contributed to his subsequent success as a solo artist.
Young wrote "Ohio
Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...
" following the Kent State massacre
The Kent State shootings, also known as the May 4 massacre and the Kent State massacre,"These would be the first of many probes into what soon became known as the Kent State Massacre. Like the Boston Massacre almost exactly two hundred years bef ...
on May 4, 1970. The song was quickly recorded by CSNY and immediately released as a single, even though CSNY's "Teach Your Children" was still climbing the singles charts.
''After the Gold Rush'', acoustic tour and ''Harvest'' (1970–1972)
Later in the year, Young released his third solo album, ''After the Gold Rush
''After the Gold Rush'' is the third studio album by the Canadian-American musician Neil Young, released in September 1970 on Reprise Records, catalogue number RS 6383. It is one of four high-profile albums (all charting within the top fifteen) ...
'' (August 31, 1970), which featured, among others, Nils Lofgren
Nils Hilmer Lofgren (born June 21, 1951) is an American rock musician, recording artist, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist. Along with his work as a solo artist, he has been a member of Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band since 1984, a membe ...
, Stephen Stills
Stephen Arthur Stills (born January 3, 1945) is an American musician, singer and songwriter best known for his work with Buffalo Springfield and Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young. As both a solo act and member of two successful bands, Stills has com ...
, and CSNY bassist Greg Reeves
Gregory Allen Reeves (born ) is an American bass guitarist. He is best known for playing bass on Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young's album ''Déjà Vu'' (1970).
Early life
Reeves grew up in Warren, Ohio, and graduated from Warren Western Reserve Hi ...
. Young also recorded some tracks with Crazy Horse, but dismissed them early in the sessions. The eventual recording was less amplified than ''Everybody Knows This is Nowhere'', with a wider range of sounds. Young's newfound fame with CSNY made the album his commercial breakthrough as a solo artist, and it contains some of his best known work, including " Tell Me Why" and "Don't Let It Bring You Down
"Don't Let It Bring You Down" is the seventh track on Neil Young's 1970 studio album ''After the Gold Rush''.
Background
The song was written by Young. It also appears on the 1971 Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young live album ''4 Way Street'' as well ...
"; the singles "Only Love Can Break Your Heart
"Only Love Can Break Your Heart" is a song written by Canadian-American singer-songwriter, musician, and activist Neil Young. It has been covered by many bands.
Genesis and recording
The song is the third track on Neil Young's album ''After t ...
" and "When You Dance I Can Really Love
"When You Dance I Can Really Love" is the ninth track on Neil Young's 1970 album ''After the Gold Rush''. It was written by Young.
Background
The official Neil Young website gives the title as "When You Dance I Can Really Love"; however, the CD re ...
"; and the title track, "After the Gold Rush
''After the Gold Rush'' is the third studio album by the Canadian-American musician Neil Young, released in September 1970 on Reprise Records, catalogue number RS 6383. It is one of four high-profile albums (all charting within the top fifteen) ...
", played on piano, with dreamlike lyrics that ran a gamut of subjects from drugs and interpersonal relationships to environmental concerns
Environmental issues are effects of human activity on the biophysical environment, most often of which are harmful effects that cause environmental degradation. Environmental protection is the practice of protecting the natural environment on th ...
. Young's bitter condemnation of racism in the heavy blues-rock song "Southern Man
In New Zealand, the southern man is a stereotypical male from the more rural South Island, well used to the solitude and conditions of open mountain or hill country, and completely out of his depth in the city. He is usually depicted as wearing a ...
" (along with a later song entitled "Alabama") was also controversial with southerners in an era of desegregation, prompting Lynyrd Skynyrd
Lynyrd Skynyrd ( ) is an American rock music, rock band formed in Jacksonville, Florida. The group originally formed as My Backyard in 1964 and comprised Ronnie Van Zant (lead vocalist), Gary Rossington (guitar), Allen Collins (guitar), Larry Ju ...
to decry Young by name in the lyrics to their hit "Sweet Home Alabama
"Sweet Home Alabama" is a song by American southern rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd, released on the band's second album ''Second Helping'' (1974). It was written in response to Neil Young's 1970 song "Southern Man", which the band felt blamed the e ...
." However, Young said he was a fan of Skynyrd's music, and the band's front man Ronnie Van Zant
Ronald Wayne Van Zant (January 15, 1948 – October 20, 1977) was an American singer, best known as the original lead vocalist, primary lyricist and a founding member of the southern rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd. He is the older brother of current ...
was later photographed wearing a ''Tonight's the Night'' T-shirt on the cover of an album.
In the autumn of 1970, Young began a solo acoustic tour of North America, during which he played a variety of his Buffalo Springfield and CSNY songs on guitar and piano, along with material from his solo albums and a number of new songs. Some songs premiered by Young on the tour, like "Journey through the Past", would never find a home on a studio album, while other songs, like "See the Sky About to Rain", would only be released in coming years. With CSNY splitting up and Crazy Horse having signed their own record deal, Young's tour, now entitled Journey Through the Past, continued into early 1971, and its focus shifted more to newer songs he had been writing; he famously remarked that having written so many, he could not think of anything to do but play them. Many gigs were sold out, including concerts at Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall ( ) is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City. It is at 881 Seventh Avenue (Manhattan), Seventh Avenue, occupying the east side of Seventh Avenue between West 56th Street (Manhattan), 56th and 57th Street (Manhatta ...
and a pair of acclaimed hometown shows at Toronto's Massey Hall
Massey Hall is a performing arts theatre in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Opened in 1894, it is known for its outstanding acoustics and was the long-time hall of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra. An intimate theatre, it was originally designed to seat ...
, which were taped for a planned live album. The shows became legendary among Young fans, and the recordings were officially released nearly 40 years later as an official bootleg in Young's Archive
An archive is an accumulation of historical records or materials – in any medium – or the physical facility in which they are located.
Archives contain primary source documents that have accumulated over the course of an individual or ...
series.
Near the end of his tour, Young performed one of the new acoustic songs on the ''Johnny Cash
John R. Cash (born J. R. Cash; February 26, 1932 – September 12, 2003) was an American country singer-songwriter. Much of Cash's music contained themes of sorrow, moral tribulation, and redemption, especially in the later stages of his ca ...
'' TV show. "The Needle and the Damage Done
"The Needle and the Damage Done" is a 1972 song by Canadian-American singer-songwriter Neil Young. The lyrics describe the effects of heroin addiction on musicians Young knew, including his friend and Crazy Horse bandmate Danny Whitten, who would ...
", a somber lament on the pain caused by heroin addiction
Opioid use disorder (OUD) is a substance use disorder characterized by cravings for opioids, continued use despite physical and/or psychological deterioration, increased tolerance with use, and withdrawal symptoms after discontinuing opioids. Op ...
, had been inspired in part by Crazy Horse member Danny Whitten
Danny Ray Whitten (May 8, 1943 – November 18, 1972) was an American guitarist and songwriter, best known for his work with Neil Young's backing band Crazy Horse, and for the song "I Don't Want to Talk About It", a hit for Rod Stewart and Every ...
, who eventually died while battling his drug problems. While in Nashville for the Cash taping, Young accepted the invitation of Quadrafonic Sound Studios Quad Studios Nashville was a four-studio recording facility established as Quadrafonic Sound Studio in 1971 on Music Row in Nashville, Tennessee. The studio was the location of numerous notable recording sessions, including Neil Young's ''Harvest'', ...
owner Elliot Mazer
Elliot Mazer (September 5, 1941February 7, 2021) was an American audio engineer and record producer. He was best known for his work with Linda Ronstadt, Neil Young, Bob Dylan, The Band, and Janis Joplin. In addition, he worked on film and telev ...
to record tracks there with a group of country-music session musicians who were pulled together at the last minute. Making a connection with them, he christened them The Stray Gators
The Stray Gators was the name given by Neil Young to his supporting musicians from 1971 to 1973 and who backed him on the albums ''Harvest'' (1972) and ''Time Fades Away'' (1973). It consisted of Jack Nitzsche (piano), Ben Keith (steel guitar), Ti ...
, and began playing with them. Befitting the immediacy of the project, Linda Ronstadt
Linda Maria Ronstadt (born July 15, 1946) is a retired American singer who performed and recorded in diverse genres including rock, country, light opera, the Great American Songbook, and Latin. She has earned 11 Grammy Awards, three American ...
and James Taylor
James Vernon Taylor (born March 12, 1948) is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist. A six-time Grammy Award winner, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2000. He is one of the best-selling music artists of all time, havi ...
were brought in from the Cash taping to do background vocals. Against the advice of his producer David Briggs, he scrapped plans for the imminent release of the live acoustic recording in favor of a studio album consisting of the Nashville sessions, electric-guitar oriented sessions recorded later in his barn, and two recordings made with the London Symphony Orchestra
The London Symphony Orchestra (LSO) is a British symphony orchestra based in London. Founded in 1904, the LSO is the oldest of London's orchestras, symphony orchestras. The LSO was created by a group of players who left Henry Wood's Queen's ...
at Barking (credited as Barking Town Hall and now the Broadway Theatre
Broadway theatre,Although ''theater'' is generally the spelling for this common noun in the United States (see American and British English spelling differences), 130 of the 144 extant and extinct Broadway venues use (used) the spelling ''Th ...
) during March 1971. The result was Young's fourth album, ''Harvest
Harvesting is the process of gathering a ripe crop from the fields. Reaping is the cutting of grain or pulse for harvest, typically using a scythe, sickle, or reaper. On smaller farms with minimal mechanization, harvesting is the most labor-i ...
'' (February 14, 1972), which was also the best selling album of 1972 in the US. The only remnant left of the original live concept was the album's live acoustic performance of "Needle and the Damage Done."
After his success with CSNY, Young purchased a ranch in the rural hills above Woodside and Redwood City in Northern California ("Broken Arrow Ranch", where he lived until his divorce in 2014). He wrote the song " Old Man" in honor of the land's longtime caretaker, Louis Avila. The song " A Man Needs a Maid" was inspired by his relationship with actress Carrie Snodgress
Caroline Louise Snodgress (October 27, 1945 – April 1, 2004) was an American actress. She is best remembered for her role in the film ''Diary of a Mad Housewife'' (1970), for which she was nominated for an Academy Award and a BAFTA Award as w ...
. " Heart of Gold" was released as the first single from ''Harvest'', the only No. 1 hit in his career. "Old Man" was also popular, reaching No. 31 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart, marking Young's third and final appearance in the chart's Top 40 as a solo artist.
The album's recording had been almost accidental. Its mainstream success caught Young off guard, and his first instinct was to back away from stardom. In the ''Decade
A decade () is a period of ten years. Decades may describe any ten-year period, such as those of a person's life, or refer to specific groupings of calendar years.
Usage
Any period of ten years is a "decade". For example, the statement that "du ...
'' (1977) compilation, Young chose to include his greatest hits from the period, but his handwritten liner notes famously described "Heart of Gold" as the song that "put me in the middle of the road. Traveling there soon became a bore, so I headed for the ditch. A rougher ride but I saw more interesting people there."
The "Ditch" Trilogy and personal struggles (1972–1974)
Although a new tour with The Stray Gators (now augmented by Danny Whitten) had been planned to follow up on the success of ''Harvest'', it became apparent during rehearsals that Whitten could not function due to drug abuse. On November 18, 1972, shortly after he was fired from the tour preparations, Whitten was found dead of an apparent alcohol
Alcohol most commonly refers to:
* Alcohol (chemistry), an organic compound in which a hydroxyl group is bound to a carbon atom
* Alcohol (drug), an intoxicant found in alcoholic drinks
Alcohol may also refer to:
Chemicals
* Ethanol, one of sev ...
/diazepam
Diazepam, first marketed as Valium, is a medicine of the benzodiazepine family that acts as an anxiolytic. It is commonly used to treat a range of conditions, including anxiety, seizures, alcohol withdrawal syndrome, muscle spasms, insomnia, a ...
overdose. Young described the incident to ''Rolling Stone''s Cameron Crowe
Cameron Bruce Crowe (born July 13, 1957) is an American journalist, author, writer, producer, director, actor, lyricist, and playwright. Before moving into the film industry, Crowe was a contributing editor at ''Rolling Stone'' magazine, for wh ...
in 1975: " ewere rehearsing with him and he just couldn't cut it. He couldn't remember anything. He was too out of it. Too far gone. I had to tell him to go back to L.A. 'It's not happening, man. You're not together enough.' He just said, 'I've got nowhere else to go, man. How am I gonna tell my friends?' And he split. That night the coroner called me from L.A. and told me he'd OD'd. That 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. I was very nervous and ... insecure."
On the tour, Young struggled with his voice and the performance of drummer Kenny Buttrey
Aaron Kenneth Buttrey (April 1, 1945 – September 12, 2004) was an American drummer and arranger. According to Country Music Television, CMT, he was "one of the most influential session musicians in Nashville history".
Buttrey was born in Nashvi ...
, a noted Nashville session musician who was unaccustomed to performing in the hard rock
Hard rock or heavy rock is a loosely defined subgenre of rock music typified by aggressive vocals and distorted electric guitars. Hard rock began in the mid-1960s with the garage, psychedelic and blues rock movements. Some of the earliest hard ...
milieu; Buttrey was eventually replaced by former CSNY drummer Johnny Barbata
John Barbata (born April 1, 1945) is an American drummer who was active especially in pop and rock bands in the 1960s and 1970s, both as a band member and as a session drummer. Barbata has served as the drummer for The Turtles, Crosby, Stills ...
, while David Crosby
David Van Cortlandt Crosby (born August 14, 1941) is an American singer, guitarist, and songwriter. In addition to his solo career, he was a founding member of both the Byrds and Crosby, Stills & Nash.
Crosby joined the Byrds in 1964. They got ...
and Graham Nash
Graham William Nash (born 2 February 1942) is an English musician, singer, songwriter, photographer, and activist. He is known for his light tenor voice and for his contributions as a member of the Hollies and the supergroups Crosby, Stills ...
contributed rhythm guitar and backing vocals to the final dates of the tour. The album assembled in the aftermath of this incident, ''Time Fades Away
''Time Fades Away'' is a 1973 live album by Canadian-American musician Neil Young. Consisting of previously unreleased material, it was recorded with the Stray Gators on the support tour following 1972's highly successful album '' Harvest''. Due ...
'' (October 15, 1973), has often been described by Young as " isleast favorite record", and was not officially released on CD until 2017 (as part of Young's Official Release Series). Nevertheless, Young and his band tried several new musical approaches in this period. ''Time Fades Away'', for instance, was recorded live, although it was an album of new material, an approach Young would repeat with more success later on. ''Time'' was the first of three consecutive commercial failures which would later become known collectively to fans as the "Ditch Trilogy", as contrasted with the more middle-of-the-road pop of ''Harvest''. These subsequent albums were seen as more challenging expressions of Young's inner conflicts on achieving success, expressing both the specific struggles of his friends and himself, and the decaying idealism of his generation in America at the time.
In the second half of 1973, Young formed The Santa Monica Flyers, with Crazy Horse's rhythm section augmented by Nils Lofgren
Nils Hilmer Lofgren (born June 21, 1951) is an American rock musician, recording artist, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist. Along with his work as a solo artist, he has been a member of Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band since 1984, a membe ...
on guitar and piano and ''Harvest''/''Time Fades Away'' veteran Ben Keith
Bennett Keith Schaeufele (March 6, 1937 – July 26, 2010), better known by his stage name Ben Keith, was an American musician and record producer. Known primarily for his work as a pedal steel guitarist with Neil Young, Keith was a fixture of ...
on pedal steel guitar. Deeply affected by the drug-induced deaths of Whitten and roadie
The road crew (or roadies) are the technicians or support personnel who travel with a band on tour, usually in sleeper buses, and handle every part of the concert productions except actually performing the music with the musicians. This catc ...
Bruce Berry, Young recorded an album specifically inspired by the incidents, '' Tonight's the Night'' (June 20, 1975). The album's dark tone and rawness led Reprise to delay its release and Young had to pressure them for two years before they would do so. While his record company was stalling, Young recorded another album, '' On the Beach'' (July 16, 1974), which presented a more melodic, acoustic sound at times, including a recording of the older song "See the Sky About to Rain", but dealt with similarly dark themes such as the collapse of 1960s folk ideals, the downside of success and the underbelly of the Californian lifestyle. Like ''Time Fades Away'', it sold poorly but eventually became a critical favorite, presenting some of Young's most original work. A review of the 2003 re-release on CD of ''On the Beach'' described the music as "mesmerizing, harrowing, lucid, and bleary".
After completing ''On the Beach'', Young reunited with ''Harvest'' producer Elliot Mazer to record another acoustic album, '' Homegrown''. Most of the songs were written after Young's breakup with Carrie Snodgress, and thus the tone of the album was somewhat dark. Though ''Homegrown'' was reportedly entirely complete, Young decided, not for the first or last time in his career, to drop it and release something else instead, in this case, ''Tonight's the Night'', at the suggestion of Band
Band or BAND may refer to:
Places
*Bánd, a village in Hungary
*Band, Iran, a village in Urmia County, West Azerbaijan Province, Iran
* Band, Mureș, a commune in Romania
*Band-e Majid Khan, a village in Bukan County, West Azerbaijan Province, I ...
bassist Rick Danko
Richard Clare Danko (December 29, 1943 – December 10, 1999) was a Canadian musician, bassist, songwriter, and singer, best known as a founding member of the Band, for which he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994.
During ...
. Young further explained his move by saying: "It was a little too personal ... it scared me". Most of the songs from ''Homegrown'' were later incorporated into other Young albums while the original album was not released until 2020. ''Tonight's the Night,'' when finally released in 1975, sold poorly, as had the previous albums of the "ditch" trilogy, and received mixed reviews at the time, but is now regarded as a landmark album. In Young's own opinion, it was the closest he ever came to art.
Reunions, retrospectives and ''Rust Never Sleeps'' (1974–1979)
Young reunited with Crosby, Stills, and Nash
Crosby, Stills & Nash (CSN) were a folk rock supergroup made up of American singer-songwriters David Crosby and Stephen Stills and English singer-songwriter Graham Nash. When joined by Canadian singer-songwriter Neil Young as a fourth member, ...
after a four-year hiatus in the summer of 1974 for a concert tour which was partially recorded; highlights were ultimately released in 2014 as ''CSNY 1974
''CSNY 1974'' is the nineteenth album by Crosby, Stills, & Nash, their seventh in the CSNY quartet configuration, and their fifth live album, the third as a foursome. Issued on Rhino Records in 2014, it consists of concert material recorded in 1 ...
''. It was one of the first ever stadium tours, and the largest tour in which Young has participated to date.
In 1975, Young reformed Crazy Horse with Frank Sampedro
Frank "Poncho" Sampedro (born Manuel Francisco Sampedro de Victoria, February 25, 1949) is an American retired guitarist and member of the rock band Crazy Horse, known mainly for his longtime collaboration with singer-songwriter Neil Young. Samp ...
on guitar as his backup band for his eighth album, '' Zuma'' (November 10, 1975). Many of the songs dealt with the theme of failed relationships; "Cortez the Killer
"Cortez the Killer" is a song by Canadian singer-songwriter Neil Young from his 1975 album, '' Zuma''. It was recorded with the band Crazy Horse. It has since been ranked No. 39 on '' Guitar World's'' 100 Greatest Guitar Solos and No. 329 on '' Ro ...
", a retelling of the Spanish conquest
The Spanish Empire ( es, link=no, Imperio español), also known as the Hispanic Monarchy ( es, link=no, Monarquía Hispánica) or the Catholic Monarchy ( es, link=no, Monarquía Católica) was a colonial empire governed by Spain and its predece ...
of Mexico from the viewpoint of the Aztec
The Aztecs () were a Mesoamerican culture that flourished in central Mexico in the post-classic period from 1300 to 1521. The Aztec people included different Indigenous peoples of Mexico, ethnic groups of central Mexico, particularly those g ...
s, may also be heard as an allegory of love lost. ''Zuma''s closing track, "Through My Sails", was the only released fragment from aborted sessions with Crosby, Stills and Nash for another group album.
In 1976, Young reunited with Stephen Stills for the album ''Long May You Run
''Long May You Run'' is a studio album credited to the Stills–Young Band, a collaboration between Stephen Stills and Neil Young, released in 1976 on Reprise Records. It peaked at #26 on the ''Billboard'' 200 and was certified gold in the Unite ...
'' (September 20, 1976), credited to The Stills-Young Band
''Long May You Run'' is a studio album credited to the Stills–Young Band, a collaboration between Stephen Stills and Neil Young, released in 1976 on Reprise Records. It peaked at #26 on the ''Billboard'' 200 and was certified gold in the Unit ...
; the follow-up tour was ended midway through by Young, who sent Stills a telegram
Telegraphy is the long-distance transmission of messages where the sender uses symbolic codes, known to the recipient, rather than a physical exchange of an object bearing the message. Thus flag semaphore is a method of telegraphy, whereas p ...
that read: "Funny how some things that start spontaneously end that way. Eat a peach, Neil."
In 1976, Young performed with Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell, and numerous other rock musicians in the high-profile all-star concert ''The Last Waltz
''The Last Waltz'' was a concert by the Canadian-American rock group The Band, held on American Thanksgiving Day, November 25, 1976, at Winterland Ballroom in San Francisco. ''The Last Waltz'' was advertised as The Band's "farewell concert a ...
'', the final performance by The Band. The release of Martin Scorsese
Martin Charles Scorsese ( , ; born November 17, 1942) is an American film director, producer, screenwriter and actor. Scorsese emerged as one of the major figures of the New Hollywood era. He is the recipient of List of awards and nominatio ...
's movie of the concert was delayed while Scorsese unwillingly re-edited it to obscure the lump of cocaine that was clearly visible hanging from Young's nose during his performance of " Helpless". ''American Stars 'n Bars
''American Stars 'n Bars'' is the eighth studio album by Canadian folk rock songwriter Neil Young with , released on Reprise Records in 1977. Compiled from recording sessions scattered over a 29-month period, it includes " Like a Hurricane", one o ...
'' (June 13, 1977) contained two songs originally recorded for the ''Homegrown'' album, "Homegrown" and "Star of Bethlehem", as well as newer material, including the future concert staple " Like a Hurricane". Performers on the record included Linda Ronstadt
Linda Maria Ronstadt (born July 15, 1946) is a retired American singer who performed and recorded in diverse genres including rock, country, light opera, the Great American Songbook, and Latin. She has earned 11 Grammy Awards, three American ...
, Emmylou Harris
Emmylou Harris (born April 2, 1947) is an American singer, songwriter and musician. She has released dozens of albums and singles over the course of her career and has won 14 Grammys, the Polar Music Prize, and numerous other honors, including ...
and Young protégé Nicolette Larson
Nicolette Larson (July 17, 1952 – December 16, 1997) was an American singer. She is perhaps best known for her work in the late 1970s with Neil Young and her 1978 hit single of Young's "Lotta Love", which hit No. 1 on the Hot Adult Contem ...
along with Crazy Horse. In 1977, Young also released the compilation ''Decade
A decade () is a period of ten years. Decades may describe any ten-year period, such as those of a person's life, or refer to specific groupings of calendar years.
Usage
Any period of ten years is a "decade". For example, the statement that "du ...
'', a personally selected set of songs spanning every aspect of his work, including a handful of previously unreleased songs. The record included less commercial album tracks alongside radio hits.
''Comes a Time
''Comes a Time'' is the ninth studio album by Canadian singer-songwriter Neil Young, released by Reprise Records in October 1978. Its songs are written as moralizing discourses on love's failures and recovering from worldly troubles. They are la ...
'' (October 2, 1978), Young's first entirely new solo recording since the mid-1970s, marked a return to the commercially accessible, Nashville-inspired sound of ''Harvest'' while also featuring contributions from Larson and Crazy Horse. The album also marked a return to his folk roots, as exemplified by a cover of Ian Tyson
Ian Dawson Tyson (September 25, 1933 – December 29, 2022) was a Canadian singer-songwriter who wrote several folk songs, including "Four Strong Winds" and " Someday Soon", and performed with partner Sylvia Tyson as the duo Ian & Sylvia.
Ear ...
's "Four Strong Winds "Four Strong Winds" is a song written by Ian Tyson and recorded by Canadian folk duo Ian and Sylvia. Tyson has noted that he composed the song in about 20 minutes in his then manager Albert Grossman's New York apartment in 1962.
A significant compos ...
", a song Young associated with his childhood in Canada. Another of the album's songs, "Lotta Love
"Lotta Love" is a song written and recorded by Neil Young and released on his 1978 '' Comes a Time'' album. "Lotta Love" was also covered by Nicolette Larson in 1978. Larson's version reached No. 8 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart and No. 8 ...
", was also recorded by Larson, with her version reaching No. 8 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 in February 1979. In 1978, much of the filming was done for Young's film ''Human Highway
''Human Highway'' is a 1982 American comedy film starring and co-directed by Neil Young under his pseudonym Bernard Shakey. Dean Stockwell co-directed the film and acted along with Russ Tamblyn, Dennis Hopper, and the band Devo. Included is a ...
'', which took its name from a song featured on ''Comes a Time''. Over four years, Young would spend US$3,000,000 of his own money on production (US$ in dollars). This also marked the beginning of his brief collaboration with the art punk
Art punk is a subgenre of punk rock in which artists go beyond the genre's rudimentary garage rock and are considered more sophisticated than their peers. These groups still generated punk's aesthetic of being simple, offensive, and free-spirit ...
band Devo
Devo (, originally ) is an American rock band from Akron, Ohio, formed in 1973. Their classic line-up consisted of two sets of brothers, the Mothersbaughs (Mark and Bob) and the Casales (Gerald and Bob), along with Alan Myers. The band had a ...
, whose members appeared in the film.
Young set out in 1978 on the lengthy ''Rust Never Sleeps'' tour, in which he played a wealth of new material. Each concert was divided into a solo acoustic set and an electric set with Crazy Horse. The electric sets, featuring an abrasive style of playing, were influenced by the punk rock zeitgeist
In 18th- and 19th-century German philosophy, a ''Zeitgeist'' () ("spirit of the age") is an invisible agent, force or Daemon dominating the characteristics of a given epoch in world history.
Now, the term is usually associated with Georg W. F. ...
of the late 1970s and provided a stark contrast from ''Comes a Time''. Two new songs, the acoustic "My My, Hey Hey (Out of the Blue)
"My My, Hey Hey (Out of the Blue)" is a song by Canadian musician Neil Young. An acoustic song, it was recorded live in early 1978 at the Boarding House in San Francisco, California. Combined with its hard rock counterpart "Hey Hey, My My (Into ...
" and electric "Hey Hey, My My (Into the Black)
"Hey Hey, My My (Into the Black)" is a song written by Canadian-American musician Neil Young. Combined with its acoustic counterpart " My My, Hey Hey (Out of the Blue)", it bookends Young's 1979 album '' Rust Never Sleeps''. The song was influenc ...
" were the centerpiece of the new material. During the filming of ''Human Highway'', Young had collaborated with Devo on a cacophonous version of "Hey Hey, My My" at the Different Fur Different Fur Studios (formerly Different Fur Trading Company) is a recording studio located in the Mission District area of San Francisco, California, at 3470 19th Street. Since 1968, Different Fur has recorded music from a wide range of artists, i ...
studio in San Francisco and would later introduce the song to Crazy Horse. The lyric "It's better to burn out than to fade away" was widely quoted by his peers and by critics. The album has also widely been considered a precursor of grunge
Grunge (sometimes referred to as the Seattle sound) is an alternative rock genre and subculture that emerged during the in the American Pacific Northwest state of Washington, particularly in Seattle and nearby towns. Grunge fuses elements of p ...
music with the bands Nirvana
( , , ; sa, निर्वाण} ''nirvāṇa'' ; Pali: ''nibbāna''; Prakrit: ''ṇivvāṇa''; literally, "blown out", as in an oil lampRichard Gombrich, ''Theravada Buddhism: A Social History from Ancient Benāres to Modern Colombo.' ...
and Pearl Jam
Pearl Jam is an American rock band formed in Seattle, Washington, in 1990. The band's lineup consists of founding members Jeff Ament (bass guitar), Stone Gossard (rhythm guitar), Mike McCready (lead guitar), and Eddie Vedder (lead vocals, guita ...
having cited Young's heavily distorted and abrasive guitar style on the B side to this album as an inspiration. Young also compared the rise of Johnny Rotten
John Joseph Lydon (; born 31 January 1956), also known by his former stage name Johnny Rotten, is an English singer and songwriter. He was the lead singer of the late-1970s punk band the Sex Pistols, which lasted from 1975 until 1978, and agai ...
with that of the recently deceased "King" Elvis Presley
Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977), or simply Elvis, was an American singer and actor. Dubbed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, King of Rock and Roll", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Elvis Presley, one ...
, who himself had once been disparaged as a dangerous influence only to later become an icon
An icon () is a religious work of art, most commonly a painting, in the cultures of the Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, and Catholic churches. They are not simply artworks; "an icon is a sacred image used in religious devotion". The most ...
. Rotten returned the favor by playing one of Young's songs, "Revolution Blues" from '' On the Beach'', on a London radio show, an early sign of Young's eventual embrace by a number of punk-influenced alternative musicians.
Young's two accompanying albums ''Rust Never Sleeps
''Rust Never Sleeps'' is an album with both studio and live tracks by Canadian American singer-songwriter Neil Young and American band Crazy Horse. It was released on June 22, 1979, by Reprise Records. Most of the album was recorded live, then o ...
'' (July 2, 1979; new material culled from live recordings, but featuring studio overdubs) and ''Live Rust
''Live Rust'' is a live album by Neil Young and Crazy Horse, recorded during their fall 1978 ''Rust Never Sleeps'' tour.
''Live Rust'' composed of performances recorded at several venues, including the Cow Palace near San Francisco. Young als ...
'' (November 19, 1979; a genuine concert recording featuring old and new material) captured the two sides of the concerts, with solo acoustic songs on side A, and fierce, uptempo, electric songs on side B. A movie version of the concerts, also called ''Rust Never Sleeps'' (1979), was directed by Young under the pseudonym "Bernard Shakey". Young worked with rock artist Jim Evans to create the poster art for the film, using the ''Star Wars
''Star Wars'' is an American epic film, epic space opera multimedia franchise created by George Lucas, which began with the Star Wars (film), eponymous 1977 film and quickly became a worldwide popular culture, pop-culture Cultural impact of S ...
'' Jawas as a theme. Young's work since ''Harvest'' had alternated between being rejected by mass audiences and being seen as backward-looking by critics, sometimes both at once, and now he was suddenly viewed as relevant by a new generation, who began to discover his earlier work. Readers and critics of ''Rolling Stone'' voted him Artist of the Year for 1979 (along with The Who
The Who are an English rock band formed in London in 1964. Their classic lineup consisted of lead singer Roger Daltrey, guitarist and singer Pete Townshend, bass guitarist and singer John Entwistle, and drummer Keith Moon. They are considered ...
), selected ''Rust Never Sleeps
''Rust Never Sleeps'' is an album with both studio and live tracks by Canadian American singer-songwriter Neil Young and American band Crazy Horse. It was released on June 22, 1979, by Reprise Records. Most of the album was recorded live, then o ...
'' as Album of the Year, and voted him Male Vocalist of the Year as well. ''The Village Voice
''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture paper, known for being the country's first alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf, Ed Fancher, John Wilcock, and Norman Mailer, the ''Voice'' began as a platform for the crea ...
'' named ''Rust Never Sleeps'' as the year's second best album in the Pazz & Jop
Pazz & Jop was an annual poll of top musical releases, compiled by American newspaper ''The Village Voice'' and created by music critic Robert Christgau. It published lists of the year's top releases for 1971 and, after Christgau's two-year abse ...
Poll, a survey of nationwide critics, and honored Young as the Artist of the Decade. The Warner Music Vision
Warner Music Vision (also known as Warner Vision) was a music video company formed in 1990 by Warner Music International to make music videos from artists and bands on Warner Bros. Records, Maverick Records, Sire Records, Atlantic Records, Elektra ...
release on VHS of ''Rust Never Sleeps'' in 1987 had a running time of 116 minutes, and although fully manufactured in Germany, was initially imported from there by the markets throughout Europe.
Experimental years (1980–1988)
At the start of the 1980s, distracted by medical concerns relating to the cerebral palsy
Cerebral palsy (CP) is a group of movement disorders that appear in early childhood. Signs and symptoms vary among people and over time, but include poor coordination, stiff muscles, weak muscles, and tremors. There may be problems with sensa ...
of his son, Ben, Young had little time to spend on writing and recording. After providing the incidental music to the 1980 film ''Where the Buffalo Roam
''Where the Buffalo Roam'' is a 1980 American semi-biographical comedy film which loosely depicts author Hunter S. Thompson's rise to fame in the 1970s and his relationship with Chicano attorney and activist Oscar "Zeta" Acosta. The film was p ...
'', Young released ''Hawks & Doves
''Hawks & Doves'' is the tenth studio album by Canadian folk rock musician Neil Young, released in October 1980.
Overview
''Hawks & Dovess two sides were recorded in different circumstances, side one being culled from sessions dating from approx ...
'' (November 3, 1980), a short record pieced together from sessions going back to 1974.
''Re·ac·tor
''Re·ac·tor'' is the eleventh studio album by Canadian folk rock musician Neil Young, and his fourth with American rock band Crazy Horse, released on November 2, 1981. It was his last album released through Reprise Records before he moved to G ...
'' (1981), an electric album recorded with Crazy Horse, also included material from the 1970s. Young did not tour in support of either album; in total, he played only one show, a set at the 1980 Bread and Roses Festival in Berkeley
Berkeley most often refers to:
*Berkeley, California, a city in the United States
**University of California, Berkeley, a public university in Berkeley, California
* George Berkeley (1685–1753), Anglo-Irish philosopher
Berkeley may also refer ...
, between the end of his 1978 tour with Crazy Horse and the start of his tour with the Trans Band in mid-1982.
The 1982 album ''Trans
Trans- is a Latin prefix meaning "across", "beyond", or "on the other side of".
Used alone, trans may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media
* Trans (festival), a former festival in Belfast, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom
* ''Trans'' (film ...
'', which incorporated vocoder
A vocoder (, a portmanteau of ''voice'' and ''encoder'') is a category of speech coding that analyzes and synthesizes the human voice signal for audio data compression, multiplexing, voice encryption or voice transformation.
The vocoder was ...
s, synthesizers, and electronic beats, was Young's first for the new label Geffen Records
Geffen Records is an American record label established by David Geffen and owned by Universal Music Group through its Interscope Geffen A&M Records imprint.
Founded in 1980, Geffen Records has been a part of Interscope Geffen A&M since 1999 and h ...
(distributed at the time by Warner Bros. Records
Warner Records Inc. (formerly Warner Bros. Records Inc.) is an American record label. A subsidiary of the Warner Music Group, it is headquartered in Los Angeles, California. It was founded on March 19, 1958, as the recorded music division of the ...
, whose parent Warner Music Group
Warner Music Group Corp. ( d.b.a. Warner Music Group, commonly abbreviated as WMG) is an American multinational entertainment and record label conglomerate headquartered in New York City. It is one of the " big three" recording companies and t ...
owns most of Young's solo and band catalog) and represented a distinct stylistic departure. Young later revealed that an inspiration for the album was the theme of technology and communication with Ben, who could not speak. An extensive tour preceded the release of the album, and was documented by the video ''Neil Young in Berlin
''Neil Young in Berlin'' is a live video by Neil Young, directed by Michael Lindsay-Hogg, and recorded in October 1982 during the European Tour for his album ''Trans''. It includes the song "After Berlin" written especially for that concert and onl ...
'', which saw release in 1986. MTV played the video for "Sample and Hold" in light rotation.
Young's next album, 1983's ''Everybody's Rockin'
''Everybody's Rockin'' is the 13th studio album by Canadian / American musician Neil Young, released on August 1, 1983. The album was recorded with the Shocking Pinks (a band made up just for the occasion), and features a selection of rockabilly s ...
'', included several rockabilly
Rockabilly is one of the earliest styles of rock and roll music. It dates back to the early 1950s in the United States, especially the Southern United States, South. As a genre it blends the sound of Western music (North America), Western music ...
covers and clocked in at less than 25 minutes in length. Young was backed by the Shocking Pinks for the supporting US tour. ''Trans'' (1982) had already drawn the ire of label head David Geffen
David Lawrence Geffen (born February 21, 1943) is an American business magnate, producer and film studio executive. He co-created Asylum Records in 1971 with Elliot Roberts, Geffen Records in 1980, DGC Records in 1990, and DreamWorks SKG in 199 ...
for its lack of commercial appeal, and with ''Everybody's Rockin'' following seven months later, Geffen Records sued Young for making music "unrepresentative" of himself. The album was also notable as the first for which Young made commercial music videos – Tim Pope
Timothy Michael Pope (born 12 February 1956) is a film director most known for his music videos, for having directed feature films, and for a brief pop career.
Early life and career
Pope grew up in the north London suburb of Enfield.
Both his ...
directed the videos for "Wonderin'" and "Cry, Cry, Cry". Also premiered in 1983, though little seen, was the long-gestating ''Human Highway''. Co-directed and co-written by Young, the eclectic comedy starred Young, Dean Stockwell
Robert Dean Stockwell (March 5, 1936 – November 7, 2021) was an American actor with a career spanning seven decades. As a child actor under contract to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, he first came to the public's attention in films including ''Anchors A ...
, Russ Tamblyn
Russell Irving Tamblyn, also known as Rusty Tamblyn (born December 30, 1934) is an American film and television actor and dancer.
Born and raised in Los Angeles, Tamblyn trained as a gymnast in his youth. He began his career as a child actor f ...
, Dennis Hopper
Dennis Lee Hopper (May 17, 1936 – May 29, 2010) was an American actor, filmmaker and photographer. He attended the Actors Studio, made his first television appearance in 1954, and soon after appeared in ''Giant'' (1956). In the next ten years ...
, David Blue, Sally Kirkland
Sally Kirkland (born October 31, 1941) is an American film, television and stage actress and producer. A former member of Andy Warhol's The Factory and an active member in 1960s New York avant-garde theater, she has appeared in more than 250 fi ...
, Charlotte Stewart
Charlotte Stewart (born February 27, 1941) is an American film and television actress.
Biography
Stewart is most famous for her role as the school teacher Miss Beadle on ''Little House on the Prairie'' and her work with director David Lynch.
...
and members of Devo.
Young did not release an album in 1984, his first unproductive year since beginning his career with Buffalo Springfield in 1966. Young's lack of productivity was largely due to the ongoing legal battle with Geffen, although he was also frustrated that the label had rejected his 1982 country album ''Old Ways
''Old Ways'' is the 14th studio album by Canadian / American musician and singer-songwriter Neil Young, released on August 12, 1985 on Geffen Records.
Background
Young has referred to this album in interviews as ''Old Ways II'', as he had origi ...
''. It was also the year when Young's third child was born, a girl named Amber Jean, who was later diagnosed with inherited epilepsy.
Young spent most of 1984 and all of 1985 touring for ''Old Ways'' (August 12, 1985) with his country band, the International Harvesters. The album was finally released in an altered form midway through 1985. Young also appeared at that year's Live Aid
Live Aid was a multi-venue benefit concert held on Saturday 13 July 1985, as well as a music-based fundraising initiative. The original event was organised by Bob Geldof and Midge Ure to raise further funds for relief of the 1983–1985 fami ...
concert in Philadelphia
Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...
, collaborating with Crosby, Stills and Nash for the quartet's first performance for a paying audience in over ten years.
Young's last two albums for Geffen were more conventional in the genre, although they incorporated production techniques like synthesizers and echoing drums that were previously uncommon in Young's music. Young recorded 1986's ''Landing on Water
''Landing on Water'' is the 15th studio album by Neil Young. The album was released on July 21, 1986, by Geffen Records. Several of the songs on the album were resurrected from Neil Young and Crazy Horse's failed 1984 sessions – a set of session ...
'' without Crazy Horse but reunited with the band for the subsequent year-long tour and final Geffen album, ''Life
Life is a quality that distinguishes matter that has biological processes, such as signaling and self-sustaining processes, from that which does not, and is defined by the capacity for growth, reaction to stimuli, metabolism, energ ...
'', which emerged in 1987. Young's album sales dwindled steadily throughout the eighties; today ''Life'' remains his all-time-least successful studio album, with an estimated four hundred thousand sales worldwide.
Switching back to his old label Reprise Records, Young continued to tour relentlessly, assembling a new blues band called The Bluenotes in mid-1987 (a legal dispute with musician Harold Melvin
Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes were an American soul and R&B vocal group. One of the most popular Philadelphia soul groups of the 1970s, the group's repertoire included soul, R&B, doo-wop, and disco. Founded in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania i ...
forced the eventual rechristening of the band as Ten Men Working midway through the tour). The addition of a brass section
The brass section of the orchestra, concert band, and jazz ensemble consist of brass instruments, and is one of the main sections in all three ensembles. The British-style brass band contains only brass and percussion instruments.
They contain ...
provided a new jazz
Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...
ier sound, and the title track of 1988's ''This Note's For You
''This Note's for You'' is the 16th studio album by Canadian / American musician Neil Young, released April 11, 1988 on Reprise. It was originally credited to "Young and the Bluenotes." Part of the album's concept centered on the commercialism of ...
'' became Young's first hit single of the decade. Accompanied by a video that parodied corporate rock, the pretensions of advertising, and Michael Jackson
Michael Joseph Jackson (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009) was an American singer, songwriter, dancer, and philanthropist. Dubbed the "King of Pop", he is regarded as one of the most significant cultural figures of the 20th century. Over a ...
, the song was initially unofficially banned by MTV for mentioning the brand names of some of their sponsors. Young wrote an open letter, "What does the M in MTV stand for: music or money?" Despite this, the video was eventually named best video of the year by the network in 1989.
Young reunited with Crosby, Stills, and Nash to record the 1988 album '' American Dream'' and play two benefit concerts late in the year, but the group did not embark upon a full tour.
Young attracted criticism from liberals in the music industry when he supported President Ronald Reagan
Ronald Wilson Reagan ( ; February 6, 1911June 5, 2004) was an American politician, actor, and union leader who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He also served as the 33rd governor of California from 1967 ...
and said he was "tired of people constantly apologising for being Americans". In a 1985 interview with ''Melody Maker
''Melody Maker'' was a British weekly music magazine, one of the world's earliest music weeklies; according to its publisher, IPC Media, the earliest. It was founded in 1926, largely as a magazine for dance band musicians, by Leicester-born ...
'', he said about the AIDS pandemic
The global epidemic of HIV/AIDS (human immunodeficiency virus infection and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome) began in 1981, and is an ongoing worldwide public health issue. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), as of 2021, HIV/AI ...
: “You go to a supermarket and you see a faggot behind the fuckin' cash register, you don't want him to handle your potatoes." In the same interview, Young also complained about welfare
Welfare, or commonly social welfare, is a type of government support intended to ensure that members of a society can meet basic human needs such as food and shelter. Social security may either be synonymous with welfare, or refer specificall ...
beneficiaries, saying: "Stop being supported by the government and get out and work. You have to make the weak stand up on one leg, or half a leg, whatever they've got." ''Rolling Stone
''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...
'' wrote in 2013 that Young "almost certainly regrets that horrific statement" and that he "quickly moved away from right-wing politics".
Return to prominence (1989–1999)
Young's 1989 single "Rockin' in the Free World
"Rockin' in the Free World" is a song by Canadian-American singer, musician and songwriter Neil Young, released on Young's seventeenth studio album ''Freedom'' (1989).Buckley, 1206 Two versions of the song bookend the album, similarly to "Hey Hey, ...
", which hit No. 2 on the US mainstream-rock charts, and accompanying the album, ''Freedom
Freedom is understood as either having the ability to act or change without constraint or to possess the power and resources to fulfill one's purposes unhindered. Freedom is often associated with liberty and autonomy in the sense of "giving on ...
'', returned Young to the popular consciousness after a decade of sometimes-difficult genre experiments. The album's lyrics were often overtly political; "Rockin' in the Free World" deals with homelessness, terrorism, and environmental degradation, implicitly criticizing the government policies of President George H. W. Bush
George Herbert Walker BushSince around 2000, he has been usually called George H. W. Bush, Bush Senior, Bush 41 or Bush the Elder to distinguish him from his eldest son, George W. Bush, who served as the 43rd president from 2001 to 2009; pr ...
.
The use of heavy feedback
Feedback occurs when outputs of a system are routed back as inputs as part of a chain of cause-and-effect that forms a circuit or loop. The system can then be said to ''feed back'' into itself. The notion of cause-and-effect has to be handled ...
and distortion on several ''Freedom'' tracks was reminiscent of the ''Rust Never Sleeps
''Rust Never Sleeps'' is an album with both studio and live tracks by Canadian American singer-songwriter Neil Young and American band Crazy Horse. It was released on June 22, 1979, by Reprise Records. Most of the album was recorded live, then o ...
'' (1979) album and foreshadowed the imminent rise of grunge. The rising stars of the subgenre, including Nirvana
( , , ; sa, निर्वाण} ''nirvāṇa'' ; Pali: ''nibbāna''; Prakrit: ''ṇivvāṇa''; literally, "blown out", as in an oil lampRichard Gombrich, ''Theravada Buddhism: A Social History from Ancient Benāres to Modern Colombo.' ...
's Kurt Cobain
Kurt Donald Cobain (February 20, 1967 – April 5, 1994) was an American musician who served as the lead vocalist, guitarist and primary songwriter of the rock band Nirvana. Through his angst-fueled songwriting and anti-establishment persona ...
and Pearl Jam
Pearl Jam is an American rock band formed in Seattle, Washington, in 1990. The band's lineup consists of founding members Jeff Ament (bass guitar), Stone Gossard (rhythm guitar), Mike McCready (lead guitar), and Eddie Vedder (lead vocals, guita ...
's Eddie Vedder
Eddie Jerome Vedder (born Edward Louis Severson III; December 23, 1964) is an American singer, musician, and songwriter best known as the lead vocalist and one of four guitarists of the rock band Pearl Jam. He also appeared as a guest vocalist i ...
, frequently cited Young as a major influence, contributing to his popular revival. A tribute album called '' The Bridge: A Tribute to Neil Young'' was released in 1989, featuring covers by a range of alternative and grunge acts, including Sonic Youth
Sonic Youth was an American rock band based in New York City, formed in 1981. Founding members Thurston Moore (guitar, vocals), Kim Gordon (bass, vocals, guitar) and Lee Ranaldo (guitar, vocals) remained together for the entire history of the b ...
, Nick Cave
Nicholas Edward Cave (born 22 September 1957) is an Australian singer, songwriter, poet, lyricist, author, screenwriter, composer and occasional actor. Known for his baritone voice and for fronting the rock band Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, Ca ...
, Soul Asylum
Soul Asylum is an American alternative rock band formed in 1981 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Their 1993 hit "Runaway Train (Soul Asylum song), Runaway Train" won the Grammy Award for Best Rock Song.
The band was originally called Loud Fast Rule ...
, Dinosaur Jr
Dinosaur Jr. is an American rock band formed in Amherst, Massachusetts, in 1984, originally simply called Dinosaur until legal issues forced a change in name.
The band was founded by J Mascis (guitar, vocals, primary songwriter), Lou Barlow ...
, and the Pixies
A pixie (also pisky, pixy, pixi, pizkie, and piskie in Cornwall and Devon, and pigsie or puggsy in the New Forest) is a mythical creature of British folklore. Pixies are considered to be particularly concentrated in the high moorland areas aro ...
.
Young's 1990 album ''Ragged Glory
''Ragged Glory'' is the 18th studio album by Canadian / American singer-songwriter Neil Young, and his sixth album with the band Crazy Horse. It was released by Reprise Records on September 9, 1990.
Recording
The ''Ragged Glory'' sessions took ...
'', recorded with Crazy Horse in a barn on his Northern California
Northern California (colloquially known as NorCal) is a geographic and cultural region that generally comprises the northern portion of the U.S. state of California. Spanning the state's northernmost 48 counties, its main population centers incl ...
ranch, continued this distortion-heavy aesthetic. Young toured for the album with Orange County, California country-punk band Social Distortion
Social Distortion is an American punk rock band formed in 1978 in Fullerton, California. The band currently consists of Mike Ness (lead vocals, lead guitar), Jonny Wickersham (rhythm guitar, backing vocals), Brent Harding (bass, backing voca ...
and Sonic Youth as support, much to the consternation of many of his old fans. '' Weld'', a two-disc live album documenting the tour, was released in 1991. Sonic Youth's influence was evident on '' Arc'', a 35-minute collage of feedback and distortion spliced together at the suggestion of Thurston Moore
Thurston Joseph Moore (born July 25, 1958) is an American musician best known as a member of Sonic Youth. He has also participated in many solo and group collaborations outside Sonic Youth, as well as running the Ecstatic Peace! record label. Moo ...
and originally packaged with some versions of ''Weld''.
1992's ''Harvest Moon
The full moon is the lunar phase when the Moon appears fully illuminated from Earth's perspective. This occurs when Earth is located between the Sun and the Moon (when the ecliptic coordinate system, ecliptic longitudes of the Sun and Moon opp ...
'' marked an abrupt return (prompted by Young's hyperacusis
Hyperacusis is the increased sensitivity to sound and a low tolerance for environmental noise. Definitions of hyperacusis can vary significantly; it can refer to normal noises being perceived as: loud, annoying, painful, fear-inducing, or a combina ...
in the aftermath of the ''Weld'' tour) to the country and folk-rock stylings of ''Harvest'' and reunited him with some of the musicians from that album, including the core members of the Stray Gators and singers Linda Ronstadt
Linda Maria Ronstadt (born July 15, 1946) is a retired American singer who performed and recorded in diverse genres including rock, country, light opera, the Great American Songbook, and Latin. She has earned 11 Grammy Awards, three American ...
and James Taylor
James Vernon Taylor (born March 12, 1948) is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist. A six-time Grammy Award winner, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2000. He is one of the best-selling music artists of all time, havi ...
. The title track was a minor hit, and the record was well received by critics, winning the Juno Award for Album of the Year
The Juno Award for Album of the Year is an annual award presented by the Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences for the best album released in Canada. It has been awarded since 1975, though it was the award for Best Selling Album from 197 ...
in 1994. Young also contributed to lifelong friend Randy Bachman
Randolph Charles Bachman (; born September 27, 1943) is a Canadian guitarist, singer, and songwriter. He was a founding member of the bands The Guess Who and Bachman–Turner Overdrive. Bachman recorded as a solo artist and was part of a num ...
's nostalgic 1992 tune "Prairie Town", and garnered a 1993 Academy Award
The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...
nomination for his song "Philadelphia", from the soundtrack of the Jonathan Demme
Robert Jonathan Demme ( ; February 22, 1944 – April 26, 2017) was an American filmmaker. Beginning his career under B-movie producer Roger Corman, Demme made his directorial debut with the 1974 women-in-prison film ''Caged Heat'', before ...
movie of the same name. An ''MTV Unplugged
''MTV Unplugged'' is an American television series on MTV showcasing musical artists usually playing acoustic instruments. The show aired regularly from 1989 to 1999 and less frequently from 2000 to 2009, when it was usually billed as ''MTV Un ...
'' performance and album emerged in 1993. Later that year, Young collaborated with Booker T. and the M.G.s
Booker T. & the M.G.'s were an American instrumental R&B/ funk band that was influential in shaping the sound of Southern soul and Memphis soul. The original members of the group were Booker T. Jones (organ, piano), Steve Cropper (guitar), ...
for a summer tour of Europe and North America, with Blues Traveler
Blues Traveler (formerly known as "The Establishment" or "The Black Cat Jam" or "The Establishment Blues Band") is an American rock band that formed in Princeton, New Jersey in 1987. They are known for extensive use of segues in live performance ...
, Soundgarden
Soundgarden was an American rock band formed in Seattle, Washington, in 1984 by singer and drummer Chris Cornell, lead guitarist Kim Thayil (both of whom are the only members to appear in every incarnation of the band), and bassist Hiro Yamamo ...
, and Pearl Jam
Pearl Jam is an American rock band formed in Seattle, Washington, in 1990. The band's lineup consists of founding members Jeff Ament (bass guitar), Stone Gossard (rhythm guitar), Mike McCready (lead guitar), and Eddie Vedder (lead vocals, guita ...
also on the bill. Some European shows ended with a rendition of "Rockin' in the Free World" played with Pearl Jam
Pearl Jam is an American rock band formed in Seattle, Washington, in 1990. The band's lineup consists of founding members Jeff Ament (bass guitar), Stone Gossard (rhythm guitar), Mike McCready (lead guitar), and Eddie Vedder (lead vocals, guita ...
, foreshadowing their eventual full-scale collaboration two years later.
In 1994, Young again collaborated with Crazy Horse for ''Sleeps with Angels
''Sleeps with Angels'' is the 20th studio album by Canadian musician Neil Young, released on August 16, 1994, on Reprise as a double LP and as a single CD. Co-produced by David Briggs, the album is Young's seventh with Crazy Horse.
Background ...
'', a record whose dark, somber mood was influenced by Kurt Cobain
Kurt Donald Cobain (February 20, 1967 – April 5, 1994) was an American musician who served as the lead vocalist, guitarist and primary songwriter of the rock band Nirvana. Through his angst-fueled songwriting and anti-establishment persona ...
's death earlier that year: the title track in particular dealt with Cobain's life and death, without mentioning him by name. Cobain had quoted Young's lyric "It's better to burn out than fade away" (a line from " My My, Hey Hey") in his suicide note. Young had reportedly made repeated attempts to contact Cobain prior to his death. Young and Pearl Jam performed "Act of Love" at an abortion rights benefit along with Crazy Horse, and were present at a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame dinner, sparking interest in a collaboration between the two. Still enamored with the grunge scene, Young reconnected with Pearl Jam in 1995 for the live-in-the-studio album '' Mirror Ball'' and a tour of Europe with the band and producer Brendan O'Brien Brendan O'Brien may refer to:
*Brendan O'Brien (bishop) (born 1943), Roman Catholic archbishop of Kingston, Ontario, Canada
*Brendan O'Brien (cricketer) (born 1942), Irish former cricketer
*Brendan O'Brien (journalist), senior Irish journalist on R ...
backing Young. 1995 also marked Young's induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (RRHOF), sometimes simply referred to as the Rock Hall, is a museum
A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and othe ...
, where he was inducted by Eddie Vedder.
In 1995, Young and his manager Elliot Roberts
Elliot Roberts (born Elliot Rabinowitz,Tom King, ''The Operator: David Geffen Builds, Buys, and Sells the New Hollywood'', p. 54, Broadway Books (New York 2001). February 25, 1943 – June 21, 2019)''The Guardian'' article:Lady of the Canyon" ...
founded a record label, Vapor Records. It has released recordings by Tegan and Sara
Tegan and Sara () are a Canadian indie pop duo formed in 1998 in Calgary, Alberta. The band is led by identical twin sisters Tegan Rain Quin and Sara Keirsten Quin (born September 19, 1980). Both musicians are songwriters and multi-instrumental ...
, Spoon
A spoon is a utensil consisting of a shallow bowl (also known as a head), oval or round, at the end of a handle. A type of cutlery (sometimes called flatware in the United States), especially as part of a place setting, it is used primarily for ...
, Jonathan Richman
Jonathan Michael Richman (born May 16, 1951) is an American singer, songwriter and guitarist. In 1970, he founded the Modern Lovers, an influential proto-punk band. Since the mid-1970s, Richman has worked either solo or with low-key acoustic a ...
, Vic Chesnutt
James Victor Chesnutt (November 12, 1964 – December 25, 2009) was an American singer-songwriter from Athens, Georgia. His first album, little (album), ''Little'', was released in 1990. His commercial breakthrough came in 1996 with the rele ...
, Everest
Mount Everest (; Tibetan: ''Chomolungma'' ; ) is Earth's highest mountain above sea level, located in the Mahalangur Himal sub-range of the Himalayas. The China–Nepal border runs across its summit point. Its elevation (snow heigh ...
, Pegi Young
Margaret Mary "Pegi" Young (née Morton; December 1, 1952 – January 1, 2019) was an American singer, songwriter, environmentalist, educator and philanthropist.
Music career
After marrying Canadian folk rock musician Neil Young in 1978, her d ...
, Jets Overhead
Jets Overhead are a Canadian alternative rock band formed in 2003 and based in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada.
Band history Formation and debut
Singer Adam Kittredge conceived the name Jets Overhead while observing air traffic patterns in L ...
, and Young himself, among others.
Young's next collaborative partner was filmmaker Jim Jarmusch
James Robert Jarmusch (; born January 22, 1953) is an American film director and screenwriter. He has been a major proponent of independent cinema since the 1980s, directing films including '' Stranger Than Paradise'' (1984), '' Down by Law'' ( ...
, who asked Young to compose a soundtrack to his 1995 black-and-white western film ''Dead Man
''Dead Man'' is a 1995 American acid western film written and directed by Jim Jarmusch. It stars Johnny Depp, Gary Farmer, Billy Bob Thornton, Iggy Pop, Crispin Glover, John Hurt, Michael Wincott, Lance Henriksen, Gabriel Byrne, Mili Avital, an ...
''. Young's instrumental soundtrack was improvised while he watched the film alone in a studio. The death of long-time mentor, friend, and producer David Briggs in late 1995 prompted Young to reconnect with Crazy Horse the following year for the album and tour '' Broken Arrow''. A Jarmusch-directed concert film and live album of the tour, ''Year of the Horse
''Year of the Horse'' is a 1997 American documentary film directed by Jim Jarmusch, following Neil Young and Crazy Horse on their 1996 tour. An accompanying live album by Neil Young & Crazy Horse was released in 1997. It offers a different tra ...
'', emerged in 1997. From 1996 to 1997 Young and Crazy Horse toured extensively throughout Europe and North America, including a stint as part of the H.O.R.D.E.
Horizons of Rock Developing Everywhere or H.O.R.D.E. Festival was a touring summer rock music festival originated by the musical group Blues Traveler in 1992. In addition to travelling headliners, the festival gave exposure to bands, charities, a ...
Festival's sixth annual tour.
In 1998, Young renewed his collaboration with the rock band Phish
Phish is an American rock band formed in Burlington, Vermont, in 1983. The band is known for musical improvisation, extended jams, blending of genres, and a dedicated fan base. The band consists of guitarist Trey Anastasio, bassist Mike Gordon ...
, sharing the stage at the annual Farm Aid
Farm Aid is an annual benefit concert held for American farmers.
History
On July 13, 1985, while performing at the Live Aid benefit concert for the 1983–1985 Ethiopian famine, Bob Dylan made comments about family farmers within the United S ...
concert and then at Young's Bridge School Benefit, where he joined headliners Phish for renditions of " Helpless" and "I Shall Be Released
"I Shall Be Released" is a 1967 song written by Bob Dylan.
Dylan recorded two primary versions. The first recording was made in collaboration with the Band during the Basement Tapes sessions in 1967, and released on '' The Bootleg Series Volu ...
". Phish declined Young's later invitation to be his backing band on his 1999 North American tour.
The decade ended with the release in late 1999 of ''Looking Forward'', another reunion with Crosby, Stills, and Nash. The subsequent tour of the United States and Canada with the reformed quartet earned US$42.1 million, making it the eighth largest grossing tour of 2000.
Health condition and new material (2000s)
Neil Young continued to release new material at a rapid pace through the first decade of the new millennium. The studio album ''Silver & Gold (Neil Young album), Silver & Gold'' and live album ''Road Rock Vol. 1'' were released in 2000 and were both accompanied by live concert films. His 2001 single "Let's Roll" was a tribute to the victims of the September 11 attacks, and the Let's Roll, effective action taken by the passengers and crew on United Airlines flight 93, Flight 93 in particular.
In 2003, Young released ''Greendale (album), Greendale'', a concept album recorded with Crazy Horse members Billy Talbot and Ralph Molina
Ralph Molina (born June 22, 1943) is an American musician, best known as the drummer for Neil Young's backing band Crazy Horse.
Born in Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico (; abbreviated PR; tnq, Boriken, ''Borinquen''), officially the Commonwealth o ...
. The songs loosely revolved around the murder of a police officer in a small town in California and its effects on the town's inhabitants. Under the pseudonym "Bernard Shakey", Young directed an accompanying film of the same name, featuring actors lip-synching to the music from the album. He toured extensively with the ''Greendale'' material throughout 2003 and 2004, first with a solo, acoustic version in Europe, then with a full-cast stage show in North America, Japan, and Australia. Young began using biodiesel on the 2004 Greendale tour, powering his trucks and tour buses with the fuel. "Our Greendale tour is now ozone friendly", he said. "I plan to continue to use this government approved and regulated fuel exclusively from now on to prove that it is possible to deliver the goods anywhere in North America without using foreign oil, while being environmentally responsible."
In March 2005, while working on the ''Prairie Wind'' album in Nashville, Tennessee, Nashville, Young was diagnosed with a brain aneurysm. He was treated successfully with a minimally invasive Neuroradiology, neuroradiological procedure, performed in a New York hospital on March 29, but two days afterwards he passed out on a New York street from bleeding from the femoral artery, which radiologists had used to access the aneurysm. The complication forced Young to cancel his scheduled appearance at the Juno Awards telecast in Winnipeg, but within months he was back on stage, appearing at the close of the Live 8 concert in Barrie, Ontario, on July 2. During the performance, he debuted a new song, a soft hymn called "When God Made Me". Young's brush with death influenced ''Prairie Wind''s themes of retrospection and mortality. The album's live premiere in Nashville was recorded by filmmaker Jonathan Demme
Robert Jonathan Demme ( ; February 22, 1944 – April 26, 2017) was an American filmmaker. Beginning his career under B-movie producer Roger Corman, Demme made his directorial debut with the 1974 women-in-prison film ''Caged Heat'', before ...
in the 2006 film ''Neil Young: Heart of Gold''.
Activism, philanthropy and as a humanitarian
Young's renewed activism manifested itself in the 2006 album ''Living with War'', which like the much earlier song "Ohio
Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...
", was recorded and released in less than a month as a direct result of current events. Most of the album's songs rebuked the Bush administration's policy of war by examining its human costs to soldiers, their loved ones, and civilians, but Young also included a few songs on other themes and an outright protest song entitled "Let's Impeach the President", in which he asserted that Bush had lied to lead the country into war.
While Young had never been a stranger to eco-friendly lyrics, themes of environmentalist spirituality and activism became increasingly prominent in his work throughout the 1990s and 2000s, especially on ''Greendale (album), Greendale'' (2003) and ''Living with War'' (2006). The trend continued on 2007's ''Chrome Dreams II'', with lyrics exploring Young's personal eco-spirituality.
Young remains on the board of directors of Farm Aid
Farm Aid is an annual benefit concert held for American farmers.
History
On July 13, 1985, while performing at the Live Aid benefit concert for the 1983–1985 Ethiopian famine, Bob Dylan made comments about family farmers within the United S ...
, an organization he co-founded with Willie Nelson and John Mellencamp in 1985. According to its website, it is the longest running concert benefit series in the US and it has raised $43 million since its first benefit concert in 1985. Each year, Young co-hosts and performs with well-known guest performers who include Dave Matthews and producers who include Evelyn Shriver and Mark Rothbaum, at the Farm Aid annual benefit concerts to raise funds and provide grants to family farms and prevent foreclosures, provide a crisis hotline, and create and promote home grown farm food in the United States.
In 2008, Young revealed his latest project, the production of a Hybrid vehicle, hybrid-engine 1959 Lincoln (automobile), Lincoln called LincVolt. A new album loosely based on the Lincvolt project, ''Fork in the Road'', was released on April 7, 2009.
A Jonathan Demme concert film from a 2007 concert at the Tower Theater (Upper Darby, Pennsylvania), Tower Theater in Upper Darby, Pennsylvania, Upper Darby, Pennsylvania, called the ''Neil Young Trunk Show'' premiered on March 21, 2009, at the South by Southwest (SXSW) Film Conference and Festival in Austin, Texas, Austin, Texas. It was featured at the Cannes Film Festival on May 17, 2009, and was released in the US on March 19, 2010, to critical acclaim.
In 2009, Young headlined the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, and Glastonbury Festival in Pilton, Somerset, Pilton, England, at Hard Rock Calling in London (where he was joined onstage by Paul McCartney for a rendition of "A Day in the Life") and, after years of unsuccessful booking attempts, the Isle of Wight Festival 2009, Isle of Wight Festival.
Young has been a vocal opponent of the proposed Keystone XL oil pipeline, which would run from Alberta to Texas. When discussing the environmental impact on the oilsands of Fort McMurray, Alberta, Young asserted that the area now resembles the Japanese city of Hiroshima in the aftermath of the atomic bomb attack of World War II. Young has referred to issues surrounding the proposed use of oil pipelines as "scabs on our lives". In an effort to become more involved, Young has worked directly with the Chipewyan, Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation to draw attention to this issue, performing benefit concerts and speaking publicly on the subject. In 2014, he played four shows in Canada dedicated to the Honor the Treaties movement, raising money for the Athabasca Chipewyan legal defense fund. In 2015, he and Willie Nelson held a festival in Neligh, Nebraska, called ''Harvest the Hope'', raising awareness of the impact of oilsands and oil pipelines on Native Americans and family farmers. Both received honors from leaders of the Rosebud Indian Reservation, Rosebud Sioux, Oglala Lakota, Ponca and Omaha (tribe), Omaha nations, and were invested with sacred buffalo robes.
Young participated in the Blue Dot Tour, which was organized and fronted by environmental activist David Suzuki, and toured all 10 Canadian provinces alongside other Canadian artists including the Barenaked Ladies, Feist (singer), Feist, and Robert Bateman (painter), Robert Bateman. The intent of Young's participation in this tour was to raise awareness of the environmental damage caused by the exploitation of oilsands. Young has argued that the amount of released as a byproduct of oilsand oil extraction is equivalent to the amount released by the total number of cars in Canada each day. Young has faced criticism by representatives from within the Canadian petroleum industry, who have argued that his statements are irresponsible. Young's opposition to the construction of oil pipelines has influenced his music as well. His song, "Who's Going to Stand Up?" was written to protest this issue, and features the lyric "Ban fossil fuel and draw the line / Before we build one more pipeline".
In addition to directly criticizing members of the oil industry, Young has also focused blame on the actions of the Canadian government for ignoring the environmental impacts of climate change. He referred to Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper as "an embarrassment to many Canadians ... [and] a very poor imitation of the George Bush administration in the United States". Young was also critical of Barack Obama's government for failing to uphold the promises made regarding environmental policies during his election campaign.
Young recorded "A Rock Star Bucks a Coffee Shop" in response to Starbucks' possible involvement with Monsanto and use of genetically-modified food, genetically modified food. The song was included on his 2015 concept album ''The Monsanto Years''.
2010s
On January 22, 2010, Young performed "Long May You Run" on the final episode of ''The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien''. On the same night, he and Dave Matthews performed the Hank Williams song "Alone and Forsaken", for the ''Hope for Haiti Now: A Global Benefit for Earthquake Relief'' charity telethon, in response to the 2010 Haiti earthquake. Young also performed "Long May You Run" at the 2010 Winter Olympics closing ceremony, closing ceremony of the 2010 Olympic winter games in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. In May 2010, it was revealed Young had begun working on a new studio album produced by Daniel Lanois. This was announced by David Crosby, who said that the album "will be a very heartfelt record. I expect it will be a very special record." On May 18, 2010, Young embarked upon a North American solo tour to promote his then upcoming album, ''Le Noise'', playing a mix of older songs and new material. Although billed as a solo acoustic tour, Young also played some songs on electric guitars, including Old Black.
In September 2011, Jonathan Demme's third documentary film on the singer songwriter, ''Neil Young Journeys'', premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival.
On January 22, 2012, the Master Class at the 2012 Slamdance Film Festival, Slamdance Festival featured Coffee with Neil Young & Jonathan Demme discussing their film ''Neil Young Journeys''. Young said that he had been recording with Crazy Horse, completing one album and working on another.
Neil Young and Crazy Horse performed a version of the Beatles' "I Saw Her Standing There" for Paul McCartney's MusiCares Person of the Year dinner on February 10, 2012, in Hollywood.
Neil Young with Crazy Horse released the album ''Americana (Neil Young Crazy Horse album), Americana'' on June 5, 2012. It was Young's first collaboration with Crazy Horse since the ''Greendale'' album and tour in 2003 and 2004. The record is a tribute to unofficial national anthems that jumps from an uncensored version of "This Land Is Your Land" to "Oh My Darling, Clementine, Clementine" and includes a version of "God Save the Queen", which Young grew up singing every day in school in Canada. ''Americana'' is Neil Young's first album composed entirely of cover songs. The album debuted at number four on the Billboard 200, ''Billboard'' 200, making it Young's highest-charting album in the US since ''Harvest''. On June 5, 2012, ''American Songwriter'' also reported that Neil Young and Crazy Horse would be launching their first tour in eight years in support of the album.
On August 25, 2012, Young was List of premature obituaries, mistakenly reported dead by NBCNews.com, the day when astronaut Neil Armstrong died.
On September 25, 2012, Young's autobiography ''Waging Heavy Peace: A Hippie Dream'' was released to critical and commercial acclaim. Reviewing the book for the ''New York Times'', Janet Maslin reported that Young chose to write his memoirs in 2012 for two reasons: he needed to take a break from stage performances for health reasons but continue to generate income; and he feared the onset of dementia, considering his father's medical history and his own present condition. Maslin praised the book, describing it as frank but quirky and without pathos.
In November 2013, Young performed at the annual fundraiser for the Silverlake Conservatory of Music. Following the Red Hot Chili Peppers, he played an acoustic set to a crowd who had paid a minimum of $2,000 a seat to attend the benefit in the famous Paramour Mansion overlooking downtown Los Angeles.
Young released the album ''A Letter Home'' on April 19, 2014, through Jack White's record label, and his second memoir, entitled ''Special Deluxe'', which was released on October 14. He appeared with White on ''The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon'' on May 12, 2014.
The 2014 debut solo album by Chrissie Hynde, entitled ''Stockholm (Chrissie Hynde album), Stockholm'', featured Young on guitar on the track "Down the Wrong Way".
Young released his thirty-fifth studio album, ''Storytone'' on November 4, 2014. The first song released from the album, "Who's Gonna Stand Up?", was released in three different versions on September 25, 2014.
''Storytone'' was followed in 2015 by his concept album ''The Monsanto Years''. ''The Monsanto Years'' is an album themed both in support of sustainable farming, and to protest the biotechnology company Monsanto. Young achieves this protest in a series of lyrical sentiments against genetically modified food production. He created this album in collaboration with Willie Nelson's sons, Lukas and Micah, and is also backed by Lukas's fellow band members from Promise of the Real. Additionally, Young released a film in tandem to the album, (also entitled ''The Monsanto Years''), that documents the album's recording, and can be streamed online. In August 2019, ''The Guardian'' reported Young, among other environmental activists, was being spied on by the firm.
In summer 2015, Young undertook a North America tour titled the Rebel Content Tour. The tour began on July 5, 2015, at the Summerfest in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and ended on July 24, 2015, at the Wayhome Festival in Oro-Medonte, Ontario. Lukas Nelson & Promise of the Real were special guests for the tour.
In October 2016, Young performed at Desert Trip in Indio, California, and announced his thirty-seventh studio album, ''Peace Trail (album), Peace Trail'', recorded with drummer Jim Keltner and bass guitarist Paul Bushnell, which was released that December.
On September 8, 2017, Young released ''Hitchhiker (Neil Young album), Hitchhiker'', a studio LP recorded on August 11, 1976, at Indigo Studios in Malibu, California, Malibu. The album features ten songs that Young recorded accompanied by acoustic guitar or piano. While different versions of most of the songs have been previously released, the new album will include two never-before-released songs: "Hawaii" and "Give Me Strength", which Young has occasionally performed live.
On July 4, 2017, Young released the song "Children of Destiny" which would appear on his next album. On November 3, 2017, Young released "Already Great", a song from ''The Visitor (Neil Young & Promise of the Real album), The Visitor'', an album he recorded with Promise of the Real and released on December 1, 2017.
On December 1, 2017, Young performed live in Omemee, Ontario, Canada, a town he had lived in as a child.
On Record Store Day, April 21, 2018, Warner Records released a two-vinyl LP special edition of ''Roxy: Tonight's the Night Live'', a double live album of a show that Young performed in September 1973 at Roxy Theatre (West Hollywood), the Roxy in West Hollywood, with the Santa Monica Flyers. The album is labeled as "Volume 05" in Young's ''Performance Series.''
On October 19, 2018, Young released a live version of his song "Campaigner", an excerpt from a forthcoming archival live album titled ''Songs for Judy'', which features solo performances recorded during a November 1976 tour with Crazy Horse. It will be the first release from his new label Shakey Pictures Records.
In November 2018, shortly after his home had been destroyed by the 2018 California wildfires, California wildfire, Young criticized Donald Trump, President Donald Trump's stance on climate change.
In December 2018, Young criticized the promoters of a London show for selecting Barclays Bank as a sponsor. Young objected to the bank's association with fossil fuels. Young explained that he was trying to rectify the situation by finding a different sponsor.
On August 19, 2019, Neil Young and Crazy Horse announced the forthcoming release later in August 2019 of the new song "Rainbow of Colors", the first single from the album ''Colorado (Neil Young album), Colorado'', Young's first new record with the band in seven years, since 2012's ''Psychedelic Pill''. Young, multi-instrumentalist Nils Lofgren
Nils Hilmer Lofgren (born June 21, 1951) is an American rock musician, recording artist, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist. Along with his work as a solo artist, he has been a member of Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band since 1984, a membe ...
, bassist Billy Talbot and drummer Ralph Molina recorded the new album with Young's co-producer, John Hanlon, in spring 2019. The 10 new songs are ranging from around 3 minutes to over 13 minutes. ''Colorado'' was released on October 25, 2019 on Reprise Records. On August 30, 2019, Young unveiled "Milky Way", the first song from ''Colorado'', a love ballad he had performed several times at concerts – both solo acoustic and with Promise of the Real.
2020s
In February 2020, Young wrote an open letter to President Trump, calling him a "disgrace to my country". On August 4, 2020, Young filed a copyright infringement lawsuit against Donald Trump presidential campaign, 2020, Trump's reelection campaign for the use of his music at campaign rallies.
In April 2020, Young announced that he was working on a new archival album, ''Road of Plenty'', comprising music made with Crazy Horse in 1986 and rehearsals for his 1989 ''Saturday Night Live'' appearance. On June 19, Young released a "lost" album, '' Homegrown.'' He recorded it in the mid-1970s following his breakup with Carrie Snodgress
Caroline Louise Snodgress (October 27, 1945 – April 1, 2004) was an American actress. She is best remembered for her role in the film ''Diary of a Mad Housewife'' (1970), for which she was nominated for an Academy Award and a BAFTA Award as w ...
, but opted not to release it at the time, feeling it was too personal. In September, Young released a live EP, ''The Times (EP), The Times''. Young shared the news via his video for his new song "Lookin' for a Leader", stating: "I invite the President to play this song at his next rally. A song about the feelings many of us have about America today."
In January 2021, Young sold 50% of the rights to his back catalog to the British investment company Hipgnosis Songs Fund. The value was estimated to be at least $150 million. Young and Crazy Horse released a new album, ''Barn (album), Barn'', on December 10, 2021. The first single, "Song of the Seasons", was released on October 15, followed by "Welcome Back" on December 3, along with a music video. A stand-alone will be released on Blu-ray and will be directed by Daryl Hannah. Young also confirmed that he had completed his third book, ''Canary'', his first work of fiction.
On January 24, 2022, Young posted an open letter threatening to remove his music from the audio streaming service Spotify if it did not remove ''The Joe Rogan Experience'' podcast from the platform. Young accused the podcast of COVID-19 misinformation, writing that "Spotify has a responsibility to mitigate the spread of misinformation on its platform". On January 26, Young's music was removed from Spotify, with a spokesperson for the company stating that Spotify wanted "all the world's music and audio content to be available to Spotify users" and that it had a "great responsibility in balancing both safety for listeners and freedom for creators". Subsequently, other artists such as Joni Mitchell
Roberta Joan "Joni" Mitchell ( Anderson; born November 7, 1943) is a Canadian-American musician, producer, and painter. Among the most influential singer-songwriters to emerge from the 1960s folk music circuit, Mitchell became known for her sta ...
and the members of Crosby, Stills, and Nash removed their music from Spotify, in agreement with Young's stance. Director-General of the World Health Organization Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus also praised Young's action.
In 2023, Young criticized Ticketmaster’s practice of raising ticket prices and adding fees to purchases, claiming that he had been sent letters from fans blaming him for $3,000USD tickets for a benefit concert he was performing, and that “artists have to worry about ripped off fans blaming them for Ticketmaster add-ons and Scalper, scalpers.”
Archives project
Since 2006, Young has been maintaining the Neil Young Archives, a project which encompasses the release of live albums, starting in 2006 with ''Live at the Fillmore East (Neil Young album), Live at the Fillmore East'', box sets of live and studio material, starting in 2009 with ''The Archives Vol. 1 1963–1972, The Archives Vol 1: 1963-1972'', as well as video releases. , the project has evolved into a subscription website and application where all of his music is available to stream in high resolution audio. Neil Young Archives also includes his newspaper, ''The Times-Contrarian'', The Hearse Theater, and photographs and memorabilia from throughout his career.
Personal life
Homes and residency
Young's family was from Manitoba, where both his parents were born and married. Young himself was born in Toronto, Ontario, and lived there at various times in his early life (1945, 1957, 1959–1960, 1966–1967), as well as Omemee (1945–1952) and Pickering, Ontario (1956) before settling with his mother in Winnipeg, Manitoba (1958, 1960–1966), where his music career began and which he considers his "hometown". Young has been outside Canada since 1967. After becoming successful, he bought properties in California. He currently holds Citizenship of the United States#Dual citizenship, dual citizenship for Canada and the United States.
Young had a home in Malibu, California, which burned to the ground in the 2018 Woolsey Fire.
Young owned Broken Arrow Ranch, a property of about 1,000 acres near La Honda, California, which he purchased in 1970 for US$350,000 (US$ in dollars); the property was subsequently expanded to thousands of acres. He moved out and gave Pegi Young the ranch after their divorce in 2014. Young's son Ben lives there.
Young announced in 2019 that his application for United States citizenship had been held up because of his use of marijuana. In 2020, the issue was resolved and he became a United States citizen.
Relationships and family
Young married his first wife, restaurant owner Susan Acevedo, in December 1968. They were together until October 1970, when she filed for divorce.
From late 1970 to 1975, Young was in a relationship with actress Carrie Snodgress
Caroline Louise Snodgress (October 27, 1945 – April 1, 2004) was an American actress. She is best remembered for her role in the film ''Diary of a Mad Housewife'' (1970), for which she was nominated for an Academy Award and a BAFTA Award as w ...
. The song "A Man Needs a Maid" from ''Harvest'' is inspired by his seeing her in the film ''Diary of a Mad Housewife''. They met soon afterward and she moved in with him on his ranch in northern California. They have a son, Zeke, who was born September 8, 1972. He has been diagnosed with cerebral palsy
Cerebral palsy (CP) is a group of movement disorders that appear in early childhood. Signs and symptoms vary among people and over time, but include poor coordination, stiff muscles, weak muscles, and tremors. There may be problems with sensa ...
.
Young met future wife Pegi Young
Margaret Mary "Pegi" Young (née Morton; December 1, 1952 – January 1, 2019) was an American singer, songwriter, environmentalist, educator and philanthropist.
Music career
After marrying Canadian folk rock musician Neil Young in 1978, her d ...
( Morton) in 1974 when she was working as a waitress at a diner near his ranch, a story he tells in the 1992 song "Unknown Legend". They married in August 1978 and had two children together, Ben and Amber. Ben has been diagnosed with cerebral palsy, and Amber has been diagnosed with epilepsy. The couple were musical collaborators and co-founded the Bridge School (California), Bridge School in 1986. On July 29, 2014, Young filed for divorce after 36 years of marriage. Pegi died on January 1, 2019.
Young has been in a relationship with actress and director Daryl Hannah since 2014. Young and Hannah were reported to have wed on August 25, 2018, in Atascadero, California. Young confirmed his marriage to Hannah in a video released on October 31, 2018.
Young has been widely reported to be the godparent, godfather of actress Amber Tamblyn; in a 2009 interview with ''Parade Magazine, Parade'', Tamblyn explained that "godfather" was "just a loose term" for Young, Dennis Hopper
Dennis Lee Hopper (May 17, 1936 – May 29, 2010) was an American actor, filmmaker and photographer. He attended the Actors Studio, made his first television appearance in 1954, and soon after appeared in ''Giant'' (1956). In the next ten years ...
, and Dean Stockwell
Robert Dean Stockwell (March 5, 1936 – November 7, 2021) was an American actor with a career spanning seven decades. As a child actor under contract to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, he first came to the public's attention in films including ''Anchors A ...
, three famous friends of her father, Russ Tamblyn
Russell Irving Tamblyn, also known as Rusty Tamblyn (born December 30, 1934) is an American film and television actor and dancer.
Born and raised in Los Angeles, Tamblyn trained as a gymnast in his youth. He began his career as a child actor f ...
, who were important influences on her life.
Charity work
Young is an environmentalist and outspoken advocate for the welfare of small farmers, having co-founded in 1985 the benefit concert Farm Aid
Farm Aid is an annual benefit concert held for American farmers.
History
On July 13, 1985, while performing at the Live Aid benefit concert for the 1983–1985 Ethiopian famine, Bob Dylan made comments about family farmers within the United S ...
. He worked on ''LincVolt'', the conversion of his 1959 Lincoln Continental to hybrid electric technology, as an environmentalist statement. In 1986, Young helped found the Bridge School, an educational organization for children with severe verbal and physical disabilities, and its annual supporting Bridge School Benefit concerts, together with his then wife Pegi Young.
Young is a member of the Canadian charity Artists Against Racism.
Business ventures
Young was part owner of Lionel, LLC, a company that makes toy trains and model railroad accessories. In 2008 Lionel emerged from bankruptcy and his shares of the company were wiped out. He was instrumental in the design of the Lionel Legacy control system for model trains, and remains on the board of directors of Lionel. He has been named as co-inventor on seven US patents related to model trains.
Young has long held that the digital audio formats in which most people download music are deeply flawed, and do not provide the rich, warm sound of analog recordings. He claims to be acutely aware of the difference, and compares it with taking a shower in tiny ice cubes versus ordinary water. Young and his company PonoMusic developed Pono (digital music service), Pono, a music download service and dedicated music player focusing on "high-quality" FLAC, uncompressed digital audio. It was designed to compete against highly compressed MP3 type formats. Pono promised to present songs "as they first sound during studio recording". The service and the sale of the player were launched in October 2014.
Instruments
Guitars
In 2003, ''Rolling Stone'' listed Young as eighty-third in its ranking of "The 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time" (although in a more recent version of the list, he has been moved up to seventeenth place), describing him as a "restless experimenter ... who transform[s] the most obvious music into something revelatory". Young is a collector of second-hand guitars, but in recording and performing, he uses frequently just a few instruments, as is explained by his longtime guitar technician Larry Cragg in the film ''Neil Young: Heart of Gold''. They include:
* a late 1950s Gretsch White Falcon purchased by Young near the end of the Buffalo Springfield
Buffalo Springfield was a rock band formed in Los Angeles by Canadian musicians Neil Young, Bruce Palmer and Dewey Martin and American musicians Stephen Stills and Richie Furay. The group, widely known for the song "For What It's Worth", relea ...
era. In 1969, he bought a version of the same vintage guitar from Stephen Stills, and this instrument is featured prominently during Young's early 1970s period, and can be heard on tracks like "Ohio
Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...
", "Southern Man
In New Zealand, the southern man is a stereotypical male from the more rural South Island, well used to the solitude and conditions of open mountain or hill country, and completely out of his depth in the city. He is usually depicted as wearing a ...
", "Alabama", "Words (Between the Lines of Age)", and "L.A.". It was Young's primary electric guitar during the ''Harvest
Harvesting is the process of gathering a ripe crop from the fields. Reaping is the cutting of grain or pulse for harvest, typically using a scythe, sickle, or reaper. On smaller farms with minimal mechanization, harvesting is the most labor-i ...
'' (1972) era, since Young's deteriorating back condition (eventually fixed with surgery) made playing the much heavier Les Paul (a favourite of his named Old Black) difficult.
* "Old Black" a 1953 Gibson Les Paul obtained by Young in 1968 in a trade with former Buffalo Springfield bass player Jim Messina. The guitar's original gold color had been painted over with black paint at some point prior to the trade. Over the years the guitar has been heavily modified with Young changing the bridge pickup several times before settling on a mini humbucker taken from a Gibson Firebird. This guitar has seen heavy studio and live usage, particularly when Young is playing with Crazy Horse, and can be heard in songs including "Cinnamon Girl", "Down by the River", "Cortez the Killer", "Hey Hey, My My" and "Rockin' in the Free World".
* a 1950 Fender Broadcaster used for the recording of "Tonight's the Night" in 1973 and consistently used to perform songs from that album, including "Mellow My Mind", "World on a String" and "Albuquerque" in concert.
* a Gibson Flying V used to temporarily replace Old Black during the 1973 tour in support of Harvest. Recordings from this tour would serve as the basis for "Time Fades Away" and "Tuscaloosa".
Reed organ
Young owns a restored Estey Organ, Estey reed organ, serial number 167272, dating from 1885, which he frequently plays in concert.
Crystallophone
Young owns a glass harmonica, which he played in the recording of "I Do" on his 2019 album ''Colorado (Neil Young album), Colorado''.
Amplification
Young uses various vintage Fender Tweed Deluxe amplifiers. His preferred amplifier for electric guitar is the Fender Deluxe, specifically a Tweed-era model from 1959. He purchased his first vintage Deluxe in 1967 for US$50 (US$ in dollars) from Sol Betnun Music on Larchmont in Hollywood and has since acquired nearly 450 different examples, all from the same era, but he maintains that it is the original model that sounds superior and is crucial to his trademark sound.
The Tweed Deluxe is almost always used in conjunction with a late-1950s Magnatone 280 (similar to the amplifier used by Lonnie Mack
Lonnie McIntosh (July 18, 1941 – April 21, 2016), known as Lonnie Mack, was an American singer-songwriter and guitarist. He was an influential trailblazer of blues rock music and rock guitar soloing.
Mack emerged in 1963 with his breakthroug ...
and Buddy Holly). The Magnatone and the Deluxe are paired together in an unusual manner: the external speaker jack from the Deluxe sends the amped signal through a volume potentiometer and directly into the input of the Magnatone. The Magnatone is notable for its true pitch-bending vibrato capabilities. It can be heard as an electric piano amplifier on "See the Sky About to Rain".
A notable and unique accessory to Young's Deluxe is the Whizzer, a device created specifically for Young by Rick Davis, which physically changes the amplifier's settings to pre-set combinations. This device is connected to footswitches operable by Young onstage in the manner of an effects pedal. Tom Wheeler's book ''The Soul of Tone'' highlights the device on page 182/183.
Discography
* ''Neil Young
Neil Percival Young (born November 12, 1945) is a Canadian-American singer and songwriter. After embarking on a music career in Winnipeg in the 1960s, Young moved to Los Angeles, joining Buffalo Springfield with Stephen Stills, Richie Furay ...
'' (1968)
* ''Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere
''Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere'' is the second studio album by Canadian-American musician Neil Young, released in May 1969 on Reprise Records, catalogue number RS 6349. His first with longtime backing band Crazy Horse, it peaked at number 3 ...
'' with Crazy Horse (1969)
* ''After the Gold Rush
''After the Gold Rush'' is the third studio album by the Canadian-American musician Neil Young, released in September 1970 on Reprise Records, catalogue number RS 6383. It is one of four high-profile albums (all charting within the top fifteen) ...
'' (1970)
* ''Harvest
Harvesting is the process of gathering a ripe crop from the fields. Reaping is the cutting of grain or pulse for harvest, typically using a scythe, sickle, or reaper. On smaller farms with minimal mechanization, harvesting is the most labor-i ...
'' (1972)
* '' On the Beach'' (1974)
* '' Tonight's the Night'' (1975)
* '' Zuma'' with Crazy Horse (1975)
* ''Long May You Run
''Long May You Run'' is a studio album credited to the Stills–Young Band, a collaboration between Stephen Stills and Neil Young, released in 1976 on Reprise Records. It peaked at #26 on the ''Billboard'' 200 and was certified gold in the Unite ...
'' with Stephen Stills (1976)
* ''American Stars 'n Bars
''American Stars 'n Bars'' is the eighth studio album by Canadian folk rock songwriter Neil Young with , released on Reprise Records in 1977. Compiled from recording sessions scattered over a 29-month period, it includes " Like a Hurricane", one o ...
'' (1977)
* ''Comes a Time
''Comes a Time'' is the ninth studio album by Canadian singer-songwriter Neil Young, released by Reprise Records in October 1978. Its songs are written as moralizing discourses on love's failures and recovering from worldly troubles. They are la ...
'' (1978)
* ''Rust Never Sleeps
''Rust Never Sleeps'' is an album with both studio and live tracks by Canadian American singer-songwriter Neil Young and American band Crazy Horse. It was released on June 22, 1979, by Reprise Records. Most of the album was recorded live, then o ...
'' (1979)
* ''Hawks & Doves
''Hawks & Doves'' is the tenth studio album by Canadian folk rock musician Neil Young, released in October 1980.
Overview
''Hawks & Dovess two sides were recorded in different circumstances, side one being culled from sessions dating from approx ...
'' (1980)
* ''Re·ac·tor
''Re·ac·tor'' is the eleventh studio album by Canadian folk rock musician Neil Young, and his fourth with American rock band Crazy Horse, released on November 2, 1981. It was his last album released through Reprise Records before he moved to G ...
'' with Crazy Horse (1981)
* ''Trans
Trans- is a Latin prefix meaning "across", "beyond", or "on the other side of".
Used alone, trans may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media
* Trans (festival), a former festival in Belfast, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom
* ''Trans'' (film ...
'' (1982)
* ''Everybody's Rockin'
''Everybody's Rockin'' is the 13th studio album by Canadian / American musician Neil Young, released on August 1, 1983. The album was recorded with the Shocking Pinks (a band made up just for the occasion), and features a selection of rockabilly s ...
'' with the Shocking Pinks (1983)
* ''Old Ways
''Old Ways'' is the 14th studio album by Canadian / American musician and singer-songwriter Neil Young, released on August 12, 1985 on Geffen Records.
Background
Young has referred to this album in interviews as ''Old Ways II'', as he had origi ...
'' (1985)
* ''Landing on Water
''Landing on Water'' is the 15th studio album by Neil Young. The album was released on July 21, 1986, by Geffen Records. Several of the songs on the album were resurrected from Neil Young and Crazy Horse's failed 1984 sessions – a set of session ...
'' (1986)
* ''This Note's for You'' with The Bluenotes (1988)
* ''Freedom (Neil Young album), Freedom'' (1989)
* ''Ragged Glory
''Ragged Glory'' is the 18th studio album by Canadian / American singer-songwriter Neil Young, and his sixth album with the band Crazy Horse. It was released by Reprise Records on September 9, 1990.
Recording
The ''Ragged Glory'' sessions took ...
'' with Crazy Horse (1990)
* ''Harvest Moon
The full moon is the lunar phase when the Moon appears fully illuminated from Earth's perspective. This occurs when Earth is located between the Sun and the Moon (when the ecliptic coordinate system, ecliptic longitudes of the Sun and Moon opp ...
'' (1992)
* ''Sleeps with Angels
''Sleeps with Angels'' is the 20th studio album by Canadian musician Neil Young, released on August 16, 1994, on Reprise as a double LP and as a single CD. Co-produced by David Briggs, the album is Young's seventh with Crazy Horse.
Background ...
'' with Crazy Horse (1994)
* '' Mirror Ball'' with Pearl Jam (1995)
* '' Broken Arrow'' with Crazy Horse (1996)
* ''Silver & Gold (Neil Young album), Silver & Gold'' (2000)
* ''Are You Passionate?'' with Booker T. & the M.G.'s (2002)
* ''Greendale (album), Greendale'' with Crazy Horse (2003)
* ''Prairie Wind'' (2005)
* ''Living with War'' (2006) / ''Living with War: "In the Beginning"'' (2006)
* ''Chrome Dreams II'' (2007)
* ''Fork in the Road'' (2009)
* ''Le Noise'' (2010)
* ''Americana (Neil Young & Crazy Horse album), Americana'' with Crazy Horse (2012)
* ''Psychedelic Pill'' with Crazy Horse (2012)
* ''A Letter Home'' (2014)
* ''Storytone'' (2014)
* ''The Monsanto Years'' with Promise of the Real (2015)
* ''Peace Trail (Neil Young album), Peace Trail'' (2016)
* ''Hitchhiker (Neil Young album), Hitchhiker'' (2017, recorded 1976)
* ''The Visitor (Neil Young & Promise of the Real album), The Visitor'' with Promise of the Real (2017)
* ''Colorado (Neil Young album), Colorado'' with Crazy Horse (2019)
* '' Homegrown'' (2020, recorded 1974–75)
* ''Barn (album), Barn'' with Crazy Horse (2021)
* ''Toast (Neil Young & Crazy Horse album), Toast'' with Crazy Horse (2022, recorded 2001)
* ''World Record (Neil Young & Crazy Horse album), World Record'' with Crazy Horse (2022)
* ''All Roads Lead Home'' (2023) (with members of Crazy Horse and released under the name Molina, Talbot, Lofgren and Young)
Legacy and awards
As one of the original founders of Farm Aid
Farm Aid is an annual benefit concert held for American farmers.
History
On July 13, 1985, while performing at the Live Aid benefit concert for the 1983–1985 Ethiopian famine, Bob Dylan made comments about family farmers within the United S ...
(1985–), he remains an active member of the board of directors. For one weekend each October, in Mountain View, California, Young and his ex-wife hosted the Bridge School Benefit, Bridge School Concerts, which drew international talent and sell-out crowds for nearly two decades. He announced in June 2017, however, that he would no longer host the concerts.
''Rolling Stone'' magazine in 2000, ranked Young thirty-fourth in its list of the 100 greatest artists of all time. In 2000, Young was inducted into Canada's Walk of Fame.
In 2003, ''Rolling Stone''s Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time, 500 Greatest Albums of All Time list included ''After the Gold Rush
''After the Gold Rush'' is the third studio album by the Canadian-American musician Neil Young, released in September 1970 on Reprise Records, catalogue number RS 6383. It is one of four high-profile albums (all charting within the top fifteen) ...
'' at number 71, ''Harvest
Harvesting is the process of gathering a ripe crop from the fields. Reaping is the cutting of grain or pulse for harvest, typically using a scythe, sickle, or reaper. On smaller farms with minimal mechanization, harvesting is the most labor-i ...
'' at number 78, ''Déjà Vu
''Déjà vu'' ( , ; "already seen") is a French loanword for the phenomenon of feeling as though one has lived through the present situation before.Schnider, Armin. (2008). ''The Confabulating Mind: How the Brain Creates Reality''. Oxford Univer ...
'' (with Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young) at number 148, ''Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere
''Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere'' is the second studio album by Canadian-American musician Neil Young, released in May 1969 on Reprise Records, catalogue number RS 6349. His first with longtime backing band Crazy Horse, it peaked at number 3 ...
'' at number 208, '' Tonight's the Night'' at number 331, and ''Rust Never Sleeps
''Rust Never Sleeps'' is an album with both studio and live tracks by Canadian American singer-songwriter Neil Young and American band Crazy Horse. It was released on June 22, 1979, by Reprise Records. Most of the album was recorded live, then o ...
'' at number 350. And in 2004, on their The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time, 500 Greatest Songs of All Time list, ''Rolling Stone'' included "Rockin' in the Free World
"Rockin' in the Free World" is a song by Canadian-American singer, musician and songwriter Neil Young, released on Young's seventeenth studio album ''Freedom'' (1989).Buckley, 1206 Two versions of the song bookend the album, similarly to "Hey Hey, ...
" at number 214, " Heart of Gold" at number 297, "Cortez the Killer
"Cortez the Killer" is a song by Canadian singer-songwriter Neil Young from his 1975 album, '' Zuma''. It was recorded with the band Crazy Horse. It has since been ranked No. 39 on '' Guitar World's'' 100 Greatest Guitar Solos and No. 329 on '' Ro ...
" at number 321, and "Ohio (Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young song), Ohio" (with Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young) at number 385.
In 2006, when ''Paste (magazine), Paste'' magazine compiled a "Greatest Living Songwriters" list, Young was ranked second behind Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan, born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Often regarded as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture during a career sp ...
. (While Young and Dylan have occasionally played together in concert, they have never collaborated on a song together or played on each other's records). He ranked thirty-ninth on ''VH1's 100 Greatest Artist of Hard Rock'' that same year. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame explained that while Young has "avoided sticking to one style for very long, the unifying factors throughout Young's peripatetic musical journey have been his unmistakable voice, his raw and expressive guitar playing, and his consummate songwriting skill."
According to Acclaimed Music
Acclaimed Music is a website created by Henrik Franzon, a statistician from Stockholm, Sweden in September 2001. Franzon has statistically aggregated hundreds of published lists that rank songs and albums into aggregated rankings by year, deca ...
, Young is the seventh-most celebrated artist in popular music history.
''After the Gold Rush
''After the Gold Rush'' is the third studio album by the Canadian-American musician Neil Young, released in September 1970 on Reprise Records, catalogue number RS 6383. It is one of four high-profile albums (all charting within the top fifteen) ...
'', ''Harvest
Harvesting is the process of gathering a ripe crop from the fields. Reaping is the cutting of grain or pulse for harvest, typically using a scythe, sickle, or reaper. On smaller farms with minimal mechanization, harvesting is the most labor-i ...
'', ''Déjà Vu
''Déjà vu'' ( , ; "already seen") is a French loanword for the phenomenon of feeling as though one has lived through the present situation before.Schnider, Armin. (2008). ''The Confabulating Mind: How the Brain Creates Reality''. Oxford Univer ...
'', and "Ohio (Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young song), Ohio" have all been inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.
Young's political outspokenness and social awareness influenced artists such as Blind Melon, Phish
Phish is an American rock band formed in Burlington, Vermont, in 1983. The band is known for musical improvisation, extended jams, blending of genres, and a dedicated fan base. The band consists of guitarist Trey Anastasio, bassist Mike Gordon ...
, Pearl Jam
Pearl Jam is an American rock band formed in Seattle, Washington, in 1990. The band's lineup consists of founding members Jeff Ament (bass guitar), Stone Gossard (rhythm guitar), Mike McCready (lead guitar), and Eddie Vedder (lead vocals, guita ...
, and Nirvana
( , , ; sa, निर्वाण} ''nirvāṇa'' ; Pali: ''nibbāna''; Prakrit: ''ṇivvāṇa''; literally, "blown out", as in an oil lampRichard Gombrich, ''Theravada Buddhism: A Social History from Ancient Benāres to Modern Colombo.' ...
. Young is referred to as "the Godfather of Grunge
Grunge (sometimes referred to as the Seattle sound) is an alternative rock genre and subculture that emerged during the in the American Pacific Northwest state of Washington, particularly in Seattle and nearby towns. Grunge fuses elements of p ...
" because of the influence he had on Kurt Cobain
Kurt Donald Cobain (February 20, 1967 – April 5, 1994) was an American musician who served as the lead vocalist, guitarist and primary songwriter of the rock band Nirvana. Through his angst-fueled songwriting and anti-establishment persona ...
and Eddie Vedder
Eddie Jerome Vedder (born Edward Louis Severson III; December 23, 1964) is an American singer, musician, and songwriter best known as the lead vocalist and one of four guitarists of the rock band Pearl Jam. He also appeared as a guest vocalist i ...
and the entire grunge movement. Vedder inducted Young into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1995, citing him as a huge influence. Young is cited as being a significant influence on the experimental rock group Sonic Youth
Sonic Youth was an American rock band based in New York City, formed in 1981. Founding members Thurston Moore (guitar, vocals), Kim Gordon (bass, vocals, guitar) and Lee Ranaldo (guitar, vocals) remained together for the entire history of the b ...
, and Thom Yorke of Radiohead. Yorke recounted of first hearing Young after sending a demo tape into a magazine when he was 16, who favorably compared his singing voice to Young's. Unaware of Young at that time, he bought ''After the Gold Rush
''After the Gold Rush'' is the third studio album by the Canadian-American musician Neil Young, released in September 1970 on Reprise Records, catalogue number RS 6383. It is one of four high-profile albums (all charting within the top fifteen) ...
'' (1970), and "immediately fell in love" with his work, calling it "extraordinary".
The Australian rock group Powderfinger named themselves after Young's song "Powderfinger (song), Powderfinger" from ''Rust Never Sleeps
''Rust Never Sleeps'' is an album with both studio and live tracks by Canadian American singer-songwriter Neil Young and American band Crazy Horse. It was released on June 22, 1979, by Reprise Records. Most of the album was recorded live, then o ...
'' (1979). The members of the Constantines have occasionally played Neil Young tribute shows under the name Horsey Craze.
Jason Bond, an East Carolina University biologist, discovered a new species of trapdoor spider in 2007 and named it ''Myrmekiaphila neilyoungi'' after Young, his favorite singer.
In 2001, Young was awarded the Spirit of Liberty award by the civil liberties group People for the American Way. Young was honored as the MusiCares Person of the Year on January 29, 2010, two nights prior to the 52nd Annual Grammy Awards. He was also nominated for two Grammy Awards: Best Solo Rock Vocal Performance for "Fork in the Road" and Best Boxed or Special Limited Edition Package for ''The Archives Vol. 1 1963–1972, Neil Young Archives Vol. 1 (1963–1972)''. Young won the latter Grammy Award. In 2010, he was ranked No. 26 in Gibson.com's Top 50 Guitarists of All Time.
Other honors include:
*Canadian Music Hall of Fame, 1982
*Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (RRHOF), sometimes simply referred to as the Rock Hall, is a museum
A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and othe ...
He has been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame twice: first in 1995 for his solo work and in 1997 as a member of Buffalo Springfield.
* In 2006, Artist of the Year by the Americana Music Association, American Music Association.
Albums recorded in tribute to Young by various artists include:
* 1989 – '' The Bridge: A Tribute to Neil Young'', Caroline
* 1994 – ''Borrowed Tunes: A Tribute to Neil Young'', Sony Music Canada, 2xCD acoustic and electric
* 1999 – ''This Note's for You Too!: A Tribute to Neil Young'', Inbetweens Records 2xCD
* 2000 – ''Getting' High on Neil Young: A Bluegrass Tribute'', CMH Records (same as 1998 entry)
* 2001 – ''Everybody Knows This Is Norway: A Norwegian Tribute to Neil Young'', Switch Off Records
* 2001 – ''Mirrorball Songs – A Tribute to Neil Young'', SALD, Japan
* 2006 – ''Headed for the Ditch: a Michigan Tribute to Neil Young'', Lower Peninsula Records 2xLP
* 2007 – ''Borrowed Tunes II: A Tribute to Neil Young'', 2xCD acoustic and electric, Universal Music Canada 2xCD
* 2007 – ''Like A Hurricane'' (16-track tribute album provided with the December 2007 issue of Uncut Magazine)
* 2008 – ''More Barn – A Tribute to Neil Young'', Slothtrop Music
* 2008 – ''Cinnamon Girl – Women Artists Cover Neil Young for Charity'', American Laundromat Records 2xCD
* 2012 – ''Music Is Love: A Singer-Songwriter Tribute to the Music of CSNY'' Route 66 2xCD
Grammy Awards
, -
, 1990 , , ''Freedom'' , , Grammy Award for Best Male Rock Vocal Performance, Best Male Rock Vocal Performance , ,
, -
, 1991 , , "Rockin' in the Free World" , , Best Male Rock Vocal Performance , ,
, -
, rowspan="3" , 1994 , , rowspan="2" , "Harvest Moon" , , Grammy Award for Record of the Year, Record of the Year , ,
, -
, Grammy Award for Song of the Year, Song of the Year , ,
, -
, "My Back Pages" , , Grammy Award for Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal, Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal , ,
, -
, rowspan="2" , 1995 , , "Philadelphia" , , Best Male Rock Vocal Performance , ,
, -
, ''Sleeps with Angels'' , , Grammy Award for Best Rock Album, Best Rock Album , ,
, -
, rowspan="4" , 1996 , , "Peace and Love" , , Best Male Rock Vocal Performance , ,
, -
, "Downtown" , , Grammy Award for Best Rock Song, Best Rock Song , ,
, -
, rowspan="2" , ''Mirror Ball'' , , Best Rock Album , ,
, -
, Grammy Award for Best Recording Package, Best Recording Package , ,
, -
, 1997 , , ''Broken Arrow'' , , Best Rock Album , ,
, -
, rowspan="2" , 2006 , , "The Painter" , , Grammy Award for Best Solo Rock Vocal Performance, Best Solo Rock Vocal Performance , ,
, -
, , ''Prairie Wind'' , , Best Rock Album , ,
, -
, rowspan="3" , 2007 , , rowspan="2" , "Lookin' for a Leader" , , Best Solo Rock Vocal Performance , ,
, -
, Best Rock Song , ,
, -
, ''Living with War'' , , Best Rock Album , ,
, -
, 2009 , , "No Hidden Path" , , Best Solo Rock Vocal Performance , ,
, -
, rowspan="3" , 2010 , , "Fork in the Road" , , Best Solo Rock Vocal Performance , ,
, -
, ''The Archives Vol. 1 1963–1972'' , , Grammy Award for Best Boxed or Special Limited Edition Package, Best Boxed or Special Limited Edition Package , ,
, -
, Neil Young , , MusiCares Person of the Year , ,
, -
, rowspan="3" , 2011 , , rowspan="2" , "Angry World" , , Best Solo Rock Vocal Performance , ,
, -
, Best Rock Song , ,
, -
, ''Le Noise'' , , Best Rock Album , ,
, -
, 2014 , , ''Psychedelic Pill'' , , Best Rock Album , ,
, -
, 2015 , , ''A Letter Home'' , , Best Boxed or Special Limited Edition Package , ,
Juno Awards
, -
, rowspan=2 , Juno Awards of 2011, 2011 , , Artist of the Year , , Neil Young , ,
, -
, Juno Award for Adult Alternative Album of the Year, Adult Alternative Album of the Year , , ''Le Noise'' , ,
, -
, Juno Awards of 2008, 2008 , , Juno Award for Adult Alternative Album of the Year, Adult Alternative Album of the Year , , ''Chrome Dreams II'' , ,
, -
, Juno Awards of 2007, 2007 , , Adult Alternative Album of the Year , , ''Living With War'' , ,
, -
, rowspan=3 , Juno Awards of 2006, 2006 , , Adult Alternative Album of the Year , , ''Prairie Wind'' , ,
, -
, Jack Richardson Producer of the Year , , "The Painter" , ,
, -
, Juno Award for Songwriter of the Year, Songwriter of the Year , , "The Painter", "When God Made Me", "Prairie Wind" , ,
, -
, rowspan=2 , Juno Awards of 2001, 2001 , , Best Male Artist , , Neil Young , ,
, -
, Juno Award for Roots & Traditional Album of the Year - Solo, Best Roots & Traditional Album – Solo , , ''Silver & Gold'' , ,
, -
, Juno Awards of 1997, 1997 , , Male Vocalist of the Year , , Neil Young , ,
, -
, rowspan=2 , Juno Awards of 1996, 1996 , , Juno Award for Rock Album of the Year, Best Rock Album , , ''Mirror Ball'' , ,
, -
, Male Vocalist of the Year , , Neil Young , ,
, -
, rowspan=3 , Juno Awards of 1995, 1995 , , Songwriter of the Year , , Neil Young , ,
, -
, Male Vocalist of the Year , , Neil Young , ,
, -
, Juno Award for Entertainer of the Year, Entertainer of the Year , , Neil Young , ,
, -
, rowspan=2 , Juno Awards of 1994, 1994 , , Single of the Year , , "Harvest Moon" , ,
, -
, Juno Award for Album of the Year, Album of the Year , , ''Harvest Moon'' , ,
, -
, rowspan=2 , Juno Awards of 1993, 1993 , , Songwriter of the Year , , Neil Young , ,
, -
, Male Vocalist of the Year , , Neil Young , ,
, -
, Juno Awards of 1991, 1991 , , Male Vocalist of the Year , , Neil Young , ,
, -
, Juno Awards of 1990, 1990 , , Male Vocalist of the Year , , Neil Young , ,
, -
, Juno Awards of 1989, 1989 , , Male Vocalist of the Year , , Neil Young , ,
, -
, Juno Awards of 1986, 1986 , , Male Vocalist of the Year , , Neil Young , ,
, -
, Juno Awards of 1982, 1982 , , Male Vocalist of the Year , , Neil Young , ,
, -
, Juno Awards of 1981, 1981 , , Male Vocalist of the Year , , Neil Young , ,
, -
, Juno Awards of 1980, 1980 , , Male Vocalist of the Year , , Neil Young , ,
, -
, Juno Awards of 1979, 1979 , , Male Vocalist of the Year , , Neil Young , ,
, -
, Juno Awards of 1975, 1975 , , Composer of the Year , , Neil Young , ,
MTV Video Music Awards
, -
, 1984 MTV Video Music Awards, 1984 , , "Wonderin'" , , Most Experimental Video , ,
, -
, rowspan="2" , 1989 MTV Video Music Awards, 1989 , , rowspan="2" , "This Note's for You" , , Video of the Year , ,
, -
, Viewer's Choice Award , ,
See also
* Canadian rock
* List of peace activists
* Music of Canada
References
Sources
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
* McKay, George (2009
"'Crippled with nerves": popular music and polio'.
''Popular Music'' 28:3, 341–365.
* McKay, George (2013) ''Shakin' All Over: Popular Music and Disability''. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.
*
*
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External links
Official archive with rare recordings
*
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Young, Neil
Neil Young,
1945 births
Living people
20th-century Canadian guitarists
20th-century Canadian keyboardists
20th-century Canadian male singers
20th-century Canadian multi-instrumentalists
20th-century Canadian pianists
21st-century American guitarists
21st-century Canadian guitarists
21st-century Canadian male singers
21st-century Canadian male writers
21st-century Canadian pianists
American activists
American country guitarists
American country rock singers
American country singer-songwriters
American folk guitarists
American folk rock musicians
American folk musicians
American hard rock musicians
American harmonica players
American male guitarists
American male singer-songwriters
American rock guitarists
American rock pianists
American tenors
Buffalo Springfield members
Canadian activists
Canadian anti–Iraq War activists
Canadian country guitarists
Canadian country rock musicians
Canadian country singer-songwriters
Canadian folk guitarists
Canadian folk rock musicians
Canadian folk singer-songwriters
Canadian hard rock musicians
Canadian harmonica players
Canadian male guitarists
Canadian male pianists
Canadian male singer-songwriters
Canadian Music Hall of Fame inductees
Canadian people of American descent
Canadian record producers
Canadian rock guitarists
Canadian rock keyboardists
Canadian rock pianists
Canadian rock singers
Canadian tenors
Countertenors
Crazy Horse (band) members
Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young members
Film directors from Toronto
Film directors from Winnipeg
Geffen Records artists
Grammy Award winners
Grunge musicians
Jack Richardson Producer of the Year Award winners
Juno Award for Adult Alternative Album of the Year winners
Juno Award for Album of the Year winners
Juno Award for Artist of the Year winners
Lead guitarists
Members of the Order of Manitoba
Musicians from Toronto
Musicians from Winnipeg
Naturalized citizens of the United States
Officers of the Order of Canada
People from Laurel Canyon, Los Angeles
People from the San Francisco Bay Area
People from Topanga, California
People with epilepsy
People with polio
Reprise Records artists
Singer-songwriters from California
The Stray Gators members
Third Man Records artists
Writers from Toronto
Writers from Winnipeg
21st-century American male writers
Canadian male songwriters
American male songwriters