Neil Young Discussion Thread

[twilight]

Holy crap.
Just started getting into Neil Young since I got a turntable and dug out my parents old copy of Harvest.
After spinning that a couple of times I rushed out and bought my own copy along with On The Beach and Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere.

I'm pretty impressed and thought it'd be cool to get a little bit of discussion going about the man and his work.

-What do you think of the "Godfather of Grunge" title?
-Prefer him solo or with Crazy Horse,The Stray Gators,Buffalo Springfield or Crosby,Stills,Nash & Young?
-Which album do you like the best?
-Which live album do you like the best?
-Is he your favourite Canadian?
-Prefer your Neil folky or rock'n'rolly?
-Are Trans and Everybody's Rockin' as bad as I heard?

-Twi

[Romero]

The "Godfather of Grunge" title is kinda dumb but he was definitely an influence.

The "grunge" band Mudhoney quoted the end lick to "Cinnamon Girl" in one of their songs, I think as a nod to that whole thing.

Check out "Rust Never Sleeps" at least the electric half (or "Cinnamon Girl") He could make some real thick, heavy racket when he wanted to. I'm not a big fan and don't follow him but I think he wrote some great, beautiful songs.

I prefer him solo/Crazy Horse. I have never much cared for CSN&Y.

He's a better Canadian than Bryan Adams.

[Ilash]

-What do you think of the "Godfather of Grunge" title?

Well, you know, it's probably too but I'm not much for Grunge music so this title doesn't really mean very much to me. I simply don't really care if he did create Grunge or not - even if I'm thinking he probably did.

-Prefer him solo or with Crazy Horse,The Stray Gators,Buffalo Springfield or Crosby,Stills,Nash & Young?

Solo or with Crazy Horse. Either way.

-Which album do you like the best?

On the Beach.

-Which live album do you like the best?

I only have Unplugged so far so I can't say but Weld looks great.

-Is he your favourite Canadian?

Well, him or William Shatner, I suppose. Not that I know many Canadians.

-Prefer your Neil folky or rock'n'rolly?

Folky by a hair but I love both aspects.

[Adam C]

-What do you think of the "Godfather of Grunge" title?

It's a debatable title. On the one hand Mudhoney, Nirvana, and Pearl Jam claim him as an influence, as does Dinosaur Jr., which was an influence on Grunge. And arguably Crazyhorse laid down the proto-type with their blend of guitar noise and personalised song-writing.

On other, many of the Grunge bands don't sound anything like Young and Crazy Horse (then again who does? It's a pretty idiosyncratic act) and Grunge's antecedents were probably more Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, the Stooges, and the Sex Pistols as well as the Pixies and Dinosaur Jr. And of course I suppose that depends what we mean by "grunge". Earlier Seattle acts like Green River, Mudhoney, and the Melvins all had a punkier, much dirtier sound. Bands like Soundgarden, Pearl Jam, and Nirvana tended to have a cleaner, more 70s hard-rock sound with sludgier distortion.

And the debate becomes moot with bands like Candlebox and Bush. And even more so once we hit Creed.

-Prefer him solo or with Crazy Horse,The Stray Gators,Buffalo Springfield or Crosby,Stills,Nash & Young?

All the above depending on my mood. Of course all the songs he has done (or at least the older ones that matter like "Ohio" and "Helpless") with CSN&Y sound like Neil Young sounds with better backing vocals than well...CS&N songs.

-Which album do you like the best?
-Which live album do you like the best?

Can't answer that properly since I actually don't have that many Neil Young albums thanks to my broad musical tastes which diffuse my discography in many ways.

-Is he your favourite Canadian?

My favourite famous Canadian yes.

-Prefer your Neil folky or rock'n'rolly?

Again depends upon my mood, though I've listened to Decade enough, easily transitioning between the more countryish numbers and the rock numbers.

-Are Trans and Everybody's Rockin' as bad as I heard?

Dunno. Haven't heard them and really have no desire to.

[Adam C]

He's a better Canadian than Bryan Adams.

Granted, that's like saying "He's a better Englishman than the Gallagher Brothers."

[jesse_custer]

Grunge's antecedents were probably more Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, the Stooges, and the Sex Pistols as well as the Pixies and Dinosaur Jr.

To me some of Velvet Underground's stuff is grungy.

[leonaozaki]

Holy crap.
Just started getting into Neil Young since I got a turntable and dug out my parents old copy of Harvest.
After spinning that a couple of times I rushed out and bought my own copy along with On The Beach and Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere.

I like most of the singles off of Harvest but I've never been able to been get into it as a record. I do like "Out on the Weekend," though. On the Beach and Everybody Knows are two of my favorite Young records.

-What do you think of the "Godfather of Grunge" title?

It was a lot of hype, for sure. I don't know how many of the grunge bands looked to him as a direct influence, although Sonic Youth and Pixies did, who in turn influenced a lot of those grunge bands, so maybe there was something to it after all.

Certainly "Cinnamon Girl" sounds like a lot of the music of the early 90's, but then so does "Helter Skelter" and "Gigantic." Young had the look down, though: look at the cover to Everybody Knows: it's like the Grunge Outfit (TM)!

-Prefer him solo or with Crazy Horse,The Stray Gators,Buffalo Springfield or Crosby,Stills,Nash & Young?

Either solo or with Crazy Horse. I do like Harvest and Harvest Moon but the Stray Gators aren't really that exciting as a band. Buffalo Springfield, on the other hand, was a great band and I dig their records. But as great as Neil's songs were with them it wasn't until he went solo and hooked up with Crazy Horse that he became a great artist.

CSNY? Meh. Stephen Stills is a great guitarist when he wants to be, and CSN have great harmonies. But other than that they are overhyped, over-medicated and largely talentless hacks. They have moments of transcendence (Suite: Judy Blue Eyes, Teach Your Children) but in general they bore me to tears.

So when Young hooks up with them it seems pretty pointless. David Crosby admitted as much during one of their reunions: "Neil needs us like a stag needs a hat rack."

All that said, check out of "Through My Sails" on Young's Zuma. It's CSNY and it's great.

-Which album do you like the best?

Yikes. I mean, Young is one of my favorite artists, not all that far below Dylan (probably my favorite) in my estimation, so it's hard for me to pick a favorite. I'll go with five:

1) Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere
2) Tonight's the Night
3) On the Beach
4) Sleeps with Angels
5) Rust Never Sleeps

-Which live album do you like the best?

Live Rust, definitely, although Weld ranks a close second.

-Is he your favourite Canadian?

Probably. Although 4/5's of the Band are also Canadian, so it's close.

-Prefer your Neil folky or rock'n'rolly?

Well, I like the loud, rock and roll Neil best, myself, although some of his greatest songs are his acoustic folk songs. Generally his acoustic albums tend to drag a little for me, except for the kooky brilliance that is Comes a Time.

-Are Trans and Everybody's Rockin' as bad as I heard?

-Twi

I have not heard either, although I have heard good things about Trans. Most people I read agree Everybody's Rockin' is pretty much an unrelenting drag.

Young's problem in the 80's was that his son was diagnosed with cerebral palsy (a pretty severe case from what I understand) and he and his wife were trying a fairly radical process to try and help him. It didn't work and it traumatized Young for years. So a lot of his 80's work comes from that perspective-- of trying, and failing, to find new ways to communicate.

If you're into Young at all, you might check out Shakey. It's a great biography of Young and a great read.

rob

[Ontir]

I saw the trailer for Déja Vu last night. It looks really good. It's funny to see the people storm out of the concert. They bought tickets to a CSNY show, POLITICAL has always been a part of the equation!

(I was going to give you a link, but imdb doesn't have one!)

[CoreyB]

Holy crap.
Just started getting into Neil Young since I got a turntable and dug out my parents old copy of Harvest.

I wish I could get my turntable to work through our stereo. I think I know what I need to get to make it work, I just haven't made the time to go look for it.

-What do you think of the "Godfather of Grunge" title?

Probably accurate. He certainly provided the visual template, as someone mentioned.

-Prefer him solo or with Crazy Horse,The Stray Gators,Buffalo Springfield or Crosby,Stills,Nash & Young?

Solo, Buffalo Springfield and CSNY, although to be fair I haven't heard much of his stuff with The Stray Gators, and have nothing against his work with Crazy Horse.

-Which album do you like the best?

Harvest, but I have an extremely limited sampling of his discography. As in, Harvest is all I have.

-Which live album do you like the best?

Don't have any yet.

-Is he your favourite Canadian?

Joni Mitchell probably bumps him but he's certainly up there.

-Prefer your Neil folky or rock'n'rolly?

Both are good but I tend to the more folky stuff.

-Are Trans and Everybody's Rockin' as bad as I heard?

Don't know but I've heard they're clunkers. I think I remember reading AllMusic's reviews of them and they weren't very complimentary. I'm a completist though, so I'll probably get them eventually. I have lots of other stuff of his to get first, though.

[Adam C]

Since no one here seems to have much familiarity with either of his most derided works I've decided to trawl You Tube for some videos of that era to present as discussion pieces:

Wonderin'

And now Trans... (surprisingly there's more of this than EVERYBODY'S ROCKIN' even if it's all fan made videos).

Sample and Hold

Computer Cowboy

[howyadoin]

Big Neil fan here. I definitely lean towards the heavy shit, but there's lots of the other stuff to love, too. And I definitely couldn't pick a favourite out of the 2 shows I've seen - one with Crazy Horse, and one solo acoustic gig.

"Wonderin'" is a cool tune, but from what I remember, the rest of the Shocking Pinks album is pretty worthless.

The odd thing that you always hear from the Neil-knockers is that he's apparently this misanthropic, humourless asshole. Ever see any interviews with the guy? He's fucking hilarious.

[suttercain]

What do you think of the "Godfather of Grunge" title?
Not a big fan of it.

Prefer him solo or with Crazy Horse,The Stray Gators,Buffalo Springfield or Crosby,Stills,Nash & Young?
Solo and w/ Crazy Horse.

Which album do you like the best?
After the Gold Rush

Which live album do you like the best?
N/A

Is he your favorite Canadian?
No. I don't like foreigners.

Prefer your Neil folky or rock'n'rolly?
Folk You

Are Trans and Everybody's Rockin' as bad as I heard?
Yes

[berk]

-What do you think of the "Godfather of Grunge" title?
I'd think that tag would be more of an insult than an honour.
-Prefer him solo or with Crazy Horse,The Stray Gators,Buffalo Springfield or Crosby,Stills,Nash & Young?
Solo. Not even close, although I do like the stray song from some of those acts.
-Which album do you like the best?
After the Goldrush, maybe. Hard to say.
-Which live album do you like the best?
Rust Never Sleeps, if I have the right title.
-Is he your favourite Canadian?
No. Not sure I have one.
-Prefer your Neil folky or rock'n'rolly?
Bit of both, but I think the acoustic stuff is a little more consistent.
-Are Trans and Everybody's Rockin' as bad as I heard?
No, those are two of my favourite albums of his. Trans is pretty derivative of people like Eno, but still fun to listen to. Everbody's Rockin, again, won't win any points for originality, but was a solid and very enjoyable evocation of that music. I'd sooner listen to that than, say, the Stray Cats.

[Buried Alien]

-What do you think of the "Godfather of Grunge" title?

The "Godfather of Grunge" title is kinda dumb but he was definitely an influence.

Moreover, it's sort of misleading. From the title, you'd think that Neil Young spent a great amount of his recording career making records that featured *alot* of overdriven, distorted electric guitar, but so much of Young's work is acoustic guitar-based.

Buried Alien (The Fastest Post Alive!)

[Matthew E]

-What do you think of the "Godfather of Grunge" title?

I'm a Neil Young fan but I have no particular thoughts about grunge so I'll leave that to the grunge fans.

-Prefer him solo or with Crazy Horse,The Stray Gators,Buffalo Springfield or Crosby,Stills,Nash & Young?

...or the Restless, or the Shocking Pinks, or the Bluenotes...

Well, I like Buffalo Springfield okay, and there were actually a few times when CSN&Y weren't just wasting our time. For all the other cases, I find that there's no effective difference between Young solo and Young with whatever backups he's assembled.

-Which album do you like the best?

There are a lot to choose from. I might put these in my top five, in no particular order:

Freedom
Harvest
After the Goldrush
Sleeps With Angels
Tonight's the Night

Life isn't very well regarded, but I like an unusual number of the songs on it.

-Which live album do you like the best?

I'm not really a live album kind of guy.

-Is he your favourite Canadian?

He's a candidate for my favourite Canadian musician.

-Prefer your Neil folky or rock'n'rolly?

There's really not that much of a difference.

-Are Trans and Everybody's Rockin' as bad as I heard?

I kind of like them. Trans has some interesting stuff on it. Everybody's Rockin' isn't that strong and is one of the shortest albums I've run into, but it's listenable and fun in places.