Neil Young

Neil Young Grunge

"I guess Neil Young is the king of rock & roll."

Rolling Stone review by Kurt Loder of 1990 album Ragged Glory

Neil Young News


"I sing the song because I love the man." So what more can I say?

Here's a collection of articles and links of a Neil Young biography forming a chronology and timeline of his musical career. Starting all the way back to when Neil Percival Kenneth Ragland Young was born on November 12, 1945 in Toronto, Ontario. Follow Neil's career from the classic phase of Buffalo Springfield, to Crazy Horse, onto Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young. On through the punk, shakey and grunge phases. There's a Neil sound for almost every mood - rock, jazz, folk, country, grunge, feedback metal.

"Young may have jettisoned lots of folks along the way, but he's never sacrificed integrity on the altar of commerce. And that's why we still listen", writes Marc Weingarten on Slate which sums up succintly the analysis of Neil Young's impact on rock music while remaining true to his musical values.

Probably one of the most remarkable legends about Neil's music is that he wrote "Cinnamon Girl", "Down by the River" and "Cowgirl in the Sand" all in one afternoon. Many artists would be content to create a single masterpiece over the course of their career. But according to the "Decade" liner notes written by Young himself, he wrote the three songs for the album "Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere" while lying in bed with a fever of 103 degrees in Topanga Canyon. And here are some more interesting Neil facts.

As time moved on, the legends continued to proliferate. One of the most well known is that Neil Young was the catalyst for the grunge movement which spawned the bands Nirvana, Pearl Jam, and countless others. So is Young the "Godfather of Grunge"? Some say so and some don't. More on Neil Young as the Godfather of Grunge.

cash_finger

Neil continues to give the middle finger to the establishment on everything from the environment to geo-politics. Kinda like our man Johnny Cash.

  • Paul Nelson writes in Rolling Stone, on 27th July 1978 on the Boarding House shows:

  • May 26th & 27th, 1978 - YOUNG'S ONE STOP WORLD TOUR, The Boarding House, San Francisco, in Rolling Stone.

    Dave Marsh writes on Neil Young in The Rolling Stone book History of Rock:

    For more on these two legends of folk-rock, see Bob Dylan and Neil Young page.

    John Rockwell writing in the New York Times article Neil Young - As Good As Bob Dylan?: "One hopes that [Decade] will inspire the critical reassessment that will establish [Young] rightfully in the pantheon of post-war American popular art."

  • Steve Erickson writes on Young's 70's work:

    From Steve Erickson in the New York Times, 7/30/00

  • Piero Scaruffi writes on The History of Rock Music - The Sixties:

    The History of Rock Music - The Sixties

  • From RollingStone.com 1993 article by Alan Light:

  • In the hand written liner notes of Decade, Neil writes: ''Heart of Gold' put me in the middle of the road. Traveling there soon became a bore so I headed for the ditch.' See Neil Young Interviews for more comments on the success of Harvest.

  • From the St. Louis Post-Dispatch article: "NEIL YOUNG ... THROUGH THE YEARS ; A LOOK AT FOUR-PLUS DECADES OF MUSIC FROM THE LEGENDARY ROCKER" By Barry Gilbert, Jeff Daniel, Daniel Durchholz, Richard Newman on 10 August 2003:

    For more on Neil's impact on Pearl Jam, Nirvana, Sonic Youth, Uncle Tupelo and others, see the Neil Young influences page.

    From Bad News Beat.

  • From the BBC :

  • From the Bonnaroo 2003 Artist Bios: Neil Young & Crazy Horse:

    From The Observer, 17 Aug 2003, by Kitty Empire:

  • In PERFECT SOUND FOREVER by Billy Bob Hargus (November 1995):

    Uncompromising and "Rock's ultimate survivor" -- Long may he run.

    Biography Links

    Dave Zimmer's Bio on Neil - The Godfather of Grunge.

    Shakey Biography and other Neil books

    Rolling Stone - Neil bio, video and song clips, photos, interviews, articles

    Jam Music - Neil bio, photos, articles

    VH1 - Neil video

    Rock and Roll Hall of Fame - Official Inductee Page, 1995 with timeline

    Dot Music - Neil Young Section - Reviews and clips

    Background on Neil

    Neil Young on Wikipedia

    Neil Young FAQ

    Googlism of "Neil Young"

    Here are a few of the Googlism results on Neil:



    For more on Neil's music and the music and bands that he influenced from alt.country to grunge, check out a Neil Young Blog.

    Thrasher's Wheat - Neil Young Archives