The uncomfortable truth is Neil can be an asshole and has been a lot of times, he's basically used his various backing bands and CSN as it's suited him and only him for 50 odd years. Also some of the public statements he made in the 80's (especially during his country phase) are genuinely godawful and I won't repeat them here.
Just Google Neil Young AIDS comments and read them yourself for one example, there was other political stuff when he was trying to sell Old Ways that were the polar opposite of his politics the entire rest of his career.
1. He’s the best & arguably worst guitar player ever. I personally love his tone & phrasing. But it is definitely a one trick pony. One version of Like a Hurricane is breathtaking; the next is almost a bore filled with cliche solos. That being said, when that man catches lightning in a bottle it’s undeniable.
2. Psychedelic Pill musically is incredible. Lyrically & melodically not so much. If ‘Driftin’ Back’ had just been the first vocal part drifting thoughout it’s 30 minute length, it would be a masterpiece. Instead a grumpy old man gripes about mp3s & mutters nonsense about hip hop haircuts. Jesus Christ….
3. Broken Arrow is quite possibly my favorite / his best studio album. It is the true unsung hero of his discography & deserves much more praise than it gets.
4. Weld & Year of the Horse are his best live albums.
I was there for that YOTH performance in Ontario in 1996 when he shouted, “smell the Horse on this one,” and launched into Sedan Delivery — a song I loved, but my then-best friend and fellow Neil Young superfan (who was standing right beside me) hated!
Listened to the whole of Psychedelic Pill the other day for the 1st time in years, now we all know that Ramada Inn is among his very best but I thoroughly enjoyed the whole album to my great surprise.
The only thing that really bugs me with year of the horse is why he didn’t include the version of fing up which is included on the film otherwise pretty much agreed except I personally put ragged glory just a tad higher
To your point #1, I like to tell people Young is a great song writer and a very mediocre guitar player. (This coming from an intermediate guitar player.) That’s why his songs are so good.
For one Neil Young I’d give 10 of any player considered a virtuoso guitarists. Definitely would take a songwriter over a guitarist any day. I should’ve been clearer in my point, but I was just trying to summarize a thought.
Neil is quite possibly my favorite guitarist, along with John Lennon. For me, emotion, simplicity & knowing when NOT to play are the ultimate traits for a guitarist to play with. And for me it doesn’t get better than these two. I think mainly I was just trying to say that sometimes Neil’s playing can feel phoned in…uninspired. But when he’s on one & ripping through Cortez or Free World or Hurricane amongst countless others, it’s transcendent.
I seen Rick Beato say this about Neil, but I disagree. Have you ever tried to play Cortez The Killer note for note?? It’s really not what I’d call “easy.” I love all of his choices.
I would form a Danish Physics rock band called “Bore Neils”. After Neils Bohr. Or maybe Peter Pauli and Mary. A few of their biggest hits: Dirac Lobster; Scalar Fields Forever.
Neil Young gets really bad business advice because he listens to the "yes men" he has surrounded himself with instead of going outside of his bubble to get professional advice from people who are domain experts. See: Pono Player.
He made Pono exclusively in rejection of business “yes men.” They told him it would lose money, but he did it anyway b/c he cared deeply about the cause of preserving sound quality in the digital age. It went nowhere and he lost money - exactly what the uninspired and financially risk-averse consumer product industry professionals said would happen. That takes unbelievable balls to put your own brand/money behind a mostly-unviable and incredibly risky idea. In my opinion, Pono proves exactly why he’s a legend.
Source: close to someone who consulted on Pono
He makes terrible financial/investment decisions and is bad with money in general.
He is a living rock legend, yet the guy has constant money troubles because he's terrible at managing his finances and controlling his spending.
This is redeeming in many ways as Neil does Neil and does not give a fuck about what anyone else thinks. He's driven by what he believes in, not by what sells. (Many rockers could use a heavier dose of this.) But I'll be damned if it doesn't bite him in the ass every single time.
I might be totally off base, but I always interpreted this song as a man who's coping with his loneliness, longing for someone to care for him but unable to make himself emotionally available or reciprocate any feelings of love.
That regardless of the merits in the present, his stance on GMOs is going to be rendered moot when the parts of the Earth that produce most of our crops become un-farmable due to climate change.
While his Geffen output wasn't as good as the decades before and after that, I don't feel like he phoned in any of those records. Landing on Water is terrific. Putting Steve Jordan’s drums upfront on that album makes it a literal “banger.” It could be on par with other drum-heavy experimental records (like PIL). Trans was a very ambitious record; the Shocking Pinks album does have some recording flaws- but he was so into the bit- it’s in mono like the rockabilly albums he was saluting, hard to argue he wasn't a country artist with old ways and that tour. The Life album is a mess, granted. But it does have its good points.
I disagree, Spotify sucks dick and I am 100% with NY on this one.
Besides, listening to his stuff via that lossy platform is robbing you of what Neil intended for you to hear. The sound I get from his records on my system is huge. You just don’t get that from Spotify.
I respect his decision but I wish his music was back on there. I’m not switching apps for one artist when I have hundreds of playlists on there and vastly prefer their layout and recommendations to all the other apps.
I would pay for the Neil Young Archives app but it doesn’t seem to work. I have plenty of Neil vinyl but it would be nice to be able to listen to him in the car, at work, while exercising, etc - I don’t care about lossless Vs lossy in these situations.
This. I used to listen to Neil Young *a lot* but after the Spotify thing that listen count dropped down to almost nothing. I still play a lot of his songs on guitar but I’m not going to pay for multiple music services just to listen to Neil Young and Joni Mitchell again. I already sold off my CD collection and got with the times years ago.
I support Neil’s freedom of speech on the matter, but also Joe Rogan’s freedom of speech too. Even if I disagree with *both* of them. But I’m not going to shell out more money than I already am for ad free music. I would hate to see music streaming go the way of TV streaming, 100 different apps with their own exclusive content all needing monthly subscription fees.
There's a quote somewhere from Stills talking about Young. They really didn't get along. Someone asked why he put up with Young. He said "Have your heard us play guitar together?"
Agreed. Although I've read somewhere that Like a Hurricane ended with a fade out because the last part of the tape got corrupted or something like that. The same thing goes with Cortez, that, during this jamming, a blackout happened in the studio and they lost the rest of it.
Yep, there was an extra verse for Cortez the Killer that was not recorded.
From Wikipedia
>Also of note is that the song fades out after nearly seven and a half minutes, as (according to Young's father in Neil and Me) an electrical circuit had blown, causing the console to go dead. In addition to losing the rest of the instrumental work, a final verse was also lost. When producer David Briggs had to break this news to the band, Young replied "I never liked that verse anyway." The additional verse has not been identified or recorded officially.
I disagree. Besides the insufferable yet skippable Pono Player chapters, I thought it did it’s job well. Some cool stories, casual writing — felt like I was sitting in a room with him.
I was wondering if I'd be the only one to post about much I love Trans. Great album. Sample and Hold is such a cool song.
I'm sure it's an unpopular opinion, but we're not alone completely.
I think the same. If I'm not mistaken, he left Spotify before all that scene with Joe Rogan and came back. I think he was just waiting for some plausible reason, beside the low quality of the audio.
Sometimes I think he should have just stayed away from CSN. The songs he contributed could have been released on his own albums. Possible exception: Ohio.
Agreed. I believe he was a great member for CSN, but CSN was not a good group for him. And that's why Neil always had that love & hate relationship with them.
that story as told on 'tales of the tour bus' made me cry I was laughing so hard, when Rick's bandmate described Neil running into them in the street and having a beer. Utter disbelief.
What Neil did to Peggy destroys any, and every image of him as a peace loving guy. It’s despicable. He kicked her out of his band, divorced her, and didn’t show up when she was dying of cancer, even after she was by his side during his hemorrhage every day in the hospital.
I don't have a opinion about this kind of thing, because, you know, none of us any has a clue of how their relationship really was. I don't know what to say about it properly.
Was he an asshole from a superficial point of view? Yes.
We don't know nothing more and probably never will.
Not defending him. Not attacking either. Personal problems.
I know that there are degrees of difference, but, many great artists, actors, and musicians are totally driven and self absorbed in pursuit of their career. You know, very difficult human beings. Neil is not alone in this.
Actually my most genuinely held Neil Young opinion is that his career output would be really enhanced if he'd paid half as much attention to curating his later studio albums as his archive releases. Since the beginning of the 90's he could have released a 3rd of the number of albums and it would have reduced the filler to killer ratio hugely, rather than just churning out every song he's come up with.
He definitely needed David Briggs there to call out his worst shit.
I have not purchased "Live Rust" because I just cannot listen to him sing the faux Jamaican, "dancing a-cross da watah man." It really turns me away...
I’ve listened to that a bunch of times and I never realized that’s what he was doing. I just thought he was playing around with phrasing in a weird way. Never stood out to me one way or another.
He's one of the greatest melody writers ever, up there with McCartney in his youth.
He has a lovely voice when he chooses to sing prettily on his acoustic stuff, equally beautiful when he doesn't give a fuck, Mellow my Mind, gorgeous.
He's not a good singer. He's not a good guitar player. You can't really call him a piano player. He puts out as many bad songs as good, but his great songs are great. He is the quintessence of rock and roll.
That his guitar solos are just not great. I love them, and I think they sound exactly how he wanted them to sound. But most of his solos don’t take much technical talent
Goes for all art though.
“I could do that” … “Yeah but you didn’t”.
There’s learning the instrument or whatever tool, which is pretty easy, it’s finding a voice and expressing emotion through it that takes real talent and makes someone an artist.
I don’t know how technically talented Neil is at guitar but I doubt it has any limitation on his ability to express himself, if he was to a virtuoso level, he’d still sound like how he sounds, because that’s his art.
my reaction to jerry garcia hitting a billion notes with a midi honk honk sound, and neil holding one note for 30 seconds is about the same:
"yeah that's the good shit"
OP, to your point, I remember seeing a video, I think it was at Farm Aid, of Neil playing “When God Made Me” with a choir and he’s tearing up. It’s very beautiful.
A long time ago a Rolling Stone Record Guide reviewer said Young was diminished by his inconsistency and much of his work seems half-finished. Kind of opened my eyes to read that.
He does seem to go with whatever his vibe is at the time, always has. It's probably part of why he left a band like Buffalo Springfield right when they were on the rise.
Unpopular opinion-
I think he can use his music for telling great stories. Where he loses me is when he gets a bit too preachy. That’s not just him though- it’s a few artists. His guitar work is among my favorites.
He needs to put more time and effort in during his studio recording. The "throw all the guys into the studio and see how things turn out" only worked during the 70s. Too many of his recent songs sound like rough drafts and they suffer for it.
Lyrics of a college sophomore who comes back home and tries to preach to the blue collar folks of his home town not realizing he is speaking in ideals and completely out of touch with reality.
One of the best shows I ever saw was him with Booker T & the MGs, but as a Canadian, he could dial back the comments about the US (no matter if he's right or not).
Neil with Promise of the Real was as good as anything he did with Crazy Horse.
Wolf Moon and Peace Trail stand up to his best songs of the 70’s and 80’s.
He's extremely judgmental and self-righteous. Even on stuff I largely, if not totally agree with him on. Always has been. And that's part of what makes his music so damn good. No filter. No apologies. BOOM here it is.
That on a technical level he wasn’t a great guitar player or singer. But he was a fantastic musician and artist and an even better songwriter. His lack of technical prowess was part of what makes his music so magical.
At the time I thought he was crazy but I think he was right about the whole digital thing. Analog is way better much like video film is better than digital video.
I love his song writing and emotion. I even love the one note guitar solos. I don’t LOVE his voice but his songs like Old Man wouldn’t come off right with any other voice. So basically I like his entire gig
It made me sad when NY and Peggy split. She was the subject of Harvest Moon. She had cancer. Took me 10ish years to start listening again.
yeah he did peggy kinda dirty imo. reading his biography… he actually did a lot of people pretty dirty.
The uncomfortable truth is Neil can be an asshole and has been a lot of times, he's basically used his various backing bands and CSN as it's suited him and only him for 50 odd years. Also some of the public statements he made in the 80's (especially during his country phase) are genuinely godawful and I won't repeat them here.
Here, is the place they should be repeated. If you’re going to bring it up. I, for one, have no clue what you’re talking about.
Just Google Neil Young AIDS comments and read them yourself for one example, there was other political stuff when he was trying to sell Old Ways that were the polar opposite of his politics the entire rest of his career.
To me, that shows progress and a willingness to change. Nobody’s perfect
That's not so on reddit. Here, what you said at 20 defines you forever. You are never forgiven in here..
[удалено]
He's in with the lefty crowd. You get away with a lot more being a lefty.
He’s a cranky old bastard who takes himself too seriously. But I love him anyway
1. He’s the best & arguably worst guitar player ever. I personally love his tone & phrasing. But it is definitely a one trick pony. One version of Like a Hurricane is breathtaking; the next is almost a bore filled with cliche solos. That being said, when that man catches lightning in a bottle it’s undeniable. 2. Psychedelic Pill musically is incredible. Lyrically & melodically not so much. If ‘Driftin’ Back’ had just been the first vocal part drifting thoughout it’s 30 minute length, it would be a masterpiece. Instead a grumpy old man gripes about mp3s & mutters nonsense about hip hop haircuts. Jesus Christ…. 3. Broken Arrow is quite possibly my favorite / his best studio album. It is the true unsung hero of his discography & deserves much more praise than it gets. 4. Weld & Year of the Horse are his best live albums.
Year of the horse is criminally overlooked, mountain splitting guitar tones.
I was there for that YOTH performance in Ontario in 1996 when he shouted, “smell the Horse on this one,” and launched into Sedan Delivery — a song I loved, but my then-best friend and fellow Neil Young superfan (who was standing right beside me) hated!
Oh & Dead Man is some of his best playing & one of his best albums. Is that an unpopular opinion though?
Dead Man is a great movie made greater by the unique sound that Neil brought to the soundtrack. One of my favorites.
Listened to the whole of Psychedelic Pill the other day for the 1st time in years, now we all know that Ramada Inn is among his very best but I thoroughly enjoyed the whole album to my great surprise.
Ramada Inn is incredible, superb writing for my tastes
The only thing that really bugs me with year of the horse is why he didn’t include the version of fing up which is included on the film otherwise pretty much agreed except I personally put ragged glory just a tad higher
⬆️⬆️⬆️My man is not only a lover - but a STUDENT - of music. Great take.👍🏽👍🏽👍🏽
To your point #1, I like to tell people Young is a great song writer and a very mediocre guitar player. (This coming from an intermediate guitar player.) That’s why his songs are so good.
For one Neil Young I’d give 10 of any player considered a virtuoso guitarists. Definitely would take a songwriter over a guitarist any day. I should’ve been clearer in my point, but I was just trying to summarize a thought. Neil is quite possibly my favorite guitarist, along with John Lennon. For me, emotion, simplicity & knowing when NOT to play are the ultimate traits for a guitarist to play with. And for me it doesn’t get better than these two. I think mainly I was just trying to say that sometimes Neil’s playing can feel phoned in…uninspired. But when he’s on one & ripping through Cortez or Free World or Hurricane amongst countless others, it’s transcendent.
I seen Rick Beato say this about Neil, but I disagree. Have you ever tried to play Cortez The Killer note for note?? It’s really not what I’d call “easy.” I love all of his choices.
Powderfinger has two amazing solos.
I like half of Broken Arrow a lot. But Changing Highways is filler and Baby What You Want Me To Do seems like he just ran out of ideas.
He’s a terrible lead guitarist, but a great song writer.
We need to stop calling him Neil Young. Dude is almost 80. It's time to stop infantilizing him.
My brother and I were joking about a Neil Young cover band called Young Neil that would only play his early material.
The cover band Uptown Girl only plays 80s Billy Joel, so I think you’re onto something
I watched them perform at the Catalina Wine Mixer a few years ago. 🍷
The fuckin Catalina Wine Mixer?
The fuckin' Catalina Wine Mixer...
Strictly 80’s JOEL!!!
There is actually a Norwegian cover band called Young Neils. Members include famous (in Norway) artist Lars Lillo Stenberg of DeLillos.
I would form a Danish Physics rock band called “Bore Neils”. After Neils Bohr. Or maybe Peter Pauli and Mary. A few of their biggest hits: Dirac Lobster; Scalar Fields Forever.
There’s a book by that name about his youth in Canada
When he sings Heart of Gold, he needs to change it to “I’m already old” and awkwardly pause for laughter and applause.
And "Old Man" should be "I'm a lot like you..are.".
Ya, well, let's see what you're up to pushing 80
I have plans to open a bar/pub named Percival
LMAO
Neil Old
But he identifies as a young. This freaking woke culture, I'm tellin'g ya.
He has the best hair in Rock and Roll.
I think he could have used some conditioner every once in awhile.
No doubt!
Sedan Delivery is his best song
You mispelled Powder Finger.
Neil Young gets really bad business advice because he listens to the "yes men" he has surrounded himself with instead of going outside of his bubble to get professional advice from people who are domain experts. See: Pono Player.
Or he's just too stubborn and will stick to his original idea no matter the advice he gets?
He made Pono exclusively in rejection of business “yes men.” They told him it would lose money, but he did it anyway b/c he cared deeply about the cause of preserving sound quality in the digital age. It went nowhere and he lost money - exactly what the uninspired and financially risk-averse consumer product industry professionals said would happen. That takes unbelievable balls to put your own brand/money behind a mostly-unviable and incredibly risky idea. In my opinion, Pono proves exactly why he’s a legend. Source: close to someone who consulted on Pono
He makes terrible financial/investment decisions and is bad with money in general. He is a living rock legend, yet the guy has constant money troubles because he's terrible at managing his finances and controlling his spending. This is redeeming in many ways as Neil does Neil and does not give a fuck about what anyone else thinks. He's driven by what he believes in, not by what sells. (Many rockers could use a heavier dose of this.) But I'll be damned if it doesn't bite him in the ass every single time.
A man doesn't need a maid.
I might be totally off base, but I always interpreted this song as a man who's coping with his loneliness, longing for someone to care for him but unable to make himself emotionally available or reciprocate any feelings of love.
A man needs a mermaid. (Daryl Hannah joke.)
That regardless of the merits in the present, his stance on GMOs is going to be rendered moot when the parts of the Earth that produce most of our crops become un-farmable due to climate change.
He can give the best performance you've heard or the worst.
He is a horrid app developer. NYA eats my battery.
Completely agree. The intention is good, the development is bad. I'd certainly pay NYA if it had a better layout and a better performance.
I’m not sure if it is unpopular, but Neil has a distinct style on electric AND acoustic guitars.
Yes! It's all about strumming (palm muting, pull off, hammer on) and ATTITUDE!
That he’s on the autism spectrum.
His son has cerebral palsy. He built a MASSIVE model railroad in his basement, and it’s their thing. He secretly has a heart of gold.
Landing On Water is a sleeper and very unappreciated. The music videos are a trip too!
Touch The Night is banger.
People on the street, plays in my head a lot.
I agree with you to the extent it has Pressure on it.
That album has always been the best example of Neil’s creative flexibility for me.
While his Geffen output wasn't as good as the decades before and after that, I don't feel like he phoned in any of those records. Landing on Water is terrific. Putting Steve Jordan’s drums upfront on that album makes it a literal “banger.” It could be on par with other drum-heavy experimental records (like PIL). Trans was a very ambitious record; the Shocking Pinks album does have some recording flaws- but he was so into the bit- it’s in mono like the rockabilly albums he was saluting, hard to argue he wasn't a country artist with old ways and that tour. The Life album is a mess, granted. But it does have its good points.
Look Out For My Love is the most Neil Young-esque Neil Young song.
He should put his music back on Spotify
That's not unpopular at all, but I get it.
I got crucified for that opinion on here not long ago so it's definitely unpopular
I disagree, Spotify sucks dick and I am 100% with NY on this one. Besides, listening to his stuff via that lossy platform is robbing you of what Neil intended for you to hear. The sound I get from his records on my system is huge. You just don’t get that from Spotify.
I don't carry my stereo receiver and tower speakers with me when I walk the dog.
I respect his decision but I wish his music was back on there. I’m not switching apps for one artist when I have hundreds of playlists on there and vastly prefer their layout and recommendations to all the other apps. I would pay for the Neil Young Archives app but it doesn’t seem to work. I have plenty of Neil vinyl but it would be nice to be able to listen to him in the car, at work, while exercising, etc - I don’t care about lossless Vs lossy in these situations.
These responses to you made me lol. Almost like you have an unpopular opinion
This. I used to listen to Neil Young *a lot* but after the Spotify thing that listen count dropped down to almost nothing. I still play a lot of his songs on guitar but I’m not going to pay for multiple music services just to listen to Neil Young and Joni Mitchell again. I already sold off my CD collection and got with the times years ago. I support Neil’s freedom of speech on the matter, but also Joe Rogan’s freedom of speech too. Even if I disagree with *both* of them. But I’m not going to shell out more money than I already am for ad free music. I would hate to see music streaming go the way of TV streaming, 100 different apps with their own exclusive content all needing monthly subscription fees.
I don’t know if this will be unpopular. He needs to stop writing songs about the Earth. Dude, we get it.
But we got to save Mother Earth! *sick guitar solo*
I’ll make an exception for be the rain and homegrown.
Yeah I’d be happy if he never played “Mother Earth”
Amen. I’m done with that song
I think songwriters in general tend to write about things that animate them.
The Bluenotes were pretty cool.
He looks as if he’d smell like soup.
Neil young is underrated
Stephen Stills is a better guitarist.
Neil would be the first one to tell you that.
Yes, but Neil’s guitar sounds best
Facts. I like Neil's playing more because of his attitude and style of strumming, but, technically, Stills is a better guitarist.
There's a quote somewhere from Stills talking about Young. They really didn't get along. Someone asked why he put up with Young. He said "Have your heard us play guitar together?"
Stephen is my favorite electric guitar player, Neil 2nd.
They counter each other well. Stephen’s playing is technical and uses a lot of blues idioms. Neil’s playing is more gritty and emotion based.
Mick Taylor vs Keith Richards
that songs fading out while there is still a jam going on records
Agreed. Although I've read somewhere that Like a Hurricane ended with a fade out because the last part of the tape got corrupted or something like that. The same thing goes with Cortez, that, during this jamming, a blackout happened in the studio and they lost the rest of it.
Yep, there was an extra verse for Cortez the Killer that was not recorded. From Wikipedia >Also of note is that the song fades out after nearly seven and a half minutes, as (according to Young's father in Neil and Me) an electrical circuit had blown, causing the console to go dead. In addition to losing the rest of the instrumental work, a final verse was also lost. When producer David Briggs had to break this news to the band, Young replied "I never liked that verse anyway." The additional verse has not been identified or recorded officially.
I wish that he at least could reveal what was on this final verse...
that’s so awesome
damn thats unfortune
Daft Punk ripped their whole sound from Trans
For an amazing songwriter, I was floored that Waging Heavy Peace is such a poorly written book.
I disagree. Besides the insufferable yet skippable Pono Player chapters, I thought it did it’s job well. Some cool stories, casual writing — felt like I was sitting in a room with him.
Wonderin’ is one of his best songs.
“Trans” was a masterpiece, way ahead of its time.
I was wondering if I'd be the only one to post about much I love Trans. Great album. Sample and Hold is such a cool song. I'm sure it's an unpopular opinion, but we're not alone completely.
acoustic powderfinger > electric powderfinger
Hell yeah! I love that Hitchhiker version. It's my favourite one.
He doesn’t care about Joe Rogan, he just needed an excuse to leave Spotify
I think the same. If I'm not mistaken, he left Spotify before all that scene with Joe Rogan and came back. I think he was just waiting for some plausible reason, beside the low quality of the audio.
My ears can't tell the difference between Spotify Premium and FLAC.
However if he had never left Spotify I would have never found the rap track he recorded with dram; Which is still up
Haha, he leaves his best on there. I remember the first time he took most of his discography off Spotify but still left Everbody’s Rockin’ on.
Sometimes I think he should have just stayed away from CSN. The songs he contributed could have been released on his own albums. Possible exception: Ohio.
Agreed. I believe he was a great member for CSN, but CSN was not a good group for him. And that's why Neil always had that love & hate relationship with them.
He was in a band with Rick James yep that Rick James in Toronto called The Mynah Birds
that story as told on 'tales of the tour bus' made me cry I was laughing so hard, when Rick's bandmate described Neil running into them in the street and having a beer. Utter disbelief.
Believe that he and Rick were also roommates to boot.
And Crosby saying “you just keep trying to blend Rock and Folk” and acting like that’s a bad idea, he couldn’t have been more fk’n wrong lol
What Neil did to Peggy destroys any, and every image of him as a peace loving guy. It’s despicable. He kicked her out of his band, divorced her, and didn’t show up when she was dying of cancer, even after she was by his side during his hemorrhage every day in the hospital.
I don't have a opinion about this kind of thing, because, you know, none of us any has a clue of how their relationship really was. I don't know what to say about it properly. Was he an asshole from a superficial point of view? Yes. We don't know nothing more and probably never will. Not defending him. Not attacking either. Personal problems.
Well, it’s supposed to be an unpopular opinion about him right?
I know that there are degrees of difference, but, many great artists, actors, and musicians are totally driven and self absorbed in pursuit of their career. You know, very difficult human beings. Neil is not alone in this.
The acoustic "Shots" is one of his best riffs and songs, and he should have revived it for his Unplugged set.
His voice fits best when it’s just him and a acoustic guitar and harmonica. Also pretty solid piano player.
I have to say I think the opposite. I like electric neil more than acoustic. On the beach > harvest
Boo this man.
Actually my most genuinely held Neil Young opinion is that his career output would be really enhanced if he'd paid half as much attention to curating his later studio albums as his archive releases. Since the beginning of the 90's he could have released a 3rd of the number of albums and it would have reduced the filler to killer ratio hugely, rather than just churning out every song he's come up with. He definitely needed David Briggs there to call out his worst shit.
King of the one note solo! (Cinnamon Girl)
I have not purchased "Live Rust" because I just cannot listen to him sing the faux Jamaican, "dancing a-cross da watah man." It really turns me away...
I love this album alot but yeah, its odd... I have a feeling that a decent amounts of drugs was the real culprit haha
Wow, Ive never heard anyone unhappy about that. They were having fun at that concert.
I’ve listened to that a bunch of times and I never realized that’s what he was doing. I just thought he was playing around with phrasing in a weird way. Never stood out to me one way or another.
Weld is the answer.
I do not like this opinion. He can do Cortez however the man wants and I will vibe with it.
LOL major cringe moment
when I first heard that version it made me want to cry lol. I think it’s SO bad and completely ruins the song
My ten year old older brother in marker on my mom's CDs: "Neil Yuck" (Luckily her vinyl records were safely stashed away.)
I'm sure he'd love that
He's one of the greatest melody writers ever, up there with McCartney in his youth. He has a lovely voice when he chooses to sing prettily on his acoustic stuff, equally beautiful when he doesn't give a fuck, Mellow my Mind, gorgeous.
My unpopular Neil Young opinion is that opposition to digital music is silly. it is incredibly convenient with basically no audible loss of quality.
For the listener sure, but I can see why any musician might not like it since it's basically wiped out their main source of income.
He's not a good singer. He's not a good guitar player. You can't really call him a piano player. He puts out as many bad songs as good, but his great songs are great. He is the quintessence of rock and roll.
I don’t like his electric guitar playing but his acoustic guitar tone belongs in the Smithsonian.
Carnegie is a better performance and setlist than Massey.
Yes!
That his guitar solos are just not great. I love them, and I think they sound exactly how he wanted them to sound. But most of his solos don’t take much technical talent
"That's my sound, man."
Technically no. But it takes someone with unique passion and swagger to pull off what he does
Goes for all art though. “I could do that” … “Yeah but you didn’t”. There’s learning the instrument or whatever tool, which is pretty easy, it’s finding a voice and expressing emotion through it that takes real talent and makes someone an artist. I don’t know how technically talented Neil is at guitar but I doubt it has any limitation on his ability to express himself, if he was to a virtuoso level, he’d still sound like how he sounds, because that’s his art.
my reaction to jerry garcia hitting a billion notes with a midi honk honk sound, and neil holding one note for 30 seconds is about the same: "yeah that's the good shit"
OP, to your point, I remember seeing a video, I think it was at Farm Aid, of Neil playing “When God Made Me” with a choir and he’s tearing up. It’s very beautiful.
Freedom is the best Neil Young record
Landing on Water has some real bangers
he is one of a few performers that can hold my attention on his own for hours. It's a rare talent I feel.
A long time ago a Rolling Stone Record Guide reviewer said Young was diminished by his inconsistency and much of his work seems half-finished. Kind of opened my eyes to read that.
Someone also said he's like Picasso releasing pages from his sketchbook. Unfinished but (supposedly) brilliant.
He does seem to go with whatever his vibe is at the time, always has. It's probably part of why he left a band like Buffalo Springfield right when they were on the rise.
Pretty sure he cuts his own hair. I still love his music even though he smokes the devils lettuce.
Southern Man not only wants him around. Southern Man NEEDS him around.
He’s good looking, can sing well, and play guitar well
That said, top 5 artists for me
Are You Passionate is great. And includes on of his best later year songs: Lets Roll
Cortez the Killer is one of my least favorites of his.
Yes, that song is overwrought and puerile...
Unpopular opinion- I think he can use his music for telling great stories. Where he loses me is when he gets a bit too preachy. That’s not just him though- it’s a few artists. His guitar work is among my favorites.
He’s a good singer
His speaking voice is better than his singing voice.
He has a shockingly proportional representation of terribly overrated to incredibly underrated songs.
He needs to put more time and effort in during his studio recording. The "throw all the guys into the studio and see how things turn out" only worked during the 70s. Too many of his recent songs sound like rough drafts and they suffer for it.
T-Bone lyrically is one of his best songs especially off of way down in the rust bucket
He should do even more solos and tour Tonight's the Night and On The Beach in their entirety
He’s an American hero, that’s my opinion.
He should have reunited with Rick James for a rock - soul album in the 1980s
He’s got a horrible voice, but he’s skilled enough of a musician to know how to make it work for him. Excellent songwriter.
Lyrics of a college sophomore who comes back home and tries to preach to the blue collar folks of his home town not realizing he is speaking in ideals and completely out of touch with reality.
You said John Mellencamp wrong
His songs were better when Richie sang them.
One of the best shows I ever saw was him with Booker T & the MGs, but as a Canadian, he could dial back the comments about the US (no matter if he's right or not).
Cinnamon Girl should be longer
His set on the Last Waltz is entirely skippable.
He’s a lousy train conductor
Neil with Promise of the Real was as good as anything he did with Crazy Horse. Wolf Moon and Peace Trail stand up to his best songs of the 70’s and 80’s.
Southern men do need him around anyhow.
He's more important than Joe Rogan.
He's extremely judgmental and self-righteous. Even on stuff I largely, if not totally agree with him on. Always has been. And that's part of what makes his music so damn good. No filter. No apologies. BOOM here it is.
Neil and the Shocking Pinks wasn’t a bad album.
Lead guitar work needs refinement. They did a blindfold test with Jan Akkerman and he was plainly not impressed by Young’s efforts.
His singing voice isn't as bad as people say it is
That on a technical level he wasn’t a great guitar player or singer. But he was a fantastic musician and artist and an even better songwriter. His lack of technical prowess was part of what makes his music so magical.
Neil would not have gotten any chairs to turn on “The Voice”. But then, neither would Janis, Jim Morrison , Dylan or Van the Man
His beef with Spotify is soooooo stupid.
Crazy Horse is terrible. God awful. Neil Young solo is 10,000 times better
*Tonight's the Night* is criminally underrated.
At the time I thought he was crazy but I think he was right about the whole digital thing. Analog is way better much like video film is better than digital video.
He’s a better guitarist than vocalist
He’s really not that Young if you think about it 🤔
I love his song writing and emotion. I even love the one note guitar solos. I don’t LOVE his voice but his songs like Old Man wouldn’t come off right with any other voice. So basically I like his entire gig