Young's guitar work, deeply personal lyrics[4][5][6] and signature hightenor singing voice[7][8] define his long career. He also plays piano and harmonica on many albums, which frequently combinefolk,rock,country and other musical genres. His often distorted electric guitar playing, especially with Crazy Horse, earned him the nickname "Godfather ofGrunge"[9] and led to his 1995 albumMirror Ball withPearl Jam. More recently, he has been backed byPromise of the Real.[10]
Young directed (or co-directed) films using the pseudonym "Bernard Shakey", includingJourney Through the Past (1973),Rust Never Sleeps (1979),Human Highway (1982),Greendale (2003),CSNY/Déjà Vu (2008), andHarvest Time (2022). He also contributed to the soundtracks of the filmsPhiladelphia (1993) andDead Man (1995).
Neil Young[14] was born on November 12, 1945, in Toronto.[15][16] His father,Scott Alexander Young (1918–2005), was a journalist and sportswriter who also wrote fiction.[17] His mother, Edna Blow Ragland "Rassy" Young (1918–1990) was a member of theDaughters of the American Revolution.[18] Although Canadian, his mother had American and French ancestry.[19] Young's parents married in 1940 inWinnipeg, 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 ruralOmemee, Ontario, which Young later described fondly as a "sleepy little place".[20] Young contractedpolio 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.[21] After the conclusion of his hospitalization, the Young family wintered in Florida because they believed its mild weather would help Neil's convalescence.[22] During that period, Young briefly attended Faulkner Elementary School inNew Smyrna Beach, Florida. In 1952, upon returning to Canada, Young moved from Omemee toPickering (1956) and then lived for a year in Winnipeg (where he would later return) before relocating to Toronto (1957–1960). While in Toronto, he briefly attendedLawrence Park Collegiate Institute as a first-year student in 1959.[23] According to rumor, he was expelled for riding a motorcycle down the hall of the school.[24] He also became interested in the popular music he heard on the radio.[25]
When he was 12, his father, who had had several extramarital affairs, left his mother. She asked for a divorce, which was granted in 1960.[26] She moved back to Winnipeg with Neil joining her there, while his brother, Bob, stayed with their father in Toronto.[27]
Young and his mother settled in the working-class area ofFort Rouge, Winnipeg, where he enrolled in Earl Grey Junior High School. It was there that he formed his first band, the Jades, and metKen Koblun. While attendingKelvin High School in Winnipeg, he played in several instrumental rock bands, eventually dropping out of school in favor of a musical career.[34] Young's first stable band wasthe Squires, with Ken Koblun, Jeff Wuckert and Bill Edmondson on drums, who had a local hit called "The Sultan". Over three years, the band played hundreds of shows at community centers, dance halls, clubs and schools in Winnipeg and other parts of Manitoba. The band also played inFort William (now part of the city ofThunder Bay, Ontario), where they recorded a series of demos produced by a local producer, Ray Dee, whom Young called "the original Briggs", referring to his later producer David Briggs.[35] While playing at The Flamingo, Young metStephen Stills, whose bandthe Company was playing at the same venue, and they became friends.[36] The Squires primarily performed in Winnipeg and rural Manitoba in towns such asSelkirk,Neepawa,Brandon and Giroux (nearSteinbach), with a few shows in northern Ontario.[37]
After leaving the Squires, Young worked in folk clubs in Winnipeg, where he first metJoni Mitchell.[38] Mitchell recalls Young as having been highly influenced byBob Dylan at the time.[39] Young saidPhil Ochs was "a big influence on me", telling a radio station in 1969 that Ochs was "on the same level with Dylan in my eyes."[40] 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.[41] The Winnipeg bandthe Guess Who (withRandy Bachman 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.[42]
In 1965, Young toured Canada as a solo artist. In 1966, while in Toronto, he joined theRick James-frontedMynah Birds. The band managed to secure a record deal with theMotown label, but as their first album was being recorded, James was arrested for beingAWOL from the Navy Reserve.[43] After the Mynah Birds disbanded, Young and the bass playerBruce Palmer decided to pawn the group's musical equipment and buy aPontiachearse, which they used to relocate to Los Angeles.[44] Young admitted in a 1975 interview that he was in the United States illegally until he received a "green card" (permanent residency permit) in 1970.[45]
Once they reached Los Angeles, Young and Palmer met up withStephen Stills andRichie Furay after a chance encounter in traffic onSunset Boulevard.[44] Along withDewey Martin, they formedBuffalo Springfield. A mixture of folk, country,psychedelia, 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 (1966), sold well after Stills' topical song "For What It's Worth" became a hit, aided by Young's melodic harmonics played on electric guitar. According toRolling Stone, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and other sources, Buffalo Springfield helped create the genres of folk rock and country rock.[46][47]
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, 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" was the only Young song of the three that all five members of the group performed together.[48]
In May 1968, the band split up for good, but to fulfill a contractual obligation, a final studio album,Last Time Around, was released. Young contributed the songs "On the Way Home" and "I Am a Child", singing lead on the latter.[49]
In 1997, the band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame; Young did not appear at the ceremony, writing in a letter to the Hall that their presentation, which was aired onVH1, "has nothing to do with the spirit of Rock and Roll. It has everything to do with making money."[50]
Young played as a studio session guitarist for some 1968 recordings byThe Monkees which appeared on theHead andInstant Replay albums.[51]
After the breakup of Buffalo Springfield, Young signed a solo deal withReprise Records, home of his colleague and friendJoni Mitchell, with whom he shared a manager,Elliot Roberts. Roberts managed Young until Roberts' death in 2019. Young and Roberts immediately began work on Young's first solo record,Neil Young (January 22, 1969),[52] which received mixed reviews. In a 1970 interview,[53] Young deprecated the album as being "overdubbed rather than played".
Shortly after the release ofEverybody Knows This Is Nowhere, Young reunited with Stephen Stills by joiningCrosby, Stills & Nash, who had already released one album,Crosby, Stills & Nash, 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 1969Best New Artist Grammy Award – was renamedCrosby, Stills, Nash & Young.[55] The quartet debuted in Chicago on August 16, 1969, and later performed at the famousWoodstock Festival, 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".[56] During the making of their first album,Déjà Vu (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".[57]
Young wrote "Ohio" following theKent State massacre 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.[58]
After the Gold Rush, acoustic tour andHarvest (1970–1972)
Later in the year, Young released his third solo album,After the Gold Rush (August 31, 1970), which featured, among others,Nils Lofgren,Stephen Stills, and CSNY bassistGreg Reeves. Young also recorded some tracks with Crazy Horse, but dismissed them early in the sessions. The eventual recording was less amplified thanEverybody 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"; the singles "Only Love Can Break Your Heart" and "When You Dance I Can Really Love"; and the title track, "After the Gold Rush", played on piano, with dreamlike lyrics that ran a gamut of subjects from drugs and interpersonal relationships toenvironmental concerns. Young's bitter condemnation of racism in the heavy blues-rock song "Southern Man" (along with a later song entitled "Alabama") was also controversial with southerners in an era of desegregation, promptingLynyrd Skynyrd to decry Young by name in the lyrics to their hit "Sweet Home Alabama". However, Young said he was a fan of Skynyrd's music, and the band's front manRonnie Van Zant was later photographed wearing aTonight's the Night T-shirt on the cover ofan album.[59]
Young in the 1970s
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 several 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. Many gigs were sold out, including concerts atCarnegie Hall and a pair of acclaimed hometown shows at Toronto'sMassey Hall, which were taped for a planned live album. The shows became legendary among Young fans, withLive at Massey Hall 1971 being released in 2007, and other shows as official bootlegs in 2021 and 2022, as a part of Young'sArchive series.[60]
Near the end of his tour, Young performed one of the new acoustic songs on theJohnny Cash TV show. "The Needle and the Damage Done", a somber lament on the pain caused byheroin addiction, had been inspired in part by Crazy Horse memberDanny Whitten, who eventually died while battling his drug problems.[61][62] While in Nashville for the Cash taping, Young accepted the invitation ofQuadrafonic Sound Studios ownerElliot Mazer 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 themThe Stray Gators, and began playing with them. Befitting the immediacy of the project,Linda Ronstadt andJames Taylor were brought in from the Cash taping to do background vocals. Against the advice of his producerDavid Briggs, he scrapped plans for the imminent release[63] 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 theLondon Symphony Orchestra at Barking (credited as Barking Town Hall and now theBroadway Theatre) during March 1971.[64] The result was Young's fourth album,Harvest (February 14, 1972), which was also the best selling album of 1972 in the US.[65]
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).[66] 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 actressCarrie Snodgress. "Heart of Gold" was released as the first single fromHarvest, the only No. 1 hit in his career.[67] "Old Man" was also popular, reaching No. 31 on theBillboard Hot 100 chart, marking Young's third and final appearance in the chart's Top 40 as a solo artist.[67]
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 theDecade (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."[68]
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 ofHarvest, 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/diazepam overdose. Young described the incident toRolling Stone'sCameron Crowe in 1975: "[We] were 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."[45]
On the tour, Young struggled with his voice and the performance of drummerKenny Buttrey, a noted Nashville session musician who was unaccustomed to performing in thehard rock milieu; Buttrey was eventually replaced by former CSNY drummerJohnny Barbata, whileDavid Crosby andGraham Nash contributed rhythm guitar and backing vocals to the final dates of the tour. Young has often said the album assembled in the aftermath,Time Fades Away (October 15, 1973), was his least favorite. It was not officially released on CD until 2017 (as part of Young'sOfficial Release Series). Nevertheless, Young and his band tried several new musical approaches in this period.Time Fades Away 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 became known collectively to fans as the "Ditch Trilogy", as contrasted with the more middle-of-the-road pop ofHarvest.[69]
In the second half of 1973, Young formed The Santa Monica Flyers, with Crazy Horse's rhythm section augmented byNils Lofgren on guitar and piano andHarvest/Time Fades Away veteranBen Keith on pedal steel guitar. Deeply affected by the drug-induced deaths of Whitten androadieBruce 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.[70] 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. LikeTime 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 ofOn the Beach described the music as "mesmerizing, harrowing, lucid, and bleary".[71]
After completingOn the Beach, Young reunited withHarvest 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. ThoughHomegrown 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 ofBand bassistRick Danko.[72] Young further explained his move by saying: "It was a little too personal ... it scared me".[72] Most of the songs fromHomegrown 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.[73]
Reunions, retrospectives andRust Never Sleeps (1974–1979)
Young reunited withCrosby, Stills, and Nash after a four-year hiatus in the summer of 1974 for a concert tour that was partially recorded; highlights were ultimately released in 2014 asCSNY 1974. It was one of the first ever stadium tours and the largest tour in which Young has participated to date.[74]
In 1975, Young reformed Crazy Horse withFrank Sampedro 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", a retelling of theSpanish conquest of Mexico from the viewpoint of theAztecs, 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.[75]
In 1976, Young reunited with Stephen Stills for the albumLong May You Run (September 20, 1976), credited toThe Stills-Young Band; the follow-up tour was ended midway through by Young, who sent Stills atelegram that read: "Funny how some things that start spontaneously end that way. Eat a peach, Neil."[76]
The Last Waltz, Young (center on left microphone) performing with Bob Dylan andThe Band, among others in 1976
In 1976, Young performed with Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell, and numerous other rock musicians in the high-profile all-star concertThe Last Waltz, the final performance byThe Band. The release ofMartin Scorsese'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".[77]American Stars 'n Bars (June 13, 1977) contained two songs originally recorded for theHomegrown album, "Homegrown" and "Star of Bethlehem", as well as newer material, including the future concert staple "Like a Hurricane". Performers on the record includedLinda Ronstadt,Emmylou Harris and Young protégéNicolette Larson along with Crazy Horse. In 1977, Young also released the compilationDecade, 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.[78]
In June 1977 Young joined with Jeff Blackburn, Bob Mosley and John Craviotto (who later foundedCraviotto drums) to form a band called The Ducks. Over seven-week the band performed 22 shows in Santa Cruz CA but were not allowed to appear beyond city limits due to Young's Crazy Horse contract. In April 2023 Young officially released a double album of songs culled from the band's performances at multiple venues as well as from sessions at a local recording studio. The double album was part of the Neil Young Archives project positioned within the Official Bootleg Series, titled High Flyin'.
Comes a Time (October 2, 1978), Young's first entirely new solo recording since the mid-1970s, marked a return to the commercially accessible, Nashville-inspired sound ofHarvest while also featuring contributions from Larson and Crazy Horse. The album also marked a return to his folk roots, as exemplified by a cover ofIan Tyson's "Four Strong Winds", a song Young associated with his childhood in Canada. Another of the album's songs, "Lotta Love", was also recorded by Larson, with her version reaching No. 8 on theBillboard Hot 100 in February 1979. In 1978, much of the filming was done for Young's filmHuman Highway, which took its name from a song featured onComes a Time. Over four years, Young would spend US$3,000,000 of his own money on production (US$14,462,755 in 2024 dollars[79]). This also marked the beginning of his brief collaboration with theart punk bandDevo, whose members appeared in the film.[80]
Young set out in 1978 on the lengthyRust 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 thepunk rockzeitgeist of the late 1970s and provided a stark contrast fromComes a Time.[81] Two new songs, the acoustic "My My, Hey Hey (Out of the Blue)" and electric "Hey Hey, My My (Into the Black)" were the centerpiece of the new material. During the filming ofHuman Highway, Young had collaborated with Devo on a cacophonous version of "Hey Hey, My My" at theDifferent Fur studio in San Francisco and would later introduce the song to Crazy Horse.[82] The lyric "It's better to burn out than to fade away" was widely quoted by his peers and critics.[82] The album has also widely been considered a precursor ofgrunge music with the bandsNirvana andPearl Jam 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 ofJohnny Rotten with that of the recently deceased "King"Elvis Presley, who himself had once been disparaged as a dangerous influence only to later become anicon. Rotten returned the favor by playing one of Young's songs, "Revolution Blues" fromOn the Beach, on a London radio show, an early sign of Young's eventual embrace by several punk-influenced alternative musicians.[83]
Young's two accompanying albumsRust Never Sleeps (July 2, 1979; new material culled from live recordings, but featuring studio overdubs) andLive Rust (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 calledRust Never Sleeps (1979), was directed by Young under the pseudonym "Bernard Shakey". Young worked with rock artistJim Evans to create the poster art for the film, using theStar WarsJawas as a theme. Young's work sinceHarvest 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 ofRolling Stone voted him Artist of the Year for 1979 (along withThe Who), selectedRust Never Sleeps as Album of the Year, and voted him Male Vocalist of the Year as well.[84]The Village Voice namedRust Never Sleeps as the year's second best album in thePazz & Jop Poll,[85] a survey of nationwide critics, and honored Young as the Artist of the Decade.[86]
After providing the incidental music to the 1980 filmWhere the Buffalo Roam, Young releasedHawks & Doves (November 3, 1980), a short record pieced together from sessions going back to 1974.[87]
Re·ac·tor (1981), an electric album recorded with Crazy Horse, also included material from the 1970s.[88] 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 inBerkeley,[89] between the end of his 1978 tour with Crazy Horse and the start of his tour with the Trans Band in mid-1982.[90]
The 80s were really good. The 80s were like, artistically, very strong for me, because I knew no boundaries and was experimenting with everything that I could come across, sometimes with great success, sometimes with terrible results, but nonetheless I was able to do this, and I was able to realize that I wasn't in a box, and I wanted to establish that.
The 1982 albumTrans, which incorporatedvocoders, synthesizers, and electronic beats, was Young's first for the new labelGeffen Records (distributed at the time byWarner Bros. Records, whose parentWarner Music Group 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 his son, who could not speak.[92] An extensive tour preceded the release of the album and was documented by the videoNeil Young in Berlin, which saw release in 1986.
Young's next album, 1983'sEverybody's Rockin', included severalrockabilly 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 headDavid Geffen for its lack of commercial appeal, and withEverybody's Rockin' following seven months later, Geffen Records sued Young for making music "unrepresentative" of himself.[93] The album was also notable as the first for which Young made commercial music videos –Tim Pope directed the videos for "Wonderin'" and "Cry, Cry, Cry". Also premiered in 1983, though little seen, was the long-gestatingHuman Highway. Co-directed and co-written by Young, the eclectic comedy starred Young,Dean Stockwell,Russ Tamblyn,Dennis Hopper,David Blue,Sally Kirkland,Charlotte Stewart 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 1983 country albumOld Ways.[94] It was also the year when Young's third child was born, a girl named Amber Jean, who was later diagnosed with inheritedepilepsy.[95]
Young spent most of 1984 and all of 1985 touring forOld 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'sLive Aid concert inPhiladelphia, collaborating with Crosby, Stills and Nash for the quartet's first performance for a paying audience in over ten years.[96]
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'sLanding on Water without Crazy Horse but reunited with the band for the subsequent year-long tour and final Geffen album,Life, which emerged in 1987. Young's album sales dwindled steadily throughout the eighties; todayLife remains his all-time-least successful studio album, with an estimated four hundred thousand sales worldwide.[97]
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 musicianHarold Melvin forced the eventual rechristening of the band as Ten Men Working midway through the tour). The addition of abrass section provided a newjazzier sound, and the title track of 1988'sThis Note's For You became Young's first hit single of the decade. Accompanied by a video that parodied corporate rock, the pretensions of advertising, andMichael Jackson, 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 namedbest video of the year by the network in 1989.[98]
Young reunited with Crosby, Stills, and Nash to record the 1988 albumAmerican Dream and play two benefit concerts late in the year, but the group did not embark upon a full tour.[99]
Young attracted criticism from liberals in the music industry when he supportedPresident Ronald Reagan and said he was "tired of people constantly apologizing for being Americans".[100] In a 1985 interview withMelody Maker, he said about theAIDS pandemic: "You go to a supermarket and you see a faggot behind the fuckin' cash register, you don't want him to handle your potatoes."[101] In the same interview, Young also complained aboutwelfare 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."[102]Rolling Stone wrote in 2013 that Young "almost certainly regrets that horrific statement" and that he "quickly moved away from right-wing politics".[101]
Young took a turn at acting in 1988 by appearing in the Steven Kovacs film'68. He played the character Westy, a cranky owner of a motorcycle shop and a fan of Senator Joseph McCarthy.
Young's 1989 single "Rockin' in the Free World", which hit No. 2 on the US mainstream-rock charts, and accompanied the album,Freedom, 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 PresidentGeorge H. W. Bush.[103]
Young's 1990 albumRagged Glory, recorded with Crazy Horse in a barn on his Northern California ranch, continued this distortion-heavy aesthetic. Young toured for the album with Orange County, California country-punk bandSocial Distortion and Sonic Youth as support, much to the consternation of many of his old fans.[105]Weld, a two-disc live album documenting the tour, was released in 1991.[105] Sonic Youth's influence was evident onArc, a 35-minute collage of feedback and distortion spliced together at the suggestion ofThurston Moore and originally packaged with some versions ofWeld.[105]
1992'sHarvest Moon marked an abrupt return (prompted by Young'shyperacusis in the aftermath of theWeld tour) to the country and folk-rock stylings ofHarvest and reunited him with some of the musicians from that album, including the core members of the Stray Gators and singersLinda Ronstadt andJames Taylor. The title track was a minor hit, and the record was well received by critics, winning theJuno Award for Album of the Year in 1994. Young also contributed to lifelong friendRandy Bachman's nostalgic 1992 tune "Prairie Town", and garnered a 1993Academy Award nomination for his song "Philadelphia", from the soundtrack of theJonathan Demme movieof the same name. AnMTV Unplugged performance and album emerged in 1993. Later that year, Young collaborated withBooker T. and the M.G.s for a summer tour of Europe and North America, withBlues Traveler,Soundgarden, andPearl Jam also on the bill. Some European shows ended with a rendition of "Rockin' in the Free World" played withPearl Jam, foreshadowing their eventual full-scale collaboration two years later.[106]
In 1994, Young again collaborated with Crazy Horse onSleeps with Angels, a record whose dark, somber mood was influenced byKurt Cobain'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") inhis suicide note. Young had reportedly made repeated attempts to contact Cobain before his death.[107] 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.[108] Still enamored with the grunge scene, Young reconnected with Pearl Jam in 1995 for the live-in-the-studio albumMirror Ball and a tour of Europe with the band and producerBrendan O'Brien backing Young. 1995 also marked Young's induction into theRock and Roll Hall of Fame, where he was inducted by Eddie Vedder.[109]
Young has consistently demonstrated the unbridled passion of an artist who understands that self-renewal is the only way to avoid burning out. For this reason, he has remained one of the most significant artists of the rock and roll era.
Young's next collaborative partner was the filmmakerJim Jarmusch, who asked Young to composea soundtrack to his 1995 black-and-white western filmDead Man. Young's instrumental soundtrack was improvised while he watched the film alone in a studio. The death of longtime mentor, friend, and producerDavid Briggs in late 1995 prompted Young to reconnect with Crazy Horse the next year for the album and tourBroken Arrow. A Jarmusch-directed concert film and live album of the tour,Year of the Horse, emerged in 1997. From 1996 to 1997, Young and Crazy Horse toured extensively throughout Europe and North America, including a stint as part of theH.O.R.D.E. Festival's sixth annual tour.[112]
In 1998, Young renewed his collaboration with the rock bandPhish, sharing the stage at the annualFarm Aid concert and then at Young's Bridge School Benefit, where he joined headliners Phish for renditions of "Helpless" and "I Shall Be Released".[113] Phish declined Young's later invitation to be his backing band on his 1999 North American tour.[114]
The decade ended with the release in late 1999 ofLooking Forward, another reunion with Crosby, Stills, and Nash. The subsequent tour of the United States and Canada with the reformed quartet earned $42.1 million, making it the eighth largest grossing tour of 2000.[115]
In 2003, Young releasedGreendale, aconcept album recorded with Crazy Horse members Billy Talbot andRalph Molina. The songs loosely revolved around the murder of a police officer in a small California town and its effects on the town's inhabitants.[117] 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 theGreendale 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 usingbiodiesel 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."[118]
Stills and Young performing together on the Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young 2006 tour
In March 2005, while working on thePrairie Wind album inNashville,[119] Young was diagnosed with a brainaneurysm. He was treated successfully with a minimally invasiveneuroradiological procedure and performed in a New York hospital on March 29,[120] but passed out two days later on a New York street from bleeding from thefemoral artery, which radiologists had used to access the aneurysm.[121] The complication forced Young to cancel his scheduled appearance at theJuno Awards telecast in Winnipeg, but within months he was back on stage, appearing at the close of theLive 8 concert inBarrie, 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 influencedPrairie Wind's themes of retrospection and mortality.[122]
In May 2010, it was revealed Young had begun working on a new studio album produced byDaniel 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."[129] 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.[130]
Young and Crazy Horse released the albumAmericana on June 5, 2012. It was Young's first collaboration with Crazy Horse since theGreendale album and tour in 2003 and 2004. The record is a tribute to unofficial national anthems that jump from an uncensored version of "This Land Is Your Land" to "Clementine" and includes a version of "God Save the Queen", which Young grew up singing every day in school in Canada.[132]
Americana is Young's first album entirely of cover songs. It debuted at number four on theBillboard 200, making it Young's highest-charting album in the US sinceHarvest.[133] On June 5, 2012,American Songwriter reported that Young and Crazy Horse would be launching their first tour in eight years in support of the album.[134]
On September 25, 2012, Young's autobiographyWaging Heavy Peace: A Hippie Dream was released to critical and commercial acclaim.[135] Reviewing the book for theNew 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 ofdementia, considering his father's medical history and his own present condition. Maslin praised the book, describing it as frank but quirky and without pathos.[136]
In November 2013, Young performed at the annual fundraiser for theSilverlake Conservatory of Music. Following theRed 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 famousParamour Mansion overlooking downtown Los Angeles.[137]
Young released his 35th 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.[140]
Storytone was followed in 2015 by hisconcept albumThe Monsanto Years.[141]The Monsanto Years is an album themed both in support ofsustainable farming and to protest the biotechnology companyMonsanto.[142] Young achieves this protest in a series of lyrical sentiments againstgenetically modified food production. He created this album in collaboration withWillie Nelson's sons,Lukas and Micah, and is also backed by Lukas's fellow band members fromPromise of the Real.[143] Additionally, Young released a film in tandem with the album, also calledThe Monsanto Years, that documents the album's recording, and can be streamed online.[144] In August 2019,The Guardian reported that Monsanto was spying on Young and other environmental activists.[145]
On September 8, 2017, Young releasedHitchhiker, a studio LP recorded on August 11, 1976, at Indigo Studios inMalibu. The album features ten songs that Young recorded accompanied by acoustic guitar or piano.[151] While different versions of most of the songs have been previously released, the album includes two never-before-released songs: "Hawaii" and "Give Me Strength", which Young has occasionally performed live.[152]
On July 4, 2017, Young released the song "Children of Destiny", which appeared on his next album. On November 3, 2017, he released "Already Great", a song fromThe Visitor, an album he recorded with Promise of the Real and released on December 1, 2017.[153]
OnRecord Store Day, April 21, 2018, Warner Records released a two-vinyl LP special edition ofRoxy: Tonight's the Night Live, a double live album of a show that Young performed in September 1973 atthe Roxy in West Hollywood, with the Santa Monica Flyers. The album is labeled "Volume 05" in Young'sPerformance Series.[154]
On October 19, 2018, Young released a live version of his song "Campaigner", an excerpt from a forthcoming archival live album,Songs for Judy, which features solo performances recorded during a November 1976 tour with Crazy Horse. It was the first release from his new label Shakey Pictures Records.[155][156][157]
In December 2018, Young criticized the promoters of a London show for selectingBarclays Bank as a sponsor. He objected to the bank's association withfossil fuels. Young said he was trying to rectify the situation by finding a different sponsor.[158]
On August 19, 2019, Young and Crazy Horse announced the release later that month of the song "Rainbow of Colors", the first single from the albumColorado, Young's first new record with the band since 2012'sPsychedelic Pill. Young, multi-instrumentalistNils Lofgren, bassist Billy Talbot and drummer Ralph Molina recorded the album with Young's co-producer, John Hanlon, in spring 2019.Colorado was released on October 25, 2019,[159][160] on Reprise Records. On August 30, 2019, Young unveiled "Milky Way", the first song fromColorado, a love ballad he had performed several times at concerts – both solo acoustic and with Promise of the Real.[161]
Continued work with Crazy Horse and forming the Chrome Hearts (2020s)
In February 2020, Young wrote an open letter to President Trump, calling him a "disgrace to my country".[162][163] On August 4, 2020, Young filed acopyright infringement lawsuit againstTrump's reelection campaign for the use of his music at campaign rallies.[164]
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 1989Saturday Night Live appearance.[165] On June 19, Young released a "lost" album,Homegrown. He recorded it in the mid-1970s following his breakup withCarrie Snodgress, but opted not to release it at the time, feeling it was too personal.[166] In September, Young released a live 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."[167]
Young and Crazy Horse released a new 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 onBlu-ray and will be directed byDaryl Hannah.[168] Young also confirmed that he had completed his third book,Canary, his first work of fiction.[169]
On January 24, 2022, Young posted an open letter threatening to remove his music from the audio streaming serviceSpotify if it did not remove theJoe Rogan Experience podcast. Young accused the podcast of spreadingCOVID-19 misinformation on December 31, writing, "Spotify has a responsibility to mitigate the spread of misinformation on its platform".[170] On January 26, Young's music was removed from Spotify. A Spotify spokesperson said 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".[170] In solidarity, artists includingJoni Mitchell and the members of Crosby, Stills, and Nash also removed their music from Spotify.[171][172][173] TheDirector-General of the World Health Organization,Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, praised Young.[172] In March 2024, Young returned his music to Spotify, as the end ofJoe Rogan's contract meant Rogan could addThe Joe Rogan Experience to other streaming platforms, such asApple Music andAmazon Music. Young said he could not sustain his opposition on each of the platforms.[174]
In 2023, Young criticizedTicketmaster's practice of raising ticket prices and adding fees. He said he had been sent letters from fans blaming him for $3,000 tickets for abenefit concert he was performing, and that "artists have to worry about ripped off fans blaming them for Ticketmaster add-ons andscalpers".[175]
In April and May 2024, Young returned to touring with Crazy Horse for the first time in ten years (for their Love Earth Tour), and unveiled a "lost" verse from "Cortez the Killer" that had been unknown for years.Micah Nelson, son ofWillie Nelson, joined Crazy Horse for the tour, as Nils Lofgren was busy touring withBruce Springsteen as a member of theE Street Band.[176] In May, two members of the group became ill, and Young announced that the remainder of their tour (including dates in July and festivals in September) would be canceled indefinitely.[177]
In late 2024, Young began playing with a new backing band, the Chrome Hearts. The band consists ofPromise of the Real members Micah Nelson (guitar), Corey McCormick (bass), and Anthony Logerfo (drums), and organistSpooner Oldham. They released their debut single, "big change", in January 2025, with producerJohn Hanlon calling the song "in your face loud irreverent rock’n’roll paint splatter on the canvas in the vein of aJackson Pollack [sic] painting."[178] The song was featured on the albumTalkin to the Trees, released several months later on June 13, 2025 as his debut album with the Chrome Hearts. The album's second single, "Let's Roll Again", was released on May 2, 2025 and takes a direct shot atElon Musk andTesla, Inc.[179]
Young provides guest vocals on the song “My Plane Leaves Tomorrow (Au Revoir)” fromThe Beach Boys'Al Jardine's 2025 EP,Islands in the Sun.Red Hot Chili Peppers bass guitaristFlea also performs trumpet on the song.[180]
On June 28, 2025, Young headlined at theGlastonbury Festival, with the set being broadcast live by theBBC, after an initial embargo placed by Young.[181]Alexis Petridis ofThe Guardian said of the band, "They may well be the best backing band Young has assembled since Crazy Horse, their sound simultaneously tumultuous and lumbering and heavily distorted."[182]
Neil Young’s "Big Crime" premiered with the Chrome Hearts on August 27, 2025, at Chicago’sHuntington Bank Pavilion, directly targetingDonald Trump’s deployment ofNational Guard troops and federal agents inWashington, D.C. With lyrics proclaiming “There’s big crime in D.C. at the White House,” “Don’t want soldiers on our streets,” and “Got to get the fascists out, got to clean the White House out,” the song combines Young’s signature protest rock style with explicit criticism of government overreach and the political climate, continuing his long legacy of using music as a platform for social and political commentary.[183][184][185][186]
On October 8, 2025, Young announced on his website his decision to remove his music catalog from Amazon Music in protest of Amazon and its founder,Jeff Bezos, whom he accused of supporting a U.S. government that neglects public welfare and contributes to issues likegovernment shutdowns. Young urged fans to boycottAmazon and support local businesses instead, framing the move as resistance to corporate control.[187]
Since 2006, Young has been maintaining the Neil Young Archives, a project which encompasses the release of live albums, starting in 2006 withLive at the Fillmore East, box sets of live and studio material, starting in 2009 withThe Archives Vol. 1 1963–1972, as well as video releases. As of 2019[update], 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.[188]
Young has been a lifelong committed environmentalist[189] and outspoken advocate for the welfare of small farmers, having co-founded in 1985 thebenefit concertFarm Aid.
Young remains on the board of directors ofFarm Aid, an organization he co-founded withWillie Nelson andJohn Mellencamp in 1985. According to its website, it is the longest-running concert benefit series in the US and has raised $43 million since its first benefit concert in 1985. Each year, Young co-hosts and performs with well-known guest performers includingDave Matthews and producers including Evelyn Shriver and Mark Rothbaum, at the Farm Aid annual benefit concerts to raise funds and provide grants to family farms and preventforeclosures, provide a crisis hotline, and create and promote homegrown farm food in the United States.[190]
In 1986, Young helped found the Bridge School,[191] an educational organization for children with severe verbal and physical disabilities, and its annual supportingBridge School Benefit concerts, together with his then-wife Pegi Young.[192]
Young had never been a stranger to eco-friendly lyrics, but themes of environmentalist spirituality and activism became increasingly prominent in his work throughout the 1990s and 2000s, especially onGreendale (2003)[193] andLiving with War (2006).[194] The trend continued on 2007'sChrome Dreams II, with lyrics exploring Young's personal eco-spirituality.[195]
Young's renewed activism manifested itself in the 2006 albumLiving with War, which like the much earlier song "Ohio", was recorded and released in less than a month as a direct result of current events.[196] 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, "Let's Impeach the President",[197] in which he asserted that Bush had lied to lead the country into war.
Neil Young performing "Heart of Gold" in support ofFairy Creek Old Growth activists, at the legislature, Victoria, BC, Feb 24, 2023
Young has been a vocal opponent of the proposedKeystone XL oil pipeline, which would run from Alberta to Texas. When discussing the environmental impact on the oilsands ofFort 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.[200]
Young has referred to issues surrounding the proposed use of oil pipelines as "scabs on our lives".[200] In an effort to become more involved, Young has worked directly with theAthabasca 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[201] movement, raising money for the Athabasca Chipewyan legal defense fund.[202]
In 2015, he andWillie Nelson held a festival in Neligh, Nebraska, calledHarvest the Hope, raising awareness of the impact of oilsands and oil pipelines on Native Americans and family farmers. Both received honors from leaders of theRosebud Sioux,Oglala Lakota,Ponca andOmaha nations, and were invested with sacredbuffalo robes.[203]
Young participated in the Blue Dot Tour, which was organized and fronted by environmental activistDavid Suzuki, and toured all 10 Canadian provinces alongside other Canadian artists, including theBarenaked Ladies,Feist, andRobert 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 CO2 released as a byproduct of oil and oil extraction is equivalent to the amount released by the total number of cars in Canada each day.[204]
Young has faced criticism from representatives from within the Canadian petroleum industry, who have claimed that his statements are irresponsible.[200] 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".[200]
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 MinisterStephen Harper as "an embarrassment to many Canadians ... [and] a very poor imitation of the George Bush administration in the United States".[204] Young was also critical of Barack Obama's government for failing to uphold the promises made regarding environmental policies during his election campaign.[204]
In 2023, Young and Daryl Hannah travelled by train to Victoria on short notice to offer their support to 1,200 Old Growth activists who had been arrested unlawfully at theFairy Creek old-growth logging protests. Young played a short set to draw attention to the issue and hearten the activists, some of whom had been pepper-sprayed and assaulted by RCMP officers, trying to protect the last at-risk intact watershed of Old Growth in southern BC.[citation needed]
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".[210] 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 filmNeil Young: Heart of Gold. They include:
a 1953Gibson Les Paul named "Old Black" acquired in early 1968 in a trade with thenBuffalo Springfield bassist, arranger, and engineerJim Messina. It began as a Goldtop that has been customized extensively over the years. Aside from replacing the (non-standard as of 1953) stop-tailpiece with aBigsby B-3 vibrato tailpiece, by 1969 the guitar had changed little from what Messina handed him. It was featured prominently on a host of Springfield demos and was the sole electric guitar used on Young's first solo LP. According to personal hands-on testimony, acquired during the Crazy Horse gig at the Troubadour on April 22, 1969, (w/ sit-in by Stephen Stills) the guitar sported a Rowe-De Armond M5-A bridge coil, Bigsby B-3 vibrato tailpiece, a (shaved, non-standard)ABR-1 Tune-o-matic bridge, chromed brass pickguard, truss rod cover plate and aluminum cover on the neck P-90 coil, Grover C-102 'Roto-matic tuners, an added 1/8" ebony headstock facia with thin crème binding, pearl inlays of the Gibson logo, the 335 'wheat-stack' and a lustrous black lacquer over-spray on the entire neck and body.[211][212]
a late 1950sGretsch White Falcon purchased by Young near the end of theBuffalo Springfield 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", "Southern Man", "Alabama", "Words (Between the Lines of Age)", and "L.A.". It was Young's primary electric guitar during theHarvest (1972) era, since Young's deteriorating back condition (eventually fixed with surgery) made playing the much heavier Les Paul (a favorite of his namedOld Black) difficult.[213]
Young uses various vintageFender Tweed Deluxeamplifiers. 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$470 in 2024 dollars[79]) 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.[216]
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 aneffects pedal. Tom Wheeler's bookThe Soul of Tone highlights the device on pages 182–183.[217]
Young's family was fromManitoba, 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) andPickering, Ontario (1956) before settling with his mother in Winnipeg, Manitoba (1958, 1960–1966), where his music career began and which he considers his "hometown".[218] After becoming successful, he bought properties in California. Young had a home in Malibu, California, that burned to the ground in the 2018Woolsey Fire.[219] He had lived outside Canada since 1967, before returning in 2020.
Young owned Broken Arrow Ranch, a property of about 1,000 acres (400 ha)[220] nearLa Honda, California, which he purchased in 1970 for $350,000 ($2.8 million in 2024 dollars);[79] the property was subsequently expanded to thousands of acres.[221][222] He moved out and gave Pegi Young the ranch after their divorce in 2014. Young's son Ben lives there.[66]
Young announced in 2019 that his application for United States citizenship had been held up because of his use ofmarijuana. In 2020, the issue was resolved and he became a United States citizen.[223][224][225][226] Almost immediately upon gaining US citizenship, Young returned to living in Canada for the first time in over half a century, as he andDaryl Hannah moved to acottage nearOmemee, the town where he lived from shortly after his birth until the age of 7.[227][228]
Young married his first wife, restaurant owner Susan Acevedo, in December 1968. They were together until October 1970, when she filed for divorce.[229]
From late 1970 to 1975, Young was in a relationship with the actressCarrie Snodgress. The song "A Man Needs a Maid" fromHarvest is inspired by his seeing her in the filmDiary 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 on September 8, 1972 and has been diagnosed withcerebral palsy.[230][231]
Young met his next wife,Pegi Young (née 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[232] and had two children together, Ben and Amber. Ben has been diagnosed with cerebral palsy[231] and Amber withepilepsy.[231] The couple were musical collaborators and co-founders of theBridge School, in 1986.[233][234] They divorced in 2014 after 36 years of marriage.[66] Pegi died on January 1, 2019.[235]
Young has been widely reported to be thegodfather of actressAmber Tamblyn;[239] in a 2009 interview withParade, Tamblyn explained that "godfather" was "just a loose term" for Young,Dennis Hopper, andDean Stockwell, three famous friends of her father,Russ Tamblyn, who were important influences on her life.[240]
Young has always been close with his half sister and fellow musicianAstrid Young, buying her first amplifier and collaborating over the past decades.[241]
Young was part owner ofLionel, LLC, a company that makes toy trains and model railroad accessories.[242] 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,[242] and remains on the board of directors of Lionel.[243] He has been named as co-inventor on seven US patents related to model trains.[244]
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.[245] Young and his companyPonoMusic developedPono, a music download service and dedicated music player focusing on "high-quality"uncompressed digital audio.[246] It was designed to compete against highly compressedMP3 type formats. Pono promised to present songs "as they first sound during studio recording".[247][248][249] The service and the sale of the player were launched in October 2014.[250][251]
In January 2021, Young sold 50% of the rights to his back catalog to the British investment companyHipgnosis Songs Fund. The value was estimated to be at least $150 million.[252][253]
Young's political outspokenness and social awareness influenced artists such asBlind Melon,Phish,Pearl Jam, andNirvana. Young is referred to as the "godfather of grunge" for his influence onKurt Cobain andEddie Vedder and thegrunge movement. Vedder inducted Young into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1995.[254]Johnny Marr has cited Young as one of the main influences on his trademark jangly guitarwork.[255]Thom Yorke ofRadiohead saidAfter the Gold Rush gave him the confidence to reveal "softness and naiveté" in vocals.[256][257] He also credited Young as a lyrical influence.[258] He said: "It was his attitude toward the way he laid songs down. It's always about laying down whatever is in your head at the time and staying completely true to that, no matter what it is."[257]
As one of the founders ofFarm Aid (1985–), he remains an active member of the board of directors. For one weekend each October, inMountain View, California, Young and his ex-wife hosted theBridge 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.[268]
Rolling Stone magazine in 2000, ranked Young thirty-fourth in its list of the 100 greatest artists of all time.[269] In 2000, Young was inducted intoCanada's Walk of Fame.[270]
In 2006, whenPaste magazine compiled a "Greatest Living Songwriters" list, Young was ranked second behindBob Dylan. (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 onVH1'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."[109]
In 2001, Young was awarded the Spirit of Liberty award by the civil liberties groupPeople for the American Way. Young was honored as theMusiCares Person of the Year on January 29, 2010, two nights before the 52nd AnnualGrammy 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 forNeil 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.[281]
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame 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.
^Kent, "The Dark Stuff: Selected Writings On Rock Music, Updated Edition", Da Capo Press, 2002,ISBN978-0-306-81182-1, p. 299 (in which Young calls Mack a "big early influence"). Also, "Neil didn't have a whole lot of records but he had the first Lonnie Mack album called The Wham of That Memphis Man! He knew every f**kin' note of that LP and you'll hear them in Neil Young soloing." Harvey Kubernick, quoting music producer Denny Bruce in"The Creative Energy Behind Neil Young's "Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere"".Goldmine Magazine. November 12, 2020. RetrievedNovember 16, 2021.
^abWhitburn, Joel (2010).The Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits: Revised and Expanded Ninth Edition. New York: Billboard Books. p. 722.ISBN978-0-8230-8554-5.
^"Neil Young Biography".Neil Young biography at the Rock and roll Hall of Fame. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum, Inc. 2013. RetrievedAugust 12, 2013.
^McDonough 2002, p. 568. "It hurts. Did you ever go in a shower and turn it on and have it come out tiny little ice cubes? That's the difference between CDs and the real thing – water and ice. It's like gettin'hit with somethin' instead of havin' it flow over ya. It's almost taking music and making a weapon out of it – do physical damage to people without touching them. If you wanted to make a weapon that could destroy people, digital could do it, okay?" Neil Young
^Gardiner, Stewart (June 16, 2023)."A Certain Kind of Energy: Lee Ranaldo Interview".concreteislands.com.Archived from the original on June 16, 2023. RetrievedJune 15, 2024.You know, we were lucky enough to collaborate with a lot of different people that influenced us, like working with Neil Young for a period of time on tour orYoko orIggy, you know, andBrigitte was one of those.
^Gross, Jason (January 1997)."Sebadoh".Perfect Sound Forever.Archived from the original on July 15, 2024. RetrievedJuly 29, 2024.Dinosaur was really influenced by Neil Young andBlack Sabbath...
^Hammond, Shawn (April 6, 2012)."Nada Surf: Caws and Effect".Premier Guitar.Archived from the original on June 18, 2024. RetrievedOctober 10, 2024.I mean, if a part is slow and big, I tend to want to think in a Crazy Horse way. Neil Young's "Cortez the Killer" [from 1975'sZuma] period—with those booming chords—was a huge influence.
^"The 10 songs that inspired Feeder, by Grant Nicholas".Louder Sound. September 28, 2017.Archived from the original on April 14, 2024. RetrievedNovember 8, 2024.Neil Young is a legend in my book and this is such a beautiful track. He still blows me away and is always an influence to me as a writer.
Echard, William (2005).Neil Young and the Poetics of Energy. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.ISBN978-0-253-21768-4.
Einarson, John (1992).Neil Young: don't be denied: the Canadian years. Kingston, Ontario: Quarry Press.ISBN978-1-55082-044-7.OCLC26802024.
George-Warren, Holly (1994).Neil Young, the Rolling stone files: the ultimate compendium of interviews, articles, facts, and opinions from the files of Rolling stone. New York: Hyperion.ISBN978-0-7868-8043-0.OCLC30074289.
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