Neil Young
About
Biography
Filmography
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Notes
Neil Young recorded ten times for Atlantic Records, six times with Buffalo Springfield and four times with Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young. As a part of CSN&Y, he performed on "Woodstock" (1970, Cotillion).
About the time of his first collaboration with Crazy Horse, "Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere", Young acquired a black 1956 Les Paul guitar which he still uses today. His name for it: 'Ol' black'.
Biography
Canadian-born rock star Neil Young burst upon the music scene in 1967 as the primary creative force behind the seminal folk-rock band Buffalo Springfield. Although Steven Stills' counterculture anthem "For What It's Worth" earned the band nationwide fame, Young drew the most attention for his idiosyncratic style and high-energy guitar playing. Possessing a distinctively haunting, thin tenor voice, Young wrote the signature songs "Mr. Soul" and "Broken Arrow" (which he still performs in his live shows) for their second album "Buffalo Springfield Again" (1967). Following the breakup of the band, he released his debut LP "Neil Young" (1969) but found far greater success with his second solo effort, the platinum "Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere" (1969), recorded in two weeks with his new back-up band Crazy Horse (Danny Whitten, Billy Talbot and Ralph Molina). He joined David Crosby, Steven Stills and Graham Nash's supergroup in time to appear at the historic Woodstock festival. His most memorable composition for CSN&Y, "Ohio," written in response to the Kent State killings, came out as a single in 1970.
Young's solo career was simultaneously soaring. Both "After the Gold Rush" (1970), backed by Crazy Horse, and "Harvest" (1972) became best sellers, but the latter, recorded in Nashville with the Stray Gators, Linda Ronstadt and James Taylor, was the biggest-selling album of 1972. The cut "Heart of Gold" reached Number 1 on the charts and remains the most successful single in Young's career. Devastated by the drug-related deaths of Crazy Horse guitarist Danny Whitten and roadie Bruce Barry, he put out six introspective albums between 1972 and 1977, many of their songs reflecting his profound sense of loss. He also dabbled as a film auteur, writing, directing (credited as Bernard Shakey) and starring in "Journey Through the Past" (1974), which was also the title of a collaborative album with Stills. Young closed the decade impressively with two live albums from the previous year's tour with Crazy Horse, "Rust Never Sleeps" and "Live Rust" (both 1979), but the rousing concert film he directed, "Rust Never Sleeps" (1979) did not do well at the box office. Recognizing Young for his efforts throughout the 70s, ROLLING STONE magazine voted him Artist of the Decade.
Young alienated many of his dedicated fans during the 80s with his constant experimentation, running the gamut from New Wave to 50s rock to country. Finally, near the end of the decade, he returned to his roots and produced "Freedom" (1989). Powered by the anthem-like single "Rockin' in the Free World," it became his most critically lauded album since "Rust Never Sleeps," and he followed with the similarly celebrated "Ragged Glory" (1990), recorded with Crazy Horse. No matter how often Young has gone off to find inspiration with outside musicians, he has always returned to Crazy Horse. With the exception of "Harvest," his greatest successes as a solo artist have come with the band. There is a rawness, an honesty that particularly comes through on their live extended versions of songs, his plaintive tenor soaring amidst a maelstrom of distorted guitars to make the sound that is synonymous with the best of Neil Young. Though the 80s were tough on Crazy Horse as Young explored his muse elsewhere, he has taken few hiatuses in the 90s, happy to bask in his strong relationship with the Horse. As he says at one point in Jim Jarmusch's "Year of the Horse" (1997)": "I am the guitar player in Crazy Horse."
Young's rediscovery of electric guitar feedback juxtaposed the emergence of the American alternative scene, earning him the nickname 'The Godfather of Grunge'. He cemented that description with his 1995 collaboration with Pearl Jam, "Mirror Ball," for which he earned a Grammy nomination for Best Male Rock Vocal Performance. Young clearly influenced Nirvana's Kurt Cobain who quoted the song "Hey, Hey, My, My (Into the Black)" in his suicide letter: "It's better to burn out then fade away." Though he may have burned out a few times, Young is still producing some of his best work in a career that has spanned three decades. He wrote and performed the title song for Jonathan Demme's "Philadelphia" (1993), earning an Academy Award nomination, and also composed the music for Jarmusch's "Dead Man" (1996). He followed that with "Broken Arrow" (1996), a studio effort with Crazy Horse that garnered a Grammy nod for Best Album. Jarmusch's "Year of the Horse," a mixture of low and high technology employing Super-8 cameras to convey a grainy home movie feel, featured footage from Crazy Horse concerts, rehearsals and general escapades of 1976, 1986 and 1996 in order to capture the soul of the Horse.
In addition to a prolific stream of new albums, including the multimedia album, stage performance and eventual film "Greendale" (2003), Young continued work on an ongoing archival project that had consumed him since the '70s. After a health scare caused by a 2005 brain aneurysm, a string of classic live performances from early in his career were issued as stand-alone albums before the mammoth Archives Volume 1: 1963-1972 came out on vinyl, CD and Blu-Ray in June 2009. During this time, the ever-tinkering Young also worked on perfecting an electric car, the LincVolt, and helped create a new high-resolution digital music player eventually named PONO, which gained investors through a hugely successful Kickstarter campaign in 2014. Young published his first memoir, Waging Heavy Peace: A Hippie Dream, in 2012. Young's generally private personal life hit the tabloids in the summer of 2014 when the singer filed for divorce from his wife of nearly 40 years, Pegi Young, and he was seen in the company of actress Daryl Hannah.
Filmography
Director (Feature Film)
Cast (Feature Film)
Cinematography (Feature Film)
Writer (Feature Film)
Producer (Feature Film)
Editing (Feature Film)
Music (Feature Film)
Art Department (Feature Film)
Film Production - Main (Feature Film)
Misc. Crew (Feature Film)
Cast (Special)
Music (Special)
Music (TV Mini-Series)
Life Events
1966
Joined the Rick James-fronted rock band, Mynah Birds
1967
Joined Bruce Palmer, Stephen Stills, Richie Furay, and Dewey Martin to form Buffalo Springfield
1967
Band released debut album, <i>Buffalo Springfield</i>
1968
Buffalo Springfield disbanded in May, but in order to fulfill a contractual obligation, a final album <i>Last Time Around</i> was released
1969
Reunited with Stephen Stills by joining Crosby, Stills, & Nash; second live performance was before half a million people at Woodstock
1969
Released debut solo album, <i>Neil Young</i> and recorded "Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere," backed by Crazy Horse (Danny Whitten, Billy Talbot and Ralph Molina)
1970
Wrote "Ohio" about the Kent State killings; released as a single by CSN&Y
1970
Released his third solo album, <i>After the Gold Rush</i>, which featured a young Nils Lofgren, Stephen Stills, and CSNY bassist Greg Reeves
1970
Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young released their first album, <i>Déjà Vu</i>
1971
After Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young disbanded, Young embarked on a solo tour entitled, "Journey Through the Past"
1972
Recorded the album, <i>Harvest</i>; James Taylor, Linda Ronstandt and the London Symphony Orchestra appeared on album
1973
Wrote, directed (credited as Bernard Shakey) and starred in the feature, "Journey Through the Past"
1974
Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young reunited and toured for last time
1975
Recorded <i>Zuma</i> with a new version of Crazy Horse (with Frank Sampedro on guitar)
1975
Released the album <i>Tonight's the Night</i>, a musical send-off for Crazy Horse's guitarist Danny Whitten and CSNY roadie Bruce Berry, both dead from drug overdoses
1976
Made the duet album, <i>Long May You Run</i> with Stills; the follow-up tour was ended midway through by Young
1976
Appeared at The Band's "Last Waltz" concert; seen in Martin Scorsese's documentary "The Last Waltz" (1978)
1978
Performed arena tour with Crazy Horse called, "Rust Never Sleeps"; the following year a live album of same name and a concert movie (directed by Young) were released
1980
Provided the incidental music to a biopic of Hunter S. Thompson entitled, "Where the Buffalo Roam"
1982
Co-directed (with Dean Stockwell) the feature, "Human Highway," an anti-nuke comedy in which he also acted
1985
Appeared at the Live Aid concert in Philadelphia, collaborating with Crosby, Stills and Nash
1987
Had a cameo as a truck driver in "Made in Heaven"
1987
Portrayed Westy, a cycle shop owner in "'68"
1987
Reunited with Crazy Horse for the subsequent year-long tour and album, <i>Life</i>
1988
Reunited with Crosby, Stills and Nash for the album, <i>American Dream</i>
1989
Released the single "Rockin' in the Free World" from the album, <i>Freedom</i>
1990
Played non-rocking role of Rick in "Love at Large"
1990
Reunited with Crazy Horse, recording the platinum-selling album, <i>Ragged Glory</i>
1993
Wrote and performed the title track for Jonathan Demme's "Philadelphia"; received an Oscar nomination
1995
Collaborated with Pearl Jam on the live-in-the-studio album, <i>Mirror Ball</i> and a tour of Europe
1996
Cast as Boar Man, one of the beast-people resulting from gene-splicing, in John Frankenheimer's "The Island of Dr. Moreau"
1996
Provided soundtrack for Jim Jarmusch's "Dead Man"
1997
Released the album, <i>Year of the Horse</i>; also appeared in the Jim Jarmusch directed concert documentary of same name about Neil and the band
2000
Toured the United States and Canada with Crosby, Stills and Nash for "Looking Forward"
2002
Released the rock opera, "Greendale," with Crazy Horse members Billy Talbot and Ralph Molina; the project also resulted in a movie written and directed by Neil Young using his 'Bernard Shakey' pseudonym
2005
Wrote and recorded the album, <i>Prairie Wind,</i> in Nashville; earned two Grammy nominations
2006
Released the album, <i>Living With War</i>; reunited with Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young for the supporting "Freedom Of Speech Tour '06"; Young directed "CSNY Déjà Vu," a concert film of the tour
2006
The live premiere of <i>Prairie Wind</i> in Nashville was immortalized by filmmaker Jonathan Demme in the film, "Neil Young: Heart of Gold"
2009
Released the album, <i>Fork in the Road</i>; earned a Grammy nomination for the title track
2010
Earned three Grammy nominations for the album, <i>Le Noise</i>, including Best Rock Album
2012
With Crazy Horse, released the albums <i>Americana</i> and <i>Psychedelic Pill</i>
2014
Released the solo albums <i>A Letter Home</i> and <i>Storytone</i>
2015
With Promise of the Real, released the album <i>The Monsanto Years</i>
2016
Released the album <i>Peace Trail</i>
2017
With Promise of the Real, released his 40th album, <i>The Visitor</i>
Videos
Movie Clip
Family
Companions
Bibliography
Notes
Neil Young recorded ten times for Atlantic Records, six times with Buffalo Springfield and four times with Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young. As a part of CSN&Y, he performed on "Woodstock" (1970, Cotillion).
About the time of his first collaboration with Crazy Horse, "Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere", Young acquired a black 1956 Les Paul guitar which he still uses today. His name for it: 'Ol' black'.
The title track from "This Note's For You" (1988) won MTV's Video of the Year Award. Banned by the network, it lampooned the commercial state of rock, showing a Michael Jackson look-a-like's hair catching fire and a Whitney Houston clone dousing it with Pepsi.
The New Wave group Devo provided the inspiration for the title of one of Young's best albums, suggesting that the Rustoleum slogan, "Rust Never Sleeps" was a catchy phrase.
Young has a passion for model trains and is an investor in the Lionel company.
In spring 2000, Young was sued by former Village Voice writer Jimmy McDonough, with McDonough claiming that Young was blocking publication of an authorized biography
About the special chemistry of Crazy Horse: "Something happens that I still can't explain. But it's like something begins to push all of us, and pretty soon it's one big wave and we're riding it. You don't question or analyze something like that. You just appreciate that you don't get this feeling with any other group of musicians." --Billy Talbot, bassist for Crazy Horse, quoted inThe Chicago Tribune, June 7, 1997
Young has refused to release a boxed-set collection of his music on CDSs. "When you do an analog reording and you take it to digital, you lose everything. You turn a universe of songs into an average. The music becomes more abrupt and more agitating, and all the subtleties are gone. I don't want to release my old analog albums on a CD. My statement is, I'd rather burn the tapes." As for the next technological step, DVD (digital versatile disk): "It sounds a thousand times worse than the CD. They're destroying an art form through greed." --Neil Young in The New York Times, August 11, 1997
About the Jim Jarmusch-directed "Year of the Horse": "We started with the understanding that if it wasn't working, we would stop. We wouldn't have wasted a whole bunch of fuckin' time and money trying to live up to some grand plan we'd sold to somebody we didn't know for a bunch of money, and committed ourselves to have to complete." --Neil Young to Time Out New York, October 9-16, 1997
