“I had to ignore it”: the albums Neil Young always avoided listening to
Even at his very best, Neil Young doesn’t break any real sonic ground. It’s not because the songwriter lacks talent, but because his genius is so deeply rooted in his simplicity. Yet, when artists who operate in the slipstream of his influence try to replicate his brilliance, they merely sound like off-key karaoke.
Plagiarism is a tricky concept in music. Despite its performative looseness and ability to be infinitely innovative, the finished product ultimately has to exist within the confines of structure and theory. And within that, there are only so many notes and chords with which artists can work.
It’s how Young has played within the lines of those structures that has made him one of the true geniuses of music. The subtle combination of the character in his voice, the straddling of acoustic and electric guitar to create a powerful sense of delicacy, while penning lyrics bursting with profundity, elevates his entire discography above seas of bland pastiche.
While a shoal of musicians clamber to the surface, Bob Dylan floats alongside Neil Young, operating at a frightening level of his own brilliance with relative ease. Aside from his guitar playing, which Young has on him, his artistry is an unrelenting scattergun that shoots down any contemporary willing to stake a claim at his table of superiority; a fact Young knows all too well.
Despite Dylan’s infamous gruff and uncompromising nature, he has consistently been the recipient of Young’s dewy-eyed doting. In fact, it’s a dangerous relationship of admiration, as the latter openly admits he has to adjust his listening habits of Dylan’s work so as not to become a shoddy knock-off. “I had to avoid all Dylan records, because I am such a sponge,” Young said when interviewed by fellow icon Patti Smith.
He continued, “If I listen to it too much, I would start being that. I knew that that would disturb what I was doing. I admired what he did so much—the lyrics and the way he sang, and the melodies, and the groove and the band that he played with—especially [the late guitarist Mike] Bloomfield. There were all of these great musicians that supported him. I had to ignore it. I just had to stay away from it.”
It’s an adoration not lost on Dylan, who in equally surprising measures has publicly shared his love for Young’s work. In fact, on his 1997 track ‘Highlands’, Dylan sings “I’m listening to Neil Young, I gotta turn up the sound.” While the naming of the Canadian is a veiled, tongue-in-cheek reference to the fact he thinks Young reminds him of his own music, it’s rooted in a deep appreciation for his work.
But clearly, the two most disagreeable men in music can agree on one thing—Young’s work is fighting to slip into a form of Dylan-esque pastiche. In fact, arguably Young’s greatest track, ‘Heart of Gold’, was so good that Dylan complimented it by claiming, “…That’s me. If it sounds like, it should as well be me.”
So if you ever find yourself at the pub with your mates and engage in a musical version of ‘my dad’s harder than your dad’, remember Bob Dylan was the man who got Young in a sonic headlock and forced him to call him the master.
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