Frank Zappa once shared his favourite Neil Young album
A love of Elvis Presley and a plastic ukulele were the building blocks of Neil Young‘s childhood interest in music. By the time he was in high school, he had formed his first band, The Jades. Soon enough, Young dropped out to pursue music full-time, finding his first taste of a career in the arts as a member of The Squires, playing hundreds of shows over three years.
Young began writing songs for other musicians and performing as a solo artist, eventually meeting the likes of Joni Mitchell and Stephen Stills. With the latter, alongside Richie Furay and Dewey Martin, he formed Buffalo Springfield. The band found considerable critical and commercial success, helping to pioneer the folk-rock genre. However, their tenure was shortlived; within two years, they’d disbanded, leaving Young to start a solo career.
Of course, Young has had an incredibly successful career as a folk artist, noted for his personal and socially aware lyrics. Although his music is not typically abrasive – at least sonically – Young’s work hugely inspired grunge artists such as Nirvana’s Kurt Cobain and Pearl Jam’s Eddie Vedder. Cobain even quoted Young’s track ‘Hey Hey, My My (Into the Black)’ in his suicide note, writing, “It’s better to burn out than to fade away.”
Young’s work has influenced nearly every successful musician you can think of, from Paul McCartney to Patti Smith and Sonic Youth. Young taps into a deep understanding of the human condition within his music, giving his work a universal appeal. He even found a large fan in one of music’s strangest talents, Frank Zappa. Known as a counter-cultural icon, the musician had an incredibly varied musical taste, which influenced his own work, from Igor Stravinsky to R&B and doo-wop.
In a 1975 interview with Let It Rock, Zappa detailed some of his current favourite songs, which included Black Sabbath’s ‘Supernaut’ and ‘Story of My Life’ by Guitar Slim. However, when it came to discussing Young, he couldn’t pick just one track. Instead, he selected a whole album, more specifically, After the Gold Rush. Released in 1970 as Young’s third solo album, it has since been revered as one of the most outstanding records ever. However, in typical Zappa fashion, his review of the record is somewhat unconventional. He stated, “The whole album; because it’s very direct, it’s very melodic, and it sounds like a bunch of demos.”
Although many musicians would wince at the idea that their record sounds like “a bunch of demos,” this was enough to secure a fan in Zappa, one of music’s most influential figures and pioneers. Presumably, Zappa found intimacy and vulnerability in the demo-like sound of Young’s songs, aiding the lyrical content even further, hence why he also refers to them as “very direct.”
