Johnny Marr’s favourite Neil Young song: “He was almost like the king”
Neil Young is dubbed ‘The Godfather of Grunge’ for good reason. Yet, his reach extends far outside the confines of the Seattle scene. A punk before the word had any musical relevance, he has influenced a host of notable names, with one of the most impactful disciples being Johnny Marr.
Although the former Smiths guitarist cites many players among his heroes, he mentions the Canadian as a formative force in developing his distinctive, constantly arpeggiating style. Young inspired the Mancunian to delve deeper into the world of guitar playing and thoroughly explore the folk genre, from Bert Jansch to The Watersons. Notably, this area would underpin all of his music, from his busy style to his preference for treble over bass.
As Marr is so inextricable from the work of Young, he’s commented on the power of his sounds on numerous occasions. When appearing on the BBC’s Tracks of My Years in 2023, he even picked his favourite song by the former CSNY man. The composition in question is ‘Like A Hurricane’ by Young and Crazy Horse, from 1997’s American Stars ‘n Bars. It stands out in the memory of the indie pioneer for the yearning essence of Young’s songwriting and as a distillation of him following his own creative path, no matter what the music industry had to say.
Marr explained: “When I was growing up, he was like one of the Kings really because he was so uncompromising that was the thing, he’d put out an album that was massive, say Harvest or whatever, and then the following album would be Tonight’s the Night, which was just a dirge and it’s brilliant, but to most people’s ears it was so un-commercial and the record company didn’t want to release it and he was so willful and went his own way.”
Continuing: “Now, back in the time I came from, that was really admirable. Aside from that, he wrote some killer songs. Anyway, when he put this out, he was almost like the king of the alt-music scene.”
Marr mentioned it must have been around the time it came out in 1977 or even 1978 that he first came across the song, a period when he and his mates were heavily into new wave acts like Blondie and The Cars. However, due to Young’s power as a musician and his spirit, people of the punk persuasion were able to like him despite being part of the old guard. To the youthful Marr and his friends, the Canadian was something of a “God”, and ‘Like a Hurricane’ only strengthened his standing.
He added: “We couldn’t believe this song. It’s just a beautiful melody as well; it’s not just heads down ‘Rockin’ In The Free World’, as you’ll hear, it’s just got this beautiful kind of yearning in it.”
Listen to ‘Like a Hurricane’ by Neil Young below.
