Why Neil Young became “angry” with modern music
Neil Young has long been one of the most eminent musicians around. Affectionately hailed as ‘The Godfather of Grunge’, he ranks among the most consistent rockers out there, with the existence of misfires in his extensive oeuvre very rare. Augmenting this musical brilliance, he has consistently thrown his support behind righteous causes, and used his status for gregarious means.
Young’s exploits speak for themselves. After cutting his teeth in Canada, he then made his way to Los Angeles where he joined Buffalo Springfield, and quickly, they became one of the biggest bands of the countercultural era. After the band split, he embarked on his solo career before briefly joining up with former Buffalo Springfield bandmate Stephen Stills in Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young.
Together, the quartet wrote a string of classics, with their 1969 record, Déjà Vu, one of the greatest of the era. Then, when the quartet imploded, he returned to his solo career, and went from strength to strength, releasing many masterpieces that include Harvest and Zuma.
With such a glittering back catalogue, this has given Young a status as one of the ultimate sages in music. For decades now, his comments on the state of the industry have been revered, as he knows it inside out and invariably delivers incisive takes. Back in 2012, he provided one of his most fascinating, when he criticised the sound quality of music in the 21st century and disclosed that it even makes him “angry”.
He told MTV News at the time: “I’m finding that I have a little bit of trouble with the quality of the sound of music today. I don’t like it. It just makes me angry. Not the quality of the music, but we’re in the 21st century, and we have the worst sound that we’ve ever had. It’s worse than a 78 [rpm record]. Where are our geniuses? What happened?”
The Canadian musician then explained that he believed that people have changed their listening habits to cope with the falling quality of music.
He said: “I like to point that out to artists. That’s why people listen to music differently today. It’s all about the bottom and the beat driving everything, and that’s because, in the resolution of the music, there’s nothing else you can really hear. The warmth and the depth at the high end is gone.”
He then caveated his point by being typically Neil Young and surprising us. He said that there are some current bands he likes, namely, Mumford and Sons and My Morning Jacket, concluding: “Mumford And Sons and My Morning Jacket are great bands. I love them both, and I know them well. I feel good about saying that.”
