A heckler once called out during a Neil Young and Crazy Horse concert that all the songs sounded the same. Without hesitation, as if he had given the matter a great deal of thought during his decades in the spotlight, Young answered, “It’s all one song.” The exchange, a joust that many rock stars might have edited out of a live recording, can be heard on the double album Year of the Horse, which documents the legendary band’s 1996 North American tour.
It is a criticism heard often of Young’s music, one meant to draw attention to his limited musicianship. But Young wears his limitations proudly, and pushes himself and his fans into strange, uncomfortable territory with each project. A folk-rock icon who has experimented with techno, rockabilly, and rhythm and blues, Young is both an introspective singer of ballads and, as he came to be known during his comeback of the 1990s, the godfather of grunge.
Contradictory and iconoclastic, a star who shuns...
Mark D. Dunn, a musician and poet, teaches writing and music history at Sault College. His most recent book is Fancy Clapping (Scrivener Press, 2012).
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