Neil Young & Whiplash

Just watched most of an episode of American Masters about Neil Young. (A couple of layers of irony here, since Young is Canadian and the episode was a BBC production.) I can't say I've been a consistent fan of Young's music - but who has been - but I love just how dedicated he is to literally following his muse. I'm hard-pressed to think of anyone who's achieved anything close to his level of success and has been as unpredictable.

The CSNY stuff is certainly a soundtrack to parts of my life, although it was never anything I particularly chose, it was just sort of there. I do remember listening to "Tonight's the Night" a lot, with that ragged chorus, the piano, the chugging guitar line. One story they told in the show was that he toured with that album before it was released, playing a lot of unfamiliar music. Near the end of the night he'd ask the crowd if they wanted to hear something they knew - roar! Then he'd play "Tonight's the Night" again. Quintessential Neil.

I think a lot of people thought he'd lost his way in the 80s, but he was raving about what a fertile period it was. He went from Rust Never Sleeps to Trans (!) to Neil Young and the Shocking Pinks. I'd forgotten that there was a whole lawsuit from Geffen over that one. They asked for a rock 'n' roll album and they got Neil Young and the Shocking Pinks. Ha. Then he came back with "This Note's For You" thumbing his nose at all the musicians who've signed sponsorship deals.

There aren't really many true artists in popular music, but Neil's certainly one of the very few. When I think of an artist I think of someone who follows where their instincts take them, regardless of what anyone else wants them to do or how it'll make them look. That's a type of real bravery.