A Brief History Of Music Hall Of Famer Neil Young

By Author: Seth Frank
Total Articles: 17
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He has many nicknames: “The Godfather of Grunge,” “Pinecone Young,” “Joe Yankee,” and “Shakey Deal,” but most just call him by his full name, Neil Young. The Canadian born rock legend was born in Toronto, but found popularity here in the States. While known as a solo artist, the musician is also credited with helping form Buffalo Springfield and CSN&Y. From the 1960s on, Young has been performing a mixture of folk, hard rock, country rock, and proto-grunge music that has earned him success, even getting him inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame for both Buffalo Springfield and his solo career.

Early Life

As a child, Young grew up middle class, having all the amenities life could afford him. His rural upbringing is cited as the reason for his later advocacy for environmental issues and support for farmers. Growing up in the early fifties, Young credits much of his musical influence to Elvis Presley, Chuck Berry and Little Richard. It was these artists, particularly Presley, whom Young said he wanted to emulate most, even mentioning Presley’s name in several of his songs.

Musical ...
... Success

In the early 1960s, Young helped form Buffalo Springfield, mixing together rock, folk, country and psychedelic music to form the iconic sound of the band. Together with Young’s guitar solo and band member Stills’ musical creativity, the band was successful, composing hits like “For What It’s Worth” and “Broken Arrow”. However, soon after the band reached the top of the charts, the deportation of one of their band members as well as strain with management caused them to break up.

Soon after the breakup, Young took up a solo career and began turning out hits, including “Old Man”. He also helped form Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, and wrote many songs for that group, including “Ohio”, which spoke of the Kent State Massacre. Neil Young vinyl records, including those from CSN&Y, found success in every decade except the 1980s. His musical success was credited to Young’s ability to blend together genres to create a rhythmic flow of music dealing with American themes.

Grunge Influence

Young helped inspire the grunge genre, a mixture of distorted electric guitars and awkward style of fashion. The genre was founded in Seattle and found much of its success when bands like Nirvana and Pearl Jam helped further the sound. However, it was Young’s band Crazy Horse, with their prominent use of distorted electric guitars, that helped create the genre in the first place. The grunge style of music even started turning up on rappers' vinyl turntables in the early to mid 90s.