00:00Neil Young has been one of the most versatile and mercurial figures in rock music for over five decades.
00:10Young has recorded in a wide variety of styles, from hard rock, folk, and country, to grunge, a style of rock that he is credited with pioneering.
00:22Young is also one of the greatest songwriters of the rock era, rivaled only by Bob Dylan.
00:30Young was born in Toronto, Canada, in 1945.
00:34His father, Scott Young, was a Toronto sports writer.
00:39Young lived for a time in Winnipeg, Manitoba, before returning to Toronto, where he became involved in the city's Yorkville coffeehouse folk music scene of the 1960s.
00:54In the early 1960s, Young joined a surf-rock combo called the Squires.
01:00He later joined with bassist Bruce Palmer and future funk star Rick James in a band called the Minor Birds, which became the first racially integrated group to sign with Motown Records.
01:15In 1966, the band was set to release an album, when it was discovered that James had deserted the U.S. Navy.
01:27James was subsequently arrested, and the band quickly dissolved.
01:33Young bought a Pontiac hearse and drove from Toronto to Los Angeles with bassist Bruce Palmer.
01:44While driving down the Sunset Strip in Hollywood, Young spotted an old friend, who he had previously met in Thunder Bay, Ontario, driving in the opposite direction.
01:56It was Stephen Stills, the Texas-born guitarist.
02:04Young, Stills, Palmer, and Richie Furet, who was with Stills at the time, soon joined up with drummer Dewey Martin and formed the band Buffalo Springfield,
02:19which was quick to establish itself as one of the best folk-rock bands of the 1960s.
02:28Young contributed some of his best songs to the band, such as I Am a Child,
02:36Nowadays Clancy Can't Even Sing, Broken Arrow, and Expecting to Fly.
02:42Unfortunately, tensions between stills and Young led to the group breaking up after only two years.
02:53In early 1969, Young recorded his first solo album, Neil Young, which was a critical and commercial flop, but did contain the minor hit, The Loner.
03:08Young soon recruited a band, which would become known as Crazy Horse.
03:15Neil Young and Crazy Horse recorded their first album, Together, Everyone Knows This Is Nowhere, in 1969, and quickly garnered critical acclaim.
03:28The album contained the classic tracks, Cinnamon Girl, Cowboy in the Sand, and Down by the River.
03:36Young's next release, After the Gold Rush, from 1970, was a superb effort, and stands as perhaps his best album ever.
03:48The album contained the classic tracks, Southern Man, Only Love Can Break Your Heart,
03:54And When You Dance, I Can Really Love.
03:57Young and Stills came together again in 1970, when Young joined Still's new supergroup, Crosby, Still's, Nash & Young, for their Deja Vu album, a classic release of early 70s rock.
04:15Young contributed the songs, Helpless, Ohio, and Country Girl, to that album.
04:21In 1972, Young achieved singer-songwriter stardom, with the release of the superb folk-flavored album, Harvest,
04:32which contained his only number one single, Heart of Gold.
04:39Young's next album was a dark recollection of the trappings of the rock and roll lifestyle,
04:44called, Tonight's the Night, from 1975.
04:51This album was inspired by the drug-related deaths of Crazy Horse member Danny Witten and Rhodey Bruce Berry.
04:59On the Beach, from 1974, which dealt with Young's old drug issues, was recorded after Tonight's the Night,
05:10but would be released prior.
05:15Both albums stand today as superb works of 70s rock.
05:20The album Zuma, from 1975, continued Young's solid work from this period.
05:27Rust Never Sleeps, from 1979, was another superb release with one side of studio material
05:35and another side of live, driving, hard rock from the concert film of the same name.
05:44The album includes the rock anthem, Hey, Hey, My, My.
05:48Another live album, Live Rust, from 1979, contained more material from the aforementioned concert film.
06:00In 1981, Young recorded his first real flop since his debut, Reactor.
06:07This was followed by a failed attempt at electronic music, Trans, from 1982.
06:14For the remainder of the 1980s, Young was as prolific as ever, but the results were pretty spotty at times.
06:23Freedom, from 1989, was a return to his early 70s form,
06:28and an excellent release that contained the hard-rocking hit, Rockin' in the Free World.
06:35Young's return to his roots produced another outstanding effort,
06:39in the album Weld, from 1991, with his reunited backing band, Crazy Horse,
06:49father of grunge, in the 1990s, for his enormous influence on the Seattle grunge scene.
06:56And he appeared with Pearl Jam in an appearance on MTV.
07:01He later recorded an album with Pearl Jam, known as Mirrorball, in 1995.
07:12In 2005, Young recorded the country album Prairie Wind, in Nashville while postponing surgery for a brain aneurysm.
07:23Young went on to record the overtly political Living With War in 2006.
07:29Several excellent releases of Young's older material have appeared in recent years,
07:35including the superb Live at Massey Hall, 1971, from 2007.
07:45Other Neil Young albums of note include Time Fades Away, from 1973,
07:51American Stars and Bars, from 1977,
07:56Comes a Time, from 1978,
07:59Crazy Horse at the Fillmore, 1970,
08:03from 2006,
08:05Chrome Dreams 2, from 2007,
08:09Americana, from 2012,
08:12and Psychedelic Pill, from 2012.
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