Neil Young

Born: 1945, Toronto
Debut: 1968/9
Genre: Pop

Some Achievements:

- Canadian Music Hall of Fame (1982)
- U.S. Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (1995)
- Canada Walk of Fame (2000)
- The first Canadian artist to have a number one album in Britain
- 3 Major Juno Awards: Male Vocalist of the Years 1995 and 2001 and Album of the Year for Harvest Moon (1994)
- Ranked #34 in Rolling Stone Magazine’s “100 Greatest Artists of All-Time” (2004)
- Ranked #2 (behind Bob Dylan) in Paste Magazine’s “Greatest Living Songwriters” list (2006)

Biggest Hit:

“Heart of Gold” (1972)
- 8th Biggest Song of the Year in Canada
- One of the Top 10 Canadian songs of the 70s
- #1 single in Canada and the U.S.

Other Popular Songs:

- “Cinnamon Girl” (1969)
- “Only Love Can Break Your Heart” (1970)
- “After the Gold Rush” (1970)
- “Ohio” (with Crosby, Stills & Nash; 1970)
- “Helpless” (with Crosby, Stills & Nash; 1970)
- “Old Man” (1972)
- “This Note’s For You” (1988)
- “Rockin’ in the Free World” (1989)
- “Harvest Moon” (1992)
- “Philadelphia” (1994)
- “Downtown” (with Pearl Jam; 1995)

Neil Young was born in Toronto as the son of sports journalist Scott Young. He suffered from illnesses (diabetes and polio) as a child and his parents divorced when he was in his early youth. He moved to Winnipeg with his mother and began learning guitar. He recounts that he used to endlessly plug coins into the jukebox to hear Ian & Sylvia’s “Four Strong Winds”. (In 1979, he recorded the most successful cover of the song.) He formed his first band, The Jades, in Junior High School which later coalesced into The Squires. In 1963, they cut their first single, “The Sultan”, which was a local hit. The band played local clubs and cafés where Young eventually met Joni Mitchell and American musician Stephen Stills. He wrote the folk song “Sugar Mountain” and Mitchell wrote “The Circle Game” in response. He also became good friends with Randy Bachman (The Guess Who / Bachman-Turner Overdrive). The Squires split up in 1965, and Young relocated to Toronto, forming a band with Rick James and Bruce Palmer called the Mynah Birds. They recorded an album’s worth of material for Motown, none of which was released.

Young felt that his career was going nowhere and decided to drive down to Los Angeles in his Pontiac hearse, taking Palmer with him. They ran into Stills again and decided to form a half-Canuck, half-Yankee hybrid band called Buffalo Springfield who recorded their first album in 1966 and then a few more before calling it quits in 1968. The band was a one-hit wonder with “For What It’s Worth” which peaked at #7 on the Billboard charts. Despite this and their short life, the band, perhaps because of the critical acclaim it garnered, was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1997.

His work with the band was enough to get him signed with Reprise Records (home of Joni Mitchell) as a solo artist. And he released his first album in 1969. After touring Canada, he hooked up with a band called The Rockets. He convinced them to join him under the name Crazy Horse, critically hailed as one of the best garage-rock bands of all-time. They supported Young on his sophomore effort Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere. With such classics (which Young incidentally wrote with a high fever) as “Cinnamon Girl” and “Down by the River”, the album went gold.

Celebrating his success, Young reconnected with Stills who had also hit the big time, having released an album the same year with his new trio Crosby, Stills, and Nash (CSN). Two of their singles had cracked the Top 30 and their album peaked at #6. CSN invited Young to join them on their sophomore release, Déjà Vu. The album was a beautiful collaboration. The four members wrote two songs each for the album. Stills and Young wrote one together. And the band covered Joni Mitchell’s song “Woodstock”. Nash’s two compositions and Mitchell’s made the Billboard Top 30. The album itself went #1. Following the Kent State massacre, Young wrote the song “Ohio” and had the band record it quickly. The single became an anti-war staple song. There were tensions in the band: CSN wanted to do rock whereas Young wanted to do folk. As a result, Young shifted into 5th gear on his solo career.

As a soloist, Neil Young released After the Gold Rush and its single “Only Love Can Break Your Heart” in 1970. The album peaked at #8 in the U.S. and went 2x multi-platinum. The single peaked at #16 in Canada. In “Southern Man”, Young criticized the southern U.S. for its racism which prompted the friendly reply by Lynyrd Skynyrd in their “Sweet Home Alabama” in which they mention Young by name. In 1971, Neil Young skyrocketed to superstardom when he released Harvest and “Heart of Gold”. It was the first Canadian album to top the album charts in Britain, a feat that took 19 years to repeat. It topped the charts in the U.S. as well. The single went #1 in the U.S. and Canada and cracked the Top 10 in Britain. “Old Man” was the second hit single released.

Rather than embracing his success, Young spurned it and began recording much darker material. But his albums continued to sell well. In the 80s, Young began experimenting with heavy metal, electronic rock, country, and rockabilly.

In the late-80s, he came out with “This Note’s for You”, supported with a highly-praised video that satirized rock stars endorsing commercial products. 1989′s Freedom made him popular in indie rock circles. Reuniting with Crazy Horse again, the loud feedback-drenched Ragged Glory earned Young the appellation “Granddaddy of Grunge”. Now at 45, Young needed to become hip in the young alternative rock scene, so he hired Sonic Youth as his opening act on tour. The live album Weld followed. In keeping with his trademark idiosyncratic nature, he opted for a much more peaceful follow-up and released the mellow Harvest Moon, a sequel to 1971′s Harvest, in 1992. It was his biggest album in Canada going 5x multi-platinum.

In 1994, he recorded one of the theme songs for the film Philadelphia. And he released the Top 10 album Sleeps with Angels. The following year he collaborated with rock band Pearl Jam in the release Mirror Ball which peaked at #5. The man hasn’t slowed down; so far this decade, he has released 7 albums, all of which have made the Top 30. Young has spent a lot of time in the U.S. but has never renounced his Canadian citizenship. A tribute album to Young, Borrowed Tunes, features such Canadian artists as Randy Bachman, Jann Arden, and Blue Rodeo. He closed the closing ceremonies of the Vancouver Winter Olympic Games in 2010 performing, “Long May You Run”.

Neil reunited with Crazy Horse in 2012 releasing the album Psychedelic Pill as well as an album of covers called Americana.

 

’60s Hybrid Bands

Previously, we learned that many Canadian acts, like Hank Snow and Paul Anka, had moved to the U.S. to bolster their careers. Now, with CBC radio firmly established and the debut of CBC television in 1952, enabling artists to gain significant exposure, many began remaining at home, like Bobby Curtola. Moreover, foreign singers and bands began recording or settling in Canada, even American artists (we’ll look at Heart later). Arriving in Canada from Northern Ireland were The Irish Rovers who, during a lengthy (especially performance-based) career, scored a few hits including their 8 million selling cover of Shel Silverstein’s “The Unicorn” in 1968 and their Juno-nominated smash “Wasn’t That a Party” in 1980. East Prussian born John Kay became a naturalized Canadian citizen and founded the rock band Steppenwolf. An American artist who ended up settling in Canada was Ronnie Hawkins. He started out as a solo artist with a backing band called The Hawks who broke with Hawkins to become their own hybrid band called The Band. What do I mean by “hybrid” band? Let me explain…

 

In the middle of the 60s, Canada and the United States were swept up in Beatlemania. The British Invasion knocked Paul Anka, Elvis, and a host of acts off the charts. In order to combat this, Canadians and Americans joined forces, coming together to create what I’m calling “hybrid bands”. These were bands, some of whose members were Canadian and some American. There were perhaps five very popular ones: The Band, Steppenwolf, The Mamas and the Papas, The Lovin’ Spoonful, and Blood Sweat and Tears. The latter three were predominantly American outfits (only one member in each band was Canadian), so we will just write a few notes on them. The first two were primarily Canadian bands, so we will profile them. Because it released only three albums and was never a big commercial success (though highly regarded by rock critics and an inductee into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame) we will not talk about Buffalo Springfield here, but later on we will mention them in conjunction with Neil Young whom we will profile in great detail. 

 

 

Denny Doherty in The Mamas and the Papas

 

Denny Doherty was a Canadian singer-songwriter who, with three Americans, were The Mamas and The Papas, a hybrid band from 1965 to 1971. They released five albums and scored ten hit singles, the biggest being “California Dreamin’” (#4), “Monday, Monday” (#1), and “Dedicated to the One I Love” (#2). Doherty co-wrote the bands’ songs “I Got a Feelin’”, “For the Love of Ivy”, and “I Saw Her Again”, the latter reaching #5 on the Billboard charts and, naturally, going #1 in Canada. Doherty was inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame in 1996. The Mamas and The Papas were inducted into the American Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1998.

 

 

Zal Yanovsky in The Lovin’ Spoonful

 

Zal Yanovsky was a Canadian guitarist and singer who, from 1965 to 1967, was in the short-lived hybrid band The Lovin’ Spoonful with three Americans. They scored a number of hits; their three biggest all came in 1966—“Summer in the City” (#1 in both the U.S. and Canada), “Did You Ever Have to Make Up Your Mind” (#2), and “Daydream” (#1 in Canada and #2 in the U.S.). Zal Yanovsky was inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame in 1996. The Lovin’ Spoonful was inducted into the American Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2000.

 

 

David Clayton-Thomas’ Blood, Sweat, and Tears

 

In 1968 Blood, Sweat and Tears recruited a Canadian lead singer: David Clayton-Thomas. All other members were American. Clayton-Thomas is the one who fronted the band when they rose to superstardom, and he is the one who, unaided, composed one of their biggest hits—“Spinning Wheel”. Their second album (self-titled) topped the Billboard charts, was the third biggest of the year, and won the Grammy Award for Album of the Year beating out The Beatles’ Abbey Road! Their follow up album (Blood, Sweat, and Tears 3), released in 1970, also topped the charts. The band’s biggest hits were all released in 1969, reached #2 on the Billboard Pop Charts, and went #1 on the Canadian charts. These were a version of Laura Nyro’s “And When I Die”, Clayton-Thomas’ “Spinning Wheel”, and a cover of Berry Gordy and Brenda Holloway’s “You’ve Made Me So Very Happy”. David Clayton-Thomas was inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame in 1996.