Artist

Neil Young

Canadian singer, songwriter & musician

Toronto, Canada • b. 1945

Neil Young is a musician from Toronto, Canada, active since 1945. Their discography on Gatefold includes 24 records.

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Albums tracked

1,649

In collections

1945

Since

Biography

Neil Percival Young (born November 12, 1945) is a Canadian singer, guitarist, songwriter, and social activist who is widely regarded as one of the most influential musicians of his generation, particularly as Neil Young & Crazy Horse. Young was born in Toronto, but he moved to the family home of Winnipeg as a child, which is where his music career began. Young began performing as a solo artist in Canada in 1960, before moving to California in 1966, where he co-founded the band Buffalo Springfield along with Stephen Stills and Richie Furay.

The Arc of Neil Young

The pivots — what forced Neil Young to reinvent.

The Ditch Trilogy
After the massive success of Harvest, Neil took a hard left into the mud because he hated the 'middle of the road' fans he was attracting. He dragged a mobile recording truck to his ranch and tracked Tonight's the Night while everyone was drunk, mourning dead friends, and hitting wrong notes on purpose. This era gave us On the Beach and Time Fades Away, records that feel like they’re falling apart at the seams. You hear the grief and the tequila in every crack of his voice, proving that sometimes the best way to save your soul is to tank your career.
The Geffen Sabotage
The 80s were a beautiful disaster where Neil fought his new label by making records that sounded nothing like 'Neil Young.' He bought a Sennheiser Vycorder and made Trans, a synth-heavy weirdo project that confused the hell out of everyone who wanted another Heart of Gold. When the label sued him for making music that wasn't 'characteristic' of himself, he doubled down with a rockabilly record called Everybody’s Rockin’. It was a pure spite-driven era that proved he’d rather be a failure on his own terms than a legacy act on someone else's.
The Godfather of Grunge
By 1990, the hair metal scene was dying and the kids in Seattle were looking for a blueprint, which they found in the feedback of Ragged Glory. He linked back up with Crazy Horse, cranked the amps in a barn, and let the songs run ten minutes deep with jagged, unpolished solos. This culminated in the Mirror Ball sessions with Pearl Jam, where he basically handed the keys of the castle to a bunch of guys half his age. It wasn't a comeback—it was a reminder that he’d been playing louder and sloppier than the punks since before they were born.

Influences

Link Wray — Neil has cited the 1958 instrumental 'Rumble' as the first time he realized a guitar could sound threatening. You hear that raw, distorted power in the heavy chug of 'Cinnamon Girl' and his refusal to use clean tones. He didn't want to be a virtuoso; he wanted to be loud and dangerous like Wray.
Bob Dylan — Neil once called himself a 'B-student' of Dylan, particularly obsessed with the lyrical sprawl of 'Like a Rolling Stone.' The DNA of Dylan’s mid-60s electric shift is all over the narrative structure of 'Last Trip to Tulsa.' It gave him the permission to be wordy and cryptic whenever the song demanded it.
The Shadows — Before he was a folkie, Neil was in a surf-rock band called The Squires playing Gretsch guitars to mimic Hank Marvin’s vibrato. That clean, haunting tremolo sound never really left him, showing up in the lonely, echoing space of 'Down by the River.' Even at his loudest, he’s still chasing that early 60s instrumental atmosphere.
Jimmy Reed — The loose, almost lazy shuffle of Reed’s blues influenced the way Neil approaches a groove with Crazy Horse. You hear it in the 'behind the beat' feel of 'On the Beach,' where the rhythm section feels like it's barely hanging on. It’s about the feel of the pocket rather than the precision of the timing.
Roy Orbison — Neil frequently points to Orbison’s vocal vulnerability and those high, lonely notes as a major touchstone for his own falsetto. On tracks like 'Birds' or 'I Believe in You,' he’s aiming for that same operatic heartbreak. He took Orbison's drama and stripped away the velvet to make it hurt more.