# How in the blue fuck has Neil Young gotten as far as he has? **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [April 29, 2003, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-in-the-blue-fuck-has-neil-young-gotten-as-far-as-he-has/172000 "2003-04-29T21:05:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![birdgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/51bf81/32.png) [@birdgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/birdgirl)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2003, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-in-the-blue-fuck-has-neil-young-gotten-as-far-as-he-has/172000/61 "2003-04-30T20:50:05Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by The Great Unwashed \* > [BCan anyone tell me why American Stars and Bars is not > available on CD, what is wrong with this world? \*\* Good question. And why isn’t **On The Beach** on CD either? I had to buy it from an old used record store. And I don’t even have a record player! Found this web site calling for the re-release of On The Beach. Go sign the petition! It has 5,150 signatures. [http://www.dergunerz.freeserve.co.uk/](http://www.dergunerz.freeserve.co.uk/) ---
**Author:** ![Purd\_Werfect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e47c2d/32.png) [@Purd\_Werfect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Purd_Werfect)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2003, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-in-the-blue-fuck-has-neil-young-gotten-as-far-as-he-has/172000/62 "2003-04-30T21:09:12Z")
If you think Neil’s voice is hard to hear, go have a listen to J. Mascis of Dinosaur Jr. Neil will sound really tuneful in comparison. Mascis gets by on his stunning guitar playing and pretty good song writing though. Like Young, it’s not the singing that you’re listening for. Young’s voice can be pretty nice though when it’s harmonized with other voices. CSNY’s Deja Vu is an excellent example of this. Young’s voice was used to great effect on that album. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2003, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-in-the-blue-fuck-has-neil-young-gotten-as-far-as-he-has/172000/63 "2003-05-01T14:56:22Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Gravity \* > \*\*he’s not for everybody. \*\* _For madmen only!_ 😃 Naw, that would be Steppenwolf. 😉 **Sam** ’s got it right on this. A couple of singers who are both technically proficient and can bring the song home emotionally: Aretha Franklin and Bono. ---
**Author:** ![bernse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a9a28c/32.png) [@bernse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bernse)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2003, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-in-the-blue-fuck-has-neil-young-gotten-as-far-as-he-has/172000/64 "2003-05-01T15:26:41Z")
_Sonny_ Bono? ---
**Author:** ![ioioio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ioioio/32/316_2.png) [@ioioio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ioioio)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2003, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-in-the-blue-fuck-has-neil-young-gotten-as-far-as-he-has/172000/65 "2003-05-01T16:24:16Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Odieman \* > **The best summation of Neil’s art was best put by Neil himself: "At a certain point accomplished musicians hit the wall. They don’t go there that often , they don’t have the tools to go through the wall, because it’s the end of notes. It’s the other side, where there’s only tone, sound ambience, landscape, earthquakes, pictures, fireworks, the sky opening, buildings falling, subways opening…When you go through the wall the music takes on that kind of athmosphere, and it doesn’t translate the way other music translates. When you get to the other side, you can’t go back. I don’t know too many musicians that try to go through the wall. I love to go through the wall.** Thanks for the great quote, **Odieman.** I seek to go through the wall, because that way lies ecstacy. This weekend I’ll be singing in the chorus for Beethoven’s Ninth. There’s great potential for going through the wall. Beethoven will take you there if you let him. Sometimes I feel his overwhelming presence on stage. When he walks on stage, the floor shakes. There are single notes in the Ninth that take me beyond the starry sphere. There are passages where it takes an effort of will not to fall to my knees. _Ihr sturst nieder, Millionen_ (I now translate this as “fall to your knees, teeming millions”.) I am unapologetically a musical elitist. For each of you I wish something that takes you through the wall. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2003, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-in-the-blue-fuck-has-neil-young-gotten-as-far-as-he-has/172000/66 "2003-05-01T17:48:16Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by bernse \* > \*\*_Sonny_ Bono? \*\* Good Lord, no. Bono Hewson, the lead singer of U2. But generally known just as Bono. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2003, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-in-the-blue-fuck-has-neil-young-gotten-as-far-as-he-has/172000/67 "2003-05-01T17:51:00Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by lainaf \* > _Ihr sturst nieder, Millionen_ > (I now translate this as “fall to your knees, teeming millions”.) Beethoven addressed the Teeming Millions in the Ninth Symphony? Ye gods, he really _was_ a visionary! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Feynn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ecb155/32.png) [@Feynn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Feynn)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2003, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-in-the-blue-fuck-has-neil-young-gotten-as-far-as-he-has/172000/68 "2003-05-01T19:12:37Z")
I’m torn on the whole Neil Young thing…it’s a love hate relationship in that I often love the lyrics and music but his vocals often make me (in the words of Lola) “want to gouge my eyes out”. I don’t know why certain music makes her want to do that and I think covering your ears would be more effective anyways. On another note… Odie… welcome back man. ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2003, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-in-the-blue-fuck-has-neil-young-gotten-as-far-as-he-has/172000/69 "2003-05-01T19:37:02Z")
I had a hard time getting into Neil Young’s singing at first. I knew he wrote great songs because I had heard and enjoyed covers of some of them by other bands like Pearl Jam, but when I listened to the originals I couldn’t help but notice that ol’ Neil hasn’t got what you’d call a conventionally good voice…or even a conventionally good rock and roll voice. But it grew on me in time. I still don’t think he’s got a truly great voice, but it’s the _right_ voice for most of his songs. I remember reading a quote by Pete Townshend once saying something to the effect that many audiences want to hear a song that sounds sincere and honest, and if they believe that you really mean what you’re singing they’ll forgive you if you aren’t that great of a vocalist. I would add that sometimes it actually _helps_ if the singer isn’t a great vocalist. As **LordVor** said, if a song deals with pain and suffering then it may lose something if performed by a singer with a “pretty” voice. Johnny Cash’s cover of “Hurt” works so well because Johnny Cash _sounds_ like someone who’s been around for a long time and has had plenty of experience hurting and being hurt by others. There are plenty of songs that would sound ridiculous or awful if covered by Johnny Cash, or Neil Young, but they both do a pretty good job of choosing their material. ---
**Author:** ![bernse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a9a28c/32.png) [@bernse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bernse)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2003, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-in-the-blue-fuck-has-neil-young-gotten-as-far-as-he-has/172000/70 "2003-05-01T19:49:30Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by RTFirefly \* > \*\*Good Lord, no. > > Bono Hewson, the lead singer of U2. But generally known just as Bono. \*\* 😉 ---
**Author:** ![shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7ab992/32.png) [@shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shrew)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2003, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-in-the-blue-fuck-has-neil-young-gotten-as-far-as-he-has/172000/71 "2003-05-01T20:37:52Z")
As has already been stated, Neil Young reaches me in the way that Janis Joplin reaches me. I remember watching Janis for the first time when I was about 9. There was an Ed Sullivan marathon on Nick-at-Nite, if I remember correctly, and my dad stumbled into the den around 3 in the morning. I was in the middle of my first Janis-induced musical mental orgasm when my dad spouts off, “My God, that’s an ugly woman.” One man’s junk and all that jazz. Neil rocks my socks. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-in-the-blue-fuck-has-neil-young-gotten-as-far-as-he-has/172000.md?page=3)