One thing I do like about his music is the unpretentiousness of it; it has a sort of “garage rock” feel to it (though I would never consider it to be “garage rock”).
FYI, one of my favorite music videos is Neil Young’s Wonderin’ with the “Shocking Pinks” that was made in 1983. I remember when it was played on MTV. Just a funny, quirky video.
I just realized that was 41 years ago. 
Yeah, his lyrics even with Buffalo Springfield were always darker than Stills’, but his first solo album must have been made from a very bad place. “The Loner” is one of the creepiest songs ever. He resurrected “The Old Laughing Lady” (written when he was twenty!), a song about addiction leading to death.
Those songs always stayed with me as compulsive listening. They also now explain why Young fit into groups so badly unless they did only his stuff and why his journey toward the mainstream was bound to fail.
I’d call it “proto-grunge”, especially “Cinnamon Girl” and the electric version of “Hey Hey My My” that closes out Rust Never Sleeps.