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R.E.M., Metallica, Rush, Chrissie Hynde and more select Neil\u2019s greatest tracks.<\/p>\n
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Words by MOJO staff<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section][et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_image src=”https:\/\/flatplan-plus-content.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2025\/11\/Neil-Young-1971-Hero_Alamy.jpg” title_text=”Neil-Young-1971-Hero_Alamy” _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_image][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n Longhaired hippy dreamer, proto-punk rocker, experimental synth-explorer, godfather of grunge, still raging anti-war polemicist… Since he first emerged as part of Buffalo Springfield in 1966, Young has taken on every one of these guises, sometimes several at once. But one constant remains \u2013 as soon as the world has begun digesting the latest Neil Young creation, the man himself will have moved on.<\/p>\n The passage of time is a recurring theme in Young\u2019s music. He\u2019s a master at capturing a moment, his references to the past and questions about the future placing the listener directly in the song. Past and present, the end and the beginning, young and old, the artist and the audience, the electric and the acoustic; conflicts like these lie at heart of his best records. Whether he renders them using the upper registers of a blazing Les Paul or an acoustic guitar, a piano and that vulnerable\/defiant voice, or even a vocoder and a keytar, Young has always made music that comes from the very centre of his being.<\/p>\n It’s why his songs have resonated not only with his fans over the decades, but with other musicians who remain in awe of his continued creative chase. A chase that, as his latest album Talkin To The Trees shows, continues to turn up fresh treasure long after the gold rush was supposed to have passed. Neil and The Chrome Hearts recent shows \u2013 including spellbinding sets at Glastonbury and Hyde Park – proved that whether written in the 60s, 70s, or the 21st century, Young’s songs have a magic to them that will neither burn out, nor fade away any time soon.<\/p>\n To celebrate Neil’s 80th birthday, a selection of stars – many of whom have played on those very same tracks – pick their own personal favourites for MOJO’s rundown of Neil Young\u2019s 50 greatest songs\u2026<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_divider color=”#111111″ module_class=”custom-divider” _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” custom_margin=”||0px||false|false” custom_padding=”||0px||false|false” global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_divider][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n 50.<\/strong> Music Arcade <\/strong>(Broken Arrow, 1996)<\/p>\n Neil\u2019s lowest-fi slice-of-life: \u201cHave you ever been lost?\u201d. As selected by Giant Sand\u2019s Howe Gelb.<\/strong><\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n \u201cJust weeks before flood waters [in Pennsylvania] would come and spill six feet over our roof, I had just drawn a mural on my bedroom wall of my favourite bands at the time. Neil was there amongst\u00a0the Stones and\u00a0Zeppelin. Funny thing was, when we re-entered our devastated home, those walls had been protected by the mattresses that washed up against them. There I stood in my destroyed world, stanky river mud clotting the walls and ceiling and ankle-deep ooze all over the floor hiding the water snakes still lurking. I yanked down the mattresses and the images of Neil and all my favourite bands were untouched and looked glorious in that surrounding muck. It felt like some kind of omen, something bigger than losing our home.<\/p>\n \u201cThe song of his I most embrace is something that sounds so hidden and tucked away. Music Arcade is as intimate as it gets. Like Neil couldn\u2019t sleep, like it was a hell of a day\u2026 so he walked over to his home studio recorder and whispered this pup like he was writing it just as it was being harvested. Quiet enough to wonder at his own meaning and place in the world at that very moment. Quiet so as not to wake anyone else in the house. And that sensibility is housed in all his songs. Powerful enough to be that quiet and while under the pondered impossibility of our troubled world, still show us a way out, an endgame spin. His songs show us a way to make it through the day, but at the very same time, have enough care in them to not wake anyone else in the house who managed to find some sleep.\u201d<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n