Few artists can rival the longevity of Neil Young, who has remained at the top of the music industry for over 50 years. While fortune has inevitably played some role in his lasting relevance, it’s largely down to his natural-born talent—one he has relentlessly honed to fulfil his artistic potential. Throughout his career, he’s had a front-row seat to history, growing close to a variety of figures he greatly admired, all of whom helped fuel his lifelong obsession with music.
Simply put, when Young speaks about music, it’s worth hanging on to every word. He talks from the heart and responds to music that touches his soul, regardless of genre. Above all else, he respects artists who are brave—those willing to break boundaries rather than conform to the accepted dimensions of creativity. It’s an approach he’s followed throughout his own career, one that isn’t always a recipe for success but has yielded some of the most impressive results.
Another artist who embodies this same maverick mindset is Brian Wilson, a visionary whose boundary-pushing approach to music redefined the possibilities of pop and rock.
Young is fortunate to know the man behind the music, and the pair have been close acquaintances for several decades. There’s a wealth of respect between the pair, and on one occasion, the former Buffalo Springfield frontman compared The Beach Boys mastermind to the legendary composers Mozart and Beethoven.
Wilson and Young are two of the most dynamic minds in the music industry, yet they have a stubborn streak which has driven them to greatness. They both only go about their business uniquely, and the idea of compromise is a foreign notion to both artists. On the one hand, they share a singular mindset, which bleeds into their authoritarian approach to creativity, but that also means they’d struggle to get on the same page if they stepped foot in a recording studio. This theory about them being a calamitous pairing was confirmed in 2014 when Wilson accepted Young’s invitation to appear at the annual Bridge School Benefit concert, which flattered to deceive.
Wilson first performed at the benefit concert in 1999 and performed again in 2006 before returning eight years later. During the latter, Young stormed the stage to join his friend to perform a rendition of ‘Surfin USA’ with the former Beach Boy and his band. Although it sounded like a dream collaboration on paper, the performance was an incoherent mess thanks to Young’s exuberant joy. Nevertheless, it was a charity concert to raise money for an important cause, and Young has earned the right to fool around with his musical hero.
Despite everything Young has achieved in his acclaimed career, he couldn’t stop himself from losing his cool around Wilson, a mark of his respect for the singer-songwriter. Additionally, a quote sits on Brian Wilson’s website, which is attributed to Young and goes a step further. Speaking of The Beach Boys founder, he said: “He’s like Mozart or Chopin or Beethoven or something. This music will live forever. It’s going to be these melodies and these words, and it’s just fantastic. I can’t describe it. There’s very few writers I feel the emotional and spiritual contact with that I feel with Brian.”
As further proof of his love of Wilson’s work, in 1972, on Young’s album Journey Through the Past, he paid tribute to The Beach Boys. The record was the soundtrack to a film of the same name, and the closing track was ‘Let’s Go Away For Awhile’, which originally appeared on Pet Sounds. Rather than choosing one of his creations, Young looked to Wilson, which epitomises his deep love of the singer-songwriter and its important role in his life.
