/lit/ - Literature

[Anonymous No.6870744]

Is an artist like Neil Young less because of a lack of "intellectual" or "high art" merit?

http://www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/the-vexing-simplicity-of-neil-young

I'd post this thread on /mu/ but I doubt it'd get any serious replies and the author of the article cites (lack of) literary merit for Young's being mediocre.

[Anonymous No.6870775]

I always thought his music was powerful cause his delivery on all of his stuff, he has a pretty wide range of music expressing all emotions as well. Considering he got hooked on drugs and a few of his band mates did (1 or 2 died) and a lot of people died around him it provided a lot of material for his music. He just wrote from what was around him and was inspired by a lot of older artists from his time period and ones like joni mitchell or crosby stils. Ya sure some of his stuffs simple in lyrics but check out songs like

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1LTiKJlB62g

It's hard to beat this kind of image he creates. He's the furthest thing from mediocre as well who says you need literary knowledge to create, didn't albert camus grow up illiterate? He goes into depth saying what would his music be like if he read bla bla bla which is fine and all in a curious way but the guys putting it like he didn't hit his full potential. Not everyones a dylan.

[Anonymous No.6870796]

Oh ya incase i didn't mention too this guys an ignorant arse. Most negro music which came to lay the foundation for jazz/rock/folk (aside from irish or whatever) was all made by a bunch of uneducated tribals who hadn't read in their life. He quotes thelonius monk funny as monk is influenced largely by savage natives and jazz requires 0 words but the workings are 10x more complex then your average song ,saying neil young is so sheltered and basically idiotic but he has to realize neil young is now in his 60's and he's not the same youthful ambitious thinker he was. The more i read of this guy the more he has his head up his ass.

also

>new yorker

you shouldn't be reading this guy with any serious merit. What's he done exactly that qualifies him to talk about people the way he does.

[Anonymous No.6870851]

Also op incase you're still here since the article really pissed me off, he seems less focused on the music and actually dissecting it to add to his argument and more with picking apart neil young the person who wrote the book the man disliked, neil young the old man who's mind is like a child and can hardly think outside of a box. He was one of the most creative and talented songwriters/guitar players of his time. Ya this stuffs bullshit OP. Bob dylan who he'd probably love since the guy referenced old poets like rimbaud and shit all the time had a personality like ass and still does, always brushing off reporters and getting aggressive with people at times, or being withdrawn.

[Anonymous No.6871249]

>>6870775
>Not everyones a dylan
i hope you don't mean bob dylan

[Anonymous No.6871307]

>>6870744
Hey OP, I just want to say this:

Neil Young is incredible. I'm 28 years old, and I've seen him in concert 4 times (one of which was his Living With War album). All the men in my family love Neil. My favorite songs:

>Thrasher
>Don't Let It Bring You Down
>Hey Hey, My My (Acoustic)

At this point, I know his days are numbered, so I cherish everything the man decides to put out.
He will go down as one of the greatests that have ever lived. Hundreds of music artists owe their careers to him (although he would humbly say this is false because he is cool as shit!)

[Anonymous No.6871326]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F7letrMf_nE

[Anonymous No.6871340]

>>6870796
Are you dissing the new yorker with that green text homie?

[Anonymous No.6871352]

>>6870851
nope

[Anonymous No.6871493]

not gonna read that article, but neil young is a great songwriter

his worldview seems more innocent than anything else but really, lyricism doesn't matter so much to actual music listeners

[Anonymous No.6871572]

I saw him last night over in Mansfield, MA. Great guitar player. Seeing him and the band jam out on stage towards the end of almost every song was the best part of the show. I will say this: his new stuff -- the stuff that talks about nothing but corporations, GMOs, shit like that -- was terrible. Probably some of the worst music I've heard in my life... and I listen to a lot of music. Again, the band was great: instrumentally, the show was great. But those lyrics really ruined a lot of the vibe for me. I don't think if heard such vapid, cliched, platitudinous garbage in my life, and I even listened to Joe Rogan talk once.

Young may have been intellectual (or, at the least, artsy) at one point, but the latest albums are fucking trash.

[Anonymous No.6871648]

>>6870744
Anyone arguing Neil Young's so called 'simplicity' doesn't understand that the real Neil Young only played acoustic, and some impostor did the rest of the garbage released under his name.

[Anonymous No.6871655]

>>6871307
>Old man lying by the side of the road
>With the lorries rolling by
>Blue moon's sinkin from the weight of the load
>And the buildings scrape the sky
>Cold wind nippin and the valley of dawn
>And the morning paper flies
>Dead man lying by the side of the road
>With the daylight in his eyes
>Don´t let it bring you down,
>It´s only castles burning
>Find someone who's turning
>And you will come around