Bob Dylan and Neil Young: Tangled Up in Blue and Out of The Black

Bob Dylan & Neil Young
Co-Headlining Concerts This Weekend

This weekend, Bob Dylan and Neil Young will co-headline concerts in Hyde Park, London on 12 July 2019 and Nowlan Park, Kilkenny, Ireland on 14 July 2019.

So here's a look at our back pages on Bob and Neil -- one of our favorite subjects here at TW.

Neil Young and Bob Dylan
Entertainment Tonight on 4-1-86
Bob Dylan and Neil Young are long time friends and mutual admirers. They have appeared on stage together numerous times, and have even referred to each other in their songs.

"My Back Pages"
Bob Dylan and Tom Petty & Neil Young

BobFest: Madison Square Garden, New York City - 1992

So the relationship between Bob Dylan and Neil Young is a fascinating saga indeed.

While Dylan is universally acknowledged as the most influential and important 20th century singer-songwriter performing today, Young is among a very small contingent of contenders for second place. Young's integrity and credibility place him among a distinguished group of artists to be compared to Dylan.

As a long time Neil Young fan, we've never really perceived any rivalry whatsoever between the Bob and Neil fan bases, and find the whole Bob vs Neil discussions to be a bit tiresome. It seems no matter your preference, both men are living legends and musical geniuses.

Nevertheless, the whole Bob and Neil business can be quite humorous.

A Rock & Roll Trinity:
The Father, The Son, and The Holy Ghost
Bob Dylan, Neil Young & Eric Clapton,
Madison Square Garden, New York City - 1992

Back in 2006, we linked over to a blog post on Top 10 Reasons Why Neil Young is Better Than Bob Dylan. The tongue-in-cheek posting created quite a bit of an uproar generating nearly 100 comments from outraged Dylan fans. So what exactly would any Dylan fan find objectionable??

Neil Young and Bob Dylan - 1986
As long time readers of TW know, we have been following the musical intersections of Bob Dylan and Neil Young for literally decades now.

And with the 2016 Desert Trip Festival featuring mega acts -- along with Bob Dylan and Neil Young -- such as The Rolling Stones, Paul McCartney, The Who and Roger Waters, the inevitable compare and contrast Bob & Neil game will carry on.

Bob Dylan and Neil Young
SNACK Benefit concert - Kezar Stadium - March 23rd, 1975

So let the games begin. Here's an opening round from that ever so well respected musical publication The Economist with an article "Musicians who keep a-changin'" by J.T.:

Mr Dylan’s motivations may not have been entirely sales-driven, but he did what any shrewd businessman would do: assess the performance of his most successful rivals, and innovate accordingly.

This strategy has served many musicians well, allowing them to prolong their careers. Neil Young is one such. In the seven years after he released “Harvest”, a gentle harmonica-infused album that topped the American charts in 1972, Mr Young’s sales plummeted. By 1979, Americans were buying the soundtracks to “Grease” and “Saturday Night Fever”, while the Clash and the Sex Pistols had caught the ears of British listeners. Mr Young borrowed the raw sound of the latter for his album “Rust Never Sleeps”: the title alluded to his slowly decaying career, and its format mirrored Bob Dylan’s 1966 concerts, beginning with folk and finishing with grungy rock. The final track name-checked Johnny Rotten and influenced a young Kurt Cobain.

The record became Mr Young’s first to sell more than 1m copies since “Harvest”.

So after coining the phrase "Neil Young is the second most influential singer-songwriter of the 20th century still performing today" 20 years ago, the accolade still stands unchallenged by all the fans of Paul McCartney, The Rolling Stones, Paul McCartney, The Who, Roger Waters, etc.

More for your perusing pleasure...

• "If Bob Dylan is an icon, Neil Young is a category." (+15 Comments)
• Top 10 Reasons Why Neil Young is Better Than Bob Dylan (+100 Comments)
• Neil? As Good As Bob Dylan?
• Poll: Who's the greater songwriter? Bob Dylan or Neil Young? (+20 Comments)
• Bob Dylan & Neil Young: "Helpless", 1975 Radio Broadcast (+5 Comments)
• Neil Young Covers Bob Dylan (3 Comments)
• Here We Go Again: Neil Young vs. Bob Dylan (+20 Comments)
• Dylan & Young on Tour 1978
• Bob Dylan's 70th Birthday: The Bob and Neil Saga (+20 Comments)
• Bob Dylan & Neil Young - Concord, CA, Pavilion (7th June 1988) (+10 Comments)
• Bob Dylan & Neil Young: June 1988 - Greek Theatre, Berkeley
• Bob Dylan and Neil Young: Musicians who keep a-changin (+25 Comments)
• Bob Dylan Covers "Old Man" by Neil Young (2X) (+5 Comments)

Bob Dylan and Neil Young
Madison Square Garden, New York City - 1992
More on that tangled up in blue musical relationship of Bob Dylan and Neil Young.

CONCERT: Bob Dylan & Neil Young - Hyde Park, London, 12 July 2019

Neil Young + Promise of The Real co-headline concert with Bob Dylan 12 July at Hyde Park, Londonhttps://t.co/HujWwg9AnY - CONCERT SETLIST POSTED @NeilYoungNYA @lukasnelson @POTR @jacmnelson3 pic.twitter.com/KoCiVD99m6

— ThrashersWheat (@ThrashersWheat) July 12, 2019

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