The Story Behind Why Neil Young Has Never Won a Major GRAMMY Award

"Best Art Direction on a Boxed or Special Limited Edition Package"
Jenice Heo, Neil Young, and Gary Burden
Grammy Award Pre-telecast Ceremony, Los Angeles, Jan 31, 2010
Photo by Matt Sayles/Associated Press
During Neil Young's 50+ years recording career, he has been awarded only a single Grammy Award in a musical category.

Zero Grammys for Buffalo Springfield or Crosby Stills Nash and Young or Crazy Horse. Neil Young's first Grammy nomination did not come until 1989, for the video for “This Note’s For You”. we started exploring this question back in 2006 on Neil Young and Emmylou Harris: Guess who has 11 Grammy Awards and which one has zero?. Neil Young's 1st Grammy win (in a non-musical category) finally came 4 years later in 2010 when he won his very first Grammy Award in a pre-telecast ceremony in Los Angeles. The award, for best art direction on a boxed or special limited edition package, was shared among Mr. Young and his art directors Gary Burden and Jenice Heo for the boxed set “Neil Young Archives Vol. 1 (1963-1972).”


"Best Art Direction on a Boxed or Special Limited Edition Package"
Jenice Heo, Gary Burden & Neil Young, and
Grammy Award Pre-telecast Ceremony, Los Angeles, Jan 31, 2010
Note, the Grammy was for a boxset design -- not the music inside the box. Or the breakthrough technology. Or just the release itself. Year after year after year, we've have blogged on the injustice of the Grammy Awards handed out by industry elites, so none of any of this should come as a surprise to anyone.

But, as G.B. observed:

"A friend of mine noted that Neil Young winning for packaging is like Martin Scorsese winning an Oscar for costume design."

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Also, in 2010 Neil Young was honored as MusiCares Person Of The Year for his incredible commitment to charitable work and worthy causes.


Neil Portnow, President of National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences & Neil Young
Neil Young: MusiCares Person Of The Year - 2010
January 29, 2010 - Los Angeles, California
Neil Young's 1st Grammy win in a musical category finally came the next year in 2011 for Rock Song "Angry World".

1st Grammy Win!
2011 Rock Song: "Angry World," Neil Young
So just remember that tonight while watching the Grammy Awards. And what is the story behind why Neil Young has never won a major GRAMMY Award?

Could it be the awards are rigged? Is there corruption on the highest floors of the GRAMMYs? Shocking, we know. Again, secrecy, a lack of transparency, and a complete disregard for the TRUTH are the root cause for the dismal state of affairs in the music industry.

Former Grammys CEO Deborah Dugan has now made claims against the Recording Academy (which confirm these observations above) after she was put on administrative leave just days ago.

Former Grammys CEO Deborah Dugan

From The Grammys Are Rigged According to Ousted CEO by Tiffany Fitzhenry:

“Conflicts of interest and self dealing are rampant” [at the Recording Academy] according to ousted CEO Deborah Dugan.

Dugan filed an incendiary complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission against the institution that presides over the Grammys and wields arguably more power over the whole of the music industry than any other entity on the planet.

Some of the more shocking claims lodged by Dugan in the complaint:

• The Grammy voting process is allegedly “ripe with corruption” and allows nomination committee members to “push forward artists with whom they have relationships.” The complaint states, “It is not unusual for artists who have relationships with Board members and who ranked at the bottom of the initial 20-artist list to end up receiving nominations.”

• The Recording Academy also allegedly “manipulates the nominations process to ensure that certain songs or albums are nominated when the producer of the Grammys [Ken Ehrlich] wants a particular song performed during the show.”

As the gap between what we suspected and corroborating info hastens "The Big Shift", truth (and wheat) is coming. Truth that will transform us all.

Dave Matthews, Neil Young and Pegi Young
The Recording Academy Producers & Engineers Wing GRAMMY Event
Village Recording Studios, Los Angeles, California - January 21st, 2014
Photo by Michael Buckner/Getty Image
(Click photo to enlarge)
In 2014, Neil Young accepted the President's Merit Award from the Producers & Engineers Wing of The Recording Academy/GRAMMYs.

In Young's acceptance speech, he covered a lot of ground discussing the recording process relative to producers and artists.

Here is what Matthew L. said in reaction to the injustice and outrage (one of the milder responses.):

Oh come on, people, they deserve the award for such great art direction. The artistry is awesome. I agree that Neil deserves a Grammy for his music, and doesn't get half the overall recognition he deserves, but that shouldn't take anything away from the artists who did such a fine job creating the packaging for the Archives.

It's beautiful.

What y'all need to understand is that mainstream people in our society and the music industry aren't looking for creativity or the quality of personal expression, or your ability to channel the universe in music.

They are much more shallow than that. The people want what's sold to them, they want to be part of the popular crowd, they aren't interested in identifying personally with a song in a profound, emotional way.

They far outnumber the people who enjoy music because it moves them or titillates their minds, because of how it effects them personally, both emotionally and intellectually.

The music industry, by-and-large, plays to this tendency. It releases shallow garbage, people buy it and pretend they like it in order to satisfy their need to be accepted. This is mainstream American pop culture we're talking about here, not the land of smart, thoughtful, multidimensional individuals.

So obviously the chances of Neil Young winning a Grammy are much, much slimmer than Taylor Swift, even though he writes better music. Neil writes better music than almost anyone. It's not about good music - it's about popularity. It's about who sold the most albums because they were aggressively marketed by the industry to the shallow mainstream cult of popularity.

I'd be happy if Neil Young did get the recognition he deserved, but Neil isn't after recognition (thank GOD, because his music wouldn't be half as good as it is), and he doesn't need it, so who really cares?

In some sense it might even be a travesty to award him a Grammy, considering that winning one basically indicates that you're simplistic and derivative enough to easily market to sheep.

More on Gary Burden Receives Grammy Nomination for NYA Design.

Also, Gary Burden’s blog has fascinating entries about this project with respect to design, sustainability and collaboration.

Also, see Neil Young Honored As MusiCares Person Of The Year.


Neil Portnow, President of National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences & Neil Young
Neil Young: MusiCares Person Of The Year - 2010
January 29, 2010 - Los Angeles, California
Neil Young's Grammy Award Moments

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