Neil Young's Golden Decade | Trouser Press - April 1980, #49

Neil Young's Golden Decade
Trouser Press - April 1980, #49

The entire library of Trouser Press magazine is now online, including the Neil Young from April 1980, issue #49.

The cover article "Neil Young's Diamonds and Rust: A Man For All Seasons" by Jon Young, is largely a re-hash of what was known about Neil Young at the time of what was to become essentially his career peak in the late 1970's.

It begins somewhat ominously -- yet amusingly in retrospect -- as follows:

Ask ten people to describe Neil Young and you'll probably get ten different responses.

To some, he's one of the dregs of the '60s, a purveyor of stale hippie sentiments and, at worst, interchangeable with Stephen Stills, David Crosby and Graham Nash. Others, who have not forgotten (or forgiven) 1972's Harvest and its attendant hit single, "Heart of Gold," charge him with responsibility for the touchy-feelie narcissism of the singer-songwriter boom.

Anyone who's heard the despair of On the Beach or Time Fades Away and sensed the frightening emptiness at the core of both records may regard Young as a terminally depressed candidate for the obituary page. You can also call him a rock 'n' roller; one image that resurfaces throughout his career is the wild-man hell-bent on tearing every last note out of his electric guitar, singing with an urgency best suited for the end of the world.

Since his debut as a solo artist in 1969, Young has come across as eccentric, undependable, maybe a drug case, and perhaps too trapped in his own orbit to have any relevance to the world at large.

By the end, the article has covered the already vast career arc of Neil Young with the following quote:

Neil Young: "I can relate to Rust Never Sleeps.

It relates to my career.

The longer I keep going, the more I have to fight this corrosion. Now it's gotten to be like the World Series for me. The competition's there, whether I will corrode and eventually not be able to move anymore and just repeat my self, or whether I will be able to expand and keep the corrosion down a little."

Read full article @ Neil Young's Golden Decade | Trouser Press - April 1980, #49, "Neil Young's Diamonds and Rust: A Man For All Seasons" by Jon Young.

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