Neil Young turned 80 today (Wednesday) and the website Stereogum asked 80 artists to pick their favorite song from his massive catalog.
Sammy Hagar, Michael Stipe of R.E.M., Tom Morello of Rage Against the Machine and Dave Stewart of Eurythmics are among the artists that took part on the survey.
Check out the whole list on Stereogum, and read some highlights below.
Matt Berninger (The National): "Without Rings," 2000. "I know I've copied it, or at least been inspired by it."
Frank Black (Pixies): "Winterlong," 1973. "I think 'Winterlong' is one of the greatest pop songs ever -- right up there with 'Duke Of Earl' or a Roy Orbison song or 'The Great Pretender' -- for the casual ease with which it delivers this sophisticated, elegant arrangement. You almost feel like you've lived the chorus a few times until you actually get there."
Sammy Hagar: "After The Gold Rush," 1970. "Neil and I have never discussed it. I've played a few Bridge School Benefits with him, and he's performed it there. I just think that song is something else — extremely special and from a very deep place. I don't know why I've never talked to him about it. When you're standing in front of Neil Young, he can be intimidating — so intense and so real. Scorpios are like that, and Neil is a Scorpio."
Brittany Howard: "New Mama," 1975. "I admire how the song just serves up an ancient feeling and then leaves again. There is no format or songwriting rules to follow. I think that is part of what makes Neil so brilliant."
Jim James (My Morning Jacket): "Harvest Moon," 1992. "We have been so fortunate on several occasions to get to play with Neil...but perhaps my favorite was getting to sing 'Harvest Moon' with him, the first song of his I ever heard, the song that changed my life and cracked open the door to what is possible in this world just a little bit wider, to let the moonlight in, and we danced."
Dave Matthews: "After The Gold Rush," 1970. "He paints a perfect picture of despair, rejoicing, ruin, escape, and fear in a lullaby for a breaking world. It's like a goodbye when it's too late. He may have peers but there's no better songwriter that ever lived. It's not possible."
Tom Morello (Rage Against The Machine): "Hey Hey My My (Into The Black)," 1979. "Rage Against The Machine was playing ahead of Neil Young and Crazy Horse on some festival shows in the mid-'90s. I'm a huge fan of 'Hey Hey My My' and that huge riff. But he was always playing it at the end, so we were always gone on the bus by the time he played it...I don't think Neil knew who I was, but I just walked up to him with my selfish idea: 'Hey Neil, you should open your set with ‘Hey Hey My My.' Because then I'd get to see it, but I was also thinking it'd make a great set opener. Neil looked at me with a look like, 'Son, I've been writing setlists before you were born.' He didn't even respond to me. He just moved past me. I was chagrinned. Cut to side of the stage. I'm getting ready for his usual opening song, 'Down By The River.' And he opens the set with "Hey Hey My My." It's awesome, and I'm trying to tell everyone around me "Hey, I suggested this!" Nobody believed me."
Mark Mothersbaugh (Devo): "Ohio," 1970. "The Neil Young song that means the most to me is 'Ohio.' It might seem an obvious choice, but I was a student at Kent State when the National Guard shot and killed four student protesters. Neil's immediate, unflinching response to that tragedy captured the raw emotion of that moment and gave voice to what so many of us were feeling. That song shaped my worldview and inspired the formation of Devo."
Matt Quinn (Mt. Joy): "Out On The Weekend," 1972. "This song found me at the right time. I'd just moved to LA and didn't have any friends. "See the lonely boy out on the weekend/ Trying to make it pay/ Can't relate to joy, he tries to speak and/ Can't begin to say." Musically, I think I was at a place where I needed to hear a song be so good, and so sparse in terms of arrangement. It feels powerful to know great songs can be very simple but express a feeling."
Maggie Rogers: "Cowgirl In The Sand" (Carnegie Hall 1970 Version), 1970. "It's nearly impossible to choose, but there's one recording of 'Cowgirl In The Sand" from Carnegie Hall 1970 that haunts me. I was walking in knee-deep snow in Cambridge, Massachusetts in 2021 when I first heard it, and I'm transported there every time I hear the jangling intro. I love the way the audience isn't exactly sure what song it is, and that they hold theirapplause until the first lyric."
Dave Stewart (Eurythmics): "Southern Man," 1970. "'Southern Man' and 'Cowgirl in the Sand' were the first two songs I played because I loved the riffs"
Michael Stipe (R.E.M.): "Pocahontas," 1979. "I never much listened to his music but I knew that Neil was a favorite of all the guys in my former band R.E.M. They revered him, especially Peter [Buck] and Bertis [Downs], the band's manager. He was one of the main reasons we signed to Warner Bros. Records. Sometime in the '90s, I went to see Neil perform at the Hollywood Bowl...Neil did an acoustic set, sat middle stage surrounded by different keyboards, and he performed beautifully. It was a perfect warm jasmine and tuberose Los Angeles night and the music was incredibly moving. Near the end of the set he did this song and I remember calling Peter afterwards and saying, "He did this amazing song about Marlon Brando and Pocahontas and it blew my mind." Peter laughed at me and said, 'Michael that's one of his best-known songs.' Of course I had no idea."
Kim Thayil (Soundgarden): "Cinnamon Girl," 1969. "I just love that riff. I think both the low and high E strings are Drop D tuning. And it's a cool groove. Ever since I first heard it, it was like, 'Who is this? That's Neil Young?'
Jeff Tweedy (Wilco): "Only Love Can Break Your Heart," 1970. "Certain people have a built-in thing that helps establish that individuality. For Neil Young, it's his voice. He allowed himself to sing that way, and he didn't hide it or try to sing like someone else. There's nobody that sounds like Neil Young."
Molly Tuttle: "Helpless," 1970. "I have played it in my own shows on stages around the world, and it always transports me to an otherworldly, peaceful place when I sing it. The imagery is so beautiful, and the lyrics are full of nostalgia that pulls at my heart."