Neil Young’s Two Favorite Rock Legends: “They Were Way Beyond”

When music fans make lists of their favorite legendary artists, it wouldn’t be surprising to see Neil Young on a few of them. Young is one of the most beloved musicians of all time. His music has spanned generations, appealing to a wide mass of folk fans. But who would be on Young’s list? According to the music icon, there are two names in particular that would be at the top: the Beatles and Bob Dylan. Read more about his love of both of them, below.

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Neil Young’s Two Favorite Rock Legends: “They Were Way Beyond It”

We don’t really need to explain why Young loves the Beatles and Dylan. Truthfully, who doesn’t? At least to some extent. Like many of his peers, Young found both the outfit and the folk icon to be endlessly inspirational. He used their music as a jumping off point for his own songwriting.

“I never forgot that every time a new Beatles or Dylan album came out, you knew they were way beyond it,” Young once said. “They were always doing something else, always moving down the line…I remember singing Beatles tunes–the first song I ever sang in front of people was ‘It Won’t Be Long,’ and then ‘Money (That’s What I Want).’ That was in Calvin High School cafeteria. My big moment.”

Elsewhere Young discussed how Dylan became a model for him to follow in his own songwriting.

“He’s the one I look to,” Young once said of Dylan. “I’m always interested in what he’s doing now, or did last, or did a long time ago that I didn’t find out about. The guy has written some of the greatest poetry and put it to music in a way that it touched me.”

There aren’t many rock/folk artists in Young’s generation that wouldn’t prop up the Beatles or Dylan. The Beatles helped jumpstart an entire movement–one that brought bluesy English rock to the masses. Any burgeoning rocker in the Fab Four’s heyday couldn’t help but admire what they had accomplished.

Similarly, Dylan was a trailblazer in the world of folk. His songwriting completely transformed the genre–some would even say music as a whole.

It makes sense that Young would be a product of both of the Beatles and Dylan. His music is similarly era-defining and transformative.

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