{"id":416859,"date":"2026-02-09T22:14:47","date_gmt":"2026-02-09T22:14:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/416859\/"},"modified":"2026-02-09T22:14:47","modified_gmt":"2026-02-09T22:14:47","slug":"the-tremendous-singer-neil-young-said-would-live-on-forever","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/416859\/","title":{"rendered":"The “tremendous” singer Neil Young said would live on forever"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Neil<\/p>\n

(Credits: Far Out \/ Alamy)<\/p>\n

Mon 9 February 2026 17:00, UK <\/p>\n

As many veterans of music will understand, grief and loss are natural parts of the game. Neil Young<\/a> likely knows this better than anybody from witnessing many legends come and go over the years.<\/p>\n

Young has also seen how reputations often shift once someone passes away, once they\u2019re no longer around to actually appreciate the fresh surge of adoration and appreciation. It\u2019s a strange occurrence, but one that makes complete sense when looking at the psychology of grief and how we naturally see things in a different light when they\u2019re no longer there.<\/p>\n

Across his life and career, Young has witnessed the loss of several peers, many of them became even more famous in death: Jeff Buckley, Kurt Cobain, Ian Curtis, the list goes on. However, he is also experienced in the other facet of loss \u2013 the part where you feel someone\u2019s presence even greater when they\u2019re gone.<\/p>\n

Young wasn\u2019t that close to Tom Petty while he was alive, but they did appreciate and admire each other greatly, especially when it came to risk-taking and observing each other\u2019s knack for prioritising artistic expression over commercial expectations. A good example of this was when Young drew backlash for his 1983 album Trans, which people criticised for being too sharp a pivot away from his folk roots.<\/p>\n

Petty, however, rushed to defend his musical comrade, describing it as \u201cfabulous\u201d and something he plays \u201cevery day\u201d. He even went so far as to say he enjoys it whenever he witnesses musicians pissing people off<\/a>, because it often means they\u2019re doing something right. That Young could also be around for as long as he has and still \u201ckeep you thinking\u201d was also something that Petty adored about him.<\/p>\n

When Petty passed away, Young saw him in a new light. He always appreciated the musician, but his death understandably invited a lot of reflection about his legacy and all the ways he transformed the landscape of music for the better. In fact, after he passed, Young admitted that he felt his presence even more, and that he often found himself driving past his home, pointing out, \u201cThat\u2019s Tom\u2019s gate\u201d as he passed by, and embracing the mark he left on him during his time, a mark that \u201cgoes deeper with age\u201d.\u00a0<\/p>\n

He also directly addressed the late musician in a statement paying tribute to his last show, telling him that it left everybody buzzing about the \u201chappiness\u201d you could feel among Petty and his band on stage. \u201cThese chords are still ringing around the world,\u201d he wrote, alluding to Petty\u2019s lasting impact, and describing him as a \u201ctremendous contribution to music\u201d that people \u201cwill hold in their hearts forever when they hear you everywhere\u201d. <\/p>\n

Young\u2019s only regret was not getting to know Petty better, a justified response, considering that the pair would have likely gotten on like a house on fire had they ever collaborated or bonded deeper over their shared love for great music. Petty also previously expressed his love for Young\u2019s views on modern technology and praised Young\u2019s PonoPlayer, making it clear that they\u2019d have a lot of mutual opinions on a topic that Young remains passionate about to this day.<\/p>\n

However, as Young knows, that is also one of the biggest perils of grief \u2013 once someone is no longer around, you appreciate them even more, and are left with the constant what ifs about the things that you could have done differently, had you gotten more time.\u00a0<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"(Credits: Far Out \/ Alamy) Mon 9 February 2026 17:00, UK As many veterans of music will understand,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":416860,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[6491,96,23564,13576,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-416859","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-celebrities","8":"tag-celebrities","9":"tag-entertainment","10":"tag-neil-young","11":"tag-tom-petty","12":"tag-uk","13":"tag-united-kingdom","14":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/416859","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=416859"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/416859\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/416860"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=416859"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=416859"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=416859"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}