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Credit: Far Out \/ George Harrison \/ Yoko Ono \/ Alamy<\/p>\n
Sat 20 June 2026 12:54, UK <\/p>\n
Art is wonderfully subjective. The very notion of any form of art means that it is completely and utterly unqualifiable. What might be the most gorgeous painting in the world for one viewer could be complete trash to another. Some performances can leave one audience reaching for rotten tomatoes while another crowd dives to hand out Academy Awards. <\/p>\n
Likewise, music is just another art form, and some people can love your work while others hate it. This is something Neil Young<\/a> simply has to put up with.<\/p>\n To have spent over five decades at the top of the rock world is a feat not many artists can achieve, add to that the fact he is still capable of headlining a huge festival as he did in 2025 at Glastonbury and you have yourself something close to a once-in-a-lifetime performer. Young has done it not with gimmicks or pop prowess but by continuously writing songs which are deliberate, artistic and authentic.<\/p>\n Authenticity has long been a part of the music business. It has birthed entire careers, as Joni Mitchell can attest to. But while some can talk the talk, very few walk the walk as Young has done, rarely allowing himself to drift towards the middle of the road, let alone the direction he\u2019s been told. <\/p>\n This has always been his strongest weaponry. Few artists feel as genuine as Neil Young. Not plagued by ego or individualism, the songwriter hasn\u2019t just been one of the starring performers of his five decades in the limelight; he\u2019s also been just as happy to take a back seat and let the band take the praise from time to time. However, that doesn\u2019t mean he\u2019s ubiquitously loved.<\/p>\n No, just like your local bagpipe busker, Young has been subject to some abuse from time to time. But while the majority of it would have landed on his back and flown into the sea of critique like the proverbial droplets on Young\u2019s semi-aquatic feathered back, three comments might have hurt a little more because, by and large, Young considered them icons. <\/p>\n \u201cI never forgot that every time a new Beatles or Dylan album came out, you knew they were way beyond it,\u201d Young recalled in an interview with Cameron Crowe. \u201cThey were always doing something else, always moving down the line.\u201d Being an artist is tough, and continuously delivering the highest calibre of work is never likely to succeed for very long. But, as anrtist you ahve to keep on going and hope that your fellow arists (and friends) will at least understand. <\/p>\n So it must have hit hard when Bob Dylan, John Lennon and George Harrison shared their dislike for his work, even if they were friends, collaborators and confidants during their shared moments.<\/p>\n Why did Bob Dylan hate \u2018Heart of Gold\u2019?<\/p>\n This was quite a simple critique for Dylan; he felt like Young had stolen his act. While there might be some merit here, there are also about 1000 other artists who did the exact same thing<\/a>. Bob Dylan was a revelation, and countless stars tried to pinch his style. <\/p>\n One song, in particular, pushed Dylan over the edge: \u201cThe only time it bothered me that someone sounded like me was when I was living in Phoenix, Arizona, in about \u201972, and the big song at the time was \u2018Heart of Gold\u2019,\u201d the singer told Spin.<\/p>\n The track is one of Young\u2019s biggest hits, grabbing the number one spot on the Billboard 100 and making Neil Young the first Canadian to achieve the feat. But for Dylan, the closeness of the track to his own style, now a little less wanted than before, was too similar: \u201cI used to hate it when it came on the radio. I always liked Neil Young, but it bothered me every time I listened to \u2018Heart of Gold.\u2019 I think it was up at number one for a long time, and I\u2019d say, \u2018Shit, that\u2019s me. If it sounds like me, it should as well be me\u2019,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n Which Neil Young lyric did John Lennon hate?<\/p>\n There was one plain reason Lennon hated Young\u2019s song \u2018My, My, Hey, Hey\u2019 from Rust Never Sleeps, and it all stems from fatherhood. The famous line, later quoted by Kurt Cobain in his suicide note, was \u201cIt\u2019s better to burn out than to fade away\u2026\u201d and it disturbed Lennon. As Lennon told Playboy in an interview in 1980, shortly before he was murdered: \u201cI love all this punky stuff<\/a>. It\u2019s pure. I\u2019m not, however, crazy about the people who destroy themselves.\u201d<\/p>\n The Beatle went to explain: \u201cIt\u2019s better to fade away like an old soldier than to burn out. I don\u2019t appreciate worship of dead Sid Vicious or of dead James Dean or of dead John Wayne. It\u2019s the same thing. Making Sid Vicious a hero, Jim Morrison \u2026 it\u2019s garbage to me.\u201d But it was the new arrivel of his young son Sean which seems to have pushed him toward a more conservative viewpoint.<\/p>\n Lennon continued: \u201cI don\u2019t want Sean worshipping John Wayne or Sid Vicious. What do they teach you? Nothing. Death. Sid Vicious died for what? So that we might rock? I mean, it\u2019s garbage, you know.\u201d He then went on to add further caustic disdain, citing: \u201cIf Neil Young admires that sentiment so much, why doesn\u2019t he do it? Because he sure as hell faded away and came back many times, like all of us. No, thank you. I\u2019ll take the living and the healthy.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n Did George Harrison really hate Neil Young\u2019s music?<\/p>\n When Bob Geldof asked if he had heard Neil Young\u2019s new song \u2018Around The World\u2019, George Harrison, never one to mince his words, quickly dismissed the idea, sharing<\/a>: \u201cI\u2019m not a Neil Young fan.\u201d It\u2019s clear that this feeling wasn\u2019t just reserved for one track but the whole catalogue the Canadian had at the time. \u201cI hate it, yeah, I can\u2019t stand it.\u201d<\/p>\n Not only did Harrison then mimic his guitar playing, saying it was \u201cgood for a laugh\u201d but he also commented on Young\u2019s singing voice, a vocal which has garnered praise around the world: \u201cIt\u2019s mainly his voice. I liked some of his songs, but I hated the sound of his voice; his singing is even worse than me\u201d.<\/p>\n It is perhaps the most devastating of the harsh critiques because it seemingly has no redemption arc. While Dylan and Lennon are happy to admit they like much of the rest of Young\u2019s work, Harrison is in no mood to do such a thing. Instead, we are left with the reminder that even artists like the great Neil Young have to deal with criticism. You should just be glad it isn\u2019t coming from Bob Dylan and The Beatles.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n![\"Neil](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Neil-Young-Live-Young-Far-Out-Magazine-1024x768.jpg\")
<\/a>Credit: Alamy<\/p>\n
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<\/a> The Far Out Bob Dylan Newsletter<\/p>\n