Neil Young/YMMV

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  • Archive Panic - Helped not at all by the launch of the Archives series.
  • Author's Saving Throw - Freedom was this for his erratic output in The Eighties, as well as his endorsement of Ronald Reagan at the time. Freedom included several vitriolic attacks on the effects of Reagan's policies (as well as those of his successor, George H. W. Bush).
  • Crowning Music of Awesome - Frequently cited candidates include Harvest, Rust Never Sleeps, Tonight's the Night, On the Beach and Freedom.
    • "Long May You Run". It was even the closing song for the 2010 Winter Olympics!
  • Epic Riff - "Cinnamon Girl", "Like A Hurricane", "Mr Soul", "Hey Hey My My", "Last Dance".
  • Face of the Band - Young and Stills were both in Buffalo Springfield. Dare you to name another member.
    • Jim Messina (of later Loggins & Messina fame). There was also Ritchie Furay and some other guy, but the point I was making was that there's a third member (Messina) who is pretty well known on his own.
    • It is actually possible to play "Six Degrees of Neil Young".
  • Dork Age - Early to mid '80s output.
  • Harsher in Hindsight: "Keep me searching for a heart of gold... and I'm getting old." First sung when he was 25. He is now 65.
  • I'm Still Relevant, Dammit - Besides being the whole point of Rust Never Sleeps, after ressurecting his career with Freedom, Young spent part of The Nineties adapting to the rise of Alternative Rock, touring with Sonic Youth in 1992 and working with Pearl Jam on Mirrorball. The results were actually good, proving that Tropes Are Not Bad.
  • They Changed It, Now It Sucks - Trans. So far as to make his record company sue him for not sounding like he used to sound.
    • It went farther than that, despite him being known as a country folkie, they refused to release "Old Ways" after that since it wasn't his rock sound, insisting that he do a rock album instead which resulted in the rockabilly "Everybody's Rockin" (definitely a Take That). The "Old Ways" that did get released isn't the original, by the way. It was after those albums that Geffen decided to sue him.
      • Oh, and while "Trans" IS different on a lot of songs, Young didn't completely abandon country-rock. Listen to the song "Little Thing Called Love", it sounds like it could easily fit on almost any other album he ever recorded.