With The Beatles, George Harrison was viewed as the quiet member among the pack. While this was true when compared with the opinionated crowd that he kept for company, Harrison was certainly not the silent type. Over the years, the guitarist fostered a number of critical views, including his thoughts of Neil Young. However, unlike his bandmates, the guitarist typically kept his opinions concealed behind closed doors.
Of course, John Lennon was always ready to speak his mind, whether in interviews or through his songs. In contrast, the more spiritual Harrison presented a markedly different image, often appearing as the most peaceful and introspective Beatle, seemingly without a mean-spirited bone in his body. However, despite his measured demeanor, Harrison could be surprisingly brutal and scathing towards his contemporaries. While he never publicly criticised Young, private studio footage that later emerged revealed his true feelings toward the Canadian singer-songwriter, showing a harsher side that was rarely seen.
Although Young has always spoken highly of The Beatles, it would no doubt have been difficult for him to hear Harrison speak so dismissively about his talent. Despite the many things they shared in common, Harrison was not a fan of Young’s guitar playing or singing voice, and he made his feelings abundantly clear when talking to friends. The candid remarks reveal a surprising disconnect between two iconic musicians who, on the surface, might have seemed to share mutual respect.
The footage, taken from a studio session in 1992, arrived at a time when he provided vocals on Dave Stewart’s cover of Harrison’s 1975 track ‘This Guitar’. The high-profile meeting of minds also included Bob Geldof and Chucho Merchan. There are many fascinating points in the video, including Harrison discussing the making of his timeless track ‘While My Guitar Gently Weeps’, revealing: “There is a natural tendency to go to speed up. When we started rehearsing that and then Eric said ‘much slower’, I thought it can’t be that slow.”
Shedding more light on the classic, he added, “So we started rehearsing it really slow, and then we played the record, and it is slow, which has more impact. When you speed up, something gets lost; it gets too kind of twee.”
Geldof then innocently probes if he had heard Young’s ‘Around The World’. Rather than replying with praise for the Canadian, Harrison unexpectedly stated: “I’m not a Neil Young fan.”
Understandably, the Boomtown Rats frontman was somewhat taken aback by Harrison’s blunt opinion on Young. He then put forward a case on behalf of the Canadian, but the former Beatle wasn’t persuaded by the impassioned defence and interrupted his friend to say of Young’s guitar playing, “I hate it, yeah, I can’t stand it.”
Harrison then mimicked Young playing the guitar before providing meat to the bone of his opinion, adding: “It’s good for a laugh. We did this show with him, I saw it from the other side of the stage and looked around, I looked at Eric and said ‘What’s going on?’ He did the solo in the middle, and then he kind of looked at me like, ‘Don’t look at me; it’s not me.’”
The Irish singer didn’t take no for an answer. Rather than accepting that nothing he could say would change Harrison’s opinion on the subject, Geldof shares his adoration for Rust Never Sleeps, prompting the guitarist to share his other major issue with Young: “It’s mainly his voice. I liked some of his songs, but I hated the sound of his voice; his singing is even worse than me.”
Harrison was less than complimentary about Young, but he was partly responsible for the Canadian’s career in music. During an interview with Rolling Stone in 1975, he explained how they were critical to his earliest memory of performing, stating, “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 [Winnipeg] cafeteria. My big moment.”
While Young would go on to have many more moments bigger than that showing in Calvin High School, the first step is often the most vital. It made him realise that he adored the art of performing, and soon enough, he’d dedicate his life to replicating the same high.
Fortunately for Young, Harrison’s opinion wasn’t shared by all of his bandmates. Paul McCartney gave the singer-songwriter the honour of inducting him into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame during a ceremony in 1999. Additionally, the two have played together on several occasions over the years, and McCartney even named Young one of the greatest songwriters of all time, remarking, “I think Neil Young has come up with some classics.”
Ultimately, music is subjective, and even members of the same band, like Harrison and McCartney, didn’t agree on every matter. Furthermore, Young would likely admit that his voice is an acquired taste, but for most, this deficiency is compensated by his stellar songwriting. However, Harrison simply couldn’t bring himself to look past the vocals.
