Neil Young, a scared twit

[G-Man]

Press release issued on behalf of whiny-voiced maker of shit music Neil Young to announce that he was cancelling a gig in Tel Aviv.

For Immediate Release:

NEIL YOUNG & CRAZY HORSE CANCEL CONCERT IN TEL AVIV

13th July, 2014 -- (BURBANK, CA) -- Due to the current security situation in Tel Aviv Israel, Neil Young & Crazy Horse have been forced to cancel their concert appearance originally scheduled for July 17th in Hayarkon Park.

A spokesperson for Young's camp said: "It is with heavy hearts and deep sadness that we must cancel our one and only Israeli concert due to tensions which have rendered the event unsafe at this time. We'll miss the opportunity to play for our fans and look forward to playing in Israel and Palestine in peace."

"I will be making donations to both the Louise Tillie Alpert Youth Music Centre of Israel, and Heartbeat", said Mr. Young, "two organizations that teach music to Palestinian and Israeli youth simultaneously by enabling them to play music together."

Mealy-mouthed crap. Firstly, there are no security concerns in Tel Aviv (though the south of the city has been put on alert that Hamas rockets could reach there).

Secondly, why the fuck is he playing Israel in any case? I know he was a Reagan/Bush supporter, but really?

Thirdly, if he had any concern for justice, he'd have used the opportunity to say that he won't play in Israel because he is concerned about Israel's disproportionate response to provocation. Instead he is basically blaming Hamas for giving him a scare. No doubt left about where he stands.

Fourthly, if he really wants to play in Israel and Palestine in peace, then don't book one concert in Tel Aviv. Play a concert as well in Bethlehem, which is very safe (for an open air jail).

Whiny-voiced wanker who last made a good album more than four decades ago.

[Reed John]

Neil Young, a scared twit

At least he seems to acknowledge Palestine is a real place. That's more than a lot of people do.

You're wrong about his music. He's a legend.

Besides, it probably wasn't up to him. Some insurance person, lawyer, or other such number-cruncher decided that a large outdoor gathering in Tel Aviv wouldn't be smart right now.

[Cesar Rodriguez]

Neil Young, a scared twit

So he should be playing in Israel or he shouldn't? Seems he can't win for losing here.

[G-Man]

Neil Young, a scared twit

Er, no, what gives you that idea? He shouldn't be playing in Israel at all. My objection isn't to his cancelling a concert, but the reason he gives for it: the threat of Palestinian rockets.

And if he says he wants to play in Israel and Palestine, then don't just schedule a concert in Israel.

Her can win by saying that he is cancelling the concert because he does not wish to give support to a murderous regime.

[Toro Toro]

Neil Young, a scared twit

G-Man wrote:
Secondly, why the fuck is he playing Israel in any case? I know he was a Reagan/Bush supporter, but really?

Reagan, briefly, during his ornery phase in the 80s. It was a strange time for a fairly strange guy.

Bush? No. Not the first, and certainly not the second - he did, after all, write a song in 2006 called "Let's Impeach the President". For that whole album, indeed, he is above reproach to me on matters Middle Eastern.

As for "shit music", them's the kind of words that earn somebody a cockpunch where I come from.

[Borracho]

Neil Young, a scared twit

Where, Howth?

[Toro Toro]

Neil Young, a scared twit

Yes. Specifically, certain parts of my house.

[Amor de Cosmos]

Neil Young, a scared twit

NY's comments on his Reagan/Bush support.

[Cesar Rodriguez]

Neil Young, a scared twit

G-Man wrote: Er, no, what gives you that idea? He shouldn't be playing in Israel at all. My objection isn't to his cancelling a concert, but the reason he gives for it: the threat of Palestinian rockets.

And if he says he wants to play in Israel and Palestine, then don't just schedule a concert in Israel.

Her can win by saying that he is cancelling the concert because he does not wish to give support to a murderous regime.

Despite the band's statement, a police spokesman told Reuters that it was police who cancelled the show "in order not to put people in Gaza rocket range at unnecessary risk."

http://www.cbc.ca/news/arts/neil-young-cancels-concert-in-israel-over-security-fears-1.2706366

[Calvert]

Neil Young, a scared twit

Yeah, well if you're going to quote from that make sure you highlight this...

Big name artists like Justin Timberlake, Rihanna and the Rolling Stones have all held shows in Israel in the past few months, despite calls from pro-Palestinian groups to boycott Israel over its policy toward Palestinians.

It's quite simple.
Like the time the ANC advised musicians not to give succour to the Apartheid regime.

Just don't fucking do the gig.

[Cesar Rodriguez]

Neil Young, a scared twit

This whole thread is flawed.

The concert was not cancelled because Neil Young is a coward it was cancelled due to police advice.

Why single Neil Young out for criticism when plenty of other artists have played in Israel in the last few months? Why not take issue with Rihanna and Justin Timberlake?

It seems to be a Neil Young bashing thread more than anything else.

[Calvert]

Neil Young, a scared twit

Why single Neil Young out for criticism when plenty of other artists have played in Israel in the last few months? Why not take issue with Rihanna and Justin Timberlake?

Oh, alright , then.

Money-grabbing immoral fuckwits.
May they get drunk on the blood of the children of Gaza.

[ad hoc]

Neil Young, a scared twit

Yes all of them, who have all been apprised of what their concerts mean and how the apartheid regime uses them as succour, were in the wrong. And yes they should all be condemned. So, no reason to single out Neil Young, but also no reason to stay silent on what his concert would have meant in the broader scheme of things.

[Calvert]

Neil Young, a scared twit

At the risk of upsetting the Howth Massive, there's a straggly old feral cat who appears out our back yard periodically and he bears a striking resemblance to Neil Young. Put him in a lumberjack shirt and you'd swear it was himself.
He wails a lot more tunefully than Neil, of course.

[Borracho]

Neil Young, a scared twit

Why do they do it? Israel's a very small market, I can't imagine there's much money in playing a gig there. And these people hardly need the cash anyway.

Unless someone like, for example, that horrible bigoted bastard Haiim Saban is paying them big bucks to perform there for propagandistic purposes.

[G-Man]

Neil Young, a scared twit

hagi-stoichkov-romario wrote: This whole thread is flawed.

The concert was not cancelled because Neil Young is a coward it was cancelled due to police advice.

Why single Neil Young out for criticism when plenty of other artists have played in Israel in the last few months? Why not take issue with Rihanna and Justin Timberlake?

It seems to be a Neil Young bashing thread more than anything else.

The thread was prompted by a press release which I received, and with whose content I had problems with.

There is a difference between Rihanna and her corporate pop cohorts playing Tel Aviv, and a man who has promoted ideas of social justice doing so. The latter must be held to a higher set of expectations than those who don't occupy ethical positions.

If it's Neil-Young-bashing, then it is so because Neil Young deserves to be bashed for booking a gig in Israel. Even by people who like his music.

As for Young's Republican period, he supported Bush Sr. He said so in 1988 in an interview with the NME.

[Calvert]

Neil Young, a scared twit

Young's claim also that Reagan had 'some great ideas' is fucking hilarious.

That old cunt never had an original thought in his life which wasn't programmed into him by his big business / military-industriali masters.

[Satchmo Distel]

Neil Young, a scared twit

Why do we expect rock stars to be politically astute? It's a recipe for being perennially disappointed. Just enjoy or ignore the music for what it is.

[G-Man]

Neil Young, a scared twit

That's OK if they are apolitical. But if they have been self-appointed spokesmen on social ills, then they can be validly held to account.

[Mr Beast]

Neil Young, a scared twit

G-Man wrote: That's OK if they are apolitical. But if they have been self-appointed spokesmen on social ills, then they can be validly held to account.

Is he fuck a self appointed spokesman on social ills. Neil Young's output from the late sixties throughout. the seventies stands comparison with any artist no matter what arbitrary definition you want to attach to who should be held to account. and who gets a dubious free pass.

[linus]

Neil Young, a scared twit

As far as aging singer-songwriters being on the wrong side in this debate, Bob Dylan takes the cake:

http://desertpeace.wordpress.com/2011/04/14/bob-dylan-joins-forces-with-the-neighbourhood-bully/

[G-Man]

Neil Young, a scared twit

I didn't quite realise that Whiny Neil had such fervent fans 'round here.

[Geoffrey de Ste. Croix]

Neil Young, a scared twit

Count me in as another who thinks Young is a bona fide genius who has rarely put a foot wrong in the last 40 years musically.

As for ‘whiny Neil’, I actually think his voice is one of his main strengths. He’s one of those in the “can sing but can’t sing” category inhabited by Chet Baker, Mick Jagger, Bob Dylan, Barney Sumner, Morrissey etc and this gives his compositions a uniqueness, there’s a raw emotion to that voice which sounds like it’s going to fall apart at any minute. He could sing “I’m a little teapot” and imbue it with such a depth of meaning you would believe it to be anything but a children’s rhyme.

The voice is a counterpoint to his electric guitar style which is a blunt instrument as he bludgeons his way through most songs sounding like he is not quite in control, see “Like A Hurricane”, “Cinammon Girl”, “Southern Man” as examples.

As for his politics, well, he’s of the common garden “hippie libertarian” variety, which would explain his initial support for the Reaganite mantra of "freedom and individualism" via the dissolution of "Big Government" in the early 80’s. His initial support for the Bush administration after 9/11 soon evaporated. I can forgive him for his odd political forays as much more often than not he is on the ‘right’ side.

While I disagree with his stance on playing Israel and other issues, does that take away from the impact of “Pocahontas” as a song or “On The Beach”, “After The Goldrush” and countless others albums? No. If ones takes their political cues from a rock star or puts their faith in them politically, disappointment invariably follows.

[Satchmo Distel]

Neil Young, a scared twit

He's primarily a songwriter so even if you don't like the voice you can find gorgeous covers of his material by others with better harmonic ranges, such as CS&N, just as Morrissey's songs have been covered by Dream Academy, etc.

[Lucia Lanigan]

Neil Young, a scared twit

He doesn't look like a self-appointed spokesman to me. More likely, magazines asked him his opinions on worldly matters - bad mistake. It's mostly the surrounding culture's projections onto musicians that makes them look like cunts. People want them to be leaders and wise men; the musicians themselves just want to make sounds come out of things. Bob Dylan seems to have been taking the piss out of his earnest 'ologists for decades, but still they line up to tell him what he means.