Neil Young Vs Rolling Stones

most chances the Stones won't release a new record anyway

it's really only 89 on where you GOTTA give it to Neil.

It's remarkable that this mock rivalry of so many decades is only definitively settled that late in the game. '89 is when the Stones were totally subsumed into corporate stagnation (as much as Keith can ever be tamed). They lose Wyman, and everyone in the band gets this perma-bemused look in their eye save Jagger. Yet that's when Neil got his, what, fifth wind, and started releasing some of his best music ever.

I think I'm giving it to the stones for rhythm section related reasons. If this was Neil vs Bob (the other act Neil says he was actively trying to steal from) I'd probably vote Neil.

and yes, I am saying landing on water is better than dirty work

― da croupier, Wednesday, September 26, 2012 12:22 AM

This comes down to "Winning Ugly" vs "Pressure" imo

really 82-88 says more about the listener than the band

voted Stones, due to this unassailable run:

Out of Our Heads (1965, UK) / Out of Our Heads (1965, US)
December's Children (And Everybody's) (1965, US)
Aftermath (1966, UK) / Aftermath (1966, US)
Between the Buttons (1967, UK) / Between the Buttons (1967, US)
Their Satanic Majesties Request (1967)
Beggars Banquet (1968)
Let It Bleed (1969)
Sticky Fingers (1971)
Exile on Main St. (1972)
Goats Head Soup (1973)
It's Only Rock 'n Roll (1974)
Black and Blue (1976)
Some Girls (1978)

wtf, the first stones album is like a light-year ahead of any of those bands' debuts (all of which i like).

I just disagree. Stones debut has one good song on it (Tell Me). The Who has two classics, both of which are better than anything on the Stones debut (My Generation and The Kids Are Allright) plus The Ox and a couple other decent tracks. Kinks debut has You Really Got Me and Stop Your Sobbing. and the Beatles debut is obviously the best of the lot imho. But beyond the debuts, these other bands had a rapid and remarkable increase in quality over the next couple years while Jagger and Richards were puttering around making inferior versions of things like Staple Singers songs before they came anywhere close to hitting their stride.

and then there's Jagger's pitifully embarassing James Brown-emulating routine...

Yeah, but why worry too much about whether they had too much filler on early albums? Their early singles run is what counts.

yeah, i tend to agree about the early stuff. obviously the idea of the "album" was rapidly evolving at the time (acceptability of throwing in obvious filler material, covering songs vs original material, etc), so for the early stuff, to me, it just makes sense to lay out the top songs for the stones, like wk did a little earlier, and evaluate them like that without worrying about which album it technically belonged to.

Their early singles run is what counts.

this is true, but Neil wasn't around for the pre-album period, really, so it's hard to compare. what I think is true is that for the milieu he was operating in (first in BS and then solo), Neil was hitting it outta the park right from the beginning, which was not the case with the Stones. Neil never really did "filler" at any point in his career imho. He may have had bad ideas, but they weren't cranked out out of economic necessity.

(btw I obviously totally disagree with wk re: he comes up pretty damn short compared to Byrds, Beach Boys, Love, Van Dyke Parks, Beefheart, Zappa, Doors, et al.)

well okay I rate the Beach Boys over him. Beefheart I rate about equally.

haha i actually meant the original UK version which doesn't have 'tell me' -- their 'route 66' is just one of the all-time lead-off tracks imo. i don't find jagger's singing embarrassing at all (espec compared to the james brown covers on the first who album). discovering the first couple stones albums was a revelation after years of assuming they were weak, and i'm definitely more inclined to listen to them than 'let it bleed' these days.

"Burned" and "Out of My Mind" were not hit out of the park. I'm a big fan of "Clancy" and "Flying on the Ground Is Wrong," but they're more like doubles.

i don't find jagger's singing embarrassing at all

his singing is fine from the get-go, was referring more to the dance moves

"Burned" and "Out of My Mind" were not hit out of the park. I'm a big fan of "Clancy" and "Flying on the Ground Is Wrong," but they're more like doubles.

yeah, I don't think "Nowadays Clancy..." b/w "Burned" really measures up to say 8 Miles High/Why, or Little Red Book / A Message To Pretty, or Monday Monday/Got a Feeling, or I Saw Her Again / Even If I Could or Last Train To Clarksville, I'm a Believer, I'm Not Your Steppin Stone, etc etc

all of which were released in the same year by bands in the same town

think jagger better dancer than neil young tbh. wyman better dancer than neil young.

Road-eyes: better dancers than Neil Young

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3XWHF27R0AA

Nils Lofgren interpretative dancing on the Trans tour >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> every Mick Jagger dance move ever

What are the top 10 Neil Young songs?

what are the top 10 neil young songs to dance to?

1. Walk On

2. We Are in Control

boy if 'walk on' is number one say no more

those two songs are all I got. unless you want to count waltzes. neil has a lot of great waltzes.

when Shakey dances he can really love

Which of them wrote more great riffs?

riffs i give to stones, solos to neil

Neil writes better lyrics than Mick, that's for damn sure

Neil is also funnier

true on both counts

neil's rightwing turn in the 80s more defendable, less repugnant than mick's

mick was always kind of a right-winger, no?

Neil's rightwing turn not really very rightwing tbf

in practice yeah but lyrics don't go full fuck the poor until the 80s really

Jagger's an exemplary lyricist wtf

There are areas in which one or other is superior but as far as lyrics prime Neil and Jagger are equals.

well, for one thing Neil's never resorted to race-baiting in his lyrics iirc

the stones have meant more to me over a lifetime but they have literally no songs that make me cry. this is a huge mark against them in my book. (if "they have no songs that make steven tyler cry" is also a factor in your book then God bless you.) Neil Young has "Albuquerque" & several others on Tonight's the Night and is otherwise pretty cry-free for me so...can somebody add a Joni Mitchell option to this poll? thanks

what can I say the older I get the sillier and more irritating Jagger becomes

xp

kinda shocked to hear steven tyler say he's more interested in songs that make him wanna cry than songs that make him wanna dance. 'i don't wanna miss a thing' making more sense now though.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=91KmtnsUtw8

^
Aero

...and "Cryin'"" xpost

no way Steven Tyler hasn't once given it up during "No Expectations"

remember when
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xMw2_niIUN4

"Moonlight Mile" might work too. "Memory Motel" breaks me up.

Hell, even Steel Wheels' "Almost Hear You Sigh" is pretty damn affecting.

argument could be made that this thread is really aerosmith vs pearl jam in disguise, or maybe new york dolls vs america

well, for one thing Neil's never resorted to race-baiting in his lyrics iirc

both have resorted to stupid girl baiting many times.

We should have called this poll "Stupid Girls"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B-2MenrnR2U

Out of Tears does not make me cry! I checked this in my memory banks - I love the shit out of Beggars Banquet & Exile & Some Girls is just unbelievable but it's like sorrow & bitter regret is not part of their actual emotional playbook for me. I don't buy Jagger when he's in sadness mode - I don't really buy into him emotionally generally, he's a pretty heavy aesthete in my book. Which is fine, but..."Albuquerque"

xp OK actually I'll give you "No Expectations" maybe once in a blue moon. And probably if I listened to 'Fool to Cry' it would do it but let's be fair, literally anything I listen to right now is going to make me cry