A modest commercial success in the late 1970s, Neil Young's heavy-rocking music had a profound impact on young musicians who started a new movement of grunge rock in the 1990s, leading many to dub him the "godfather of grunge." From his beginnings in the mid-1960s rock band Buffalo Springfield, to his intermittent stints as a 1970s acoustic singer-songwriter and hard-rocker, on through his 1990s incarnation as grunge's guru, Neil Young has spent his career ducking audience expectations. This US-based Canadian expatriate's idiosyncratic and sometimes perverse approach to music-making has allowed him to be perhaps the only member of his generation to maintain critical respect years after most of his peers began artistically treading water.

On his varied and numerous albums Neil Young has worn many hats, including those of folk-rocker, acoustic singer-songwriter, rockabilly artist, hard-rocker, punk-rocker, techno-dance artist, and blues guitarist. His body...