Bob and Neil, Over and Over, Again and Again

We really do hate to stir things up here at Thrasher's Wheat. Really. But, at the risk of escalating the debate, here is a blog comment that just begs a response. The comment comes in regarding last year's goof post on Top 10 Reasons Why Neil Young is Better Than Bob Dylan.

A little background on this "battle". A year ago a whole controversy erupted over who was better: Bob or Neil? This resulted in a huge backlash from both the Dylan and Young communities on a number of fronts including whether even such a discussion was relevant.

Well a year later, we still get the occasional comment on the subject. Here goes the latest bomb:

"Neil Young is a better guitarist (and musician) than Dylan, and a stronger more enduring musician(than the seemingly brain-dead Dylan) which is often overlooked by his abundant political activism found within his popular hits, such as Keep On Rocking in the Free World, Ohio, etc. Also, although Dylan is the superior songwriter of the two, his music is better played by other talented musicians (such as All Along the Watchtower covered by Hendrix) or by the local high school garage band that plays in your neighbor's basement for that matter. Vocally I will say that Bob Dylan does have a better voice in certain songs (Lay Lady Lay, for example), but these songs are not what most radio listeners remember. I mean most of the Dylan songs most easily recognized by listeners focus on the screechy, raspy and yappy vocals of Dylan such as: Rainy Day Women or Like a Rolling Stone, just to name a few. Yes I would agree that Neil Young does not have the world's greatest voice either, but there is really nothing that can be done to change the nasal sound of his voice (ask any music student).

Although these last few statements may seem trivial to some of the viewers out there, these facts will stand on there own: Bob Dylan will never be inducted into the rock and roll hall of fame on 3 separate occasion as will Neil Young (CSNY, Buffalo Springfield, and Crazy Horse/ solo career), nor will Bob Dylan have 2 guitar solos within the top 100 of the greatest solo's of all time (Cortez the Killer, and Cinnamon Girl). What's even more ironic is that the only time that Young's Canadian nationality is brought up is when his opponents can't think of anything to criticize him for, whereas Bob Dylan you can criticize him for his horrible interview etiquette, or his strange appearance within a Victoria Secret commercial (I don't think a creepy and haggard looking old man does well to sell quality clothing such as Victoria Secret), among a HUGE list of other things, and yet people think Neil Young is a sellout! And the fact that Neil considers himself a B student of Dylan is because his specialty isn't the same type of music that Dylan plays today, and this comment is a way to show respect to an elderly musician as is Dylan. I think the Young haters need to look past the nationality and the stereotyping of Young into only a political songwriter, but look at his overall better musicianship

So let's re-cap

Vocal ability: Young <--> Dylan
Guitar playing: Young > Dylan
Selling Out: Young <> Dylan (Thunder On the Mountain)
HOF nominations: Young 3 (4 including an induction into the Canadian Hall of Fame), Dylan 1
Overall: Young > Dylan

And to the last "anonymous" post, mocking Young's "Let's impeach the President" song, I say to you, your words are those of a sell out Bob Dylan fanatic, because a Canadian and proven legend who is more of a patriot and lover of freedom than many "true-blue" Americans, should not be stifled by a mere material image, he can leave that worry to Dylan instead."

As for Thrasher? He's sticking with Neil's obervation that he's a "B" student of Bob's.

For more, see Top 10 Reasons Not to Goof With Bob Dylan Fans.