Neil Young never really concerned himself with being in the conversation of the greatest of all time. Whereas most people tried to match what giants like The Beatles or Bob Dylan could do with their songwriting, Young was far more interested in seeing where his music would take him, even if it involved taking his classic sound right off a cliff. Regardless of quality, Young knew the importance of authenticity in music, and as far as he could tell, Kurt Cobain had everything he looked for in a songwriter.
Then again, the ‘Godfather of Grunge’ was far more in line with being the loveable ‘Uncle Neil’ to fellow 1990s rockers Pearl Jam throughout his career. He had even found time to work with the group on his album Mirror Ball, but there was something different about Cobain’s songwriting in Nirvana that no one could quite put their finger on.
Because when you peel back the hooks on songs like ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’, Nevermind is still one of the stranger records to ever become one of the biggest of all time. Sure, it didn’t take a brain surgeon to figure out why tracks like ‘Come As You Are’ worked on radio, but hearing something like ‘Territorial Pissings’ or ‘Something in the Way’ helped expose young rock fans to the more aggressive and introspective side of rock and roll.
Looking at Young’s body of work, it’s easy to see him having the same instincts that Cobain had. He may have taken things in a more country direction as he grew older, but given the fact that Nirvana had released their appearance on MTV Unplugged shortly before Cobain’s death, he may have been looking at him as a model for how he could age gracefully.
While Young had seen many rock legends throughout his lifetime, he thought that Cobain may be one of the best that he had ever seen, telling Mojo, “He really, really inspired me. He was so great. Wonderful. One of the best, but more than that. Kurt was one of the absolute best of all time for me.”
Even though Young managed to become a mentor for Pearl Jam, he always had a little regret about not reaching out to Cobain before his passing, telling Twenty, “I was going to tell him, ‘Listen, you don’t have to do anything that anyone fucking tells you. Just stop making records.’ I had this whole thing that I was going to tell him, but I never got the chance.”
Cobain might not have had the chance to spread his wings as much as he could, but the few gems that he left us are still considered some of the greatest rock music ever made. Nevermind is the acknowledged masterpiece, but In Utero might be the one that fell more in line with Young’s mentality of not giving a damn what the label wants and making a record that you want to hear from yourself.
The Nirvana frontman may have included a reference to Young’s music in his suicide note, but the idea of burning out rather than fading away may not have applied here. Because if Cobain were still around today, chances are he would be taking as many creative risks as he did when he was still that snotty punk kid from Seattle.