He only said that purists would say they were 'bad', but they are actually great.
Neil Young probably breaks all the rules about someone might think would make a successful rock act-just his voice for a start.
But his uniqueness is his strength- he wears his heart on his sleeve and follows his own course, but is deservedly enduringly popular, with so many brilliant recordings and performances.
This is a personal favourite.
http://youtu.be/c93-UdPz1BI
Thanks for paying attention and reading the entire OP. FYI, your personal favorite is a perfect example as is this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0O1v_7T6p8U
I think I was responding to a plain reading of the O.P. The assertion was: Purists would maintain Neil and B.B. are "bad" guitarists. I can't find any corroboration for that assessment. Rather, the music and guitar afficianado publications have always held otherwise. That is, there is a uniform belief amongst devotees and music journalists and other "purists" that these two were among the best at their craft in the world. I can recount many awards that Neil has won in annual Critics' awards issues in such magazines as Rolling Stone ("Best Guitarist"). As a huge fan, I tend to read any and all articles in pubs I can get my hands on about his music, reviews, acclaims, awards. I still find it amazing how he has re-invented himself over and over again, and then melding genres as he goes along. A folkie; then an early rock and roller playing lead in a succession of bands; then folk rock, country rock, straight country, then invented a jazz rock style his own (This Note's for You), then invented what we call Grunge today, and so on. His novel proved there is a fine mind behind all the decades of chasing his muse. Quite an extraordinary mind at that. Just out or curiosity, I ran a quick Yahoo! search for Neil Young Guitarist and this popped up:
Neil Young - 100 Greatest Guitarists: David Fricke's Picks ...
www.rollingstone.com/...guitarists-of.../neil-young-20101202 Cached
The haunting, delicate clarity of Young's acoustic playing should not be underestimated. But it's on electric that he has staked his claim to
Neil Young - 100 Greatest Guitarists | Rolling Stone
www.rollingstone.com/...guitarists.../neil-young-20111122 Cached
If I was ever going to teach a master class to young guitarists, the first thing I would play them is the first minute of Neil Young's original "Down by the River" solo.
What I especially love about his concerts is how he re-imagines his standards, masterfully improvising his way through a number of them. For instance, his live performances of "Like a Hurricane" are astonishingly different from each other. You can hear the notes imitate the wind blowing his emotions around. I want to love you, but I'm getting blown aaawwaayy. With distortion and feedback and note bending, you can picture a hurricane building and then subsiding. Masterful stuff. I heard Neil once at Pine Knob amphitheatre outside of Detroit insert a series of blues numbers into his program that were so good, so powerful, that you had to pinch yourself in disbelief. An exceptional guitarist.
