Credit: Far Out / Alamy
Sat 8 August 2026 20:00, UK
The importance of Neil Young’s music is really something that can’t be understated.
Firstly, we know him as a great folk singer. He is someone who is true to himself as an artist, sometimes to his detriment, as he has never worried about putting out music which might go against what fans and record label executives are expecting, but that feels right to him at the time. For the most part, when you listen to a Neil Young album, you’re listening to what is an incredibly honest and raw reflection of the singer’s psyche at the time of writing.
But his influence runs a lot deeper than just the folk world. A lot of people refer to him as the ‘godfather of grunge’ as both bands and artists from the Seattle-born rock subgenre have previously cited Young as a huge influence. His sound, his no-holding-back and his general approach to making music as a whole have all come together to help give rise to bands like Nirvana and Pearl Jam.
In his suicide note, Kurt Cobain wrote about how much of an influence Young was, meanwhile Eddie Vedder has been quoted talking about how big a fan he and the rest of his band are when it comes to the sound, the style and the teachings of an artist like him.
“He’s taught us a lot as a band about dignity and commitment and playing in the moment and… I’m just really glad he’s still here,” said Vedder when inducting Young into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, “And I think I’m gonna have to say that I don’t know if there’s been another artist that has been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame to commemorate a career that is still as vital as he is today. Some of his best songs were on his last record.”
There are a number of songs by Young that represent his influence on grunge music, but one of his most quintessential is ‘Rockin’ in the Free World’. He’s performed this on stage with Vedder previously, and it seems to be the song that connects the two genres most effectively, both with its theme and its overall sound.
Released in 1989, so essentially just on the precipice of grunge, the track was inspired by how much the political landscape across the world seemed to be changing. Young was never worried about critiquing politics throughout his music, and this is a song which specifically focused on George Bush’s presidential administration.
As the musician and his band were keen on performing in more places around the world, which American acts didn’t frequent too much, the political landscape intervened, and it gave Young the idea for the song, sort of.
You know how I said earlier that Neil Young is an artist uncompromising in his creativity and who is constantly ready to be brutally honest within his music? Well, I meant it, but this particular title for this particular song, rather than coming from the venom-tongued man himself, instead came from a passing joke his guitarist Frank ‘Poncho’ Sampedro made.
“There was supposed to have been a cultural exchange between Russia and United States,” Sampedro said in an interview with Mojo, “Russia was getting Neil Young and Crazy Horse, and we were getting the Russian ballet! All of a sudden, whoever was promoting the deal, a guy in Russia, took the money and split. We were all bummed, and I looked at him and said, ‘Man, I guess we’re just gonna have to keep on rockin in the free world. He said, ‘Well, Poncho, that’s a good line. I’m gonna use that, if you don’t mind’.”
How do you take a joke and the political landscape and wind up accidentally sowing the seeds for grunge? Only an artist like Neil Young could do such a thing.
