Poll: Bruce Springsteen or Neil Young

Two giants of music in the past several decades. Both have written plenty of classics- Born to Run, Old Man, Hungry Heart, Rockin in the Free World etc. and have earned their places in music history. Who do you prefer?

"You know, the difference between the greatness of Bruce Springsteen and that of Neil Young as someone once explained to me back in college: Bruce makes you think you, too, can be as great as he is; Neil makes you think he is really no better than you are to begin with. Remember that."
Dr. Eric Alterman - Altercation

 

Working-Class Hero vs Counter Culture Hero. I guess, everyone knows who'll get my vote.

 

I voted for Neil Young. I counted at least 20 albums by Neil in my collection as opposed to just 6 by Bruce. I admire Neil Young for the dogged determination to follow his own path without regard for commercial considerations. In the eighties alone he did synth-pop, rockabilly and country in the space of a few records. He's one of the few artists who can tackle acoustic beauty and savage, feedback-drenched rock with equal aplomb.

 

Neil for me.

 

Bruce for me. There are plenty of songs by Neil Young that I love, but if you were doing a HAL-style memory erase on me I think I'd want to hang onto the Springsteen ones a bit longer.

 

The Boss has no business when Neil is in the house!

 

Neil is currently on 23 votes to Bruce's 5 votes. Didn't expect the poll to be this uneven.

 

Mountie vs. Mr Stars n' stripes

 

Neil, quite easily, love that guy. Bruce is ok, though.

 

Neil Young, hands down.

 

Perhaps between Neil and Dylan... would be more appropriate IMO.

Neil Young.

 

Then Neil Young would get slaughtered by Dylan, ten to one.

 

Both great, but I just prefer Neil.

 

As a Deadhead, I'm a sucker for long, flowing guitar jams. If Bruce's music ran more along those lines, this would be a tougher call for me.

 

Can't decide. Neil for his entire body of work, but I prefer Bruce's best over Neil's best.

 

Please put a thread with them and we shall soon see.

 

I prefer Neil in every way.

 

Both are brilliant artists. But I much prefer Springsteen's music. I find I rarely listen to Young, but I often listen to Springsteen. Springteen has continued to do great work late in life. I don't think Young's recent work has been anywhere close to the caliber of his earlier work or of Springsteen's later work, so much so that I mostly stopped keeping up with Young after Mirror Ball -- I did hear his last few albums and didn't like them much at all; I though the songwriting on Psychedelic Pill was weak; Americana while it sounded like an interesting idea for an album didn't make for very good listening, Le Noise was just bad and underbaked. By contrast I think some latter day Springsteen, like Magic and Wrecking Ball, were excellent albums. So, I could make the argument that Springsteen's better because he's remained more consistent and more consistently good throughout his career. But of course Young's more prolific and more of an experimenter which is one of the things that's great about him although it's a quality that I think has produced spotty results. It's really just preference. Springsteen's music interests me more and touches me more, but I have profound respect and admiration for Neil Young.

 

Neil would get my vote over Dylan too.

 

No Contest. Gotta go with my fellow Ontarian.

 

Bruce Springsteen.

 

Can't decide - I've seen em both this year. Both have greatness running through em!

 

Not a huge fan of either but like & respect both as artists and as human beings. Voted for the boss - just like more of his songs. Interesting that my favourite songs by both are from the Philadelphia ST. "Streets of Philadelphia" by Bruce & "Philadelphia" by Neil.