The cutthroat avenues of rock ‘n’ roll, I am fed up with. I don’t want anything to do with it.

Meaning of the quote

Neil Young, a famous Canadian musician, is tired of the harsh and competitive world of rock music. He no longer wants to be a part of it because he's had enough of the difficult and unpleasant aspects of the industry.

About Neil Young

Neil Young is a legendary Canadian-American singer-songwriter who has had a long, acclaimed career spanning various musical genres. He is known for his distinctive guitar work, personal lyrics, and high-pitched singing voice, and has been an influential figure in the rock and folk-rock scenes over the decades.

More about the author

More quotes from Neil Young

It’s cool to go places where working people are happy.

Neil Young

Canadian singer, songwriter and filmmaker (born 1945)

As I get older, I get smaller. I see other parts of the world I didn’t see before. Other points of view. I see outside myself more.

Neil Young

Canadian singer, songwriter and filmmaker (born 1945)

One new feature or fresh take can change everything.

Neil Young

Canadian singer, songwriter and filmmaker (born 1945)

It’s better to burn out, than to fade away.

Neil Young

Canadian singer, songwriter and filmmaker (born 1945)

I live for playing live. All my records are live, since After the Gold Rush, with the exception of Trans and the vocals on Landing on Water.

Neil Young

Canadian singer, songwriter and filmmaker (born 1945)

I just do what I do. I like to make music.

Neil Young

Canadian singer, songwriter and filmmaker (born 1945)

I go in and sing the song and arrange it and mix it and that’s it. It’s no different than playing in clubs.

Neil Young

Canadian singer, songwriter and filmmaker (born 1945)

It’s better to burn out than it is to rust.

Neil Young

Canadian singer, songwriter and filmmaker (born 1945)

This thing called Patriot Act, through which we abdicated a lot of our civil rights to defend the country against terrorism, it’s a four-year story.

Neil Young

Canadian singer, songwriter and filmmaker (born 1945)

The rockets and the satellites, spaceships that we’re creating now, we’re pollinating the universe.

Neil Young

Canadian singer, songwriter and filmmaker (born 1945)

Earth is a flower and it’s pollinating.

Neil Young

Canadian singer, songwriter and filmmaker (born 1945)

Better to burn out than rust out.

Neil Young

Canadian singer, songwriter and filmmaker (born 1945)

With a lot of songs on this record, one verse doesn’t relate to the next verse. I don’t think that one day really relates to the next day in life.

Neil Young

Canadian singer, songwriter and filmmaker (born 1945)

I was a Reagan backer. It was a shock for some people that I could agree with anything that man would say.

Neil Young

Canadian singer, songwriter and filmmaker (born 1945)

The cutthroat avenues of rock ‘n’ roll, I am fed up with. I don’t want anything to do with it.

Neil Young

Canadian singer, songwriter and filmmaker (born 1945)

As you go through life, you’ve got to see the valleys as well as the peaks.

Neil Young

Canadian singer, songwriter and filmmaker (born 1945)

I don’t think there is one president that’s come down the line that hasn’t done something good somewhere.

Neil Young

Canadian singer, songwriter and filmmaker (born 1945)

The ’60s was one of the first times the power of music was used by a generation to bind them together.

Neil Young

Canadian singer, songwriter and filmmaker (born 1945)

I didn’t really know what I was doing when I started. I just started writing songs. After two songs I just continued to explore it.

Neil Young

Canadian singer, songwriter and filmmaker (born 1945)

It’s a blue album, but it’s not a blues album. I’m not pretending all of a sudden now I’m blues.

Neil Young

Canadian singer, songwriter and filmmaker (born 1945)

I think I’m going to be making country records for as long as I can see into the future. It’s much more down-home and real.

Neil Young

Canadian singer, songwriter and filmmaker (born 1945)

Some people put down all presidents. If you say anything good about any of them, they think you’re supporting everything they do.

Neil Young

Canadian singer, songwriter and filmmaker (born 1945)

I don’t look at a knife the way I used to. I’m more aware of what it is. I think twice. This is a key finger. It’s in every chord.

Neil Young

Canadian singer, songwriter and filmmaker (born 1945)

I don’t like war. I particularly don’t like the celebration of war, which I think the administration is a little bit guilty of.

Neil Young

Canadian singer, songwriter and filmmaker (born 1945)

I can get away with saying a lot of ideas that are young and naive. I’m liberated.

Neil Young

Canadian singer, songwriter and filmmaker (born 1945)

My music isn’t anything but me. It has jazz in it, and rock’n’roll, and it has an urgency to it.

Neil Young

Canadian singer, songwriter and filmmaker (born 1945)

I’m not into organized religion. I’m into believing in a higher source of creation, realizing we’re all just part of nature.

Neil Young

Canadian singer, songwriter and filmmaker (born 1945)

I don’t like to be labeled, to be anything. I’ve made the mistake before myself of labeling my music, but it’s counter-productive.

Neil Young

Canadian singer, songwriter and filmmaker (born 1945)

I feel like I could be likened to an old hound circling on a rug for the last five years.

Neil Young

Canadian singer, songwriter and filmmaker (born 1945)

Back then people closed their eyes and listened to music. Today there’s a lot of images that go with the music. A lot of music is crap and it’s all commercial and the images are all trying to sell the record.

Neil Young

Canadian singer, songwriter and filmmaker (born 1945)

Studios are passe for me. I’d rather play in a garage, in a truck, or a rehearsal hall, a club, or a basement.

Neil Young

Canadian singer, songwriter and filmmaker (born 1945)

The thing about my music is, there really is no point.

Neil Young

Canadian singer, songwriter and filmmaker (born 1945)

There’s an edge to real rock ‘n’ roll. It’s all that matters.

Neil Young

Canadian singer, songwriter and filmmaker (born 1945)

With Crazy Horse, it’s all one big, growing, smoldering sound, and I’m part of it. It’s like gliding, or some sort of natural surfing.

Neil Young

Canadian singer, songwriter and filmmaker (born 1945)

I don’t think I’m a thorn in the industry, I’m just another part of it.

Neil Young

Canadian singer, songwriter and filmmaker (born 1945)

When people start asking you to do the same thing over and over again, that’s when you know you’re way too close to something that you don’t want to be near.

Neil Young

Canadian singer, songwriter and filmmaker (born 1945)

I don’t like the American media – particularly Fox.

Neil Young

Canadian singer, songwriter and filmmaker (born 1945)

Of course you have to support the troops. They’re just kids. They’re doing for their country what’s expected of them.

Neil Young

Canadian singer, songwriter and filmmaker (born 1945)

I totally have no other talent and I would be totally out of work if I did anything else.

Neil Young

Canadian singer, songwriter and filmmaker (born 1945)

To protect our freedoms, it seems we’re going to have to relinquish some of our freedoms for a short period of time.

Neil Young

Canadian singer, songwriter and filmmaker (born 1945)

Commitments are one of the worst things to have in the music business. They’re very annoying.

Neil Young

Canadian singer, songwriter and filmmaker (born 1945)

When the punk thing came along and I heard my friends saying, I hate these people with the pins in their ears. I said, Thank God, something got their attention.

Neil Young

Canadian singer, songwriter and filmmaker (born 1945)

I just wrote one song at a time. Kinda like an alcoholic. One day at a time.

Neil Young

Canadian singer, songwriter and filmmaker (born 1945)

I have so many opinions about everything it just comes out during my music. It’s a battle for me. I try not to be preachy. That’s a real danger.

Neil Young

Canadian singer, songwriter and filmmaker (born 1945)

I was just 20 years old when I wrote Broken Arrow.

Neil Young

Canadian singer, songwriter and filmmaker (born 1945)

I’m not into this judgmental, religious-right kind of thing.

Neil Young

Canadian singer, songwriter and filmmaker (born 1945)