1979 Hit Ranked Among 'Best Guitar Solos of All Time' Is Full of 'Brutal Violence'
He might be the most underrated guitarist of his generation, but Neil Young has had a powerful impact on rock music.
One of my favorite albums of Young's over the years is "Rust Never Sleeps," which might be the single most emblematic album of everything Young stands for. It's raw, it's quiet, it's loud, it's harsh, and it's all Neil Young.
Most people who know and love this album will agree when I say the standout track is the incredible "Powderfinger," a song about a child caught in a war. Young brings his incredible songwriting sensibilities and his explosive electric sound to create a musical assault that is captivating and heartbreaking. The song features one of Young's best solos, which ranked at the 22 spot on Rolling Stone's "100 Best Guitar Solos" list.
The album is pretty unique in that it was recorded all live. It's 100% new material, but just recorded and performed for the first time in front of a live audience. It's one of the most authentic albums you'll ever listen to. With the first half made up of acoustic songs, and the back half made up of some of the loudest electric music you'll hear young play, it is all-encompassing of his style. "Powderfinger" sits at the start of the electric side of the album, and is a very powerful introduction to what Young can do plugged in.
There are plenty of great live recordings of this song where there's video accompaniment, but you really can't beat the original here. "Rust Never Sleeps" is magic captured on vinyl, and this solo is proof of that. Rolling Stone writes that "his solo is full of brutal violence, yet so vulnerable and elegiac, a pained lament for a lost kid trapped in a war he can't understand." I don't think I could put it any better myself.
Young has such an unnatural understanding of Americana for someone not from here. I consistently forget he's Canadian because he is so in tune and in conversation with the American idea. I think "Powderfinger" is one of the best examples of that. The lyrics capture such a quintessentially American image of destitution and suffering that the music reinforces so well. Young's guitar screeches like a wounded animal while he sings:
Daddy's gone, my brother's out huntin' in the mountains
Big John's been drinkin' since the river took Emmy Lou
So the powers that be left me here to do the thinkin'
And I just turned 22, I was wonderin' what to do
And the closer they got, the more those feelings grew
It's a powerful, raw, and brutal story that sits at the core of this country's history. His second solo on the song captures all that emotion wordlessly and cuts through like a knife. It's a phenomenal tune.
If you haven't seriously gotten into Neil Young, do it. I'd start with "Rust Never Sleeps," "Harvest Moon," or "After the Gold Rush." I think all three of those albums give you the best idea of Young as a musician. After that, "Harvest Moon," and "On the Beach" are two of my personal favorites. He's one of the greatest of all time for a reason.
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This story was originally published May 21, 2026 at 5:35 PM.