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Shakey: Neil Young's Biography [Paperback]

Jimmy McDonough
3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (152 customer reviews)

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Book Description

May 13, 2003
Neil Young is one of rock and roll’s most important and enigmatic figures, a legend from the sixties who is still hugely influential today. He has never granted a writer access to his inner life – until now. Based on six years of interviews with more than three hundred of Young’s associates, and on more than fifty hours of interviews with Young himself, Shakey is a fascinating, prodigious account of the singer’s life and career. Jimmy McDonough follows Young from his childhood in Canada to his cofounding of Buffalo Springfield to the huge success of Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young to his comeback in the nineties. Filled with never-before-published words directly from the artist himself, Shakey is an essential addition to the top shelf of rock biographies.

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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Cantankerous and secretive, Neil Young has banished authors from his inner sanctum--until now. In Shakey, Jimmy McDonough distills more than 300 interviews (including guarded yet revealing interrogations of Young himself) into the definitive biography: the skyrocket success, willful disasters, health horrors and triumphs, stunning comebacks, and highly colorful scuffles with equally impossible characters like Stephen Stills, David Crosby, and the incompetent yet brilliant musicians of Crazy Horse. Young is not quite the noble soul some thought--he's an astounding control freak. But he is never less than fascinating. "As ruthless as I may seem to be," Young tells McDonough, "you gotta do what ya gotta do. Just like a f-----' vampire. Heh heh heh." --Tim Appelo --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Library Journal

More than a biography, this work from journalist McDonough (Village Voice, Variety, Spin) is the re-creation of an era.

Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

--This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Product Details

  • Paperback: 786 pages
  • Publisher: Anchor (May 13, 2003)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0679750967
  • ISBN-13: 978-0679750963
  • Product Dimensions: 6.1 x 1.1 x 9.2 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 2.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (152 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #152,799 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Jimmy McDonough's biography of Neil Young, Shakey, was critically acclaimed The New York Times bestseller. He has also written biographies of Russ Meyer and Andy Milligan, and has written for publications including The Village Voice and Variety.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews
66 of 75 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
For Neil Young fans only. Read with patience.

McDonough deserves credit for researching Neil Young's life, particularly his early days. His early days in Canada are particularly revealing, showing how Neil's hard-driven personality propelled into great success.

McDonough also deserves credit for getting the always obscure Neil to be about as open as he gets. The interviews are at their best when Neil is describing events in the past. Neil is at times very candid about his failings in his personal life (two divorces) and in his professional life (over-producing "Mr. Soul").

Unfortunately, the book suffers on a few fronts.

First of all, it is poorly edited. The length of the book could have easily been cut 200 pages without much loss. Several times the book will describe events, then have length quotes from Neil exactly describing the same event.

Second, McDonough's status as a hard-core Neil Young fan makes some of his prose rather silly. His exhaltations of "Tonight's the Night" just seem silly. For Pete's sake, Jimmy, it's just Rock and Roll, not the second coming of Jesus.

Finally, the last 100 pages or so are really regrettable. McDonough inserts himself into the biography. Suddenly, it's Jimmy teaching Neil about Nirvana, Jimmy trying to save Neil from the evils of being a Lionel Trains Tycoon. Most annoying is McDonough's whining about Neil giving lots of interviews. Oh, boo hoo, Jimmy's interviews with Niel aren't that exclusive.

But, for a Neil Young fan, this book is indispensible. After reading this book, I have a better understanding of the folks in Neil's sometime backup band, "Crazy Horse". I understand more what is involved with producing an album, and what impact producer David Briggs had on Neil's work....

I now have an idea of who Carrie Snodgrass is, although, to be honest, I think McDonough is very unfair with her, along with Neil's first wife. Neil himself seems to be more even-handed with his ex-wives. McDonough seems to hold any woman in who didn't put up with Neil's shenanigans in contempt. Read more ›

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61 of 69 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars A Whole Lot of "Shakey" Goin' On June 25, 2002
Format:Hardcover
I'm a huge Neil Young fan, with over two dozen of his albums in my collection. But I'm not a fanatic, and as a result I found his biography, "Shakey" to be as stimulating, but as frustratingly erratic as the artist himself. One thing Neil Young could never be accused of is self-censorship, and author Jimmy McDonough writes about him in the same vein, telling in nearly 800 pages a stoory that could have been more succinctly and powerfully conveyed in about half that number. McDonough spent over ten years working on the book, however, and I guess he felt that his huge investment of time justifies the book's length.

The book is a rambling narrative of Young's life, mainly as seen through the eyes of his closest associates, but is told in the Hunter S. Thompson "gonzo" style of journalism as McDonough frequently inserts himself into the story. There is nothing necessarily wrong with this approach, in may have in fact been necessary, but it ends up padding the length. The main story is interspersed with a hundred or so pages of text from McDonough's various interviews with Young in which the artist is quoted verbaitim. It is a fascinating and unprecedented look into Young's mind, but again it starts to become wearing after awhile. Lengthy passages about such relatively uninteresting subjects as Young's passion for model trains slow things down even further.

Ultimately, "Shakey" is likely to be endured only by Young's most ardent fans and will not win the artist any new converts. But I get the feeling that Young would prefer it that way. As McDonough recounts, the quickest way to get Young to drop a song from an album is to tell him its going to be a surefire hit. He is that rare rock star who actually eschews popularity.... Read more ›

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13 of 13 people found the following review helpful
3.0 out of 5 stars Over and over, again and again June 21, 2002
By A Customer
Format:Hardcover
While I appreciate a book that I cannot rip through in a day, the 800 page Shakey becomes terribly repetitive. The worst part is that, beyond the fact that Neil does some things over and over (we all do), the author starts to write the same things over and over. First, we know McDonough likes Neil's music (OK, at least the few albums with Crazy Horse McDonough returns to, again and again) but is there really no other artist in the universe for whom he can spare a kind or even decent word? It gets tiresome, especially when McDonough often thinks Neil and his latest group/idea are lame -- but everyone else is lamer.

Second, especially as the book drags on, it becomes clear that if only Neil would listen to McDonough everything is his life and career could be so much better.

I really would rather have read more about Neil, and less about McDonough on Neil and how Neil rises above the vast wasteland that is popular culture. I found this McDonough pose particularly tiring -- it is all so very kneejerk, video-killed-the-radio-star, late '80ies.

So, this is a reasonably engaging book, but I walked away thinking a really good editor could have made this a far better read.

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31 of 36 people found the following review helpful
2.0 out of 5 stars A mediocre biography at best June 13, 2002
By SteveR
Format:Hardcover
Although I did enjoy reading a lot of Shakey, I ended up disappointed. The early chapters which describe Neil's battles with polio, his parents divorce, and epileptic seizures I found extremely interesting. Unfortunately once you get to his professional music career, Jimmy McDonough spends more time trying to psychoanalyze what Neil's intentions were instead of just focusing on how things came about. He offers up his personal reviews of albums (many of which I disagree with) that seem like they were taken from his archives as a journalist for Spin magazine. He also picks apart lyrics describing his great interpretation of the heavy symbolism in the songs. Dude, "Homegrown" isn't about man's struggle with the universe, it's about pot! I also found his constant returning to the "Tonight's The Night" album as Neil's greatest accomplishment and the measurment of everything else he's ever done annoying. Also, according to McDonough, Neil Young must be the worst performer of all time since he spends so much time ripping every live performance to shreds describing how out of tune the band was, how much feedback there was, how they couldn't keep the beat, etc. The end of the book finds McDonough complaining to Neil about how much time he's been spending on TV, at the RnR Hall of Fame, at the Academy Awards. Yeah, one thing I hate as a fan is seeing too much of a performer I like! But most of all what I felt the book accomplished was showing Neil as a very unlikeable character. Someone who has temper tantrums, is impossible to work with, doesn't care about the quality of the work he puts out, fires band members on a whim only to call them back years later when he needs to use them, then dump them again, on and on.... Read more ›
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars A Wonderful Biography
Absolutely fascinating! The insights into the entire industry were wonderful. An absolute must for Young fans, but a great read as well for anyone interested in music
Published 3 days ago by Douglas Dwyer
5.0 out of 5 stars Great Book could not put it down
Love Niel Young Love this Book. Read other Biography but enjoyed this one most of all. You will enjoy it as it takes you back to the good old days of Rock and Roll.
Published 10 days ago by dona marie hehre
5.0 out of 5 stars The first of more of the same for me.
The sight will not let you enter less than so many words. This is the first book I read, outstanding and very informative. All the books to follow say pretty much the same thing.
Published 1 month ago by Red
3.0 out of 5 stars okay, good for young fans
lots, i mean lots of info here!! like it, but like the other reviews, a bit lengthy. but, like a real fan, neil is the BOMB!!
Published 2 months ago by lisa
4.0 out of 5 stars Good Book!
I have always been a fan of Neil Young's music, but knew or read very little about the man himself. After reading this book, I became a bigger fan of Neil Young's music and a fan... Read more
Published 2 months ago by JBB1
5.0 out of 5 stars Good Read
I thought it was well written and difficult to put down. The only this that I wish was revealed was how good of a golfer Neil was! :-)
Published 2 months ago by Brian T Ormond
5.0 out of 5 stars Amazon review
It's a well-written and interesting book. The Kindle format makes purchase as convenient. I would recommend this book to others.
Published 3 months ago by Chris R
5.0 out of 5 stars Shakey
We are very happy with our purchase. The book is in great condition and a great book and for a great price. Thank you
Published 4 months ago by starkiss
5.0 out of 5 stars Very detailed
Love the perspective and approach. This book puts you into the scene and is a must read for Neil fans.
Published 5 months ago by charles nelson
5.0 out of 5 stars Excelent!!!!
Excelente. Les recomiendo este libro. Muy bueno y para disfrutar. Una redacción impecable muna excelente investigación. Li recomiendo sin dudarlo ♥
Published 6 months ago by Paula Sanchez
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