Genre Rock Label Reprise Producer(s) Daniel Lanois | Length 04:11 Writer(s) Neil Young | |
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Released September 14, 2010 (2010-09-14) | ||
"Angry World" is the fifth track from Neil Young's 2010 album Le Noise. The track features Young on guitar and vocals with no additional musicians. It was written by Young and was produced by Daniel Lanois. It won the 2011 Grammy Award for Best Rock Song and was nominated for Best Solo Rock Vocal Performance.
Contents
Overview
"Angry World" was the first track to be released from Le Noise. The song, like the rest of the album, was recorded in the Los Angeles home of producer Daniel Lanois. Unaccompanied by other musicians, Young's vocals, described as "howl[ing] venom", are mixed high above his guitar. There is a "buzz and crackle" to his "fuzzed-out" electric guitar and a loop of the word 'angry' as background noise throughout the song. Young delivered the incomplete track to Lanois, who built the arrangement out of what was given to him.
Video
The video for "Angry World" was released on September 14, 2010, on stereogum.com, two weeks prior to the September 28 release of the album, Le Noise. It was shot in black-and-white in the home of producer Daniel Lanois by Adam CK Vollick. It contains a montage of images including Young performing and shots of belly dancers.
Grammy Award
In February 2011 "Angry World" won the Grammy Award for Best Rock Song. The other nominees were "Tighten Up" by The Black Keys, "Radioactive" by Kings of Leon, "Little Lion Man" by Mumford & Sons, and "Resistance" by Muse. It was also nominated for Best Solo Rock Vocal Performance but lost to Paul McCartney's live version of "Helter Skelter" from Good Evening New York City.
Despite more than 40 years as a recording artist, 31 studio albums and eleven nominations since 2006, the Grammy was the first awarded to Young as a musician. His previous win, Best Boxed or Special Limited Edition Package, was in 2010 for his art direction for The Archives Vol. 1 1963–1972.