Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young: Five decades of fighting
“The only thing counts is whether you’ve got any fucking friends. All the rest of it is bullshit.”-David Crosby
It's Thanksgiving. Mom is fighting with Dad. Siblings are arguing. Even your Grandparents are going at it. Constant bickering. Some of the grievances are real. Some imagined. It doesn't matter. The fighting never stops. Then we do it again the next year. Same thing over and over. That's family.
Welcome to the world of Crosby, Stills, Nash and sometime Young. This is your typical Thanksgiving dysfunctional family, but on steroids. Massive amounts of steroids.
This foursome has been through the same life experiences as your typical family. Marriages, divorces, children, addictions, money issues and deaths. Like the rest of us, they love each other. Then they hate each other. Then they love each other again. They go for years where they talk with each other every day. Then comes long stretches without any communication. Life isn't easy for any of us. Imagine how much harder it is to live this circle of life stuff in public.
The adventures of CSN and sometimes Y has been in the spotlight the last few months. They were one of the featured performers in the film "Echo in the Canyon", which looked at the singer/songwriter era of pop music in Los Angeles/Laurel Canyon. There are also a couple of recent books that detailed the highs and lows of the band and the personal troubles of its members. And now, a documentary on the life of David Crosby has been released. That's a lot of attention for a band that did it's best work, both as a band and as solo performers, five decades ago.
“All of the main guys that I made music with won’t even talk to me. One of them hating my guts could be an accident. . . . But all really dislike me, strongly.” -David Crosby
Crosby, in particular, has become very introspective in his old age. He realizes how much he messed up his musical relationships. Being an addict and an asshole is a bad combination. You can tell he would like to make amends with his colleagues, but he also sounds resigned to the fact that it may never happen. In the meantime, he's making some of the best music of his career...and a lot of it. Crosby has done four albums in the last five years. In an era where artists routinely go for many years between putting out new music, what Crosby is doing is unheard of. You can tell he's feeling his mortality and wants to leave nothing musically unsaid.
“But I don’t like David Crosby right now. He’s been awful to me these last two years, just fucking awful. I’ve been there and saved his fucking ass for 45 years – and he treated me like shit. You can’t do that to me. You can do it for a day or so, until I think you’re going to come round. But when it goes on longer, and I keep getting nasty emails from him, I’m done. Fuck you.”-Graham Nash
The last time CS&N played music together was in 2015. They sang "Silent Night" at the National Christmas Tree lighting ceremony. To say it didn't go well would be an understatement. But one bad event doesn't ruin fifty years of wonderful harmonies. Even if they never sing another note together, their legacy is set. At this point in their lives, whether they can repair their relationships with each other may be more important than the music. It'll be interesting to see if four guys in their mid to late seventies, who have been more like brothers than friends, can make amends with each other, or if they're willing to take this to their graves. Time is getting short fellows. How do you want it to end?
Related Post: Graham Nash-Not so wild tales
Type your email address in the box and click the "create subscription" button. My list is completely spam free, and you can opt out at any time.