#262 - Crosby, Still & Nash - Crosby, Still & Nash (1969)
MUSIC HISTORY COMPILED BY ADAM BERNARD:
BACKGROUND – CROSBY, STILLS & NASH
Crosby, Stills & Nash joined forces in 1969 and formed the “low-key supergroup” composed of impressive individual credentials which included: David Crosby, former singer/ryhthm guitarist of The Byrds; Stephen Stills of Buffalo Springfield; and Graham Nash of The Hollies. They are noted for their intricate vocal harmonies and lasting influence on American music and culture, as well as their political activism
CSN formed in 1968 shortly after Crosby, Stills and Nash performed together informally in July of that year, discovering they harmonized well. Crosby had been asked to leave the Byrds in late 1967, Stills' band Buffalo Springfield had broken up in early 1968, and Nash left the Hollies in December. Crosby had been sacked from the Byrds in October 1967 due to disagreements over his songwriting. At the Monterey Pop Festival, Crosby had filled in for Neil Young (who quit the band before the gig) with Buffalo Springfield. By early 1968, Buffalo Springfield had disintegrated, and, after aiding in putting together the band's final album, Last Time Around, Stills was without a band. Stills and Crosby began meeting informally and jamming.
Graham Nash had been introduced to Crosby when the Byrds had toured the United Kingdom in 1966, and when the Hollies ventured to California in 1968, Nash resumed his acquaintance with him. Nash met Stills at a party in Laurel Canyon, and was captivated by Stills "banging the shit out of" a piano in a "Brazilian, and Latin, and boogie woogie, and rock and roll" style. In July, over dinner at a party at another Laurel Canyon house (the home of either Joni Mitchel or Cass Elliot -- accounts by the three CSN members differ), Nash invited Stills and Crosby to perform a Stills composition, "You Don't Have to Cry". They did so twice, after which Nash had learned the lyrics and improvised a new harmony part on a third rendition. The vocals gelled, and the three realized that they had a very good vocal chemistry. While singing the third time, they broke out in laughter. The Byrds, Buffalo Springfield, and the Hollies had been harmony bands, with Nash later saying in a 2014 interview, "We knew what we were doing," referring to the success of each of the individual bands. He continued, "Whatever sound Crosby, Stills, and Nash has was born in 30 seconds. That's how long it took us to harmonize." Creatively frustrated with the Hollies, Nash decided to quit the band in December 1968 and flew to Los Angeles two days later. The trio traveled to London in early 1969 to rehearse for what turned out to be an unsuccessful audition with the Beatles' Apple Records. However, back in California, an Atlantic Records rep who had been a fan of Buffalo Springfield and was disappointed by that band's demise, signed them. From the outset, given their previous experiences, the trio decided not to be locked into a group structure. They used their surnames as identification to ensure independence and a guarantee that the band could not continue without one of them. They then began writing and recording for today's album.
In preparation for touring, the trio added Stills' former Buffalo Springfield bandmate Neil Young as a full member, along with touring members Dallas Taylor on drums, and Greg Reeves on bass. Stills initially approached virtuoso multi-instrumentalist Steve Winwood, who was already occupied with the newly formed group Blind Faith. Though principally a guitarist, Young was a proficient keyboardist and could alternate on the instrument with Stills and Nash in a live context. Stills and Nash initially held reservations, Stills because of his history with Young in Buffalo Springfield and Nash because of his personal unfamiliarity with Young. But after several meetings, the trio expanded to a quartet with Young a full partner. The terms of the contract allowed Young full freedom to maintain a parallel career with his new band, Crazy Horse.
With Young on board, the restructured group embarked on a four-leg, 39-date tour that ended with three European concerts in 1970. Their first major public gig was on August 16, 1969 in Chicago, with Joni Mitchell as their opening act. They mentioned they were going to someplace called Woodstock the next day, but that they had no idea where it was. Their one-hour show at the Woodstock Festival in the early morning of August 18, 1969, was a baptism by fire. The crowd of industry friends looking on from offstage was intimidating and prompted Stills to say, "This is the second time we've ever played in front of people, man. We're scared shitless." Their appearance at the festival and in the subsequent movie Woodstock, along with recording the Joni Mitchell song memorializing Woodstock, boosted the visibility of the quartet. CSNY appeared at other prominent festivals that year. They didn't take the stage until 3AM, with Jimi Hendrix closing things out after them in the morning.
The band's first album with Young, Déjà Vu, reached number one on several international charts in 1970, and remains their best-selling album, going on to sell over eight million copies with three hit singles: "Woodstock", "Teach Your Children", and "Our House". As the 23-show tour progressed, the tenuous nature of the partnership was strained by Stills' alcohol and cocaine abuse and perceived megalomania, culminating in an extended solo set not countenanced by the other band members at the Fillmore East, when he was informed that Bob Dylan was in the audience. In this turbulent atmosphere, Crosby, Nash and Young decided to fire Stills during a two-night stop in Chicago. Following his reinstatement, the tour ended as scheduled; however, the group broke up immediately thereafter. Singer Rita Coolidge had been romantically involved with Stills, and her leaving him for Nash has also been cited as a contributing factor behind the breakup of the band. In June and July 1973, Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young met at Young's ranch in California and a recording studio in Hawaii for a working vacation, ostensibly to record a new album, tentatively titled Human Highway. However, the bickering that had sunk the band in 1970 quickly resumed, scattering the group again. After spontaneously reconvening for a few acoustic sets in San Francisco, the group realized there commercial potential, culminating in Stills announcing a CSNY summer tour and the projected studio album at a solo concert in March 1974. The tour was directed by legendary promoter Bill Graham. Opening acts consisted of well known performers, including Joni Mitchell, Santana, the Band, and the Beach Boys. The band typically played up to three and a half hours of old favorites and new songs. Crosby, in particular, was disillusioned by the bombastic nature of the performances, which he collectively dubbed the "Doom Tour": "We had good monitors, but Stephen and Neil were punching well over 100 db from their half stacks. Graham and I simply couldn't do the harmonies when we couldn't hear ourselves. Also, when you play a stadium you almost have to do a Mick Jagger where you wave a sash around and prance about. I can't quite do that. We did what we could, but I don't know how many people in the audience really got it. A lot of them were there for the tunes.
While the foursome would have the press believe that their characteristic arguments were a thing of the past, excesses typical to the era took their toll. Under the stewardship of Graham's production company, the tour was plagued by profligate spending, exemplified by pillowcases embroidered with the band's new Mitchell-designed logo and the routine chartering of helicopters and private jets in lieu of ground transportation. Nash later recalled that "the tour made just over eleven million dollars, which of course was a lot of money in those days. We all got less than a half million each. It was obvious that between Bill Graham, the promoters and a bunch of others, they all had a good time. Let's just put it that way." According to road manager Chris O'Dell, "One time they spilled cocaine on the carpet. They just got down on the floor and sniffed it off the carpet. The relatively abstemious Nash "started taking Percocet and Percodan. "I call them 'I Don't Give A Shit' pills. Someone could have said to me, 'Hey, your leg's on fire.' I would have been like, 'I don't care, man.' We were just up all night. It was insane. I wouldn't recommend it to anybody because the cocaine/quaalude ride should be in the ride of horrors in the circus."
The group reformed in 1976, but after successful arena tours in 1977 and 1978, further work as a group was complicated by Crosby's newfound dependence on freebase cocaine. Earth & Sky, a 1980 Nash album that failed to chart in the Top 100, was envisaged as a Crosby & Nash project (itself spawned by aborted 1978 CSN sessions) until Nash determined that Crosby was not in shape to participate after his colleague stopped a jam because his freebase pipe had fallen off of an amp and broken. Fast forward to 1988, based on a promise he made to Crosby should he clean himself up, Young agreed to rejoin the trio in the studio upon Crosby's release from prison (more on that in Filler Facts) for American Dream in 1988. Stills and Crosby were barely functioning for the making of the album, but it did make it to No. 16 on the Billboard chart during a 22-week stay, but the record received poor critical notices, and Young refused to support it with a CSNY tour.
By the late 1990s, CSN found themselves without a record contract. They began financing recordings themselves, and in 1999 Stills invited Young to guest on a few tracks. Impressed by their gumption, Young increased his level of input, turning the album into a CSNY project, Looking Forward. CSN convened with producer Rick Rubin to record a projected covers album in 2010; and seven songs were completed before the dissolution of the sessions due to the increasingly acrimonious relationship between Rubin and Crosby, who perceived the former as a disruptive and autocratic figure in the creative process. The band toured on and off in 2012 through 2014 in various forms, with The 27th Bridge School Benefit in 2013 being the last performance of CSNY. In a September 2014 interview, Crosby dispelled rumors of another CSNY tour (citing Neil Young's general unwillingness and lack of financial incentive to perform with the ensemble) before characterizing Young's new partner Daryl Hannah as "a purely poisonous predator." While introducing a song during a solo performance at the Philadelphia Academy of Music in October 2014, Young announced that "CSNY will never tour again, ever... I love those guys." Two days later, Crosby confirmed that "[Young] is very angry with me." Crosby apologized publicly to Hannah and Young on The Howard Stern Show, saying "I'm screwed up way worse than that girl. Where do I get off criticizing her? She's making Neil happy. I love Neil and I want him happy," and "Daryl, if you're out there, I apologize. Where do I get off criticizing you? There are people I can criticize: politicians, pond scum. Not other artists that have gone through a hard life, same as me. She hasn't had it easy either."
Despite the unprecedented tumult between Crosby and Young, CSN embarked on a routine world tour in 2015. However, contrary to a previous November 2015 interview in which he stated he still hoped the band had a future, Nash announced on in March 2016, following his divorce from his wife of 38 years, that Crosby, Stills & Nash would never perform again because of his recent estrangement from Crosby. Band members became open to a reunion, especially during Donald Trump's presidency (with their political background), but nothing ever came to fruition. In a May 2021 interview , Nash said "when that silver thread that connects a band gets broken it's very difficult to glue the ends together." In January 2023, David Crosby died at 81, putting an end to any further reunions with all four members.
Crosby, Stills & Nash were inducted into the RnR HOF in 1997, and all three members were also inducted for their work in other groups, the first band to have all of it's members inducted twice: Crosby for the Byrds; Stills for Buffalo Springfield; and Nash for the Hollies. Neil Young has also been inducted as a solo artist and as a member of Buffalo Springfield but not as a member of CSN. Their final studio album was 1999's Looking Forward, and they remained a performing act until 2015. They received 27 Platinum certifications across seven albums. In 1978, Crosby, Stills & Nash received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Famefor their contributions to the music industry, located at 6666 Hollywood Boulevard.
ALBUM BACKGROUND – CROSBY, STILLS & NASH
Crosby, Stills & Nash is the debut studio album by the folk rock supergroup Crosby, Stills & Nash (CSN), released in 1969. It is the only release by the band prior to adding Neil Young to their lineup. The album peaked at #6 on the US Billboard Top Pop Albums Chart. It spawned two Top 40 singles, "Marrakesh Express" and "Suite: Judy Blue Eyes", and has been certified four times platinum by the RIAA for sales of 4,000,000.
The album was a very strong debut for the band, instantly lifting them to stardom. Iit helped initiate a sea change in popular music away from the ruling late-1960s aesthetic of bands playing blues-based rock music on loud guitars. CSN presented a new wrinkle in building upon rock's roots, using folk, blues, and even jazz without specifically sounding like mere duplication. Not only blending voices, the three meshed their differing strengths, David Crosby for social commentary and atmospheric mood pieces, Stephen Stills for his diverse musical skills and for combining country and folk elements subtly into rock structures, and Graham Nash for his radio-friendly pop melodies to create broad appeal. Paul Kanter of Jefferson Airplane collaborates with the group on "Wooden Ships".
The album proved very influential on many levels to the dominant popular music scene in America for much of the 1970s. Their use of personal events in their material without resorting to subterfuge, their talents in vocal harmony, and their cultivation of painstaking studio craft established an aesthetic for a number of acts that came to define the "California sound" of the ensuing decade, including the Eagles, Jackson Browne, post-1974 Fleetwood Mac, and others.