Well, David Crosby is legendary for drug and alcohol abuse, Stephen Stills sounded like a classic brain dead alcoholic when I heard him on Howard Stern last year, and Neil Young (allegedly) has a colossal ego. Those things could have something to do with it.
Actually I know little about his personal life and habits, but his reputation seems to have fallen from artist to negligible hack.
At one time he was highly respected as a guitarist, put out best-selling solo albums, had solo hit singles, and was the apparent leader of a hugely popular super-group.
I remember on Behind The Music (or one of those VH1 shows) that they were having a particularly good jam session when David’s crack pipe rattled off the edge of the speaker. When he stopped playing to pick it up, they knew it was over.
Also, I’ve heard it’s wasn’t uncommon for Neil to skip out mid tour with little more then a letter saying he didn’t feel like he was able to put 100% into the show.
Having said that, I saw CSN a few years back and they sounded amazing. As good as they did 30 years ago. (Sadly the same can’t be said for Fleetwood Mac).
Young was never that wrapped up in being with the group. He’d collaborate on a few songs, then go off on a solo project for awhile, then come back to tour with the other three, then take off again.
As for the other three, it was great harmonies and colossal song-writing talent vs. ego and drugs.
The ego clashes were usually between Stills and you pick. Neil would never tolerate Stephen’s shit for very long and leave. David has his own demons. About the only one I’ve never heard trash about was Graham.
JoeyP - The Mac sounded just fine when I saw them last year.
One critic I liked wrote during the last CSN tour, “Neil Young couldn’t join them this time, as he was busy making GOOD music.”
A bit harsh? Yes, but only a bit. CSN haven’t made any new music worth listening to in a very long time. They’ve been little more than a nostalgia act for nearly 30 years.
The newest Laurel Canyon band, of course, was quickly renamed Crosby, Stills & Nash, and by the summer of 1969, they had the top selling album in the country. It would remain on the charts for an unprecedented two years. When the band got ready to hit the road though, there was a little problem; given that Stills was the only serious musician in the band, and it was he who had played virtually all the instruments on that debut album, it was going to be difficult, as Barney Hoskyns noted, “to translate their layered studio sound to the stage.” The solution was, as Einarson has written, to bring Neil Young on board, “to provide more umph to their live sets.” And so it was that by the end of the year, CSN had become CSNY.
Now the band just needed a rhythm section. Dallas Taylor, who had played on sessions for the first album, was recruited as a permanent drummer. Stills and Young summoned Bruce Palmer to come down from Canada to handle bass duties. According to Palmer, however, that didn’t work out, primarily because once he got to LA and “started rehearsing at Stephen’s house with Crosby and Nash, it became real evident that they were nothing but backup singers. They didn’t like it and decided to change it. They couldn’t take that; they thought they were too big, too famous, too talented. They weren’t talented, they were backup singers … It looked to them as if it was Crosby and Nash backing up Buffalo Springfield, being nothing more than harmony singers for Stephen, Neil, myself, and Dallas Taylor.”*
For fans of Stephen Stills, Super Session, with Al Cooper (not Alice), Mike Bloomfield, and Stephen Stills is a great album. It is available on CD now.
Ummm, they held together for 30-40 years (for various values of “together”). Put out solid albums for most of that. Don’t forget, these guys were at Woodstock. How many current bands will be rockin’ in the '40’s?
Historical note: They were one of the first “Supergroups”. Couldn’t legally get put together til their record companies could agree on who could break which contract. That same deal formed POCO, with some of the “leftovers” from Buffalo Springfield (the brilliant Richie Furay, and a pre-Loggins Jimmy Messina).
I use them as an example of “synergy”: they have average voices individually, but all three together are beautiful.
The story as I’ve heard it is that they didn’t meet at Cass Elliot’s house by happenstance. She was familiar with each of their voices and thought they would go well together.
Many a great career as a producer has been made of insights less significant than that one.
Barry Miles’s Zappa biography claims that one significant influence on the harmonies of CSN was Bulgarian choral music. (Google Books is so cool!)
Niel Young was the reason for the split off (obviously, as the others continued to play together). I could try and get the whole story from my friend, but I’m not sure if he’d want me posting it if there are some deeper secrets. The dad of one of my very best friends from high school is CSN’s drummer, so I’ve gotten some juicy stories over the years. My friend played with them for a while too as an auxiliary percussionist in the late 90s, early 00s. I went to see him when just playing with Stephen Stills.
My friend’s dad wrote a book recently about his days touring with CSN(Y), the Eagles, Joe Walsh, etc, and it might have many of the insights about Young leaving (I should really read the book). The book’s called ‘Backstage Pass’ if the OP is interested. It’s not entirely about CSN(Y), but since he was with them for longer than any other act, I would imagine a lot of it is about them.
Agreed. A bit harsh–but only a bit.
The last time I saw CSNY, I was right up front. I could see that Stills and Young were enjoying themselves. They were in a good place at that moment in time, which was July 1974.
I’ve seen Young countless times, including a blistering set at Red Rocks in 2000. The man may have an ego, but the man is still relevant.
I’m sure Young has had plenty to do with the destabilization of the CSNY collective, just has he has had plenty to do with some of their absolute finest music.
When you throw substance abuse in with the clashing egos there are bound to be downs along with the ups–the Eagles come to mind.
