Original subtitles

[Music]

In a desperate move, one sweltering

Florida day, David Crosby sells his

Mercedes to his dealer to fuel his

spiraling habit. But fate took a dark

turn when the guy met a tragic end. And

while laying lifeless in his bed, Crosby

slipped into the house to reclaim the

car's pink slip. not to get the car back

to drive, but to sell it again, feeding

the very demons that led him there in

the first place. Meanwhile, his

bandmates are battling struggles of

their own with substance habits along

with money and relationship troubles.

It's a far cry from the stage at

Woodstock they share just 13 years

earlier when they introduce Crosby,

Stills, Nash, and Young to the world.

Tell them who we are. They don't know.

You just sing

is the extraordinary tale of four

musicians who collided by chance and

together crafted some of the most iconic

music of their era. But behind the

harmonies lay chaos. Each member's

hang-ups testing their bonds at a time

of intense societal turmoil set as the

backdrop. Their story is Shakespearean

in depth, love and betrayal, harmony and

discord, hope and despair, triumph and

heartbreak again and again. For over 50

years, they rose, fell, and somehow

endured. But this journey doesn't end in

a warm reunion of old friends

reminiscing. Instead, it closes with

wounds that never fully healed, and a

legacy forever marked by both brilliance

and turbulence. As the years passed,

they each revealed unforgettable

moments, both inspiring and disturbing,

forged in the relentless pressure cooker

of rock and roll fame they once kept

buried. This is the story of Crosby

Stills, Nash, and Young. In 1967, Steven

Stills and Neil Young were playing their

protest anthem, for what it's worth, to

adoring fans, a massive hit at a time

when the generational divide was growing

by the day. The song struck a nerve and

seems to encapsulate the feeling of

young people who fear the draft as the

Vietnam War is escalating.

But the band was dealing with ego

clashes between Steven Stills and Neil

Young. When Young decided he didn't want

to play the Monterey Pop Festival just 2

days prior, he left the band scrambling

for a replacement. The event marked the

first time LA and San Francisco music

scenes collided, presenting new

commercial and creative

opportunities. The Springfield get their

Laurel Canyon friend from the birds to

play instead. David Crosby, who was also

having differences with his bandmates,

you know, knew each other and liked each

other and uh he said, "Well, you want to

like I got we got to do this gig. It's

going to be great. It's going to be

great. You got to do this." And uh I

said, "Yeah, I'll sing with you." Stop.

Hey, what's that sound? Everybody look

down. Children, what's that sound?

Everybody look.

The move didn't sit well with the birds.

Then when it came time for the birds set

at Monterey, David Crosby gave a

political speech about the conspiracy of

Kennedy's assassination, which

infuriated his bandmates further. When

President Kennedy was killed, he was not

killed by one man.

He was shot from a number of different

directions by different guns. The story

has been suppressed. Witnesses have been

killed. And this is your country, ladies

and gentlemen. Just 3 days later, David

Crosby was no longer a bird. And soon

afterwards, the Buffalo Springfield

disbanded. Now musically homeless,

Steven Stills and David Crosby began

hanging around Laurel Canyon, debating

their next move while jamming with their

fellow musicians. Around this time,

Graham Nash, who had a successful career

with the Holls, is visiting his new love

interest, Joanie Mitchell, at her home

in Laurel Canyon. There, the three men

start harmonizing on a song, you don't

have to cry. Nash said of the harmonies,

"Whatever sound Crosby Stills Nash and

Young has was born in 30 seconds. That's

how long it took us to harmonize." The

Birds, Buffalo, Springfield, and the

Holly's key members suddenly morphed

into a three-part harmony that was about

to take the music world by storm. It was

love at first sound. All three instantly

knew they had stumbled upon something

special, a new sound that the rest of

the world would soon fall head over

heels for. Graham Nash headed back to

London to break the news to his fellow

Holly's bandmates that he had been

clashing with over the band's musical

direction. Graham recalls how he had

been feeling and why the change was so

appealing. When uh I made the decision

to lead the Hollers, three things had

happened. One, I was getting frustrated

that I was writing songs that I thought

were pretty cool and that they didn't

want to record. Secondly, they wanted to

do an entire album of Bob Dylan songs in

a kind of Las Vegas horn section, swing

band kind of thing. And the third thing

is that I'd actually been befriended by

this uh teddy bear called David Crosby.

Cass Elliot said, "Get in the car. I

want you to meet somebody." She brought

him over and told me to get it to him.

On his chest was a lid from a shoe box

and in the lid was a pile of I had this

pullover pot, meaning if you smoked some

and you were going someplace, you would

pull over and try to remember where you

were going. So we we laughed all through

the afternoon and I liked him a lot. He

also ends his relationship with his wife

at the time, Rose Eckles, who had just

inspired the Holly's hit record earlier

that year, Jennifer Eckles. But

nonetheless, he went with his instincts

and left for Laurel Canyon for good this

time. David Crosby, Steven Sills, and

Graham Nash form a band using their

newfound three-part harmony as the

foundation for their sound. It was like

nothing else being played at the time,

as the guitar dominated sounds of

Hendricks, Cream, and The Who ruled the

rock airwaves. But they believed in

their sound and began writing songs for

their debut album. Initially, they flew

back to London and auditioned for Apple

Records, specifically for George

Harrison and Peter Asher. They were

turned down. It's hard to say why

exactly, but it's worth noting that in

1965, there was a feud between the

Beatles and the Holl's over George

Harrison's song If I Needed Someone,

which the Holl covered and Harrison

called rubbish. Nash fired back saying,

"Not only do these comments disappoint

and hurt us, but we're sick and tired of

everything the Beatles say or do being

taken as law." Nash went on to comment

on the feud again in his 2013

autobiography. Every English group owed

them a huge debt, but I had no intention

of kissing their asses. Besides, last I

looked, the Holl were holding down place

on the same top 10 as the Beatles, so

pardon me if you don't like our effing

record, but keep it to yourself if you

please. Nonetheless, they were not

signed by Apple, but instead by Akmed

Erdigan of Atlantic. He was a big

Buffalo Springfield fan and moved

mountains to make it work, as Stills was

already signed to Atlantic through his

Buffalo Springfield contract. Crosby had

been released from his birds deal with

Columbia. Nash, however, was still

signed to Epic through the Holl. Erdigan

cut a deal with Clive Davis to

essentially trade Nash to Atlantic in

exchange for Richie Fur who was also

signed to Atlantic by virtue of Buffalo

Springfield and his new band Poco. These

guys were traded around like athletes

today. Back in Laurel Canyon, they were

busy working on their debut album Crosby

Stills and Nash. They rehearsed at

Still's former roommates's house, The

Monkeys, Peter Torque. The band blended

folk, country, and rock influences, and

featured poetic lyrics about

relationships, personal events, and

broader societal

[Music]

themes. initially brought to his Holly's

bandmates but was rejected. Marrakesh

Express about a song he had taken on a

train from Casablanca to Marrakesh.

[Music]

Wooden Ships was written during Vietnam

on Crosby's boat in Fort Lauderdale

named Mayan. According to the liner

notes, the writers Crosby Stills and

Jefferson Airplanes Paul Canner imagined

ourselves as the few survivors escaping

on a boat to create a new

civilization. The lyrics depict the

horrors confronting the survivors of a

nuclear war. A person from one side

stumbles upon a person from the other

side and

[Music]

asks why

to stay alive. They share purple berries

as a result of which they haven't got

sick once. The lyrics beg silver people

on the shoreline described by David

Crosby as guys in radiation suits to let

us be.

[Music]

wooden ship's dark lyrics are

brilliantly juxtaposed against a soft

almost upbeat melody. In Homer's epic

poem, The Odyssey, Odysius says to

Achilles, "War is young men dying and

old men talking." That harsh reality

faced young people at the time, and

wooden ships embodied that in a detached

surrender.

Steven came to where I was singing one

night on the West Coast and brought his

guitar to the hotel and sang me Sweet

Judy Blue Eyes the whole song.

Afterwards, we both cried and then I

said, "Oh, Steven, it's such a beautiful

song, but it's not winning me back." I

felt the song was flattering and

heartbreaking for both of us. Neither

one of us walked away from that

relationship relieved. We were both

like, "Wo, what just happened?" Later,

the song helpless hoping was written by

Stills struggling after their breakup.

His lyrics combined with acoustic

melancholy are a double dose of

heartbreak delivered by Still's

masterful musicianship and takes you way

down into the depth of his

hurt. Their self-titled debut album was

released in May 1969, instantly lifting

them to stardom. It joined the ranks of

album which were charting a new

direction in popular music, the art of

the personal story, including Bob

Dylan's Nashville skyline, the Bird

Sweetheart of the Rodeo, and the band's

music from the Big Pink. It proved

influential on many levels to the

dominant popular music scene in America

for much of the

1970s. The group's emphasis on personal

confession in its writing paved the way

for the success of the singer songwriter

movement of the early 1970s.

Their use of personal events emotionally

emphasized in their vocal harmony as

well as the Laurel Canyon ethos that

surrounded the group established an

aesthetic for Crosby Stills and Nash and

a number of acts that came to define the

California sound of the ensuing decade,

including the Eagles, Jackson Brown, and

the 70s Fleetwood Mac

lineup. On the cover, the members are

left to write Nash Dills and Crosby, the

reverse of the order of the album title.

The photo was taken by their Laurel

Canyon friend and photographer Hilts

before they came up with the name for

the group. They found an abandoned house

with an old battered sofa outside that

they thought would be a perfect fit for

their image. A few days later, they

decided on the name Crosby Stills and

Nash. To prevent confusion, they went

back to the house a day or so later to

reshoot the cover in the correct order.

But when they got there, they found the

house had been demolished.

The original vinyl LP was released in a

gatefold sleeve that depicted the band

members in large fur parkas with a

sunset in the background shot in Big

Bear, California. But just as they were

enjoying the sweet taste of success, a

series of events unfold that shock the

world and the band to its core. On

August 10th, news broke of a horrifying

scene with five victims, including

pregnant actress Sharon Tate, in the

Hills of Los Angeles. The victims being

celebrities in a home many had been to

while attending parties by birds

producer Terry Meltchure along with the

word pig written in blood on the door

left the music community of Laurel

Canyon paralyzed in fear. The following

day, another seemingly ritualistic

killing nearby. The events shocked the

world and terrified the residents of

Laurel Canyon with some opting to move

away, including David Crosby and his

girlfriend Christine Hinton, who decided

they would soon move to the Bay

Area. Steven Sills dominated the

recording of their debut album,

overdubbing all the bass, organ, and

lead guitar parts, as well as acoustic

guitar of his own songs. So, when it was

time to promote the album on the road,

they needed another musician. They

initially approached Steve Winwood who

was already in the early days of blind

faith. He reportedly would not come out

of his room when they went to visit him.

We really wanted was Steve Winwood and

we just scared Steve, you know, Winwood.

He locked himself. We were there. We

arrived. We had our boots were up up to

our ankles in mud and you know we were a

little under the

weather and um we scared uh Steve Wooden

went to death. He locked himself in his

bedroom and wouldn't come out and we

finally looked at each other and said

well I guess he's not coming out and

[Laughter]

left. We asked Eric Clapton if he wanted

to join the band. He said no. And so

Steven asked me, "What do you think

about Neil?"

After Steven Stills and Eric Clapton

decline, Erdigan suggested former

Buffalo Springfield member Neil Young.

Still said no initially because of his

history of conflict with Young in

Buffalo Springfield, but soon saw it as

their only real option. It says, "Why

don't you get Neil?" I'm like, wait,

didn't we just go through this? Neil

Young had been trying to make it as a

solo artist, but saw the opportunity to

expand his appeal to a wider audience.

We had a interview with Neil in

Greenwich Village on Bleecker Street.

And I went to breakfast with Neil cuz I

was the one that was mainly against it

because I didn't I didn't see what we

needed from Neil. When Nash met with

Young in Greenwich Village and asked him

why they should let him join, Young

said, "Have you heard me and Stills play

guitar together?" It was settled. CSN

was now CSNY.

And by the time I'd finished uh

Breakfast with Neil, I would have given

him the world. He was unbelievably

brilliant and of course I loved his

music. Helpless.

Helpless. Helpless

Crosby Stills. Nash and Young was set to

play their first major public gig at the

Auditorium Theater in Chicago with

Joanie Mitchell as their opening act.

They mentioned they were going someplace

called Woodstock the next day, but they

had no idea where it was. When they got

there, they started to realize what they

had gotten into. What was expected to be

an audience of 50,000 had grown to over

400,000 when people showed up and made

their way into the festival with or

without tickets. The band showed up, but

their instruments were nowhere to be

found. Stills and bases Greg Reeves tell

of their anxiety waiting backstage with

Jimmyi Hendris, who got a kick out of

this. Tension mounted as our equipment

continued to not arrive. We had nothing

at Woodstock. No instruments. Jimmy was

right behind us laughing. May he rest in

peace, Henrix. He was crying, laughing.

He had this big gallow cheap wine

bottle. He said, "You want some? Soothe

your pain." And he's crying, laughing.

He said, "You guys don't worry. We got

enough instruments and stuff here. You

can use my stuff." Show business was

like that for a brief shining moment. I

mean, everybody that we really thought

was good was there. Hrix, Airplane,

Grateful Dad, The Band, The Band. There

were cameras filming the performance for

a documentary film. Neil Young took

exception to the cameras and asked them

not to film him, so he is absent from

most of the footage.

I was offended by the cameras all over

the place cuz it was a distraction to

what we were doing, which was playing

the music. So, I told him not to do that

with me, that not to film me, don't

bother, you know, don't come near me and

uh, you know, stay out of the way. The

pressure was intense with the who's who

of Rock sitting in the back watching

them as they took the stage at 3:30 in

the morning after several rain delays.

Their 1-hour show at Woodstock Festival

in the early morning of August 18th,

1969 was Baptism by Fire. The crowd of

industry friends looking on from

offstage was intimidating and prompted

Stills to comment on their lack of

experience in live performances as a

band. The point was that all the people

that we really cared about were all

standing right behind us.

This is our second gig. This is the

second time we've ever played in front

of people. Man, we're scared shitless.

They opened with sweet Judy blue eyes

and mesmerized the crowd with each song.

Their performance catapulted them to

stardom and was immortalized in the

Woodstock documentary. Their hit song

written by Joanie Mitchell,

memorializing Woodstock, would become

the song most associated with the

festival. After Woodstock, they headed

straight into the studio to record their

most celebrated work, their sophomore

album, Deja Vu. CSNY appeared in another

prominent festival that year, the Big

Surf Folk Festival, in which an audience

member, possibly having a bad

psychedelic experience, starts heckling

CSNY, calling them sellouts, which leads

Steven Stills to confront him. A shoving

match ensues quickly and luckily is

broken up by Still's friends.

So when somebody gets up and freaks out

like that, you know, it kind of strikes

a nerve and you end up right back in

that old trap. And where that guy is at

is in that same trap and that's getting

mad about

something. And that ain't, you know,

nothing, you know, and I had some guys

around to love me out of it and I was

lucky. Then in late September, tragedy

strikes. David Crosby's girlfriend,

Christine Hinton, dies in a car crash.

Hinton was driving Crosby's VW bus to

take their cats to the veterinarian. The

accident occurred on September 30th,

1969 in Neado, just days after they

moved to the San Francisco Bay area

after the August Manson murders that

shocked the tight-knit Laurel Canyon

community. Her death had a profound

impact on Crosby and is often cited as a

major factor in his downward spiral.

They were in the studio recording their

second album, Dja Vu, at this point.

During the sessions, Crosby would break

down and cry due to the recent death of

his girlfriend, telling Craw Daddy in

1974, "I was not at my best as a

functioning person, completely unable to

deal with it

all." Nash stated to Music Radar, "The

mood was different from our first album,

which was recorded while the band

members were in relationships, and by

the second, Joanie and I had split up.

Steven and Judy had split up and

Christina had just been killed. It was

all

dark. They all admit to a substance

habit that fueled fiery clashes.

I can't sing in that room because you

can't hear me. And so because you can't

hear me, I sing louder because I sing

louder. I pardon because I push harder.

I got no throat. Yeah, that's true. I

can't do it, man. To to be fair to you

guys, I should shut up until the Greek

theater or whenever the first gig is cuz

I know I can step in and put my part in.

But I can't we can't get a blend that

way. No, we can't get a blend that way.

And not only that, but we can't we can't

rehearse it so that it all makes sense

together. See, man, they got to be I

mean, like Dallas and they don't play

just to the track. They listen to the

vocal, man. You know, he's kind of What

you got to do, man, is play acoustic

now. And we'll try and get a big place

as soon as we can. Well, David and I

have been sat here for at least half an

hour because we were told we were going

to play acoustic guitars right here.

Right. So, where's Steven?

[Music]

With the band reeling from each member's

loss, they begin having disputes in the

studio. They start nitpicking and

critiquing each other. I'm not going to

cop out an inch to fear. And you walked

out two [ __ ] days in a row, you

[ __ ] hypocrite. You piss me off.

Let's do I couldn't follow that.

[Music]

They fired their bass player and drummer

in heated disputes. Basist Greg Reeves

went with Young to help him make after

the gold rush that he was working on

simultaneously. Woodstock was one of the

few deja vu tracks Crosby Stills Nash

and Young all performed their parts in

the same session. Almost cut my hair

encapsulates the notion of long hair as

a freak flag. Crosby's song has been

credited with popularizing the idea of

long hair as a deliberate and visible

symbol of the wearer's affiliation with

a counterculture and opposition to

establishment values. Crosby himself

stated, "It was the most juvenile set of

lyrics I've ever written, but it has a

certain emotional impact. There's no

question about that."

Our house was written by Nash as an ode

to the countercultural domestic bliss.

He was living with Joanie Mitchell in

Laurel Canyon, depicting a cozy day when

they had come home after being out to

breakfast and stopping by an antique

shop where Mitchell picked up a vase for

their home. Teacher Children is a song

written by Graham Nash in 1968 when he

was a member of the Holl. Stills made

Nash change Teacher Children and it

became a hit with a smooth

countryflavored ballad. Graham tells

Goldmine, "You never know how you're

doing. You write a song like teach your

children and figure, well, that's a

pretty little song, but I must tell you,

the first time I ever played it for

Steven Stills, after I finished the

song, he looked at me and said, "That's

a really good song. Don't ever play it

like that again. You sound like Henry

VII." He played the song back to me with

that beautiful right-hand picking style

that Steven is so well known for. And

obviously he turned my Henry VII song

into something

special. Grateful Dead guitarist Jerry

Garcia played a pedal steel guitar on

Teacher Children and former Love and

Spoonfuls John Sebastian plays

harmonica. Garcia had made a deal that

in return for his playing steel guitar

on Teacher Children CSNY would help

members of the Grateful Dead improve

their vocal harmony for their upcoming

albums Working Man's Dead and American

Beauty. Now that's a deal.

Session drummer Dallas Taylor recalls

the origins of Carry On. The song was

written in the middle of deja vu

sessions when Nash told Steven they

didn't have an opener for the album. It

was something of a message to the group

since it had become a real struggle to

keep the band together at that point.

Steven combined two unfinished songs and

stuck them into a jam we had out in the

studio a few nights before. Me on drums

and Steven on a Hammond B3 organ.

While recording the album, the band got

an invitation to play at the upcoming

concert in Northern California on

December 6th,

1969, being headlined by the Rolling

Stones, the Altoont Free Concert, which

resulted in tragic death of audience

members. Security for the event, the

Hell's Angels, became aggressive after

the crowd accidentally knocked down one

of their motorcycles.

Dozens of people were hurt, including

Jefferson Airplanes Marty Balin, who was

knocked unconscious. The Grateful Dead

left the venue early due to concerns for

their safety. During Crosby, Stills,

Nash, and Young set, Stills was

reportedly to be stabbed in the leg by a

Hell's Angel with a sharpened bicycle

spoke. By the time the Rolling Stones

took the stage in the early evening, the

mood had taken a decidedly ugly turn as

numerous fights erupted between the

Angels and crowd members and within the

crowd itself. At the band's request, the

performance was not included in the

subsequent film Give Me Shelter in

1970. Back in the studio while making

the album, the band's dynamic was often

interrupted by Neil Young wanting to

work alone. He would go off on his own

and write his songs and then come back

and have the others sing on the songs.

Crosby says of Young that when he joins

a band, he doesn't really join a band,

making his own tracks on his own alone.

Crosby said they sang on Young's tracks

after the fact, which he found to be

snotty, but they were good. Nash says

Young didn't perform on any of his

songs, including Teacher Children and

Our House, but says it didn't bother him

as they were decent records.

Steven Still said of making Dja Vu,

"Getting that second album out of us was

like pulling teeth. There was song after

song that didn't make it." Upon its

release in March 1970, the album made it

to Billboard 100's number one spot,

staying on the charts for 97 weeks.

Crosby Stills Nash and Young disbanded

to do solo albums. Woodstock, written by

Joanie Mitchell, was their biggest hit

off the album in 1970.

During the tour to promote the album,

tensions ran high, culminating in an

extended solo by Steven Stills without

the consent of the other band members at

the Fillmore East when he was informed

that Bob Dylan was in the audience.

Young was seriously upset about Still's

substance habit and behavior. Nash,

Crosby, and Young called off the tour in

Chicago. They took the first flight out

and didn't tell Stills. He only found

out when he came back from for the show.

What can you do with someone who's

blasted out of his skulls? Writes Nash.

They lost 7 million that would have been

made from that tour. Neil Young and

David Crosby were staying at a house in

the Bay Area when reports of the Kent

State shootings arrived. David Crosby

showed a Time magazine cover to Young

that covered the story, inspiring him to

write the protest song Ohio. Recorded

and rush released weeks later, it peaked

at number 14 in August 1970, providing

another top 20 hit for the group. Their

previously recorded song, Teacher

Children, was still climbing the charts

and at number five when the group

insisted that it be rushed to release.

In 1970, Bill Graham referred to Crosby

Still's Nash and Young as the American

Beatles. Crosby came up and he had the

magazine, the Kent State Killings cover

on it and I'd heard it on the news, but

Crosby uh always has a way of bringing

things into focus. That's what woke me

up to that there was something going on

there that I had some thoughts about.

[Music]

When things calmed down, Stills invited

Nash to sing on his first solo album,

the one that would produce Love the One

You're With. At the session, Nash made a

date with backup singer Rita Kulage. But

Stills also liked her and called and

cancelled in Nash's name, taking her out

instead. Koolage was with Stills for all

of a couple weeks before Nash maneuvered

himself back in the picture. When Nash

broke the news that Kulage was now with

him, Stills spat in his face. Nash said

he still isn't sure that Stills has

forgiven him to this day. Between

September 1970 and May

1971, each of the members released

high-profile solo albums. You can

imagine the anxiety and competition

between them to see whose album would

fare best with audiences.

Young's After the Gold Rush in September

1970, which peaked at number eight and

included his top 40 solo hit, Only Love

Can Break Your Heart. Stills aonomous

debut in November 1970. Crosby's If I

Could Only Remember My Name in February

1971, and Nash's Songs for Beginners in

May 1971. Although all four LPs placed

in the top 15 on Billboard 200, Still's

entry included two top 40 hits. Love the

one you're with and sit yourself down.

Although they continued to collaborate

in various projects, the four members

did not come back together in earnest

until their 1974 reunion tour. 1972

proved to be another fruitful year for

all band members in their solo or duo

efforts. Young achieved solo

superstardom with the chart topping

album Harvest and two top 40 singles,

the number one hit Heart of Gold and Old

Man. I want to give

Stills joined with former bird Chris

Hillman to form the band Manasses,

releasing a self-titled double album.

Nash and Crosby joined forces with

touring that was so successful and

pleasant for them, they recorded and

released a duo album, Graham Nash, David

Crosby, which eclipsed their recent solo

efforts. David and I knew that we had a

musical link, and we always have and

always will have. There's probably

nobody currently that sings harmony the

way Nash and I do or can.

[Applause]

[Music]

[Applause]

In 1973, the band convened to rehearse

another album, but the bickering

reemerged and they shoved the idea,

going their separate ways until

1974. Then they announced their reunion

tour, embarking on a 2-month, 31-day

tour. And oh boy, did things get out of

hand. and they paid the price in many

ways. Opening acts consisted of

well-known performers including Joanie

Mitchell, Santana, the band, and Beach

Boys. And later, a photo would emerge

that shows a surprise guest who joined

them on stage one night, Jimmy Paige. He

joined them on stage for a reported

3-hour jam session at a restaurant in

London after their Wembley Stadium show.

Nash later recalled that the tour made

just over $12 million, which of course

was a lot of money in those days. We all

got less than half a 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 Odell, one time they spilled a

powder on the carpet. They just got down

on the floor and quickly tried to

recover it. I just went, "Oh my god,

this is so weird. I've never seen

anything like it." They probably don't

remember that. Stills was apparently so

far gone he started to believe that he

was on missions with the US Marines in

Vietnam. At this point he was signing

autographs. Steven Stills US Marine

Corps. Graham Nash started taking strong

prescription painkillers. I called them

I don't give an [ __ ] pills. Someone

could have told 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 and I wouldn't recommend

it to anybody. Although each member

performed new songs that later appeared

on solo or duo studio releases, Young

premiered more than a dozen songs,

including several from On the Beach,

which was released during the tour in

one of the most creatively fertile

phases of his career. Young isolated

himself from the group, traveling

separately in an RV with his son and

entourage. He later asserted to

biographer Jimmy McDow, "The tour was

disappointing to me. I think CSN really

blew it. They hadn't made an album and

they didn't have any songs. How could

they just stop like that? They opted at

the time not to release any recordings

of the tour for an album with Nash

maintaining the main feeling at the end

of the tour was that we weren't as good

as we could have been. Still, after the

tour rad, the four musicians only got

300,000 each. The band had picked up the

tab for the decadence. We fell for the

rock and roll BS in a big way, Nash

concludes. Eventually, they met at

Record Plant in Salelo to work on a

follow-up to Deja Vu. With renewed

tensions, Neil Young soon left again

following a heated argument. The other

three attempted to carry on with Stills

getting so angry at one point, he

destroyed the master of wind over water

with a razor blade after Crosby and Nash

objected to a harmony part on Still's

guardian angel. Even though Stills

characterized the incident as a joke,

the sessions promptly dissolved. Shortly

after, Crosby and Nash signed a separate

contract with ABC Records and began to

tour regularly again, playing a more

intimate array of sports arenas, outdoor

festivals, and

theaters. Throughout the mid70s, Crosby

and Nash also lent their harmonies to a

range of recordings, including James

Taylor's Mexico, Joanie Mitchell's

Freeman in Paris, and Elton John's Blue

Moves. Following the lead of Crosby and

Nash, Stills and Young briefly united

for a one-off album and tour credited to

the Stills Young band, Long May You Run,

in 1976. As Stills and Young embarked on

a tour to promote the album in the

summer of 1976, the old tensions between

the pair resurfaced. Stills insisted

that professional studio musicians back

them rather than Young's preferred Crazy

Horse. After a July 20th, 1976 show in

Columbia, South Carolina, Young's bus

took a different direction from Stills,

waiting at their next stop in Atlanta.

Stills received a telegram. Dear Steven,

funny how things that start

spontaneously end that way. Eat a peach,

Neil. It was now the third time that

Neil Young flaked on Steven Stills in a

big way. Young's management claimed that

he was under doctor's orders to rest and

recover from an apparent throat

infection. Stills was contractually

bound to finish the tour alone. Real

sense of humor. It certainly wasn't. I

certainly knew him too well to let him

hurt my feelings like that with a little

bit of verbal jousting. I left the tour

in the middle of the

tour and uh there was something

inherently something was wrong.

Something was wrong with the whole thing

and uh and it it wasn't working. The

balance was off in some way. So, you

know, I bailed on it. Neil got

frustrated and then he got sick and he

said, "Well, that's it. I'm off." you

know, and he's uh you know, he's got

more nerve than I I do. I can't I can't

just bolt like that. This pattern in

Young had to be difficult to deal with,

and you have to give Stills credit for

taking it all in stride. I'm sure many

would not have been so forgiving. That

old saying, "A man is only as good as

his word comes to mind." Later in 1976,

Steven Stills approached Crosby and Nash

during a performance at the Greek

Theater in Los Angeles, setting the

stage for a reunion without Young. Less

than a year after reforming, Crosby

Stills and Nash released CSN, recorded

in Miami throughout late 1976 and early

1977. The album exemplified the stylized

soft rock ethos of the era and contained

the band's highest charting single,

Nash's Just a Song Before I Go.

The album peaked at number two on the

Billboard chart in the summer of 77

during a 33-w week stay, remaining at

that position for the month of August

behind Fleetwood Max

rumors. After successful arena tours in

77 and 78, further work as the group was

complicated by Crosby's substance

dependency. Nash determined that Crosby

was not in any shape to participate

after he stopped a jam session because

his pipe had fallen off an amp and

broken. Stills and Nash convened in 1980

through81 to record Daylight again, a

self-funded duo. However, their

relationship was still strained from the

Rita Kulage love triangle. Atlantic

Records executives refused to reimburse

their expenses or release the LP until

Crosby was reinstated. With a forced

hand, Crosby returned and contributed

Delta, his last original composition for

several years. However, Nash and Still's

instincts about Crosby were correct.

Despite Crosby's condition and the

height of the new wave dominating the

airwaves, Daylight again contained two

hits, including Nash's wasted on the way

and still's Southern Cross. We have made

a lot of good music. I'm not denying

that. But we have wasted a lot of time.

We have wasted a lot of love and we have

wasted a lot of life. But on a midnight

watch, I realized why you ran away.

Which brings us back to the beginning

when Crosby found himself breaking into

a house to steal back his Mercedes with

a dead man lying in the bed. A story

reported in Nash's autobiography relayed

to him by

Crosby. His fall from the height of his

fame was long and hard. No one could

have imagined that the man's singing

harmonies on stage in 1969 would be in

such a dire situation just 13 years

later. Despite renewed success, the

bottom soon fell out for David Crosby,

who was arrested and jailed on drug and

weapons charges in Texas in May

1982. Crosby was sentenced to two terms,

but the conviction was overturned.

Arrested several more times, he failed

to show up for court, becoming a

fugitive. He finally turned himself in

to the authorities in December 1985. He

spent 8 months in a Texas prison.

Superstar, is arrested on fugitive

charges in West Palm Beach. David

Crosby, formerly of the group Crosby,

Stills, Nash, and Young, turned himself

into FBI agents and was arrested by West

Palm Beach police. He's been a fugitive

since failing to appear for a Texas bond

hearing in Dallas last month. Texas

authorities were trying to revoke an

appeal bond after Crosby was arrested on

drug and weapons charges in California.

That arrest came while the rockstar was

appealing a Dallas drug conviction.

Crosby's only comment to reporters on

being led to the Palm Beach County Jail

today, "Wish me luck." And in fact, it

did end up being his luck. Jail seemed

to do the trick. He later reported that

he wrote to the judge who sentenced him

telling him that he saved his life by

putting him in jail. David Crosby

married his wife Jan in 1987, citing her

for helping his long recovery. 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 for American Dream

in

1988. During the recording, Crosby found

out that his liver was failing him and

he needed a transplant, which he

eventually received. He cited Phil

Collins as helping him through it in

many

ways. Then true to form, Young refused

to support the album with a CSNY tour.

Although they did produce a video for

Young's title, song single wherein each

member played a a character loosely

based on certain aspects of their

personalities and public image. The band

continued to release albums and tour,

captivating both a new generation of

intrigued listeners and their longtime

fans. With their legendary status

cemented, their soldout shows became a

massive financial success. After they

were inducted into the Rock and Roll

Hall of Fame in 1997, they set out on

more tours and released several box

sets. CSN convened with producer Rick

Rubin to record a projected covers album

tentatively titled Songs We'd written

for Sony Music in 2010. Seven songs were

completed before the dissolution of the

sessions due to the increasingly

acrimonious relationship with Reuben.

Crosby perceived Reuben as a disruptive

autocratic figure in the creative

process. Nash said that CSN sessions

with Reuben were difficult because it's

hard to tell a band what to do after

almost 50 years of making records. He

said, "You can suggest anything you

want, but you can't tell us what to do."

stating that the sessions were irritable

from the

start. By 2012, CSN had completed five

self-produced re-recordings in

anticipation of a potential rights

dispute over the Reuben Sessions with

Sony. In a September 2014 interview with

the Idaho Statesman, 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 Neil

Young's new partner, Daryl Hannah, as a

purely poisonous predator. Crosby had

apparently been upset with Young that he

left his marriage of 36 years for the

younger actress. Young and Hannah began

dating in 2014. The comment was seen as

unforgivable to Neil Young, and he he

never spoke to Crosby again, despite

Crosby's repeated public apologies,

including on Howard Stern's 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? 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. But I love those

guys. Neil Young married Daryl Hannah in

August 2018. His ex-wife Peggy died on

January 1st, 2019, just months after

their wedding. Graham Nash announced on

March 6th, 2016 following his divorce

from his wife of 38 years in which he

also left her for another woman that

Crosby Stills and Nash would never

perform again because of his recent

estrangement from Crosby over remarks

about Neil Young's relationship as well

as other things he refused to comment

on. Would you like to talk to him? No,

I'm not interested. And if he reaches

out to you, he can try all he wants. is

a little [ __ ] late.

It really you're you're you're angry.

Yeah, I'm angry.

He tore the heart out of CSN and CSN why

in in in the space of a few months

because of his criticism cuz he's not a

really great person. He talks a good

story. What I read and I I I don't know

if it's true. It's because of him

criticizing New Yang's new girlfriend.

Is it true or not? That's how it

started. That's how And then afterwards,

okay, that's how he tore the heart out

of uh CSN. Why? And when did he And how

did he tore the heart? I'm not going to

tell you. Okay. Nash remarried in April

2019 and his ex-wife died of cancer in

September of

2020. In summer of 2016, Neil Young told

Rolling Stone that he wouldn't rule out

future collaborations with the trio.

According to Nash in a follow-up

interview, well, he's right. You never

know. There's been times when I've been

so pissed at us all for wasting time and

not getting on with the job that I

wouldn't talk to any of them. But if

Crosby came to me and played me four

songs that knocked me off my ass, what

the f am I supposed to do as a musician,

no matter how pissed we are at each

other? Neil echoed the sentiment in

2017. I think CSNY has every chance of

getting together again. I'm not against

it. There's been a lot of bad things

happening among among us and a lot of

things have to be settled, but that's

what brothers and families are all

about. We'll see what happens. I'm open.

I don't think I'm a major

obstacle. Crosby said shortly after that

Young is a hugely talented guy and a

prospective reunion would be fine with

me. But just as it seemed a

reconciliation was possible, the tone

changes. 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 back

together." Crosby then tells The

Guardian in September 2021 when asked if

there's been any reconciliation. No, and

I don't expect there to be. The petty

ass BS that goes on between us people,

he stops himself. Neil's got a genuine

beef. I did say something bad about his

girlfriend. I said I thought she was a

predator. Okay, he can be mad at me.

That's all right. Graham just changed

from the guy I thought he was my best

friend to being a guy that's definitely

my enemy. So, I don't see any future

there at all. Crosby said of Neil,

"Well, he's probably the most

self-centered, self-obsessed, selfish

person I know. He only thinks about

Neil, period. That's the only person

he'll ever consider ever."

Crosby also made his feelings known

about the music industry and how hard it

was for musicians to earn a living. He

says streaming music is almost

impossible to make money from records.

Believe me, man, it's going to hurt the

music business very badly in the long

run if you shut the door on all the

young people who are trying to become

musicians. The music industry is making

a terrible mistake. They are stealing

and they are thieves.

In 2021, Crosby sold his recorded music

and publishing rights. I had no choice,

man. I can't make a living. I'm not

being paid for the

records. On January 18th, 2023, David

Crosby died at aged 81. He never had a

chance to reconcile with Neil Young or

Graham Nash, although he did

occasionally speak to Steven Stills.

Crosby had been married to his wife Jan

for 36 years, citing her as the reason

for his sobriety and recovery. In the

end, CSNY all seemed to have good

intentions with a pattern of being

restless and outspoken at the expense of

others, affecting their professional and

personal lives, while surviving in an

industry that would bring out the worst

in anybody, all while under a

microscope, proving that we're all our

own worst enemies. Despite decades of

conflict, creative clashes, and personal

betrayals, Crosby Stills Nash and Young

created music that transcended their

differences, their story, equal parts

brilliance and dysfunction, remains one

of rock's most compelling sagas. When

David Crosby passed away in 2023, the

remaining members put aside grievances

to honor him. In the end, their legacy

isn't defined by the petty feuds that

kept them apart, but by the music that

will forever keep them together in the

hearts and music collections of their

fans.

[Applause]