I can relate to stills, I loved the way he shut that question down. I also moved around allot as a kid. It leaves an after effect. of things like, don't make friends because moving day could be any day. At 7 a.m. Saturday, my Dad would pull up with a U-haul and say ,"here's the boxes, get packing I want to be on the road by 5p.m." No explanation, or discussion. just spend the day packing and loading. I went to one school for a week another for a month. It sucked, always being the new kid. I was very independent. I still do not make friends easily. I usually don't like people in general, I've just learned to tolerate them as I have gotten older.
I remember Neil saying at the time that two days before a tour starts is not a good time to interview Stephen, that he would often drink more before a tour because of all the stress involved. I'm glad he's in a better place now.
I'm saddened that they had to 'exist' this way. But it sure has been worth the pain as far as the listeners are concerned. I hope and pray that at age 70, they can look at each other and say," I love you friend". Genius and brilliance is not easy to express 'three fold at once'. Imagine Renoir, Picasso and Van gogh all painting on one canvas ! Thank you for the music guys...it makes the hard times easier......God Bless
What an interview, what a hotbed of dysfunction. As a long time CSN (and sometimes Y) fan, and having read both of Crosby's biographies, I see where this interview fits in. It's interesting to watch it now about 25 years later, knowing where they all are right now, which is in a much better place. Great video - a must for any die-hard CSN fan.
You watched this and were shocked? Heck the second Manassas and last album they are sitting around a table of J&B Scotch. They are three brothers by different mothers and each is independant and co-dependant. It's really simple...Stephen is the heart and David and Graham are the soul....if one or the other gets screwy it all falls down. It takes all three pillars to keep their heads above murky waters. Times change and so do we, they have too.
I have met them, and David and Graham were great. Stephen was kind of aloof. They are amazing musicians and vocalists you can't deny that. Who cares what they are in their real lives. They are artist, and they have had a major impact on music as a whole.
Met David as well, before or after a show (can't remember which) around '89. He was great - gracious, warm, and very patient with someone who then just barely a young adult. Really refuted the whole "don't meet your heroes" idea. It always struck me as incongruous when I would hear of his reputation for being so difficult.
Depends how you look at it. "Teach Your Children," "Just A Song Before I Go," and "Our House" are CSN's 3 biggest hits, and "Cold Rain" perhaps the most underrated song in the group's catalog. All written by the "least talented" Graham Nash.
I remember watching this when it aired also. I thought it aired in 1984 but I looked it up on YT and there it was. I was 18 and struck that an "old guy" like Stephen still said "I like to party, okay?" It seemed to me at the time that most 60's musicians were sober in the 80's--or so it seemed.
Just listened to the audiobook version. Great book...not super in love with the narrator, but much better than the other CSN&Y audio book in which the narrator sounds like a drunken porno star!
Don't forge the "My Ass" part. After watching this video, I'm a bigger fan of Stills now. He was such a big asshole back then. There's a level of realness with his curse words.
I hate to say it but Graham complains Steven treated him like a backup singer. Well.....He kinda was. Not a great instrumentalist. His thing was nice solo songs, but mostly his harmonies. That's kind of what a backup singer does :). I sing solo and backup. I have no ego when I am blending in a harmony. I realize its color, not on the forefront.
Yeah, but on the other hand, Nash had a great feeling for catchy Pop-songs and he wrote most of their most successful tunes. But look at CSN in the 80s: Because of the drug related problems of David and Stephen, CSN went the Nash trail (which is defined by mainstream successful music) and "Daylight Again" is a poor 80s album with disgusting 80s over-production.
we all have jobs, and we've all had to cope with these problems of getting along with colleagues. Stills would certainly treat them as backing singers, on his songs... but I suppose they managed to get what they wanted from him when it was his turn to give in. Not always of course, but it worked for a couple of albums. The final problem which led to the explosion of the band did not come from Stills, as everybody would have expected it... Even if he'd sung out of tune with a broken voice for years, event if his guitar could break "everybody's careful mix" on stage(people say "balls"), even if he had bad talks... It came from David, who surprisingly stopped remembering that he owed 30 years of his career and probably just life to Graham Nash, the man who kept all this going... it took more that talent to keep these old stars playing, disbanding, and playing together...
@@Blinki18284 The first album. Suite Judy Blue Eyes. Stills played every instrument on that album AND produced it. They could have stopped there and it would have been a magical and monumental achievement.
This story took the most controversial angle it could, as news shows will. Yeah, anybody in even a garage band will tell you there are egos, arguments, tensions and it just gets worse with success because now you have all that stuff and you rely on the band for your living. But at the time they'd been making great music both together and apart for 20 years, outliving (sometimes literally) most of their contemporaries, so that could have been the story. CSN are not wannabes or mightabeens -- they're big stars! And 25+ years later CSN and sometimes Y are still friends and still making music together. The doom this reporter wants to emphasize never comes to pass. So how critical was it to point out their problems instead of celebrating their very real successes?
jrpipik David Crosby did have a BIG drug problem and almost died - only a liver transplant saved him. Steven definitely appears to be in denial about his alcoholism. He can barely talk now much less sing. I'm not 100% sure what that is about. They could have done the same old story, or they could have revealed some truth of which not everyone was aware. I'm glad they did the latter. The fact that Stephen Stills has an addiction to alcohol doesn't sully his accomplishments, it did and does hinder further accomplishments however. www.ocregister.com/entertainment/stills-81629-one-singing.html www.ocregister.com/soundcheck/stills-480881-http-href.html
A lot of people here are blaming this guy or that guy for being the "problem child" of the group. The truth is that as Crosby once said, music performers have massive egos. All three of these guys have real problems. It's a volatile mixture, and as David once said, "I'm glad we got the music out that we did." Although Neil Young has his own weirdness, his unwillingness to work with these guys unless the circumstances were perfect speaks a lot. Because he's the REAL talent in the group. He has an abhorrence for nostalgia acts that do not focus their concerts on new songs, and has zero tolerance for drug abuse and guys not focusing 100% on the music. Too often these guys have focused too much on their past catalog and on their egos.
Young being intolerant of drug abuse? He himself has only been clean for a few yrs. In his book he said he was high and or drunk every day since his teens. Everyday
@@lastnamefirst4035 I should have said drugs like heroin that completely overwhelm a musician's ability to create and perform. We all remember the coke incident during the "Last Waltz" film. Like many, Neil has liked his weed. But he never allowed drugs to get him into the state that Stills and especially Croz did. One of the main reasons he refused to work with the others after the huge mid-70's stadium tour was Croz's drug addiction.
"Crosby Stills and Nash never live up to their potential, CSN are exactly that." Who writes your copy? Are you insane. CSNY did more than any other band to galvanize their generation. Easy Rider - one of the most iconic 60's anti-hero counter-revolutionary movies starring Peter Fonda and Jack Nicholson, among others, was one of the most powerful and iconic of films that was stamped on the DNA of the country. The last scene of that movie shows the devastation of the main characters who are killed by red necks as they are riding their motorcycles on a highway. Stephen Stills song, "The Cost of Freedom" plays as the credits roll. Never lived up to their potential? They did more than anyone could have ever imagined. Their generation internalized so much of their lyrics, heart and soul. Yes, there are always clashes with musicians, there are clashes with friends. The Beatles had internal issues too, for god's sake. This is the worst clip I have seen on the absolute best band that has ever played anywhere anytime. Yes, they have problems. They were having problems with drugs and drinking. Surprise, that causes issues. Their music is iconic.
I bet if you got those guys in a room, locked the door, gave them 3 acoustic guitars, a bag of grass and a microphone, they could make musical magic again.
I think they tried to record a back-to-basics album of covers with Rick Rubin producing. Crosby didn’t want to record covers and didn’t get along with Rubin.
Get Graham a Mirror so he can admire himself as he likes to do and tell you how good he is . Can you say 1776 as that was what we thought of your pretention.
Yep - exactly what I came away with after reading his book Wild Tales. Journeyman. Boy sure lucked out when Joni Mitchell fell for his pommie accent ;)
Most Bands are the product of SEPARATE MINDS, GOALS (ULTIMATELY) VISION & ABILITY in creating original music, lyrics, appealing to vast majority of the intended demographic ...... being talented is not nearly enough to make it even part of the way to SUCCESS and continued success is near impossible FOR MOST AS IT REQUIRES PEOPLE TO BE ONE .... and people are not one.... they different and changing so always a fleeting chance of compliance and yet fresh and finding common ground a fantasy ! Just my observation, GBjj
@@BigBoyBeats-w9r it’s an accurate statement in the clip. He ran from the law when a 5-year prison sentence was sitting over his head. The commentator wasn’t claiming he sat in a prison cell for 5 years.
Stills is clearly the most talented, but he has a problem he doesn’t want to deal with. Go back and listen to him in interviews before he was drunk all the time. He was mr. nice guy, and the drink has turned him into a belligerent ass. I speak from experience. It’s the hardest thing he’ll ever do, but he needs to do it.
Yes Still was different, difficult and probably not too bright.....but, if you look at the body of work, he was brilliant in that respect. Listen to some of his side projects and you'll see. I recommend listening to Manassas. That was a short lived group he formed with Chris Hillman (formerly of the Byrds and then the Flying Burrito Bros). Good stuff.
I very politely disagree with the "not too bright" portion of your statement...but different and difficult...yeah, I'm with you there ;-).....and as far as Manassas....yeah!...glad you brought them up....I've got two of their albums, and really enjoy them even to this day. And I like his "solo" stuff as well....he's by far my favorite of CSN.
Nash. Probably the most passive-aggressive musician ever interviewed. Diabolical. His entire book was like that - "I love them, but..." and "I only did drugs to improve my mind, but they..." and "I paid Crosby's kid's tuition and I paid for this and I did that and..." All I, Me, Mine as George Harrison's song about narcissism (in 1979) went. I don't know how Stills stood the hypocrisy. Turns out, after all that... Crosby was the one with the 40 year monogamous marriage and Stills has 7 children that all speak to him (NONE of Nash's do since he divorced their mother after 35 years to marry Daryl Hannah). Glass houses, you know.
If one is talking about being real, then they are not being real. No wonder Neil would leave if there was too much drama with those three. It's about the music and nothing else. He wrote about it in a song called "Wooden Ships". "Capsized by excess, if you know what I mean?" is one line from that song.
Very heavy stuff while reading David"s autobiography. That footage of him onstage all based out is talked about bye Graham and how they had to edit out most of Crosby onstage. Pick up a copy of this book.
Stills has always been the most talented of this band. Nash and Crosby are talented yes, but they are not stupid. Stills is a guitar master, writes great songs and has a decent voice actually a very good voice. Nash and Crosby,would not make it alone. Stills can pull it off Alone. But........Truth is they are better together than alone, but still it is a selfish thing to not think of there your behavior hurts and even threatens your career as well as theirs. But you can,always go,recruit others, may not be the same, but it can and has been,done. May be time to move on guys after 40 years? Hate to,see it, but you've been past your prime now for some time. Guess it's time for some serious talks, and not just threats. Do it or get out of it. Nothing is forever.
i loved these guys in the 70s..but my god, what a bunch of fussy drama queens....and today none of them even speak to each other. at least crosby is still alive and kicking. i follow him on twitter and he says he's happier than he's ever been. I don't see a lot of happiness in this clip.
Nash is a brazeer left unstrapped. These cats went threw the storm. Nash, Stills could would can didn't box his flagrant verbal insult. Nash doesn't impress me. Personal, I know.
You always kinda of got that stills was a douche.......but a very talented douche.... Given the egos of stills and Nash...then add Neil young to the mix...you can see why they never stuck together in the long term.. That's a kind of folk hell.
Right. You are complaining about CSN's HARMONIES??????? Yeah and that Einstein guy was a disaster at physics. And Mozart just couldn't quite cut it in composition. And if only that Michelangelo guy could have made better use of space. And that Hallelujah Chorus, why did Handel have to be so showy? Good Lord.
Shut and sing? Is that a Stephen Stills quote or yours Nash? Stills is not a shmuck. Nash is dressing up in rhinestones. Can you compare Nash and Crosby with Stills acoustic work? It's not about who's right, it's about who is true. This is the crap that kills all endevours. Me me me. There is no orbit into grandeur without the belly aching of the unsatisfied. Shit this hurts to hear.
@@TheFossie12 I read Nash's bio. It was disgusting. Hes a self righteous guy who thinks he invented the hippie peace/love idea and if everyone would be like him the world would be so grand...what a jerk
These 3 created adult contemporary radio and punk rock. Not sure if that cancels out the former. I don’t think their is a more egotistical, pompous group. Crosby and Nash are the worst of the bunch. How Neil Young ever lowered himself to join this group will always boggle me.