(Credits: Far Out / David Gans / Fotoburo De Boer / Noord-Hollands Archief)
Mon 2 February 2026 17:00, UK
Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young are one of the greatest supergroups to ever form, but wherever they went, controversy followed.
The group originally formed with just David Crosby, Stephen Stills and Graham Nash, as the three of them performed together and realised how special their joint harmonies were. They were all previously in bands that were doing pretty well, but once you stumble upon something that sounds as good as they did, it becomes clear that you need to follow whatever it is you’ve harnessed.
For instance, Graham Nash parted ways with his band The Hollies when he decided to join Crosby, Stills and Nash, who were a band that were already reeling out the hits. During an interview with Far Out, Nash said he’s starting to appreciate just how good some of the songs were that he made with his first band, but that there was no denying he had to follow whatever that unique sound that he had with Crosby and Stills was.
David Crosby was surprised by Graham Nash’s choice, as he said in an interview that in the grand scheme of things, Nash had more hits with The Hollies than he did with Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young. That being said, his former band are the most celebrated and revered in the world of music because while they might have had fewer hits, the quality of their music was of a much higher standard.
“We had already had some success,” said Crosby. “You know, The Hollies had had more hits than we’ve ever had, already, for [Graham] Nash.”
Graham Nash performing, 1980. (Credits: Far Out / Acroterion)
And of course, Nash wasn’t the only band member who was in a successful band prior to this one, as Stephen Stills was making a name for himself as a pivotal member of Buffalo Springfield, while David Crosby himself had already climbed to the top of the charts with The Byrds, with him noting, “Buffalo Springfield, The Byrds have had a good running… So it wasn’t the launch point for us, you know, really. It was the launch point for CSN.”
One of the most important members of The Byrds was Roger McGuinn, who was a visionary artist who could see the potential in songs even when nobody else could, and arguably, one of the band’s biggest hits was their cover of Bob Dylan’s ‘Mr Tambourine Man’, but this would have never come to be had it not been for McGuinn’s vision. He took the folk classic and altered the time signature, making it so that people could easily dance to it.
Tension erupted towards the back end of CSNY. While there seems to be some kind of mutual respect between the majority of members in the modern age, things have gotten ugly in the past, with backhanded compliments, straight-up insults and persistent resentment bleeding through in songs released by members and the interviews they did.
However, while these feuds are somewhat undeniable, it may be the case that they led to misconceptions about who hated whom. The prime example of this was that it seemed David Crosby was convinced that his former Byrds bandmate, Roger McGuinn, had fallen out with him.
“I still have friends, but all of the guys I made music with won’t even talk to me,” said Crosby. “One of them hating my guts could be an accident. But [Roger] McGuinn, [Graham] Nash, Neil [Young] and Stephen [Stills] all really dislike me, strongly. I don’t know quite how to undo it.”
The comment was so scathing that Roger McGuinn had to take to social media to denounce it, writing, “Hey David Crosby, you’re saying I won’t talk to you and hate you. That’s just not true!” When your musical career has been flooded with arguments, maybe there is a tendency to imagine feuds that aren’t there.
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