(Credits: Far Out / Eddie Janssens / wikiportret.nl)
Sun 9 November 2025 20:00, UK
In all honesty, no one really knows how Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young were ever considered a compatible band. They spent more time fighting than they did actually recording anything.
Without wanting to blindly leap to the defence of Neil Young, who is perhaps one of the guiltiest parties on this front out of the whole four, it was quite rich that when he joined – and then unceremoniously left – the band, the rest of them each ganged up and blasted him for his supposedly staggering arrogance. You might suggest that while not entirely inaccurate, the call was largely coming from inside the house. None of the CSN lot could exactly get on their high horses for being any better.
As such, although David Crosby has every claim to label any of his former bandmates in the same way, there was one man in particular in the firing line who he considered far more inflammatory and aggravating than all the rest. The victim of his wrath was not Graham Nash or even Young, but Stephen Stills, whose “giant ego”, Crosby argued, obscured the vision of everyone else in the band.
Although he was quick to counter that their once fractious relationship did slowly improve over the years, only once age and distance had mellowed them, Crosby clearly had no qualms about letting loose on the flaws of her former bandmate, even when they were said with respect at their heart.
“I used to give Stephen the stink eye every time he made a mistake or sang out of tune,” he regretfully admitted. “I was constantly at odds with him. Then I realised I care about the guy. I know he’s not perfect and I know he’s got a giant ego. I know all his good points and bad points. But I love him.”
While it was nice to see a romance blossom despite their differences – something not often witnessed within the world of rock and roll – it didn’t escape the fact that, for a time, despite sharing the same quarters as part of the supergroup of the century, they really couldn’t stand each other’s guts. By the time the decades had wound on to reach the point of 2014, however, things were very different. The quartet may realistically have never shared the same stage again, but they did at least have a little appreciation for each other, even if it was feigned to be begrudging.
“I love the music he’s written. I get to sing—’And there’s a rose in a fisted glove, and the eagle flies with the dove, and if you can’t be with the one you love, love the one you’re with’—every night, and you know what? I’m grateful,” Crosby added, putting the last feud to bed and making the guns fall silent. It simply proves that no matter what pretences bands can put up, whether they pretend to despise each other or worse, there will always be an unbreakable bond deep down.
Of course, we can all probably think of a fair few bands whose members won’t just put their egos to one side and give the fans what they really want: a reunion. Tragically, it’s all too late for the CSNY gang now, but their story of partial reconciliation evidences the fact that anything is possible. If artists could put arrogance and fighting out of their minds, they might just be able to recognise true musical greatness – it was a virtue that Crosby did eventually get there in the end.
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