(Credits: Far Out / Atlantic Records)
Fri 19 December 2025 19:00, UK
As a die-hard Crosby, Stills & Nash fan, it’s sometimes hard for me to accept the reality of the band, because when I first heard their self-titled debut album, I felt overcome with a sort of upbeat spiritualism.
Guided by the coalesced brilliance of these three harmonic voices, the record transported me to sunnier climates, the romanticised times of 1960s liberalism and its warm sense of companionship.
When you listen to this record, you can’t help view these three transatlantic brothers as anything other than a merry band of musical mates, you can hear the community in every song that you wholeheartedly end up believing in the myth of their friendship, and, as much as it pains me to say it, that’s what it largely was: a myth.
The ego-fuelled approach to music was one thing, but then there was the drug addiction and infidelity, which amplified every ounce of toxicity that hid beneath the cracks of these beautiful harmonies; the latter was probably the most pertinent given the fact that it involved two members of the band itself.
Shortly after the release of their debut album, Stephen Stills had a passionate albeit dramatic relationship with American musician Rita Coolidge, and during the entangled romance, she hit it off with Graham Nash, and soon after left Stills for the American, which understandably caused a deep rift between the pair which ultimately led to the bands break-up in 1972 and a rumoured suicide attempt from the former partner, Stills, who was left unconsolable by the event.
While Neil Young was part of the band that broke up during this point, his rather cantankerous nature allowed him to step away from the dynamic with no real sentiment, whereas original member David Crosby was left to stew in the sadness of the group’s break-up.
Being the songwriter he is, he decided to process it through his music, and on his 1971 album If Only I Could Remember My Name, he used the track ‘Cowboy Movie’ to tell a very specific story of Eli and Duke, who battle for Raven’s affections. When Eli eventually spirals into madness, for some reason, Raven bites Albert’s thumb, which Nash later clarified was in reference to one specific sage between the pair.
He explained, “One day I found out from Rita that she also wanted to be with me. And I said, ‘We have a problem here, because you’re Stephen’s girlfriend right now, and there’s no way we can be together, with a good heart, unless we face Stephen and tell him ourselves’. So we went to Stephen and told him that we wanted to see each other. Stephen wasn’t very happy. Actually, he tried to spit on me. That’s basically what ‘Cowboy Movie’ was about.”
Coolidge eventually freed herself of the intrabrand squabbling and married Kris Kristoffersen in 1973; as for Stills and Nash, they too reconciled their differences and the original trio triumphantly returned to the studio on their 1977 album CSN, where they learned to bring the joy back to their music despite the drama.
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