A TIME TO DIE…
Crosby’s still, gnashed, and, er… old… Few could have predicted Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young to be one of the last great 60s bands with an intact lineup, and the biggest reason for the WTF-ness has removed himself from the equation. Grand ole git of folk rock David Crosby first made his mark on music as part of The Byrds, playing guitar and contributing sublime harmonies to covers of Dylan (“Mr. Tambourine Man”) and the Bible (“Turn! Turn! Turn!”) on top of pioneering psychedelia (“Eight Miles High”). He dated Joni Mitchell at the tailend of his Byrds years, and was quintessential Crosby even then, ending his time with the band in a huff amidst feuds with the other members.
Crosby became a countercultural icon from there, growing his trademark bushy whiskers and no stranger to outspoken quips. This image provided a blueprint for Dennis Hopper’s biker hippie in Easy Rider. He kicked up a friendship with Stephen Stills, himself recently bandless due to the demise of Buffalo Springfield. Graham Nash, growing weary of his time with the Hollies, became acquainted with the other two, and while the three were working on a song, they realised there was something special to their harmonies and a supergroup was born. Crosby, Stills & Nash’s titular debut album spawned early hits for the group with “Suite: Judy Blue Eyes” and “Marrakesh Express”, while Crosby-penned tracks included “Guinnevere”. The trio expanded to a quartet with the on-and-off presence of Neil Young, and their performance at Woodstock elevated them to the spotlight.
CSNY reveled in the success Woodstock gave them with second album Déjà Vu, for which Crosby contributed the title track and hippie ode “Almost Cut My Hair”. The supernova of success imploded quickly, with the clashes of headstrong personalities dissolving the band for a spell. Though CSNY reunited in various permutations over the coming decades, Crosby’s continued spats with both Nash and Young in the mid-2010s kiboshed any final reunions.
Crosby lived and nearly died of an archetypal rock-and-roll lifestyle, being mired in decades of drug abuse intertwined with weapons that led to multiple arrests. It wasn’t until he was imprisoned for one of these incidents that he was jolted into sobering up. The health damage was done, and his knackered liver was replaced in 1994. He also had a longtime affinity for sailing, and purchased a schooner named Mayan that influenced multiple songs. In the Internet age he memorably took his grumpiness to Twitter. My personal favourite example is when Ted Nugent moaned on Twitter that his omission from the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame was due to his MAGA politics. Two-time RnRHoF inductee Crosby retorted that no, it’s just because your music is shit.
He was 81 and weirdly his death was reported on a lowkey clickbait site an hour before any reputed sources ran with it. Paradoxically, his death feels both overdue and sudden – overdue given the multitude of health issues that would’ve killed most decades ago, but sudden given he had been drumming up his imminent demise for so long that he was veering into borderline Superstar territory. Barney Gumble’s hero was picked by 16 teams, including Going Green, Touch of Grey, various music themes, and joker points for countercultural outfit Peace, Drugs, and Death.
David Crosby
14 August 1941 – 18 January 2023, aged 81
16 TEAMS (💀💀💀💀💀💀 6 POINTS, 🃏 (x1) 12 POINTS)