On The Passing of David Crosby, and the Continuing Death of Classic Rock

When I heard that David Crosby had passed away at the age of 81, it wasn’t a terrible surprise given his age and the fact that his health hasn’t been an issue for a while but, it made me think about the ongoing loss of many long time and important entertainers and musicians.

 

Just a few months ago we lost Christine McVie of Fleetwood Mac. We also recently learned about the death of Arthur Duncan who is as far away from being a rock star as you can get, but for someone who’s parents and grandparents made them watch The Lawrence Welk Show as a youth that one hit hard too.  Also the recent passing of Jeff Beck, one of the Guitar Gods of the 1960s and ’70s was kind of out of left field,  as was the death of Christine McVie. 

 

On the deaths of McVie, Crosby, and Beck, as anyone who’s read this blog in the past knows, I’m a big fan of classic rock and they are all a big part of that genre. I never saw Jeff Beck live, which is now unfortunate of course,  but I did have the opportunity to see Fleetwood Mac with Christine McVie live, and I also saw David Crosby play twice once with Crosby Stills and Nash (CSN) and another time with Crosby Stills Nash & Young (CSNY).

 

When I saw Fleetwood Mac perform in the 1990s it was in Seattle and this is during one of their periodic tiffs the band had with Lindsey Buckingham, who was not part of that touring band unfortunately, but I did get to see Christine McVie, Stevie Nicks, Mick Fleetwood, and John McVie, and a couple of fill-in guitarists who are actually pretty good, but again I’m glad I had the opportunity to see Fleetwood Mac they were an amazing live band.

 

The two times I saw David Crosby play live one time he was with Crosby, Stills, and Nash,  and this would have been sometime in the late 80s or early 90s in the Seattle area. As I recall it was a good show and I enjoyed it but then when I saw them playing a few years later with Neil Young, as CSNY. In that show, they had a lot more energy in my mind, clearly related to the fact that Neil Young was with them. I’m a huge Neil Young fan, so I may be a little bit biased there.

 

 

But, a major take away from that is that David Crosby did have an amazing voice. As I’ve looked through several articles online talking about his life and career and the fact that he produced a lot of new music in the last few years ( I need to take a look at those more recent albums),  I’m getting reminded of his influence in the history of classic rock not just with Crosby Stills Nash & Young but also with the Byrds, another great band that had a very important role in the 1960s.

 

 

All of this reminiscing about David Crosby caused my mind to spark to the Jefferson Airplane. I had actually completely forgotten that Crosby helped record and write songs with and for the Airplane, and that again connects him as a pretty important person in 1960s music, especially the San Francisco scene.  

 

Though I mentioned Christine McVie, Jeff Beck and yes, Arthur Duncan, in this post, this is mostly about David Crosby and the big loss we have with his passing.

The recent deaths in classic rock reminds me also of a book I read a year or two ago called Twilight of the Gods, by Steven Hyden. This book affected my perception of mortality and the fragility of our connections with Classic Rock and the musicians who create the music that we love.  As we move forward in time, we are starting to experience more and more casualties, usually now through natural means, among our classic rock icons.  I fear that 2023 will make us mourn our musicians even more.

Check out the videos below of David Crosby performing with the Byrds, CSN, and his own Lighthouse Project.