Tag: Neil Young

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

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.





Neil Young, Joe Rogan, and the Spotify Issue

For those not familiar with Neil Young, his work, and his politics, it may look like an old man inserting himself into a political feud with a big media star and a big media company just to make himself look good. Got news for you..

For those not familiar with Neil Young, his work, and his politics, it may look like an old man inserting himself into a political feud with a big media star and a big media company just to make himself look good. Got news for you…Neil has been commenting on social and political issues his whole career. Heck, just a quick look at his song catalog shows multiple times he has “gone political” in his lyrics.  His spat with Spotify and Joe Rogan has made the news, and both sides in America’s current ideological divide are fighting over what it all means.

“Southern Man,” “Ohio,” “Rockin’ In The Free World,” “American Dream,” and many others, all poked at authority, the dominant social order, wars, racism, and other issues in American society. Neil has been doing this literally since the 1960s and the Vietnam War.  While I do not really care about Joe Rogan one way or another (his viewpoints on the pandemic, from what I glean from various sources, border on the idiotic, if not malevelant), I also do not always agree with Neil Young’s political stances.  That is part of the joy and advantage of being an American, in my view. You can disagree with someone and still like them.  I have many friends who are either more conservative than I , or more liberal than I.  Yet, while we may disagree, we are still buddies.

Neil Young Rocks!

I take that attitude into my music and media consumption as well.  I love the music of Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, John “Cougar” Mellencamp, Neil Young, and many others whose political songs and other commentary on the world I do not always agree with. The same is true on the other side of the ideological coin. I love Van Morrison, Eric Clapton, and I like a good deal of the music of Ted Nugent and Kid Rock (despite the fact that is a really stupid stage name!), again, among others.  I don’t always agree with them either.  The point is, I am tolerant of varying viewpoints, as long as they do not stray into “evil” territory, like out-and-out racism, or violence.

Part of this, I admit, is about selfishness. I do not want to deny myself the company of friends (and relatives) who think differently than me, nor do I want to deny myself the music I have enjoyed my entire life. But it is also more than that.  My willingness to see both sides and tolerate a certain degree of ideological differences is a choice as an American who still believes in America. 

To me, America is the promised land of freedom.  If we take the spirit of the First Amendment to heart, (as we all should), that means that we recognize that we all have true freedom of speech, and we should all respect that (again, to a point in my opinion-racism and violence excepted). Yes, that means that Joe Rogan DOES have the right to spread disinformation and lies. And yes, Neil Young DOES have the right to call out Spotify and remove his music from that service.  And I have a choice of what to do also, as does every other person. If someone wants to be stupid (see, I am expressing my right to have an opinion) and not believe in what true science and medical experts say, then that is their right as Americans.  Take the horse dewormer and see if it cures your COVID infection, while I choose to get vaccinated and survive when I do catch it (I did get it, and I am clearly still alive!)

Listen to Neil Young music, or listen to the Joe Rogan podcast.  That is your choice. Sign up for Spotify or cancel your subscription. That is your choice. I shake my head at the wonder of how otherwise intelligent people make stupid decisions (yes, I have made bonehead decisions in life also…that is part of life), but in all this debate and haranguing about this small battle in the war of words we now have in our nation, we need to keep in mind that we are all in the same boat, and that we are all Americans who have been raised to believe in the personal freedoms we are all born with and guaranteed in the Constitution and in the Bill of Rights and other Amendments.  Our country is losing sight of that basic truth. We DO all have the freedom and liberty to make choices, but we must also recognize that the other person has the right to make choices and, yes, the right to be wrong.  

Political and financial boycotts, which is what “cancel culture” is really about, have been with us forever. The idea of taking your money and walking away from a service (we see you Spotify), or from a performer (I’m guessing a lot of people on one side of the debate are now avoiding Neil’s music), that is a very American idea.  And that is ok.  I choose to side with Neil, because I agree with him on this issue, (plus I am a long-time fan).  In full disclosure, I have never used Spotify, as I use a competing streaming service, so I am not actually changing anything I don’t already do.  But this is a fascinating example of how we as a country are tearing ourselves apart instead of accepting that some people have differences. Cancel Spotify? Go ahead, it is your right. Cancel Neil Young? Go ahead, it is your right. But please people, do not cancel your ability to talk and interact with other people with respect. We all have the freedom and liberty to our own opinions. Americans have always had this right (though many Americans had to fight to actually make use of their Constitutional rights in our history), and we need to remember that the person we debate also has those rights. Remember that!