Don't expect to see David Crosby reunited with his Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young bandmates any time soon.
Crosby hasn’t exactly been on speaking terms with either Neil Young or Graham Nash for a number of years and comments he made in an interview published this week with The Guardian will likely keep it that way.
Young, he said, was “probably the most self-centered, self-obsessed, selfish person I know. He only thinks about Neil, period. That’s the only person he’ll consider. Ever!”
When asked if the rock icon would agree, Crosby said: “Probably. He knows himself pretty well.”
Crosby said any impression fans may have of Nash caring for him when he was down on his luck and the two toured as a duo was just for show.
“He gave the impression of looking after me, but apparently that was all just trying to keep the money coming,” Crosby said. “But there you go.”
Crosby said he hasn’t spoken to Nash in a couple of years now.
“I’m not going to talk to him. I don’t want to talk to him. I’m not happy with him at all,” Crosby said. “To me, that’s all ancient history, man.”
The feeling is mutual. In an interview with FaceCulture in 2016, Nash said he was “not interested” in talking to Crosby. And when asked what he would do if Crosby reached out to him, Nash said: “He can try all he wants, it’s a little fucking late.”
Nash also said Crosby “tore the heart” out of the band and is “not a really great person.”
Crosby has had a longtime substance abuse problem that resulted in a prison stint in the 1980s and a host of legal and financial issues as well as years of health problems, including a liver transplant.
He told the Guardian that the only CSNY member he was still in touch with was Stephen Stills.
Crosby’s relations with Young soured in 2014 when he called Young’s then-girlfriend Daryl Hannah “a purely poisonous predator.” He apologized the following year, but it seems the two still aren’t on speaking terms.
“Neil has got a genuine beef,” Crosby told The Guardian. “OK, he can be mad at me. That’s all right.”
But Nash, Crosby said, “changed from the guy I thought was my best friend to being a guy that is definitely my enemy.”
The new comments probably close the door on whatever slim hopes for a reconciliation and reunion may have been left. However, Crosby has been in one of the most productive periods of his career, releasing a string of acclaimed albums since 2014.
Crosby is a two-time member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame for his work with The Byrds and Crosby, Stills & Nash.
Prior to the coronavirus shutdowns, he attempted to reach out to Byrds co-founder Roger McGuinn on social media about a reunion, only to be shot down there as well.
″[David Crosby] is not hated,” a rep for McGuinn told Rolling Stone in 2019. “But that doesn’t mean anyone wants to work with him.”
This article originally appeared on HuffPost and has been updated.
2nd article from People Magazine
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There's no love lost between David Crosby and his former bandmate Neil Young.
In a new interview with The Guardian published on Thursday, the 80-year-old singer opened up about his relationship with the Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young (CSNY) musician — calling him, "probably the most self-centered, self-obsessed, selfish person I know."
"He only thinks about Neil, period," Crosby said. "That's the only person he'll consider. Ever!"
A rep for Young did not immediately respond to PEOPLE's request for comment, but there's long been no love lost between the two.
Back in 2014, Crosby famously called Young's then-girlfriend and now-wife Daryl Hannah "a purely poisonous predator" — a comment that led Young to announce that CSNY would "never tour again, ever."
Crosby later publicly apologized for his words on The Howard Stern Show. Still, the two never repaired their relationship — something Crosby has come to accept.
"Neil has got a genuine beef," Crosby told The Guardian. "I did say something bad about his girlfriend [Daryl Hannah]. I said I thought she was a predator. Okay, he can be mad at me. That's all right."
Politics also come into play. "I'm a very liberal guy and a modern thinker in terms of politics. Neil doesn't really do politics," Crosby said. "He does Neil."
RELATED: The Most Interesting Man in Rock: How David Crosby Survived Everything — and Lived to Sing About It
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Young isn't the only artist Crosby has fallen out with. He and Graham Nash — also of CSNY — are not on speaking terms either.
"Graham just changed from the guy I thought was my best friend to being a guy that is definitely my enemy, so I don't see any future there at all," Crosby said.
While it appeared that Nash previously looked after Crosby, the songwriter told The Guardian that wasn't the case. "He gave the impression of looking after me, but apparently that was all just trying to keep the money coming," Crosby said. "But there you go."
"We haven't talked for a couple of years," Crosby said. "And I'm not going to talk to him. I don't want to talk to him. I'm not happy with him at all. To me, that's all ancient history, man."
Stephen Stills is the only band member Crosby still talks to, he told The Guardian. He even praised the Buffalo Springfield musician as the best songwriter in Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young.
"He's the best guitar player, the best singer and the best writer," Crosby said. "I really admire Stephen tremendously."
Crosby doesn't shy away from his role in some of these fallen relationships, calling himself "an a------."
As for CSNY — or Crosby, Stills & Nash (CSN), who the supergroup was before Young joined in 1969 — don't expect a reunion anytime soon. CSN last toured in 2015, while CSNY's final concert was in 2013. And despite their sublime harmonies, the relationships are still too fractured.
Asked if there's been any reconciliation, Crosby said, "No, and I don't expect there to be — the petty-assed bulls--- that goes on between us as people."
Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic David Crosby and Melissa Etheridge
RELATED: Melissa Etheridge Reveals She Felt 'Helpless' as Son Battled Addiction Before Fatal Opioid Overdose
Elsewhere in his interview with The Guardian, Crosby opened up about his son Beckett, who died of an opioid overdose in May 2020 at the age of 21.
"I miss him a lot," Crosby said. "It hurts. Believe me, it hurt."
On Beckett's descent into addiction, Crosby explained, "He was a skateboarder and he'd had a couple of crashes and he got some painkillers. They got him strung out on that, then he ran into somebody who had really strong stuff and he overdosed and died. And that's … how it normally goes."
Beckett and his sister Bailey, 24, share Crosby's DNA, but were raised by Melissa Etheridge and her then-partner Julie Cypher. In 2000, Etheridge famously revealed that Crosby was their sperm donor.
"I love them both," Crosby told The Guardian of his kids. "He and Bailey visited here often."
In February, Etheridge opened up about the loss to PEOPLE. "It's a nightmare so many families go through," she said of her late son's drug addiction. "It just eats away at good people."
Etheridge said she felt "helpless" as she watched Beckett struggle with addiction for years.
"When you have a loved one who is battling opioid addiction, it's horrific. You don't know what to do. You want to help them, but ultimately they have to help themselves," she said. "It's a journey for anyone around the loved one. You realize the only way to help them is to take care of yourself. You can't do anything for them; you can't make them be sober."