David Crosby’s funniest moments on social media
The late David Crosby enjoyed a storied career, rarely failing to entertain his legions of fans over decades at the top. Musically, his vocal harmonies and guitar-playing skills were of mythical proportions, with him gaining eminence quickly with The Byrds during the mid-1960s. Crosby appeared on the band’s first five albums – including Fifth Dimension – and then returned to produce the original line-up reunion album in 1973.
After leaving The Byrds under a cloud in 1967, he formed Crosby, Stills and Nash the following year. Together, the trio would comprise one of the most formidable line-ups of the era, with their musical abilities naturally complimenting each other. Their quality was then raised to a different level entirely when Neil Young entered the fold in 1969. The quartet’s debut album, Déjà Vu, remains the quintessential countercultural musical opus.
Although Crosby continued to make music throughout his life to varying success, his undoubted artistic ability was one of the most authentic yet divisive in rock music. Not only did he gain infamy for alienating those closest to him, including Neil Young, but Crosby’s opinionated nature also kept fans fascinated until the end.
Over the years, Crosby provided hot takes in interviews, but it was Twitter that allowed his character to shine unimpeded. For years, he used the platform to discuss the impending environmental disaster and recently vent his anger about the under-fire Republican, George Santos. From rating joints to tearing into fellow musicians, Crosby’s Twitter antics never failed to surprise his fans. Thanks to his comedic flourishes on the site and his iconic music, he will be remembered favourably.
David Crosby’s funniest Twitter moments:
Joint Judging
Since the days when Haight-Ashbury was the global centre of cool, David Crosby liked a smoke. Even when he wasn’t getting lean, Crosby took to Twitter to judge other users’ efforts at skinning up. He could be full of praise, telling one user: “Creditable joint …..nice”.
However, he could also be stinging at other points. The late musician’s most hilarious judgement of a fan’s joint came in August 2020, when he tore into their witch’s finger, saying: “You win…there is a special prize for the single worst joint of the entire decade and you got it…congratulations”.
“Who is Malkmus?”
In 2018, Pavement frontman Stephen Malkmus and David Crosby performed on Live from Here, an American radio show. Both played their own solo sets, and to close the evening, they then took part in a group rendition of ‘What Are Their Names’ from Crosby’s 1971 solo debut, If I Could Only Remember My Name.
However, when Crosby was asked by excited fans what it was like to play with one of the heroes of alternative rock, Malkmus, Crosby shocked everyone when he replied: “Um …who is Malkmus?” After receiving clarification, he told another Twitter user, “Still no clue who you are talking about”.
Then, one user responded to the thread: “David Crosby, you appeared onstage recently with Stephen Malkmus of the band Pavement. Do you like Pavement’s music?” Fed up with being told what he didn’t do, the CSNY man said: “You are sadly mistaken ….never even heard of them and did NOT play the concert you seem to think I did”.
However, things were swiftly cleared up when a picture of the two men standing next to each other was sent to Crosby. He responded: “Maybe…yes”. In a brilliant tribute to Crosby when he died, Pavement posted screenshots of the Twitter debacle, writing next to a heart emoji: “RIP”.
Mike Love is “a shithead”
Mike Love has been a controversial figure since The Beach Boys broke through in the early ’60s. With him now operating under the band’s name and being the antithesis to the group’s creative mastermind, Brian Wilson, Love has been the object of disdain for decades. Notably, he was widely criticised for dragging The Beach Boys’ name through the mud when he played at a fundraiser for Donald Trump’s re-election campaign in 2020.
Crosby wasn’t a fan of Love, and in 2020, the musician was asked about Love using The Beach Boys’ name without original members Brian Wilson or Al Jardine. He replied: “Those aren’t the Beach Boys, and I doubt they voted Mike Love is, in the opinion of almost every musician I know, a shithead, most assuredly has no talent at all, and, as you can probably tell… I just don’t like him”.
Ted Nugent is a talentless “twit”
Another controversial musician that met the wrath of David Crosby was Ted Nugent. In 2017, the CSN founder responded on Twitter to claims by Nugent that he was “overwhelmed with hate” from smoking too much dope. At the time, Crosby wrote with insouciance: “Nugent is a brainless twit… I can outthink him without even trying hard”.
Later, in 2018, Crosby tore into him again after Nugent described it as “vulgar, dishonest and obscene” that he’s not in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Totally denigrating the former Amboy Dukes man’s talent, he said: “That is really funny stuff… he’s not good enough, and he never will be… a hack player and no singer at all… could not write a decent song if his life depended on it”.
I hate all disco
Given that David Crosby experienced a hedonistic ’70s, some fans thought that he would have been a fan of disco, the most carefree genre the decade produced. However, as was customary for the contrarian, Crosby surprised many when he trashed the genre on Twitter.
Asked if he liked any disco songs, he responded: “No, not ever..I like rap better than I like disco, and I like about one per cent of rap”. However, Crosby maintained there were some anomalies in rap: “No. There are the exceptions, Lin Manuel, Macklemore, but I like melodies. Most rap is to me bad percussive poetry over other’s music.”
Your nail colour sucks
A contender for the most side-splitting moment David Crosby produced on Twitter came in 2020.
When a fan tweeted him a picture of a thin rollie, with the friendly message “David Crosby just wanted to say high” next to a heart. Whilst the hippie hero commended her for her rolling skills, he took serious issue with her nail colour.
Hippie irony is not dead
While this wasn’t an original Tweet from David Crosby, it deserves a place on the list. The post demonstrated the sneering wit of the counterculture, of which he was a prominent proponent, had not diminished with age. Ever-political, right until the end of his life, on January 7th this year, Crosby retweeted a post from the account #TuckFrump.
The post was classic David Crosby and read: “MAGA guy who calls Democrats pedophiles turns out to be a pedophile”. It’s not hard to imagine him enjoying this one.
Settling in for the night
Where else to close than with David Crosby showing fans how he relaxes in the evenings? Posting a picture of him smiling with a huge joint, he wrote: “And in the evening at our house…”
He’ll be sorely missed.
