Five musicians David Crosby hated with a real passion: “Grotesque, negative ego trip”
In bleak times, the world needs heroes such as David Crosby. Despite his many flaws, you’d be hard-pressed to find any culturally significant figure who doesn’t have serious pitfalls; this internal dichotomy produces both triumph and the obstacles that make their victories resound even more.
A folk-rock pioneer famed for his work in The Byrds, CSN, and CSNY, there can be no doubt regarding Crosby’s talent as a songwriter, guitarist and vocalist. From the early moments of The Byrds to their psychedelic classic Fifth Dimension and on to the defining opus of the countercultural era, CSNY’s Déjà Vu, he resoundingly showed his genius on many occasions. Furthermore, his unwavering creativity would later be heard with the jazz-rock outfit CPR and his solo work.
Yet, Crosby’s character afforded his many consequential musical efforts a different dimension. A divisive figure unafraid to make his opinions known, he would be fired from The Byrds for voicing those thoughts and later have a strained relationship with his CSNY bandmates, particularly Neil Young. Crosby burned that particular bridge after Crosby felt compelled to offensively criticise the Canadian’s wife, actor Daryl Hannah.
Giving a taste of Crosby’s fire and his comical way with words, after things had reached boiling point with Young in 2021, he maintained: “Neil has got a genuine beef. I did say something bad about his girlfriend [Daryl Hannah]. I said I thought she was a predator. OK, he can be mad at me. That’s all right.”
But while it would be easy to add those names to the list, it’s hard to imagine Crosby ever truly hating those people. They were, whether he always liked it or not, some of the most important musicians he ever worked with, and there’s a good chance he recognised that.
If it wasn’t already clear, the late Californian was unafraid of making his opinions known. From interviews to Twitter – the latter encompassing taking down musical peers and judging fans’ joint rolling skills – he was a real one until the end. Even those he irked will certainly miss his impish character to some degree. Prone to providing challenging insight and pure comedy, bleak times such as the present are made that bit worse without figures as complex and perenially fascinating as he was.
Find five musicians David Crosby hated below.
Five musicians David Crosby hated:
The Doors
Jim Morrison and The Doors had their fair share of detractors, many of whom were also key driving forces of the countercultural sound, including Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix and Grace Slick. Crosby was also a part of that set.
When asked to discuss The Doors on Twitter in 2019, the moustachioed weed-smoker was bold in his argument and added to his original assertion in a 1998 interview that frontman Morrison was “obnoxious” and that “I didn’t like him.” This time, though, the Croz attacked the entire group. He said they “Basically sucked …guitar and drums pretty ok …keyboard was awful ..his bass with left hand was abysmal, horrible …square wheel bad.”
After two decades, the Doors’ frontman was due for another volley. “Morrison was no effing good as a singer or poet,” Crosby said, believing him nothing but a “poser.”
In 1998, his band CPR released ‘Morrison’, the track based on The Door’s vocalist, who died aged 27 in 1971. It paints a sympathetic image of the ‘Lizard King’ and only adds to the complexity of Crosby’s character. “He was lost and I don’t think / He wanted it that way,” Crosby sings, indicating compassion for the musician he deemed “mad and lonely”.
Of course, Crosby’s points about The Doors in 2019 attracted fury from their fans. In his classic style, when he was told he was wrong in his claims, he doubled down: “I’m not wrong …they sucked all the time.”
The Rolling Stones
Another band with legions of critics are The Rolling Stones, one of the most successful outfits of all time and a vital part of the story of the 1960s. While Crosby’s views on Mick Jagger and Keith Richards’ group somewhat softened as time wore on, back in the day, the American absolutely hated the Dartford outfit.
A proponent of peace and love right until the very end – despite his numerous critiques of others – it seems that the Laurel Canyon dweller was at spiritual odds with the British rabble of hellraisers and inferred that they were partially at fault for the dream dying. It was the horrific tragedy of 1969’s Altamont Free Concert, where The Rolling Stones hired the Hells Angels as security, leading to fatalities, that was Crosby’s primary source of contempt. Furthermore, the doomed festival is the moment many have pinpointed as the start of the hippie dream fading to black.
Crosby asserted: “I think the major mistake was taking what was essentially a party and turning it into an ego game and a star trip of The Rolling Stones, who… qualify in my book as snobs. I think they’re on a grotesque, negative ego trip, essentially, especially the two leaders.”
He would later comment that while there was range to The Rolling Stones’ music, The Beatles were much better, including at vocal harmonies, which Jagger, Richards and the band couldn’t do “for squat”.
Punk music
As a lifelong hippie, it makes much sense that David Crosby hated the entire punk genre despite its profoundly countercultural essence and the old saying that hippies are, in fact, punks. Alas, no amount of images showing Johnny Rotten, Joe Strummer and other notable genre names with long hair would change his mind.
Asked for his thoughts on the genre on Twitter in 2017, he simply said “no”. Then, when another fan listed an array of truly great punk acts, including The Clash, The Stooges, Buzzcocks, Ramones and Descendants, Crosby wasn’t having it. He disregarded punk as “Pretty much all dumb stuff,” with “no musical value at all and mostly childish lyrics.”
Following this, one bold user attempted to outline how the childish lyrics were the point of The Ramones, but Crosby chose to stay on his hill. “Yes, but dumb”, he corresponded. Elsewhere, even the lyrical power of the “punk poet laureate” Patti Smith wasn’t enough for Crosby to change his mind. “Not my thing”, he said after being asked for his opinion on her.
Mike Love
Some of the members of this list feel like irregular victims. The Rolling Stones and The Doors might well be two of the most beloved figures of the 1960s. But one man’s inclusion seems to chime with public opinion. Mike Love has been a controversial figure for a long time.
Recently, he took The Beach Boys’ name on the road, much to the chagrin of their mastermind, true leader, his cousin and nemesis, Brian Wilson. Notably, in 2020, he was criticised for dragging the group’s reputation through the dirt when he played a fundraiser for Donald Trump’s re-election campaign.
As Crosby was a left-wing legend, in 2020, he was asked about Love using the band’s name without original members Wilson and 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”.
Kanye West
Kanye West is another detestable figure, recently seeing his cultural value plummet due to his anti-semitism and seemingly sympathetic view towards Hitler, in which he told rightwing pundit Alex Jones, “I see good things about Hitler.” He also wore the “White Lives Matter” t-shirt in Paris.
While West’s politics and personality are the source of much rightful anger, Crosby was already a naysayer, taking issues with his lack of ability years before public opinion swayed.
“Music ?.. He’s an idiot and a poser….has no Talent at all,” Crosby said on Twitter in 2015. The following year, he remained unmoved, asserting on Andy Cohen’s chat show Watch What Happens Live: “He can neither sing, nor write, nor play.”
Delivering his knock-out blow, Crosby added: “Somebody needs to drive him over to Stevie Wonder’s house right now so he understands what a real one is. Secondly, they should send him all of Ray Charles’s catalogue so he can learn how to sing.”
