Judas Priest, the band David Crosby said were complete “garbage”
If there’s one thing you can always count on from David Crosby aside from his incredible songwriting abilities, it’s for him to have a strong opinion about something and completely lose his mind about it.
There have been many times where he’s spoken out about other artists he doesn’t particularly like, spanning across a range of different genres. This has, at times, reached a point where the list of things he does appreciate is likely shorter than the list of things he’s got some sort of issue with, and that also hasn’t ever stopped him being outwardly critical of his own former bandmates – that is to say, he wasn’t afraid to sling muck at Messrs. Stills, Nash and Young.
Getting someone as curmudgeonly as Crosby to see the positives in a situation may well have been an insurmountable task at times, and that extends to some of the most significant moments within his own career. While being asked to play at a historic musical event such as the US version of Live Aid would be the sort of thing that most artists would relish, there were certain aspects of the day’s programme that sent Croz into one of his trademark grumps.
Rather than keep his misery to himself, he was outwardly peeved with the situation he found himself in, airing his complaints for the world to see, or at least for those in close proximity to him. Getting the opportunity to reunite with Stephen Stills and Graham Nash for a once in a lifetime performance wasn’t the issue though, and nor was his problem anything to do with the charitable nature of the concert to raise money and awareness for famine in Africa.
No, his main issue was the inconsideration that was put into the scheduling of the day, and the fact that he and his bandmates had to share a bill with some less-than-desirable acts, as far as he was concerned. Legendary journalist Mick Wall was fortunate (or unfortunate) enough to have been backstage to witness Crosby in all his rage, and wrote about the outbursts that the folk rock legend had in his account of the event.
“A bedraggled David Crosby thundered around,” Wall wrote, “railing against the drugs and weapons offenses for which he’d just been sentenced to nine months in jail, telling me how ‘fucking disgusted’ he was that the first Crosby, Stills & Nash performance for 10 years had been followed by ‘some heavy metal garbage!’” The band in question that Crosby took umbrage with? “Specifically, Judas Priest,” Wall confirms.
While Judas Priest would almost certainly not have felt the same way about sharing a stage with Crosby, Stills & Nash, you have to wonder just how necessary it was for Crosby to feel so incensed about performing before a heavy metal act. Yes, he may well have considered his own output to have been more significant than theirs, and therefore deserving of a higher spot on the bill given the nature of it being a reunion concert for them, but at the same time, he could have just been a bit more chilled about the whole thing.
