Stephen Stills: The Unsung Hero of CSNY
(Credit: Alamy)
While Crosby, Stills, and Nash represent a greater sum of their individual parts and a band whose sonic synergy represents everything I love about music, I would be lying if I said my taste didn’t push me towards the work of one of their members. When I listen to their 1969 self-titled debut album, two tracks stand out as my immediate favorites. The cool breeze opening of ‘Suite: Judy Blue Eyes’ and the delicacy of ‘Helplessly Hoping’. The former song is a seven-minute showcase of all the best parts of this group. Their melody writing, their shared guitar playing, and of course, the three-part harmonies which flutter throughout, before outright soaring on the track’s reprise.
Then there is ‘Helplessly Hoping’, which is one of the most achingly beautiful tracks ever written. It’s the very bare bones of the band and arguably needs none of the instrumentation behind, for the three-part harmonies and the vocal melody combined are enough to transfix the listener. While the performance of both songs hinges on the chemistry that exists within the band, compounding my love for them, I am also acutely aware of how they were typically Stephen Stills in their format and thus triumphantly confirm that of all three transatlantic musicians that make up this band, he is perhaps my favorite.
Because when David Crosby brought something darker, and Graham Nash brought the melody-driven folk-rock, it was up to Stills to act as the band’s anchor, which, through his songwriting, he did. He deeply understood the nuance of this band and how together their shared voice possessed something no other act in the industry did at that time, and so wrote songs to facilitate that. After all, it was his song ‘You Don’t Have to Cry’ that sparked the flame of this new iconic band. Nash remembered that when Stills laid that in front of him and Crosby, asking them to back up the vocals with harmonies of their own, that everything clicked into gear.
“It was absolutely completely a unique sound,” he recalled of the moment they first played the song together. “It was one voice made up of three individual strains of voice. There was no doubt we knew what we had. We were in love with each other, we were in love with the music. We were in love with each other’s songs. We couldn’t wait to get out there, get out of our way, we’re coming forward. We were unstoppable then.”
Crosby was notoriously the hardest to please in the group, and while his cantankerous nature brought a necessary balance to the sound, it regularly rubbed up against Stills. But even still, he is willing to concede the undeniable genius of the man whose songs formed the bedrock of the band’s success. He concluded, “I love his music. I think the guy wrote some of the best songs that have ever come out of the United States. But he and I disagree about just about everything, about how to live our lives and what matters and where to go left and where to go right. Whatever we do agree about, we try to concentrate on. Because I love his music, man.”
But here's where it gets controversial... While Stills is undoubtedly a key member of CSNY, some might argue that his contributions are often overlooked in favor of the more prominent Crosby and Nash. And this is the part most people miss... Stephen Stills' impact on the band's sound and success cannot be overstated. His songwriting, guitar playing, and vocal harmonies were instrumental in shaping the unique sound that defined CSNY. So, while the spotlight may often shine on Crosby and Nash, it's important to recognize the invaluable role that Stephen Stills played in creating the magic that is CSNY.
