Showing posts with label Crosby Stills Nash Young. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Crosby Stills Nash Young. Show all posts

Sunday, March 22, 2026

Crosby Stills Nash Young: Top 100 Songs

Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young

Top 100 Songs

This page celebrates the 100 best works, collectively, from David Crosby, Stephen Stills, Graham, Nash, and Neil Young. Crosby, Stills, & Nash came together as a folk-rock trio in 1969. They were considered a supergroup given their pedegrees in previous groups. Crosby had been in the Byrds (1964-67, 1973, 1990), Stills in Buffalo Springfield (1966-68), and Nash in the Hollies (1962-68, 1981-83). On some of their albums, they were joined by Stills’ Buffalo Springfield bandmate Neil Young. Stills also formed the group Manassas (1971-73).

For a complete list of this act’s DMDB honors, check out the DMDB Music Maker Encyclopedia entry.

Click here to see other acts’ best-of lists.

Spotify Podcast:

Check out the podcast Remembering David Crosby, 1941-2023, based on this list. Debut: January 24, 2023, at 7pm CST. New episodes based on Dave’s Music Database lists are posted every Tuesday at 7pm CST.

Awards (CSN):

Awards (Buffalo Springfield):

Awards (Young):

Top 100 Songs

Dave’s Music Database lists are determined by song’s appearances on best-of lists, appearances on compilations and live albums by the featured act, and songs’ chart success, sales, radio airplay, streaming, and awards. This list includes songs from Crosby, Stills & Nash; Crosby, Still, Nash & Young; Buffalo Springfield (which included Stills and Young as members), and the solo work of David Crosby, Stephen Stills, Graham Nash, and Neil Young.

DMDB Top 1%:

1. For What It’s Worth (Buffalo Springfield, 1966)
2. Heart of Gold (Neil Young, 1972)
3. Suite: Judy Blue Eyes (CSN, 1969)

DMDB Top 2%:

4. Ohio (CSNY, 1970)
5. Rockin’ in the Free World (Young, 1989)
6. Teach Your Children (CSNY, 1970)
7. Cinnamon Girl (Young, 1969)
8. Love the One You’re With (Stills, 1970)
9. Our House (CSNY, 1970)

DMDB Top 5%:

10. Woodstock (CSNY, 1970)

11. Old Man (Young, 1972)
12. Harvest Moon (Young, 1992)
13. Marrakesh Express (CSN, 1969)
14. Southern Cross (CSN, 1982)
15. Southern Man (Young, 1970)
16. My My Hey Hey (Out of the Blue) (Young, 1979)
17. Helplessly Hoping (CSNY, 1969)
18. Mr. Soul (Buffalo Springfield, 1967)
19. Wooden Ships (CSN, 1969)

DMDB Top 10%:

20. The Needle and the Damage Done (Young, 1972)
21. Down by the River (Young, 1969)
22. Expecting to Fly (Buffalo Springfield, 1967)
23. Helpless (CSNY, 1970)
24. Just a Song Before I Go (CSN, 1977)
25. After the Gold Rush (Young, 1970)
26. Like a Hurricane (Young, 1977)
27. Wasted on the Way (CSN, 1982)
28. Only Love Can Break Your Heart (Young, 1970)
29. Cowgirl in the Sand (Young, 1969)
30. Hero (Crosby with Phil Collins, 1993)

31. Cortez the Killer (Young, 1975)

DMDB Top 20%:

32. Carry On (CSNY, 1970)
33. Hey Hey My My (Into the Black) (Young, 1979)
34. Long Time Gone (CSN, 1969)
35. Rock and Roll Woman (Buffalo Springfield, 1967)
36. War Games (CSN, 1983)
37. Bluebird (Buffalo Springfield, 1967)
38. Almost Cut My Hair (CSNY, 1970)
39. Philadelphia (Young, 1994)
40. American Dream (CSNY, 1988)

41. Sugar Mountain (Young, 1968)
42. Are You Ready for the Country? (Young, 1972)
43. Immigration Man (Crosby/Nash, 1972)
44. Got It Made (CSNY, 1988)
45. Broken Arrow (Buffalo Springfield, 1967)
46. Chicago (Nash, 1971)
47. Déjà Vu (CSNY, 1970)
48. Change Partners (Stills, 1971)
49. Carry Me (Crosby/Nash, 1975)
50. Guinnevere (CSN, 1969)

51. Long May You Run (Stills/Young, 1976)
52. Shadow Captain (CSN, 1977)
53. Blackbird (CSNY, 1969)
54. Fair Game (CSN, 1977)
55. You Don’t Have to Cry (CSN, 1969)
56. Dark Star (CSN, 1977)
57. Military Madness (Nash, 1971)
58. Find the Cost of Freedom (CSNY, 1970)
59. Tonight’s the Night (Young, 1973)
60. Southbound Train (Crosby & Nash, 1972)

61. No Tears Left (CSNY, 1999)
62. A Man Needs a Maid (Young, 1972)
63. War of Man (Young, 1992)
64. 4 + 20 (CSNY, 1970)
65. This Note’s for You (Young, 1988)
66. In My Life (CSNY, 1994)
67. Live It Up (CSN, 1990)
68. Powderfinger (Young, 1979)

DMDB Beyond the Top 20%:

69. Turn Back the Pages (Stills, 1975)
70. Music is Love (Crosby, 1971)

71. Drive My Car (Crosby, 1989)
72. Sit Yourself Down (Stills, 1970)
73. Four Strong Winds (Young, 1978)
74. Long Walk Home (Young, 1987)
75. Marianne (Stills, 1971)
76. Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere (Young, 1969)
77. Sit Yourself Down (Stills, 1970)
78. This Old House (CSNY, 1988)
79. When You Dance I Can Really Love (Young, 1970)
80. I Am a Child (Buffalo Springfield, 1968)

81. Southern Pacific (Young, 1981)
82. It Doesn’t Matter (Manassas, 1972)
83. Cathedral (CSN, 1977)
84. Innocent Eyes (Nash, 1986)
85. We Can Change the World (Nash, 1971)
86. War Song (Young/Nash, 1972)
87. Change Your Mind (Young, 1994)
88. Walk On (Young, 1974)
89. Isn’t It About Time (Manassas, 1973)
90. Ten Men Workin’ (Young, 1988)

91. Downtown (Young, 1995)
92. That Girl (CSNY, 1988)
93. Love is a Rose (Young, 1974)
94. Too Much Love to Hide (CSN, 1982)
95. Unknown Legend (Young, 1992)
96. Johnny’s Garden (Manassas, 1972)
97. No More (Young, 1989)
98. On the Way Home (Buffalo Springfield, 1968)
99. Dear Mr. Fantasy (Stills/Nash, 1980)
100. A Child’s Claim to Fame (Buffalo Springfield, 1967)

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First posted 1/20/2023; last updated 3/22/2026.

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Friday, December 6, 2019

Today in Music (1969): Death at the Altamont Festival

December 6, 1969

Death at the Altamont Festival

To cap off their 1969 tour, The Rolling Stones organized a free rock festival which they would headline. Also appearing were Santana; Jefferson Airplane; the Flying Burrito Brothers; and Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young. Roughly 300,000 people attended the concert at the Altamont Speedway in northern California in the San Francisco area. Anticipated by some as a “Woodstock West”, it instead has become symbolic as the end of the 1960s and the peace-oriented hippie era because of the ensuing violence at the event. The festival was filmed for the 1970 documentary Gimme Shelter (which ranks as one of the top 50 music movies of all time according to the DMDB).

Members of a local Hell’s Angel motorcycle club were tapped, at least according to some, to serve as stage security for $500 worth of beer. The Rolling Stones’ manager Sam Cutler has denied this, saying that the only agreement was that the Hell’s Angels would ensure that no one tampered with the generators. They were not asked to police the event.

Throughout the day, the crowds and the Angels became increasing intoxicated and violent. By the time the Stones took the stage as the final act, there had been numerous fights between the Angels and the crowd. Jefferson Airplane’s Marty Balin was even knocked unconscious by an Angel during the band’s set and the Stones’ Mick Jagger had punched by a fan within moments of arriving at the site. The Grateful Dead, who had been scheduled to perform, refused to play after hearing about Balin.

With audiences trying to rush the stage, more scuffles broke out. One concert-goer, Meredith Hunter, tried getting on stage and was stabbed by Hell’s Angel Alan Passaro who saw Hunter with a gun. Hunter died and Passaro was arrested and tried for murder. It was concluded, thanks to the incident being captured on film, that Passaro had acted in self-defense.

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First posted 12/6/2011; updated 12/4/2023.

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Wednesday, March 8, 2017

3/8/1968: The Fillmore East opened

Posted 3/8/2017.

image from boweryboogie.com

The Fillmore East opened its doors on March 8, 1968. The space on Second Avenue near East 6th Street in the Manhattan borough of New York City, was built in 1925 as the Commodore Theatre, a showcase for vaudeville and film, which seated 2830. BB It later became the Loews Commodore movie theater and then the Village Theatre before legendary concert promoter Bill Graham took over in 1968 and launched it as a companion to his Fillmore Auditorium and its successor, the Fillmore West in San Francisco. WK

The venue, which became known as “The Church of Rock and Roll,” hosted two-show, triple-bill concerts several nights a week. WK Graham was all about the fan experience, printing “ornate, hand-rendered posters…to announce gigs;” commissioning the Joshua Light Show to provide “lavish psychedelic visuals;” and equipping the venue with a “35,000-watt, 26 speaker sound system custom designed by Bill Hanley.” RS

The Allman Brothers Band “Whipping Post” – live at the Fillmore East

Janis Joplin, performed the first show with her band Big Brother and the Holding Company. Led Zeppelin played in early 1969 as an opening act for Iron Butterfly. The Allman Brothers Band, whose legendary At Fillmore East was recorded at the venue, performed there so often some christened them Bill Graham’s house band. Jimi Hendrix’s New Year’s Day 1970 performance was released as Band of Gypsys and Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young’s 4 Way Street album was also a Fillmore concert event. Other acts to perform there included the Band, Chuck Berry, Joe Cocker, Derek and the Dominos, Fats Domino, the Doors, the Grateful Dead (43 shows), Jefferson Airplane, Elton John, Janis Joplin, B.B. King, the Kinks, Taj Mahal, Joni Mitchell, Pink Floyd, Santana, Sly & the Family Stone, Ike & Tina Turner, the Who, and Frank Zappa with the Mothers of Invention.

“After arguably the most influential three years in the history of rock n roll,” BB hosted its last show – an event headlined by none other than the Allman Brothers Band – on June 27, 1971. Graham had tired of competing with bigger venues like Madison Square Garden and the “borderline cost-prohibitive” asking prices for acts he did book. RS While its time was short lived, the Fillmore East “left proverbial footprints large enough to rival those of Radio City and the Beacon.” BB As Rolling Stone said, “few venues in rock history can match the hallowed legacy of the Fillmore East.” RS

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Saturday, May 19, 2012

The People’s Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame: 10th Class of Inductees

image from peoplesrockhall.blogspot.com

As it says on the blog, this is “the only Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame FOR and BY the people.” It has been designed as a direct alternative to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. The former is based on fan votes while the latter is based on a selection committee who determines nominees who are then voted on by those already inducted. Ted Cogswell initiated the concept in January 2010.

The 10th class was announced May 18, 2012. 50 acts who’d released their first recording by the end of 1969 were nominated (see full list here). Voters could select a minimum of ten and up to 25. All acts who made it on more than half the ballots were inducted. Eleven new acts have been added: Alice Cooper; The Allman Brothers Band; Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young; The Faces; George Harrison; Led Zeppelin; John Lennon; Mott the Hoople; Santana; The Small Faces; and Yes. In all, 121 acts have been inducted. Check the full list of inductees here.

The Rock Hall has yet to see fit to say

to these prog-rock giants, but the People’s Hall inducted them this year.

The People’s Hall and Rock Hall share many common inductees: 86% (105 out of 121) of the People’s Hall inductees are also Rock Hall inductees. However, the differences are highlighted by the exceptions. Last fall, I compiled a list of The Top 100 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Hopefuls, an aggregate of 39 lists of who belongs in. Here’s a list of the People’s Hall inductees who haven’t been inducted in the Rock Hall and how they fared on my list: The Moody Blues (#3), Deep Purple (#5), Yes (#8), T-Rex (#10), The Zombies (#33), Jethro Tull (#41), The MC5 (#42), The Guess Who (#45), The Monkees (#51), Dick Dale (#61), and Johnny Burnette & the Rock ‘N’ Roll Trio (#75). Five more People’s Hall inductees didn’t make my list: Chubby Checker, Screamin’ Jay Hawkins, Jan & Dean, Mott the Hoople, and Paul Revere & the Raiders.

Many hard-rock fans are seeing red that

aren’t yet in the Rock Hall, but they don’t have to feel blue:
The People’s Hall has inducted them.

It should also be noted that the People’s Hall had 1969 as their cut off this year, compared to the Rock Hall’s 1987 eligibility date. That means there are plenty of Rock Hall inductees (there are 279 inductees as of the 2012 class) who aren’t eligible yet for the People’s Hall. Similarly, if one looks at the DMDB’s list of Rock Hall Hopefuls, any acts from the ‘70s and ‘80s haven’t had a shot at the People’s Hall yet.

In any event, congrats to the newest inductees and kudos to Ted Cogswell for the creation of a fan-based Hall.

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Monday, August 31, 1970

Neil Young released After the Gold Rush

After the Gold Rush

Neil Young

Released: August 31, 1970

Peak: 8 US, 7 UK, 5 CN, 13 AU, 12 DF

Sales (in millions): 2.5 US, 0.6 UK, 5.5 world (includes US and UK)

Genre: classic rock

Tracks:

Song Title (date of single release, chart peaks) Click for codes to charts.

  1. Tell Me Why
  2. After the Gold Rush (6 CL)
  3. Only Love Can Break Your Heart (9/19/70, 33 BB, 20 CB, 32 GR, 14 HR, 11 CL, 16 CN)
  4. Southern Man (3 CL, 1 DF)
  5. Till the Morning Comes
  6. Oh, Lonesome Me
  7. Don’t Let It Bring You Down (21 CL)
  8. Birds
  9. When You Dance You Can Really Love (3/13/71, 93 BB, 93 CB, 59 HR, 16 CL, 54 CN)
  10. Believe in You (49 CL)
  11. Cripple Creek Ferry

Total Running Time: 33:32

Rating:

4.541 out of 5.00 (average of 28 ratings)

Quotable:

“While Young has had a long and storied career filled with multiple near-perfect albums, this one stands above the rest as his absolute masterpiece.” – Consequence of Sound

Awards:

(Click on award to learn more).

Young’s Background

Given the already diverse discography of “Canadian-born, California-based rock troubadour Neil Young” TM at this point in his career, it was anyone’s guess what he would deliver for his third solo album. He’d already made three albums with the hugely influential group Buffalo Springfield. He then released a folk-and-country oriented solo album, and the “brain-shredding guitar powerhouse” TL Everybody Knows This is Nowhere. Those two albums already made it clear that Young viewed “albums as explorations of distinct moods.” TM

Then he joined forces with the already successful Crosby, Stills & Nash the blockbuster album, Déjà Vu. The two cuts he contributed to that album (“Helpless” and “Country Girl”) “returned him to the folk and country styles he had pursued before delving into the hard rock of Everybody Knows.” AM They also set the course for After the Gold Rush, an album in which he “laid claim to the field of sensitive singer-songwriters” RV by crafting a collection of “country-folk love songs.” AM

The Players and the Recording

After working with CSNY, Young “regrouped with his regularly backing band, Crazy Horse, which was comprised of guitarist Danny Whitten, bassist Billy Talbot, and drummer Ralph Molina. He also recruited the then-unknown 17-year-old guitarist-pianist Nils Lofgren in an effort to move away from the hard-rock sound of his previous solo released, Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere.” TB

Young “set up a basic studio in the basement of his new home in the Topanga Canyon hills of Los Angeles, which he soundproofed with lead and pine milled from the trees in his backyard. A modest collection of gear included a Scully 8-track, a small mixer, and a handful of mikes.” TB The songs were “inspired largely by the Dean Stockwell-Herb Berman screenplay that gave the album its title.” TB

How Gold Rush Was Received

The album “matched the tenor of the times in 1970.” AM It struck a chord “with the disillusion felt by many after the death of the 1960s dream.” TB It “is full to the brim with classic songs of heartbreak and mystery.” CQ Its “dark yet hopeful tone” AM “represents the morning after the mayhem, both personal and cultural – the sound of Young waking up with a post-‘60s hangover, catching his breath, and trying to sort through the wreckage.” TL

The album “presents Young at his most diverse, with brooding folk songs followed by rabid rock howls.” TM “The 11 songs embrace the truth of loss that comes after the magic, after the bum-rush of serotonin and possibilities, after you realize the holes inside haven’t been plugged, that the overflow of emotion you poured in ran right out.” PM

Its Legacy

“After the Gold Rush was not immediately universally recognized as a brilliant album, but over the years, even initial naysayers have changed their mind.” CQ It has come to be regarded as “one of the definitive singer/songwriter albums” AM and it established Young “as one of the most influential songwriters of his generation.” TB “Along with Bob Dylan’s Blood on the Tracks, After the Gold Rush is one of the greatest break-up records ever made regardless of intention.” PM

The album “hits the sweet spot between his ‘popular’ work and his ‘difficult’ work.” EK “Much of what Young has done throughout his career…can be found crystallized right here.” EK “It’s brilliant all the way through.” JA “While Young has had a long and storied career filled with multiple near-perfect albums, this one stands above the rest as his absolute masterpiece” CQ and “his best solo album.” CQ

The Songs

Here are thoughts on the individual songs from the album.

“Tell Me Why”
The opening cut, Tell Me Why, is one of Young’s “quaint little questioning songs…that are the aural equivalent of needlepoint samplers.” TM

“After the Gold Rush”
The “subdued” EK and “otherworldly title track” CQ “laments the destruction of the earth” RV serving up “apocalyptic doom-saying juxtaposed with delicate piano.” EK It “evokes perfectly the circa-1970 shift between the naiveté of the hippie dream and the paranoia that would come to strike even deeper.” EK It is “a mystical ballad that featured some of Young’s most imaginative lyrics and became one of his most memorable songs.” AM

“Only Love Can Break Your Heart”
The “poignant” CQ “homespun Only Love Can Break Your Heart” is “one of Young’s most beautiful tracks” RV marked by “his distinctively off-center whine warns of the perils of new love.” RV

“Southern Man”
Young “balances masterful hard rockers…with beautiful acoustic songs.” DBW In regards to the former, Southern Man was one of the album’s “few real rockers,” AM showing a talent for tackling “political issues with angry, cranked-up guitars.” RV With “unsparing protest lyrics typical of Phil Ochs” AM the song “attacked the racism inherent in Southern culture of the day.” RV This is “arguably Young’s all-time most harrowing performance.” TM

“Cripple Creek Ferry” and “Till the Morning Comes”
“Much like Bob Dylan, Neil Young has a not-conventionally-attractive voice, and both of them have an ability to write the kind of indelible melodies that make their songs pop even when the singer’s larynx falls short.” EK Throughout the album “the arrangements are simple, with none of Young’s earlier studio trickery or multi-part mini-symphonies. He ends each side with brief piano-led melodies you wish would go on longer” DBW such as with Till the Morning Comes and “the twangy folk of Cripple Creek Ferry.” CQ

“Oh Lomesome Me”
“Young’s own perverse appreciation for roots music, which he’s returned to again and again throughout his career, is on display as he transforms Don Gibson’s jaunty 1958 country classic Oh Lonesome Me into the moper’s lament that it probably always was under the surface.” EK

“Don’t Let It Bring You Down”
“Only Neil Young could have written the chilling” TL but “catuiously optimistic Don’t Let It Bring You Down” TB and “Only Love Can Break Your Heart,” “much less both on the same album.” TL

“Birds”
After the Gold Rush “emphasizes delicate acoustic warbling with a dark hue; ''Birds'' just might be his loveliest song.” EW’12

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First posted 8/31/2012; last updated 8/26/2024.

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