It's not Marc Maron at his greatest, but it was nice hearing from David Crosby, who has acquired some wisdom and humility in his old age... some of it by spending a year in prison in Texas where being a celebrity got you nothing.
If you're like me and you love David from his time in The Byrds — my first rock concert was The Byrds at Newark Symphony Hall on March 27, 1966 — you'll be pained by how little Marc knows or cares about The Byrds. Marc, born in 1963, hangs out in the Crosby, Stills & Nash period. But I did learn that The Byrds kicked Crosby out, and according to Crosby, he deserved it because he was an asshole.
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But it was fun while it lasted...if only he could remember it.
There's a great documentary about the Altamont concert that I've seen on TCM a few times. You'd probably enjoy it.
I thought he was the guy who invented that record player that also plays CDs that looks like an old-fashioned radio but the internet tells me that the company is named Crosley, not Crosby.
Lindsey Buckingham Has Something to Share With You.
I remember David Crosby showing up at rehearsals for my band. The guy was stoned out of his gourd, and he went to one of the members of my band and told her she should make a solo album.
All True Artists make solo albums, he said. He couldn't always be having Graham Nash just hanging around, humming shit.
So I told him "David: fuck off! Haven't you fucked up enough bands already?"
But he kept sniffing around this band member, saying he could sing some harmonies on her solo album if she wanted and that he loved her scarves. And this band member: she LOVED attention from other Rock Stars. I don't want to say she was a Star Fucker, but two words: Don Henley.
Finally I had Crosby removed from the room, and of course this band member gets mad at me, saying "Lindsay, you can't control me anymore!" You know: crazy Seventies woman shit.
So of course she makes a solo album. And of course she doesn't mention that I taught her how to write songs in the first place. People like David Crosby always fuck things up: bands, chicks, livers, all of it.
Fuck you, David Crosby.
By the way: I fucked Stevie Nicks.
When she was Hot.
I am Laslo.
He was born ... born ... born ... born to be alive.
That picture you posted of him facially resembles actor Joe Sawyer, Sgt. Biff O'Hara on Rin Tin Tin.
God is there anything worse than old Boomers' war stories..
"God is there anything worse than old Boomers' war stories.."
The Millennials seem to be a sorry generation too.
The recent Baez, 75th B'day concert, from the NYT review:
Except for Ms. Baez, the singers were under-rehearsed and had trouble reading lyrics on a teleprompter at the back of the orchestra. The sound in this unusually quiet concert was passable at best. Too many of the duets were so glaringly out of tune that they will have to be redone or adjusted before the broadcast. A particularly embarrassing casualty was David Crosby, who was so confused he seemed barely present during his chaotic duet with Ms. Baez on the Beatles’ “Blackbird.”
The Byrds were great. Loved the Flying Burrito Brothers with Hillman and Parsons, too.
The birds were before my time. But I love the byrds, regardless. And a good part of thst was Crosbys harmonies. Really nice harmonies. When he sings lead I'm less impressed, and in truth some the harmonies I thought were him in CSN were actually graham Nash.
But give him his props, he may have not made the byrds, but he certainly added a lot to their sound. And truth be told, I'd tether listen to the byrds first album than anything by CSN.
That being said, it's pretty apparent that he is an a hole. He was kicked out of the byrds for being one. Fine, there can be a difference of opinion. Maybe those saying he was an a hole were themselves primadonnas. So we can take their calls as self serving. However, it seems like he alienates all the people who work with him at some point. Both Neil young and graham Nash have both come out and said they wint be a reunion for CAN because they both refuse to work with Crosby anymore. And, Neil young is an opinionated jerk in his own right. But Nash has always been known as a guy who is diplomatic with everyone. If HE can't stand Crosby, and won't even work with him,you have to wonder what Crosby did to warrant such animosity.
And by the way, graham Nash and Neil young both decided to refuse to work with Crosby recently. So, if he's humbled and acquired wisdom in his old age, it's not enough to offset the feeling his colleagues have thst he is someone so bad they can't work with him. So, I m wondering if he is, in fact humble in his own age. And he's supposedly sober now, so all the anger they are feeling towards him is based on actions he took as a sober man.
the company is named Crosley, not Crosby.
Yeah.....I've seen this things in stores. The product I saw was a battery powered record player with a USB output. Capture all the click, pop and whiz from your 35 year old record collection!!
I always thought of the Byrds as a flash in the pan. Then too, I wasn't much into harmonies.
One could argue that The Byrds inspired Dylan to go electric. Cosby was a founding member of The Byrds, but not the main influence, he was only with them for three years.
Cosby is most famous for CSN and CSN&Y.
The Byrds lasted from 1964 to 1973, with an occasional reunion since.
David Crosby shouldn't be alive today... and if there is any fairness in the world, he wouldn't have been famous in the first place: a mediocre songwriter, and musician, too, a fine singer but no better than many others, and certainly inferior to his old bandmate Gene Clark, a vastly talented songwriter, musician and singer who is but a footnote in music history, who died in obscurity in 1991. Crosby is the music world's most successful grifter, a man who know how to latch himself on to those with superior talent.
Mac McConnell said...The Byrds lasted from 1964 to 1973...
Probably, but not with Crosby. He only lasted a couple of years.
coupe
Reread my post, Cosby 1964 to 1967, first three years. ;-)
I half listened to a good part of the podcast. I get the impression that he hasn't gained all that much wisdom and humility over the years. His body is a wreck, and I'm pretty sure the amount of wreckage he has left behind in his passage through life is vast. He sort of admits this, but gives himself a pass because he created and/or participated in some good music......He can't get along with his band mates, abandoned various children, and, in general, was not a person you wanted to be on intimate terms with. (Fortunately for him he's got a lot of money to leave behind so the kids won't tell him how truly awful he was.). But it's all good. He knows the way to world peace and is just the person to straighten out big pharma and the nuclear power industry..........He owes his life to big pharma but complains about their profits. He doesn't think musicians make enough money from the streaming services. How much should big pharma and musicians make? The market is an unreliable guide. The only sure way to know is to ask David Crosby.
Stratospherically successful people are frequently assholes. Nice guy is a middle class salaryman attitude.
William
I'd have to agree. As much as I love The Byrds, Buffalo Springfield, CSN, CSN&Y and Neil Young, with the exception of Chris Hillman their politics SUCK.
Hillman,
"I'll tell you one thing, and this is kind of left field, but it ties everything in. Everything that my generation in the '60s was going on about, f'ing on traditional values, boy, were we ever wrong. Everything that we were stepping on were the things that held civilization intact for thousands of years. And we're reaping the benefits of it now. I'm not at all like my peers. I'm very conservative. I'm not a fan of the current administration at all. I'm more libertarian if anything. That lends itself to some interesting conversations with David Crosby."
How does Marc Maron get to trademark WTF? Wasn't that public domain when Marc was just an in-person comic?
Maron is never very good with musicians. Very limited knowledge, doesn't research or study up at all, spends way too much time asking "What was it like to hang out with (insert more famous musician than the one being interviewed)". His interview with Richard Thompson was an emabarrasement, demonstrating all of the above.
Crosby - Could win a prize for "getting the most mileage out of the least talent". There are, at most, a half dozen songs written by him that bear repeated listening, and one classic, "Laughing". Well known to be a complete dick, especially to Gene Clark (The Byrds incredibly gifted singer/songwriter).
"Crosby is the music world's most successful grifter, a man who know how to latch himself on to those with superior talent."
I was gonna say that. He should not be remembered for anything other than his performance as the Cowardly Lion in The Wizard of Oz.
Good for Chris Hillman. Rock stars make “leftist” noises because the kids are “leftist”. They know which side etc.
My favorite Crosby song is Everybody’s Been Burned Before, from Younger Than Yesterday.
Crosby is also the test-tube daddy to Melissa Etheridge's baby mama's two children. Was that good judgment, or what?
"Crosby is the music world's most successful grifter, a man who know how to latch himself on to those with superior talent."
A lot people know how to do it, they just can't DO it. And IT is be a really great backup singer and never get it in your head that you should front the band.
OK, once you are a first-call backup musician, a distinctive look can help make you famous. The 'stash helps a lot. Ask Lee Sklar. Hired gun first-call bassist. Subtle in-the-pocket bass lines that you might not notice unless you tried to copy them. But even if you don't know his name, you recognize the beard.
Saw Neil Young do a live acoustic set a few years back in Hollywood. Awesome. Just him and a piano or him and his acoustic guitar. Then he brought friends out at the e d to do some CSNY. Stills and Nash walked out with Bruce Springsteen. Those four did a couple songs including Ohio. Sweet. SSNY was great.
And what's the deal with McGuinn? How many great talents have played with him for a couple of years and moved on? Crosby, Clark, Hillman, Parsons, White (I guess White was "moved on" by a drunk driver),...like the folk/country/rock hall of fame. Was he hard to work with? Not interested in keeping a band together? If the first, I think I'd have heard more horror stories.
People who "admit" they shouldn't be alive because of all the drugs they did are generally bragging about how cool and awesome they are.
Neil horrified his bandmates when he came out and said he liked Reagan. He also wrote "Let's Roll" after 9/11.
Then he had a brain aneurysm pop in his head and after the operation he turned freaky wacky left wing and left his wife for freaky wacky left wing Daryl Hannah.
I guess the moral is "go ahead and die".
Leftists generally believe that success is much more a matter of luck than of skill or hard work. For people in the entertainment industry, that's actually fairly true. People generalize their own experience, so it's not crazy for entertainers to be leftists.
"And IT is be a really great backup singer and never get it in your head that you should front the band."
And STILL get your name headlined first in the actual REAL band's name. No backup singer has ever done that before or since.
Except Crosby.
Maron is terrible with musicians. At his worst he fanboys over them. At his best he doesn't have much to say except to bond with them over their shared bad taste in music.
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