Neil Young is the most famous member of Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young. The Canadian rocker has far surpassed his bandmates in terms of solo success and longevity, but it's worth noting that he was the least-established member when he joined in 1970.
Neil Young, undoubtedly, used the popularity of Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young as a launchpad for his now beloved solo career. He's technically been part of the band for decades, but in total, he has very few contributions to the CSNY catalog. We want to break down the messy and often unpredictable dynamic between Young and the other members.
David Crosby, Stephen Stills and Graham Nash invited Young to join the already successful band at the tail end of 1970. The band already had a Platinum album under their belt, but they wanted to add more musical firepower, and Stills had already worked with Young, so the latter was given a chance to join arguably the biggest outfit in America at the turn of the decade.
Neil Young joined Crosby, Stills & Nash in 1970
Here's the thing: Neil Young never planned to stick around. He knew working with the folk rock trio would shine a light on his career, and building tensions between the four members led to them all going their separate ways by 1971. (The desire to release solo music was in the cards for all four, hence the decision to list all their surnames in the band's title).
Young wanted to do his own thing. He was a solo artist on his own journey, and that journey really gained steam with the release of Harvest in 1972. It was a critical and commercial phenomenon, spawning the number one single "Heart of Gold."
Young decided to reconnect with Crosby, Stills & Nash for a series of stadium tours in the mid-70s, given their popularity and the immense paydays they were promised but the aforementioned drama resurfaced, and plans for an album titled Human Highway were scrapped.
Young hasn't recorded with the band since 1999
Neil Young wouldn't rejoin the band for an album until American Dream in 1988. The rocker vowed to record with his bandmates if David Crosby was able to recover from the legal and health troubles he was dealing with at the time, and he did. It was not the rousing success everyone hoped for, though. American Dream was a flop, and a dissatisfied Young once again went solo.
Young got back in the mix for Looking Forward in 1999. The last CSNY, as well as CSN album to date was an improvement over American Dream, as it saw them working together more harmoniously than they had in decades. Once again, Young dipped after the album was completed.
Neil Young claims he simply "follows the music"
Personal issues with Crosby kept Young from recording with the trio come the 21st century. Crosby's death in 2023 ensured that the classic lineup would never get the chance to get back together. Young does not regret his decision to come and go over the years, however.
Young told Howard Stern that he merely follows the music, and will leave whenever he feels as though the personalties are getting in the way of the artistry. "To me, that was the Holy Grail … it was all that mattered to me," he explained. "And once we started drifting away from that, I was gone."
The rocker's unpredictability is what has made him such a fascinating figure musically, but it has also made it virtually impossible for him to stay in one place for very long. He's all about the music, and so all we can do is appreciate the time with CSNY that we got.