Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young "American Dream"

On episode 10 of Past Prime, Steve and Matty lift the veil off of
one of the great cold cases of American Classic Rock. The
co-hosts first travel back to 1988 and pull on the thread of
CSNY's "American Dream." And then they keep pulling and pulling,
all the way back through "Deja Vu" and through CSN's (minus Y)
1969 debut. They shed their Gen X biases, the decades of Boomer
propaganda and cast a sober look at the 80s comeback and
everything that came before it. What they discover is grisly --
not for the faint of heart. And especially not for avid CSN fans.
Ultimately, they find that CSNY was a folksy "boy band," highly
competent at three part harmonies and not a whole lot more
(except for the Young songs). They discover that CSNY were
elevated to Hippie Rock Mt. Rushmore on the basis of great timing
and bad drugs. And, for nearly fifty years, most of us bought the
story. But, no more.


"American Dream" is quickly dispatched with. The songs are mostly
awful. Croz struggles with competence, Nash with depth and Stills
with self-awareness. The longer, winding journey, however, is the
investigation of how the band ascended and who was to blame for
the fraud? If you are curious about late 60s fin de siecle moment
when the Hippie dream was on the line, then this is the episode
for you. On the other hand, if you still believe that American
bands of the 60s and 70s made the best Rock and Roll (we don't
mean Soul, Funk, Jazz, Country or Folk) in the world, please
brace yourself before pressing play.


To read more about CSNY's "American Dream" check out the full
essay at Past Prime.