“Eight Miles High” is widely recognized as the first psychedelic rock hit, with music inspired by sitar player Ravi Shankar and jazz great John Coltrane. While small in number, the two Hot 100 chart songs Crosby wrote for the Byrds are considered landmark singles, or at least pivotal ones. By extension, the same could be said for Crosby’s writing contributions to both group’s song catalogs. He wrote none of CSN/CSNY’s chart hits, not even the lone top-40 hit he had as a duet with Graham Nash-1972’s “Immigration Man”-although he did write or co-write with Nash two of the duo’s other Hot 100 singles (“Carry Me” and “Out of the Darkness,” songs that failed to make the top 40).īoth of his bands had a much larger, more positive impact on the world at large than any Billboard singles chart position would suggest. The two Hot 100-charting songs Crosby wrote were both by the Byrds: 1965’s “Eight Miles High,” which he co-penned with fellow founding members Gene Clark and Roger McGuinn, and “Lady Friend,” which he wrote solo.

The Byrds (with David Crosby far left)īeyond the chart numbers, both the Byrds and CSN/CSNY are considered among rock’s most influential bands, with the former considered to have singlehandedly ushered in the folk rock genre in 1965 (before the group veered into psychedelic and country-rock later in the ‘60s), and the latter heavily associated with rock’s counterculture during America’s most tumultuous period of the late ‘60s and early ‘70s (discounting the current era of course).īoth bands are considered among the greatest vocal harmony groups of all time, with Crosby’s high tenor and impeccable tone being key reasons for that recognition.īut a cross-referencing of the two legendary band’s 29 total chart hits with the songs for which Crosby received a writing credit yields a dubious statistic: he only wrote or co-wrote two of the 29 songs to reach the chart by the Byrds and CSN/CSNY. Tambourine Man” and “Turn! Turn! Turn!,” both in 1965. There’s no doubt his part in both those groups contributed to their inductions to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, which made him among the earliest artists to be inducted twice (only 26 people have such an honor).īetween them, the Byrds and CSN/CSNY had 29 Billboard Hot 100 hits, including 16 that made the top 40, five that made the top ten and two that went to No. He’s credited for writing/co-writing nearly 150 songs for all of these entities, including 37 tunes that appeared on albums by his two most successful bands: The Byrds and the conflation of supergroups CSN and CSNY. In fact, in addition to singing and playing guitar on albums by all five acts, Crosby wrote or co-wrote multiple songs for each one. The late David Crosby, who died on January 19, 2023, at the age of 81Īfter all, the Grammy-winning and two-time Rock and Roll Hall of Famer is one of the only artists in history to record music regularly in each of these five configurations: as a solo artist, in a duet (Crosby and Nash), in a trio (Crosby, Stills & Nash, as well as other groups), in a quartet (Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young), and in a quintet (The Byrds).Īll of these were regular standing entities with which Crosby, who died Thursday, January 19 at the age of 81, recorded multiple albums and singles. To call the late singer/songwriter and rock music legend David Crosby prolific would be a major understatement. Billboard, Crosby Stills Nash, CSN, CSNY, David Crosby, Death, Music blog, music news, The Byrds, tribute

Eight miles high and climbing fast