Rick Rubin Ruined CSN's New Album
Graham Nash says the producer wrecked the recording sessions
Stephen Stills recently revealed that he doesn't believe that Crosby, Stills & Nash will ever finish another album. The band had been thought to be in the middle of recording a covers album, which they started around three years ago.
However, Stills suggested that there were other problems with the sessions and he was pessimistic about the chances of ever releasing anything new. Graham Nash has now revealed that there had been problems in the studio, specifically with producer Rick Rubin, but he does believe that the album will be finished.
Nash tells Music Radar: "Two things are happening. One, Stephen doesn’t know the big picture. Two, Stephen is very deaf. He may have misheard or he may have been answering the question he thought you asked.
"Crosby, Stills and Nash will do another record. We’re right in the middle of one, Songs We Wish We’d Written.”
Nash says: "After almost 50 years of making records, we think we know what we’re doing, so it’s very hard to tell Crosby, Stills and Nash what to do. You can suggest anything you want, but you can’t tell us what to do.
"First of all, he pissed off David Crosby. David said we wanted to do Blackbird and another Beatles song. Rick said, ‘There will only be one Beatles song.’ Crosby said, ‘There will only be one Beatles song if we decide there will only be one Beatles song.’ You know, like, ‘Who the f*** are you to tell me?’
"You can’t tell us what to do. Rick is a brilliant man - but we rubbed each other the wrong way. Where’s the heart? It wasn’t there. I mean, who the f is Rick Rubin? I know he’s sold millions of records, but who the f is he to tell Crosby, Stills and Nash what to do?
"Guide us, yes. Make suggestions, fantastic. ‘Try it this way,’ no problem. But don’t tell us what to do. You can’t.”
This isn't the first time that Rubin has come under fire from rock stars.
In 2010 Muse frontman accepted an award at the Music Producers Guild Awards by saying thank you to "Rick Rubin for teaching us how not to produce"
And in a far more explicit rant, Slipknot frontman Corey Taylor said this: