Buffalo Springfield was an American-Canadian rock band formed in 1966 whose members included Richie Furay, Stephen Stills, Neil Young, Dewey Martin, Bruce Palmer, Jim Messina, Ken Koblun, and Jim Fielder which combined rock, folk, and country music. The band released the classic 1960’s protest song “For What It’s Worth”. The band was plagued by infighting, drug-related arrests, and line-up changes that led to its disbanding after two years. Three albums were released under its name, but many demos, studio outtakes, and live recordings remained and were issued in the decades that followed. They were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1997. (More from Wikipedia)
Anyway, as difficult as it is to get your foot in the door – land that first recording contract, or get that first hit single – keeping at it is even tougher. Take Buffalo Springfield for instance; they were a mid-1960’s folk-rock band that was loaded with talent. The band took their quizzical name from the side of a steamroller; released three fine albums and a topical hit single that still gets a lot of radio play, “For What it’s Worth” (another Stephen Stills song on Buffalo Springfield, their debut album, “Sit Down, I Think I Love You” was a hit for the Mojo Men in 1967); had numerous line-up changes; and ultimately broke up – all in the space of barely two years. I heard an interview on the radio one time with one of the bandmembers, Stephen Stills I think; they knew that they were part of a classic band, but for a variety of reasons, they could not keep it going. Stills was 21 when Buffalo Springfield formed and 23 when they broke up; clearly, he had a lot more rock and roll in him.
Now what?
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Buffalo Springfield started with a chance meeting of Stephen Stills and Neil Young; later, Stills and his friend Richie Furay were driving along Sunset Boulevard in L.A. and spotted a hearse. Stills was sure that it was Young’s, and sure enough, it was. Neil Young had another Canadian in the hearse as a passenger: Bruce Palmer. These four formed the band with drummer Dewey Martin.
As is often true, there were tensions in the band; Stephen Stills and Neil Young never really got along, and that has apparently continued to the present day. Young was in and out of the band several times over their short life, and Bruce Palmer was fighting deportation back to Canada. By the time that their final album, Last Time Around was released – back when bands announced that sort of thing – Jim Messina was part of the line-up. One of Neil Young’s first well-known songs, “I Am a Child” was on that album; but he really shone on the previous album, Buffalo Springfield Again with the opening cut “Mr. Soul”, “Expecting to Fly”, and the ambitious “Broken Arrow” (Young named his music publishing company after this song).
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When Last Time Around was being wound up, Stephen Stills and Neil Young had already exited Buffalo Springfield; and Richie Furay (guitar and vocals) and Jim Messina (bass guitar) were about the only ones left. For the final track laid down by Buffalo Springfield, Furay and Messina were joined by Rusty Young (pedal steel guitar); he was a rarity in that time period in being one of the few steel guitarists who felt comfortable playing rock music. The three stuck together; at Rusty Young’s suggestion, they added Randy Meisner (bass guitar and vocals), who had been in a band called the Poor, and George Grantham (drums and vocals), who had been in a psychedelic folk/rock band called Boenzee Cryque with Rusty Young.
The band first began calling themselves Pogo, but Walt Kelly, the creator of the popular comic strip Pogo objected, so they switched to Poco. Poco became one of the earliest and most long-lived country-rock bands. Several record companies were interested in signing the new act, but they hit a road block: Richie Furay and Jim Messina were still signed to Atlantic Records as part of Buffalo Springfield. Meanwhile, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young were having the same problem getting signed. David Geffen, then a young talent scout, arranged for the recording contracts for Stephen Stills and Neil Young to be swapped for those of Richie Furay and Jim Messina, so that CSNY could be signed to Atlantic Records, and Poco could be signed to Epic Records.
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If I remember right, I saw a display at the local Record Bar showing Poco emerging from Buffalo Springfield; and Cactus growing out of another classic 1960’s band, Vanilla Fudge.
(April 2014)
