A short-lived but highly influential folk rock group that served as a springboard for the careers of Neil Young, Stephen Stills, Richie Furay and Jim Messina and set the standard for what became West Coast music.
After its formation in April 1966, a series of disruptions and internal bickering, as well as the pressure of working in the music industry, resulted in constant changes in the group's lineup - and ultimately culminated in the group's disbanding after roughly 25 months. Buffalo Springfield released a total of three albums but also left a legacy that includes numerous demo recordings, studio outtakes and live recordings.
The origins of the band probably lie in a chance meeting between Neil Young and Stephen Stills at a folk club in Thunder Bay, Ontario in 1965. Young was there with The Squires, a group he had been leading since February 1963, and Stills was on tour with The Company, a spin off from the Au Go Go Singers. Although the two would not see each other again for almost a year, the encounter left both with a strong desire to work together.
Some time later, when The Company broke up at the end of that tour, Stills made the move to the West Coast where he worked as a studio musician and auditioned unsuccessfully for, among other things, The Monkees. Told by record producer Barry Friedman that there would be work available if he could assemble a band, Stills invited fellow Au Go Go Singers alumnus Richie Furay and former Squires bassman Ken Koblun to come join him in California. Both agreed, although Koblun chose to leave before very long and rejoined 3's a Crowd.
In early 1966 in Toronto, Young met Bruce Palmer, who was then playing bass for a group called the Mynah Birds. In need of a lead guitarist, Palmer invited Young to join the group. The Mynah Birds were set to record an album for Motown Records when their singer Rick James was arrested for draft evasion. With their record deal cancelled, Young and Palmer decided to head for Los Angeles where they hoped to hook up with Stills.
Roughly a week later, discouraged at having been unable to locate Stills and ready to depart for San Francisco, they were stuck in traffic on Sunset Boulevard when Stills and Furay recognised Young’s 1953 Pontiac hearse, which just happened to be sitting in the opposite lane.
Less than a week later, drummer Dewey Martin, who had played with country artists such as Patsy Cline and the Dillards, was added to the roster after contacting the group at the suggestion of the Byrds' manager, Jim Dickson.
Taking their name from the side of a steamroller - made by the Buffalo-Springfield Roller Company - that was parked on the street outside Friedman’s house (where Stills and Furay were staying), the new group debuted on 11th April 1966 at The Troubadour in Hollywood. A few days later, they began a short tour of California as the opening act on a bill featuring the Dillards and the Byrds.
No sooner had the Byrds tour ended than Chris Hillman persuaded the owners of the famous Whisky a Go Go to give the band an audition. As a result, the Buffalo Springfield essentially became the house band at the Whisky for a 7-week period from May to June 1966. This legendary series of concerts solidified the band’s reputation for exhilarating live performances as well as attracting immediate interest from a number of record labels.
They eventually struck a deal with Ahmet Ertegün of Atlantic Records and arranged for the band to start recording at Gold Star Studios in Hollywood. Young, Stills and Furay all recorded demos for the album, but the album's producers considered Young's voice too weird and assigned lead vocals on the majority of Young's songs to Furay. Their first single, Nowadays Clancy Can’t Even Sing, was released in July but made little impact outside of LA. The band reworked some of their early recording efforts for the rest of the album, titled Buffalo Springfield, which was originally released by Atlantic’s subsidiary Atco in mono and in stereo in October 1966.
In November 1966, Stills composed his landmark song, For What It's Worth after witnessing police riots against crowds of young people who had gathered on Sunset Strip. The song was recorded in December, and by March 1967 the Buffalo Springfield had a Top Ten Hit. Atco took advantage of this momentum by replacing the song Baby Don't Scold Me with For What It's Worth and re-releasing the album in March 1967, which eventually reached number 7 in the charts.
In January 1967, Palmer was arrested for possession of marijuana and summarily deported back to Canada. The band now moved back and forth between recording sessions and live appearances on both coasts. They used a number of different bassists, including Koblun (who was unable to cope with the pressure and soon quit) and Jim Fielder of the Mothers of Invention.
Under these conditions, work on the new album, tentatively titled Stampede, was tense. Ever distrustful of their record producers, Young and Stills also bickered among themselves and each insisted on producing the recording sessions for his own compositions. Furay, who had not contributed anything to the first album save for his guitar and voice, also stepped forward and equalled Young's number of contributions for the group's second album.
Although Palmer returned to the group at the beginning of June, Young had already left and thereby managed to miss the celebrated Monterey Pop Festival at which the band performed with former Daily Flash and future Rhinoceros member Doug Hastings on guitar and also with a guest appearance by David Crosby.
Young eventually returned in August and after ending their existing production and management commitments, the band divided its time between concert gigs and putting the finishing touches on its second album, ultimately titled Buffalo Springfield Again, produced by Ertegün himself and released in November 1967. Although more of a collection of individual work than an integrated group effort, many critics and fans consider it to be the band's finest album, with tracks such as Mr. Soul, Rock & Roll Woman, Broken Arrow and Bluebird. Bluebird in particular (a Stills composition which is reputed to be about Judy Collins, who was Stills' lover at the time and also the subject of a later Stills song, Suite: Judy Blue Eyes) is often considered the band's finest achievement.
Unlike the studio version, live performances were often extended jams between Stills, Young and Furay. One such live jam version was officially released on the 1973 compilation Buffalo Springfield (Collection).
With strong reviews appearing all over the country, the prospects for the band looked good. But, in January 1968, Palmer's second deportation for possession resulted in guitarist and studio engineer Jim Messina being hired as a permanent replacement on bass. With Palmer gone for good, Young also began to appear less and less frequently, often leaving Stills to handle all of the lead guitar parts at concerts. Recording sessions were booked and all the songs that were to appear on their final album were recorded by the end of March, usually with Messina producing, but the group was clearly on the verge of disbanding.
In April 1968, after yet another drug bust involving Young, Furay, Messina and Eric Clapton, the group decided to break up. Their final concert appearance was at the Long Beach Arena on 5th May 1968. After playing many of their best-known tunes, an extended version of Bluebird became the group's swansong. Buffalo Springfield disbanded a little more than two years after it had begun.
After the group’s break-up, Furay and Messina compiled various tracks recorded between mid-1967 and early 1968 into a third and final studio album titled Last Time Around. Only a few of the songs featured more than two or three members of the group at a time and it is often described as the group’s weakest effort. Even the cover photo of the group was a montage, with Young's image added to a photo of other four members. Stills and Furay appeared on more tracks than any of the others, essentially dominating the album, but it did not light up the charts.
Although the Buffalo Springfield was never a major commercial success, the group’s reputation would grow stronger with the later successes of its primary members, Stills, Young, Furay and Messina. Martin carried on with a new line-up which was called The New Buffalo Springfield before losing a lawsuit over the band's name. In July 1969, he left to form a new band, Dewey Martin and Medicine Ball. After recording a jam-oriented solo album in 1970 that was a commercial failure, Palmer faded into obscurity.