On This Day in 1970, a US Tragedy Gave Rise to a Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young Anthem

On May 4, 1970, a dark incident known as the Kent State shootings took place at Kent State University in Ohio. The shootings took place during a 300-person rally meant to protest the Vietnam War, the draft, and the presence of the National Guard on college campuses. After being called in to break up the protest, National Guard soldiers fired into the crowd. Four students were killed and nine others were wounded. 

The shooting caused outrage among college students around the country. A student strike, which had begun just a few days prior, had reached over four million across college campuses around the country. The incident also furthered the public’s negative view of US involvement in the Vietnam War at the time. Later, eight of the 28 soldiers were charged with violating the civil rights of Kent State’s students. However, they were later acquitted.

Like many shocked Americans at the time, singer-songwriter Neil Young learned of the tragedy by reading a spread in Time Magazine. The article featured photos of the aftermath of the horrific shooting. And it affected him so profoundly that he wrote one of the most intense and memorable protest songs of the 1970s. That song was “Ohio”, recorded and released with Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young just a few weeks later.

Neil Young Was Inspired To Write CSNY’s “Ohio” After Seeing Photos of the Kent State Shootings in ‘Life Magazine’

“Tin soldiers and Nixon’s comin’ / We’re finally on our own / This summer I hear the drummin’ / Four dead in Ohio.”

“Ohio” was recorded live on May 21, 1970, and took only a few takes. It wasn’t easy, though.

“David Crosby cried when we finished this take,” said Young in the liner notes for the Decade retrospective.

The whole experience was an intense and emotional one. “Ohio” also featured the B-Side, “Find The Cost Of Freedom”. That song is a Stephen Stills-penned lament for those who died during the Vietnam War.

Both songs were mastered and released the following month, and listeners certainly resonated with the song. “Ohio” peaked at No. 14 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. It also reached the Top 20 in Canada and the Netherlands. Today, the song is remembered as a sharp critique of American politics and military power at the time. And the line “four dead in Ohio” still haunts listeners to this day.

Photo by Steven Clevenger/Corbis via Getty Images