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> Login to your account > RegisterGuns on Campus
From page 19 of Classic Rock Magazine July 2001
Cover of July 2001 issue.
FOUR STUDENTS WERE KILLED ON THE CAMPUS AT KENT State University, venue of an anti—Vietnam war demo. Only one was actively protesting against the conflict in south—east Asia, the other three being caught in crossfire. More than 400 colleges nationwide would close in the next three days as the result of a student boycott. A shocked Neil Young, was inspired to respond in song and 'Ohio', released as a single just days later, itself drew fire from high places when Vice President Spiro Agnew denounced rock music in general as being "anti—US".
As news broke, Young and David Crosby had been staying with their road manager Leo Lakota in a small coastal village 30 miles south of San Francisco. A heated discussion ended with Young withdrawing from proceedings and picking up his guitar: 'Ohio' was the result. He himself nominated the song as his best ever CSN&Y cut in his liner notes to 'Decade' in 1977, adding: "It's still hard to believe I had to write this. It's still ironic that I capitalised on the death of these American students. Probably the biggest lesson learned at an American place of learning."
