Strictly Rock

  • Home
  • Bands
  • Videos
  • Store
  • Events
  • Unsigned Bands
  • Blog
  • Contact

The Byrds

May 15, 2014 by strictlyrock Leave a Comment

Click on the image to buy this photo

Despite the fact that they their fame was short-lived when compared to contemporaries at the time, The Byrds were nonetheless one of the most influential American bands created during the British Invasion. In fact, within roughly four years, The Byrds were among the founding fathers of not one, but three genres of music: folk rock, psychedelia, and country rock. Most surprising of all is that, despite their immense contributions to the evolution of rock music, the founding members of The Byrds could scarcely play their instruments. In 1964, Jim (later Roger) McGuinn, Gene Clark, and David Crosby were all performing separately as folk singers in acoustic coffee houses. The trio merged their singing, song writing, and guitar-playing abilities together, dubbed themselves The Jet Set, and began experimenting with music influenced by The Beatles. After changing their name to The Beefeaters, the trio recorded a demo with Elektra that was a commercial flop, but showed promise for their innovative attempts to merge folk and rock sounds together. Shortly after, the group recruited drummer Michael Clarke and Chris Hillman—a bluegrass mandolinist who was tasked with playing bass. The new quintet were dubbed The Byrds, and there was no turning back.

Click on the image to buy this print

Working with Columbia in January 1965, The Byrds entered the studio and walked out with their first single, “Mr. Tambourine Man,” a re-make of Bob Dylan’s hit that featured a jauntier sound than its original counterpart. Four months later, having learned to play electric instruments (and with the help of several session musicians), The Byrds released their first studio album, Mr. Tambourine Man, and found immediate success. Containing a collection of re-made songs by Bob Dyllan and Pete Seeger, as well as original songs written collaboratively (but with strong influences by Gene Clark), their hit debut album put The Byrds in direct competition with bands such as The Beatles. Released less than a year later, Turn! Turn! Turn! became The Byrds’ next commercial success, and contained a remake of Seeger’s song “Turn! Turn! Turn!” as well as three hit songs penned by Gene Clark: “She Don’t Care About Time,” “The World Turns All Around Her,” and “Set You Free This Time.”

Click on the image to buy this photo

The next recordings released by The Byrds went down a radically different path, experimenting with psychedelic rock sounds instead of the folk rock which had made them famous. Their first single during their psychedelic phase, “Eight Miles High” featured the guitar sounds for which Roger McGuinn would become famous, but resulted in several blows for the band. Gene Clark, suffering from a fear of flying, left the band and took his song-writing skills with him. Further, allegations that “Eight Miles High” was about drug use resulted in the song being banned from many US radio stations. Their studio album, Fifth Dimension was released in July 1966, featuring songs written by Crosby, as well as the hit “5D” which faced the same allegations as “Eight Miles High.” Two additional albums, Younger than Yesterday (1967) and The Notorious Byrd Brothers (1968) continued to illustrate the psychedelic sounds which had (thanks in part to their own contributions) begun to grow in popularity worldwide.

Click on the image to buy this photo

During their psychedelic years, The Byrds began to face mounting tension among themselves, which eventually led to the departure of both Crosby and Clarke from the band. McGuinn and Hillman, the last surviving original members of The Byrds were forced to recruit new members: keyboardist, guitarist, and singer Gram Parsons, and drummer Kevin Kelly. Along the way, The Byrds found a new sound as well. Released in August of 1968, Sweetheart of the Rodeo became the first country rock album to be released by a major rock band. Despite their immense success just three years earlier, The Byrds were dealt another death blow after Parsons and Hillman left the band and formed the successful country group The Flying Burrito Brothers, while David Crosby found success with Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young. McGuinn was left on his own to continue The Byrds’ legacy, and two more country rock albums, Dr. Byrds and Mr. Hyde(1969), as well as Ballad of Easy Rider (1969), which continued to shine light on McGuinn’s noteworthy 12-string guitar skills.

Click on the image to buy this photo

Down but not out, a new album was released by The Byrds in 1970. An untitled album, it featured two parts: one containing live recordings, and one containing studio performances which included a sixteen minute long version of Eight Miles High. Following the untitled release was Byrdmaniax (1971), which essentially became the kiss of death for The Byrds. After producers added unauthorized orchestrated sounds to the tracks, Byrdmaniax became The Byrds’ worst-received studio album. Attempting to undo the damage, The Byrds quickly recorded and released Farther Along a mere five months later, but it was too late. Even The Byrds were unhappy with the results of the album, and with a two failures in a single year, the sun was setting on The Byrds. In one last hurrah, all five original members of The Byrds reunited to record a self-titled reunion album, released in 1973. As planned tours never came to fruition, the reunion proved to be short-lived. In 1991 The Byrds were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, but hopes of a second reunion were destroyed forever with the death of Gene Clark shortly after their induction, and the death of Michael Clarke in 1993. While The Byrds ultimately flew their separate ways, their influence upon the evolution of rock will never be forgotten, and indeed, have earned the group their place as rock legends.

Filed Under: Rock Bands

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.

Cart

T-shirts

View all Products in this Category
View more T-Shirts

100 Greatest Rock & Roll Bands

  1. The Beatles
  2. The Rolling Stones
  3. Led Zeppelin
  4. Jimi Hendrix
  5. Elvis Presley
  6. The Who
  7. U2
  8. Pink Floyd
  9. The Doors
  10. The Police
  11. Elton John
  12. Metallica
  13. AC/DC
  14. Van Halen
  15. Nirvana
  16. Guns N' Roses
  17. Santana
  18. The Allman Brothers Band
  19. Bon Jovi
  20. David Bowie
  21. Grateful Dead
  22. Rush
  23. Yes
  24. Black Sabbath
  25. Bob Dylan
  26. James Brown
  27. The Beach Boys
  28. Eric Clapton
  29. Fleetwood Mac
  30. The Eagles
  31. Bob Marley
  32. Van Morrison
  33. Bruce Springsteen
  34. The Clash
  35. Queen
  36. Janis Joplin
  37. Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young
  38. R.E.M.
  39. The Kinks
  40. Steely Dan
  41. Steve Miller Band
  42. Jethro Tull
  43. Tool
  44. The Scorpions
  45. Coldplay
  46. Stone Temple Pilots
  47. Rod Stewart
  48. Marilyn Manson
  49. Creedence Clearwater Revival
  50. KISS
  51. The Pretenders
  52. Green Day
  53. Aerosmith
  54. Tina Turner
  55. Pearl Jam
  56. Ted Nugent
  57. Pantera
  58. Motörhead
  59. Judas Priest
  60. ZZ Top
  61. Megadeth
  62. Motley Crue
  63. Alice Cooper
  64. Def Leppard
  65. Iron Maiden
  66. Billy Idol
  67. Journey
  68. Anthrax
  69. Rage Against the Machine
  70. Blue Oyster Cult
  71. Alice in Chains
  72. Genesis
  73. Red Hot Chili Peppers
  74. Chuck Berry
  75. Buddy Holly
  76. Little Richard
  77. Elvis Costello
  78. Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers
  79. Sex Pistols
  80. Cream
  81. Frank Zappa
  82. Talking Heads
  83. Stevie Ray Vaughan
  84. Billy Joel
  85. The Band
  86. Ramones
  87. Lynyrd Skynyrd
  88. Jerry Lee Lewis
  89. Doobie Brothers
  90. Foo Fighters
  91. The Cure
  92. Soundgarden
  93. Iggy Pop
  94. Peter Gabriel
  95. The Byrds
  96. Traffic
  97. Deep Purple
  98. Blondie
  99. Velvet Underground
  100. Heart

Home | Bands | Videos | Store | Events | Unsigned Bands | Blog | Contact

Copyright © 2023 · strictlyrock.com

Copyright © 2023 · Website Maintenance Services