Byrds (music group)

The Byrds were an influential American musical group that pioneered the folk rock genre and enjoyed considerable commercial success for a brief period in the mid-1960s. Best known for their cover versions of Bob Dylan's "Mr. Tambourine Man" and Pete Seeger's "Turn! Turn! Turn! (to Everything There Is a Season)," the Byrds skillfully blended traditional folk music with the popular tones of British Invasion rock and roll to create a unique and engaging new sound. With an original lineup that included Roger (Jim) McGuinn, Gene Clark, David Crosby, Michael Clarke, and Chris Hillman, the Byrds quickly skyrocketed to superstardom and enjoyed a level of success and admiration on par with that of such celebrated musical acts as the Beatles and the Beach Boys. While the band's time at the top of the charts was short-lived, the Byrds' work had a transformative effect on popular music that is still felt today.

Brief History

When members of the Byrds first came together in Los Angeles, California, in 1964, their genesis as a band was an unlikely one. Roger McGuinn (who was originally named Jim), Gene Clark, and David Crosby were all folk musicians who spent much of their time playing acoustic shows in local coffeehouses and had little experience with electric instruments. Regardless, all three were heavily inspired by the meteoric rise of the Beatles on the pop scene and even incorporated many of the Fab Four's songs into their coffeehouse and nightclub sets. Eager to try meshing the emergent British Invasion rock and roll sound with the softer tones of the folk music they typically played, Clark and McGuinn agreed to form a new act with this specific purpose in mind. They were joined by Crosby soon after, and the three musicians called their act the Jet Set before settling on the Beefeaters and releasing their first single as the latter. Although the Beefeaters' single failed to make much of an impact, it set the stage for greater things to come.

After welcoming drummer Michael Clarke and bassist Chris Hillman to the band and briefly resuming the Jet Set name, the quintet officially rechristened the band the Byrds and set to work on developing their sound. Their breakthrough came when the band members acquired a demo tape of Bob Dylan's then unreleased "Mr. Tambourine Man" and recorded a cover version of the song. Upon hearing the cover, Dylan himself complimented the Byrds' effort—a ringing endorsement that likely helped the band secure a recording contract with Columbia in November of 1964. Using the "Mr. Tambourine Man" cover as the title track of its 1965 debut album, the Byrds became an immediate hit with audiences across the country and was soon declared to be America's answer to the Beatles.

Shortly after the release of its second album, Turn! Turn! Turn!, Clark left the Byrds for personal reasons. His departure would be the first of many lineup changes the band underwent during its existence. For the next few years, the Byrds experimented with both psychedelic and country rock, but never again recaptured its early success. By the 1970s, the Byrds effectively reached its end and, after the release of a one-off reunion album in 1973, the band permanently disbanded.

Impact

Despite the fact that their time as an active musical group was relatively short, the Byrds were a highly influential band. Beyond the enormous commercial success the members briefly enjoyed at the height of rock and roll's golden age, the Byrds' greatest achievements were its unparalleled contributions to the development of folk rock as a unique musical genre. While other artists, including Bob Dylan, certainly played their own critical roles in the advent of folk rock, few were as directly responsible for its rise in popularity as the Byrds. The band's masterful fusion of Beatles-esque rock and roll and the modern folk trends of the time—notably punctuated by the trademark jangling of McGuinn's twelve-string Rickenbacker guitar—led to the creation of a new musical sound that captured listeners' attention and altered the course of popular music's ongoing evolution.

In addition to being the leading innovators of folk rock, members of the Byrds were also among the forefathers of psychedelic rock and country rock. The Byrds' "Eight Miles High," originally released as a single in early 1966, is widely regarded as the inaugural song of rock's celebrated psychedelic era. Other Byrds' tracks such as "Fifth Dimension" and "John Riley" also contributed to the evolution of psychedelic rock. After Gram Parsons joined the band in 1968, the Byrds increasingly began to incorporate elements of country music into its songs, a move that led to the emergence of yet another new rock genre. Sweetheart of the Rodeo, an LP released shortly after Parsons' arrival, is generally thought to be the first country rock album in history.

Although the Byrds released its last new album in 1973, the band's influential effect on popular music and American culture in general did not end with the dissolution of the band. All of the Byrds' original founding members continued to find success in the music industry, pursuing solo careers and even working together with former bandmates on other projects. In the late 1970s, McGuinn, Clark, and Hillman reunited and earned some acclaim for their efforts to recreate the Byrds' sound in an adult contemporary setting. Hillman also went on to country music fame as a member of the Desert Rose Band. By far the most successful of the original Byrds, however, was Crosby. After he was unceremoniously ousted from the band in 1967, Crosby famously joined Stephen Stills and Graham Nash to form the supergroup Crosby, Stills, and Nash. The trio, who was also occasionally accompanied by Neil Young, produced some of the most recognizable hits of the late 1960s and early 1970s, including "Marrakesh Express" and "Suite: Judy Blue Eyes."

In recognition of their accomplishments, the members of the Byrds were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1991. Any hopes for a future reunion of the band's original members ended with Gene Clark's death several months after the induction ceremony. Michael Clarke subsequently passed away in 1993, and David Crosby died in 2023.

Bibliography

"The Byrds." Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, www.rockhall.com/inductees/byrds. Accessed 6 Oct. 2016.

"The Byrds Bio." Rolling Stone, www.rollingstone.com/music/artists/the-byrds/biography. Accessed 6 Oct. 2016.

Einarson, John. Mr. Tambourine Man: The Life and Legacy of the Byrds' Gene Clark. Backbeat Books, 2005.

Fanelli, Damian. "The Byrds' 10 Greatest Guitar Moments." Guitar World, 13 Jul. 2016, www.guitarworld.com/byrds-10-greatest-guitar-moments/25374. Accessed 6 Oct. 2016.

Farber, Jim. "David Crosby, Folk-Rock Voice of the 1960s Whose Influence Spanned Decades, Dies at 81." The New York Times, 19 Jan. 2023, www.nytimes.com/2023/01/19/arts/music/david-crosby-dead.html. Accessed 1 Mar. 2023.

Hjort, Christopher. So You Want to Be a Rock 'n' Roll Star: The Byrds Day-by-Day, 1965–1973. Jawbone Press, 2008.

Rogan, Johnny. Byrds: Requiem for the Timeless, Volume 1. Rogan House, 2011.

Simpson, Dave. "The Byrds: How We Made Eight Miles High." Guardian, 16 Sept. 2014, www.theguardian.com/music/2014/sep/16/how-we-made-eight-miles-high-the-byrds. Accessed 6 Oct. 2016.

Unterberger, Richie. "The Byrds." AllMusic, www.allmusic.com/artist/the-byrds-mn0000631774/biography. Accessed 6 Oct. 2016.