Remarkably, their thirty year old innovations still resound in today's 'alternative' rock. The Beatles, for example have repeatedly stated that the Byrds were the best American rock group. The Byrds' music was consistently savored and praised by critics, and as the recent PBS series documenting the history of rock made clear, their influence on other musicians was and continues to be immense. Buying their records, we were dragged (sometimes unwillingly at first) into jazz, Indian raga, electronic/synthesizer, Latin, South African and (worst of all) country-western music.Įach new Byrds album was a treasure chest, filled with unexpected nuggets of musical ingenuity and innovation: shifting, atypical time signatures, suspended and diminished jazz chords, phasing and backwards tracking, contrapuntal bass lines, modally based guitar leads, unexpected instrumentation ranging from the oboe to the five-string banjo, and of course, immaculately rendered vocal harmonies. Tambourine Man' and 'Turn! Turn! Turn!.' Often, to their commercial detriment, the Byrds persistently pushed and redefined the edge of the art. We loved their original 'folk-rock' sound, epitomized by 'Mr. Many of us followed the Byrds' music intently over the next few years, and what a wild ride it was.

Across America, legions of budding guitarists were captivated by the cascading, shimmering sparkle of Roger McGuinn's electric twelve-string Rickenbacker. Here was a piece of 'popular' music that was light years beyond the cutesy throwaway fluff being played on the radio.

Tambourine Man' was an instant smash hit. Imbued with a chiming, Bach-like guitar introduction, resplendent vocal harmonies, and an unusual level of lyrical density and ambiguity, 'Mr. What they did with this roughhewn tune was nothing short of astonishing. To further reduce their meager chances of success, they chose an awkward, rambling folk song from the then-obscure Bob Dylan to be their A-side. Given their youth they did have significant experience in other forms of music-folk, bluegrass, choral, jazz- but they were utter enfants in the cosmic vortex of rock and roll. The Byrds consisted of five young men who were complete neophytes at rock music. Otherwise it would be bye-bye Byrdies.Įxpectations were not particularly high. If it was successful, an entire album would be commissioned. As was standard record company practice back then, the Byrds' contract called for one single. Meanwhile, with little fanfare, a newly formed aggregation called The Byrds was working ardently on their first (and possibly last) single for Columbia Records. Led by The Beatles, English rock bands dominated the American airwaves.

Byrds discography wiki