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.
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