The Byrds Caricature

The Byrds Caricature, illustrated here in 1966, Laurel Canyon, CA, with Gene Clark age 22, David Crosby age 25, Roger McGuinn age 24 (with his iconic Rickenbacker 370/12 guitar) and Chris Hillman age 22.

The Byrds were an American rock band formed in Los Angeles, California in 1964.

Although they only managed to attain the huge commercial success of contemporaries like The Beatles, The Beach Boys, and the Rolling Stones for a short period in the mid-1960s, the Byrds are today considered by critics to be nearly as influential as those bands.

Their signature blend of clear harmony singing and McGuinn’s jangly twelve-string Rickenbacker guitar was “absorbed from the blend of folk music into the vocabulary of rock” and are sited for the establishment of the “Laurel Canyon” California folk rock sound.

Initially, the band pioneered the musical genre of “folk rock” as a popular format in 1965, by melding the influence of the Beatles and other British Invasion bands with contemporary and traditional folk music on their debut album and the hit singles “Mr. Tambourine Man” and “Turn! Turn! Turn!”.
They also played a pioneering role in the development of country rock, with the 1968 album “Sweetheart of the Rodeo” representing their fullest immersion into the genre.

The original five-piece lineup of the Byrds consisted of Jim McGuinn (lead guitar, vocals), Gene Clark (tambourine, vocals), David Crosby (rhythm guitar, vocals), Chris Hillman (bass guitar, vocals), and Michael Clarke (drums).
By mid 1966, Clark had left due to problems associated with anxiety and his increasing isolation within the group. He briefly rejoined the group in 1967.

The Byrds continued as a quartet until late 1967, when Crosby and Clarke also departed. McGuinn and Hillman decided to recruit new members, including country rock pioneer Gram Parsons, but by late 1968, Hillman and Parsons had also exited the band. McGuinn elected to rebuild the band’s membership; between 1968 and 1973, he helmed a new incarnation of the Byrds that featured guitarist Clarence White (who developed the “B-Bender” Telecaster), among others.

The Byrds greatest hits: “Mr. Tamborine Man”, “Turn! Turn! Turn!”, “Eight Miles High”, “Mr. Spaceman”, “Wasn’t Born To Follow”, “You Ain’t Goin’ Nowhere”, “I Feel A Whole Lot Better”, “The Bells Of Rhymney”, “So You Wan’t To Be A Rock And Roll Star” (song was written as a sarcastic jibe at the manufactured nature of groups like The Monkees), “Goin’ Back”, “Hickory Wind” and “The Ballad Of Easy Rider”.

In 1991, the Byrds were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, an occasion that saw the five original members performing together for the last time. Gene Clark died of a heart attack later that year, while Michael Clarke died of liver failure in 1993. McGuinn, Crosby, and Hillman remain active.

Warren Zevon once said, “If Roger McGuinn had just played the opening notes to The Byrds’ debut album and dropped dead, he would have still exercised the most pronounced influence over the folk rock movement in 25 years.”