In December 1966, they released their jazz-inspired fourth album, Younger Than Yesterday, which included the McGuinn and Hillman penned ‘So You Want to Be a Rock ‘n’ Roll Star’. Told by McGuinn, “If you can’t fly, you can’t be a Byrd”, Clark would then embark on a celebrated solo career, but that is a story for a different day.Ĭertainly definable as a band of the ’60s, The Byrds would carry on their prolific run. Gene Clark departed the band citing a fear of flying, a deeply embedded fear he’d had since witnessing a fatal aeroplane crash as a child. Starting off as a folk-rock band, given the ascendancy of the counterculture and drugs such as LSD and marijuana, by 1965, only a year after forming, the band would become psychedelic heroes. This is the lineup that would send The Byrds to the superstardom they enjoyed back in the ’60s. Roger McGuinn, Gene Clark, David Crosby, Michael Clarke and Chris Hillman all took pioneering strides. At the time of the band’s formation in 1964, they were not plucked from surrounding successful bands, rather, it is a reflection of the huge figures of rock they would all become. The truth is, only retrospectively, can the band be hailed as a supergroup. McGuinn, Crosby, and Hillman still remain active but Gene Clark died of a heart attack in 1991, and Michael Clarke died of liver failure in 1993.No discussion of the band would be complete without touching on the brilliance of their original lineup. In January 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. Several former members of the band went on to successful careers of their own, either as solo artists or as members of such groups as Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, the Flying Burrito Brothers and the Desert Rose Band. The Byrds' final album was released in March 1973, with the reunited group disbanding soon afterwards. However, this version of the band was relatively short-lived. The original five-piece line-up 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). Tambourine Man” and Pete Seeger’s “Turn! Turn! Turn! (to Everything There Is a Season)”, along with the self-penned originals, “I’ll Feel a Whole Lot Better”, “Eight Miles High”, “So You Want to Be a Rock ‘n’ Roll Star”, “Ballad of Easy Rider” and “Chestnut Mare”. Among the band’s most enduring songs are their cover versions of Bob Dylan’s “Mr. The band’s signature blend of clear harmony singing and McGuinn’s jangly twelve-string Rickenbacker guitar has continued to be influential on popular music up to the present day.
As the 1960s progressed, the band was also influential in originating psychedelic rock, raga rock, and country rock. Initially, they pioneered the musical genre of folk rock, melding the influence of the Beatles and other British Invasion bands with contemporary and traditional folk music.
The band underwent multiple line-up changes throughout its existence, with frontman Roger McGuinn (known as Jim McGuinn until mid-1967) remaining the sole consistent member, until the group disbanded in 1973. The Byrds /ˈbɜrdz/ were an American rock band, formed in Los Angeles, California in 1964.
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