The Greatness of The Byrds

WorsterMan

WorsterMan

10,000+ Posts
So am listening to some tunes last night from one of my favorite groups from the 60's. It inspired me to start a thread to see if there are any other Byrds fans out there.

The Byrds were influenced and inspired by Dylan and others. They were the first significant commericially successful folk rock / pop group. They in turn influenced not only the music scene, but also the culture in the mid-late 60's. They created a unique sound from a 12 string Rickenbaker guitar, tamborines and harmonic voices. They wrote poetic lyrics that meant something. Dylan wrote & sung some of the songs the Byrds later recorded. You can hear the Byrds sound in Tom Petty's music and even the Beatles were once quoted as saying the Byrds were they're favorite American group.

The members of the original group were:

Roger McGuinn
David Crosby
Gene Clark
Chris Hillman
Michael Clarke

Roger McGuinn was the genuis behind the band IMO. Despite some tensions and turnover among members of the original group, they had several years of great music before venturing off in different directions (Flying Burrito Brothers, etc.). Clark and Clarke died some years ago. McGuinn was still performing solo a few years ago.

They produced most of the soundtrack for the 1969 movie classic Easy Rider starring Peter Fonda, Dennis Hopper and Jack Nicolson.

Some of my personal favorites:

My Back Page
Eight Miles High
Wasn't Born to Follow
So You Want to Be a Rock N Roll Star?
I'll Feel a Whole Lot Better
Ballad of Easy Rider
Chimes of Freedom
Turn Turn Turn
Bells of Rhymney
Mr. Tamborine Man

The Byrds were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1991.
 
I love the Byrds...Sweetheart Of The Rodeo is my favorite album of theirs. That being said I would didsagree taht they created the unique sound using the Rick 12. Thank George Harrison and the Beatles for that.
 
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"Turn, Turn, Turn" is an adaptation from the Bible, by Pete Seeger
"Chimes of Freedom" is also by Bob Dylan













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The Byrds were cool, the best electric 12 string guitar sound ever recorded, along with The Pretenders and, OK, The Beatles.



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Gerry Goffin/Carole King wrote "Wasn't Born To Follow" that The Byrds covered in "Easy Rider and also penned "Pleasant Valley Sunday" by The Monkees, "Don't Bring Me Down" by The Animals, "The Loco-Motion" for their baby sitter Little Eva, "One Fine Day" by The Chiffons with Carole playing the distinctive piano intro, "Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow?" by The Shirelles, "Up On The Roof" by Thr Drifters," "Take Good Care Of My Baby" by Bobby Vee, "Go Away Little Girl" by Steve Lawrence, "Chains" that was covered by The Beatles, "(Something Tells Me) I'm Into Something Good" by Herman's Hermits and "(You Make Me Feel) Like A Natural Woman" by Aretha Franklin.

Pretty prolific.

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Not trying to hijack this worthy Byrds thread, because they were truly innovative, influential and great.

Just pleased to pass on trivial knowledge I learned reading record labels and album notes for years........and lots of R&R magazines and books.

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It's too late for me to pull out the lp's right now, but IIRC, I would say that The Byrds came out with the Rick 12 sound before The Beatles.
 
I agree with NTB - Byrds / McGuinn used the Rick 12 before Harrison and the Beatles did. Byrds caused Harrison to use it on several songs.
 
I love The Byrds. I don't know much about them, but they are one of the few 60s groups that, when I listen to them, I feel like I am actually transported back in time to when I was a little girl. Hearing them makes my heart ache, but in a good way.

A feeling of nostalgia that comes from within. Pangs.

I know I'm not explaining it very well, but perhaps some of you old goats can understand what I mean.
 
I qualify as an "old goat"
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so I can identify with your meaning. The Byrds and some other groups also transport me back in time to my teens and some of the good ol' days, much simpler times.
 
Not to quibble because its a wonderful sound and certainly mcGuinn expanded upon what the Beatles and george harrison were doing with the Rick 12 but:
The Link

The Beatles and Rickenbacker had a fine symbiotic relationship. John Lennon's first and most famous guitar was a Rickenbacker. Paul McCartney played a Hofner bass in the early years but many of The Beatles most famous songs were actually recorded with his Rickenbacker bass. By this time the band had stopped touring so the Hofner bass was the most visible in his career, but the Rickenbacker actually suited McCartney's melodic style better. In 1964, George Harrison was given a double bound 360/12 Rickenbacker twelve string guitar, the actual second instrument of this kind manufactured by the company. He played it on the songs A Hard Day's Night, You Can't Do That and Eight Days A Week to name but three. Crucially, it was this guitar that Harrison played in the movie, A Hard Day's Night. Musicians both professional and aspiring, saw and heard the Rickenbacker twelve string and lusted after it. Roger McGuinn of The Byrds saw Harrison playing his Ricky in a darkened movie theatre, went out and bought one and soon made musical history with a revolutionary brand of folk-rock music based on the chiming sound of the Rickenbacker electric twelve string guitar.
 
kbrown - good find on the Rickenbacker history - that answered several questions including Harrison playing it first.
 
Ok, let's throw Tom Petty in there too.

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I remember seeing George Harrison playing that Rickenbacker electric 12 string guitar in "A Hard Days Night" in 1964 and I went out and played and priced one later.

At that time I was mostly playing bass guitar and keyboard on R&B as it was developing into Soul Music, so I never bought one for myself.

I had played a friend's 12 string acoustic a decade earlier, when folk music was all the rage.

It was a Guild, I believe.

I have an Ovation acoustic/electric 12 string now.

And an Ovation 6 string and an early '70s Telecaster.

My two main bass guitars are Rickenbackers, however.

My old Fender Precision Bass from the early '60s is now owned by Tommy Shannon, I believe.

I sold it on consignment and was told he was the buyer.

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Fred - damn you got an arsenal of serious guitars there... you must be pretty good playin' 'em too. Did you ever give any lessons to Clapton, Page, McGuinn or Harrison?
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Back to the OP....Love the Byrds!!!!!
'You aint Goin Nowhere (also penned by Dylan) is my favorite Byrds song.
Loved their contemporaries like Buffalo Springfield and all the various bands the Byrds spawned such as Poco, Souther, Hillman, Furay, Longbranch Pennywhistle and on and on!
 
Kbrown - good call on those other groups. BS & Poco might have had the most commercial success, but those other groups had some success too.

From the Byrds linneage, perhaps via Buffalo Springfield, you could add CS&N to that list. I think you can hear some of the Byrds influence through some of the harmonies and guitar work.
 
Worsterman
Definitley add the various incarnations of Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young. Holy cow how many albums did those folks put together individually as twosomes threesomes and foursomes(that sounds kinda weird). I guess add The eagles in there as well. Like liverpool/London of the late 50's through the 60's, SoCal in the mid 60's thru the seventies was one of "those Places"
 
Re: CSN&Y variations and I bought a lot of these variations at the time:

Graham Nash did some solo work after the Hollies before CS&N I believe
CS&N
CSN&Y
Stills did solo work
Nash did solo work
Crosby did some solo work
Young did a lot solo work
CS&N reformed in 1977-1978 for an album that I bought

I probably missed a variation or two, but that is all I can remember right now.
 
My band at the time wanted to cover some Byrds songs, so I waltzed down to J.R. Reed Music Company on Congress Ave. with my 1963 Stratocaster in hand. I'd purchased the Strat a year or so earlier, paid for it throwing newspapers in the Brykerwoods area. The exact time frames are a little foggy here. Anyhow, Louis Kryzak had sold the Strat to me, and was happy to take it in trade for a Ricky 12. Not the nice semi-hollow one, but a cheaper solid body. I can't tell you how many times I've kicked my own *** for trading in that Strat for the POS Rick. That Strat draws 12-20K on eBay these days...depending on condition. The Rick will get you a few hundred. Y'all excuse me, I've gotta' go kick my own *** a few more times.
 
I just happen to notice in the DMN this morning that Roger McGuinn will be appearing Nov. 21-22 at 8:00 at McDavid Studio in Fort Worth.The Link if anyone is interested in ticket info.
 
I have a Crosby nash album and a a "Stills& Young" band album. On the solo note Stills' "Manassas" album is one of my favorites!
 
12 string players

Performers who use acoustic 12-string guitars span a range of genres, from folk (Arlo Guthrie) and traditional blues (Lead Belly) to folk rock (Paul Simon, Neil Young) and rock bands (George Harrison of The Beatles and Pete Townshend of The Who).

Electric Rickenbacker 12-string users include a range of jangle pop guitarists, ranging from Jim/Roger McGuinn (The Byrds) to Peter Buck (R.E.M.). The Gibson EDS-1275 electric 12-string was used by blues rock/early heavy metal guitarist Jimmy Page (Led Zeppelin), Guns and Roses guitarist Slash, Alex Lifeson of Rush, Tom Morello of Rage Against the Machine, System Of A Down.
 
Also, Gram Parson's influence on the Rolling Stones has to be mentioned. The Stones supposedly let him record Wild Horses because they wanted him to sing it on the album but the label nixed that idea.

One odd bit of trivia. Pete Kleinow (sp) aka Sneaky Pete, who played steel for the Burrito Brothers, wrote the Gumby theme song.

Additionally, Chris Hillman discovered Emmylou Harris and her resulting ability to find new, super-talented musicians can't be over-stated or over-looked. Gram learned of her when Hillman took him to see Emmylou one night in DC. After that, Gram asked Emmylou to come to California to work on his first solo album.

Both McGuinn and Hillman seem bitter, even today but you can't deny their high place in music history. That youtube that Emeritus put up is really fun to watch. That is a great documentary.
 
A lot of you guys are (appropriately) tracking the musicians that the Byrds influenced.

I will go the other way and say that the Byrds wouldn't have existed without the Everly Brothers. Seriously, if you love the Byrds, and don't know the Everlys, you owe it to yourselves to check them out. Of course, if you don't know the Everlys, you can't really call yourself a rock aficionado.

Back to the bands influenced by the Byrds: There was an entire sub-genre that directly resulted from them, sometimes called "Jangle Pop". It was big in Los Angeles and, of course, Athens GA. The latter's best example was R.E.M., but that also included groups like Let's Active (and Mitch Easter, who produced Murmur and Reckoning) and Guadalcanal Diary.

In L.A., I imagine the most well-known band to follow the Byrds style was The Plimsouls. Anyone who has ever watched (and loved) Valley Girl will know them from A Million Miles Away, which is probably the best non-Byrds Byrds song ever. Not many remember them, I'm sure, but I was always fond of a band called Game Theory; they have the Byrds all over their sound.

The Byrds even crept into the Seattle grunge scene. Listen to anything by the Posies and you'll hear Roger McGuinn et al. chiming through.

And yes, I was in college during the '80s. How could you tell?
 
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