![]() ![]() “The Byrds were the band that brought the Anglo cool that had been introduced by the Beatles and the Stones to America.” “In those days, before we were constantly bombarded by visual images through social media, it took the presence of a band like the Byrds in the teenybopper magazines and on American TV to present a new gateway for dressing,” said Holly George-Warren, who co-wrote the book Rock in Fashion with designer John Varvatos. That angle was hardly lost on the teen magazines in the mid-60s which featured them in “groovy” photo spreads underscored by drooling captions. “He said, ‘they had great hair and clothes,’ and we did!”ĭavid Crosby matched an ushanka-style hat with a Russian shirt in a photoshoot. “Tom Petty once said, ‘the Byrds were a good-looking band,’” Hillman recalled with a laugh. But the pictures tell a different story, one fired by a sartorial flair and whimsy, as well as by the power of male beauty. Through extensive interviews with the three surviving original members – McGuinn, Chris Hillman and David Crosby – the book features many entertaining details about the development of those sounds, as well as the band’s testy interpersonal relationships along the way. History rightfully records the Byrds as the band that, by dizzying turns, pioneered folk-rock by electrifying Dylan songs like Mr Tambourine Man and Pete Seeger’s Turn! Turn! Turn!, helped create psychedelic and raga rock with songs like Eight Miles High and So You Wanna Be a Rock’n’Roll Star, and set a trend in country rock with the pivotal Sweetheart of the Rodeo album. Visual style has always been very important to that,” he said.Ī gorgeous new photo-driven book, titled The Byrds 1964-67, aims to make the case that, during that era, the Byrds had nearly as much resonance in the realm of style as they did in sound. While that may be obvious in the world of contemporary pop, such elements were far more rarely acknowledged in the rock’n’roll world of the 60s, when the mantra was “it’s all about the music, man.”Īs McGuinn made clear, however, “when you’re in a band, you want to create a mystique. ![]() The mere fact that one of music’s most consequential and respected bands would prize features like those so highly proves conclusively the power looks, style and fashion hold in popular music. Gene Clark died later that year from natural causes, accelerated by his long term substance abuse problems.Specifically, Clarke boasted the dense bangs of Brian Jones and the lush lips of Mick Jagger, not to mention the slim physique of all the classic rockers of the day. The Byrds figured prominently in Clarks last years – the band feuded over the use of the band name by competing groups before reuniting for their induction into the Rock and Roll hall of Fame in 1991. This led to the short-lived McGuinn, Clark and Hillman group.Īfter staying out of music for a few years, Gene Clark returned with an album in 1986 and his popularity rose, driven by the new jangle rock sound from bands like REM – which traced their sound back in part to the Byrds. On the same bill with Roger McGuinn and Chris Hillman, the trio added a short set of Byrds songs to their shows. ![]() After releasing a solo record in 77, Clark put aside his fear of flying to perform in an international tour. Gene Clark continued an on again, off again relationship with the Byrds and its’ various members through the early 80s. His following release, the start of a collaboration with Doug Dillard was also a critical success but a commercial failure. A combination of a fear of flying, his limited guitar skills and disputes over income distribution led to his departure from the group in 1966.Ĭlark went on to record a pioneering country rock album as his first solo record which commercially was overshadowed by a simultaneous release from the Byrds. The pair began forming the band that would eventually become the Byrds and Clark would become their primary songwriter. After a brief stint in the New Christy Minstrels Clark left for LA where he met Roger McGuinn. At 13 he cut his first record with a rock combo but soon changed his focus to folk rock after hearing the Everly Brothers. Best remembered for his short stint as the lead vocalist of the Byrds, the late Gene Clark had a varied career in music ranging from early psychedelic pop singles to a pioneering role in the creation of country rock.īorn in Missouri, Clark picked up his interest in music from his father, an amateur musician. ![]()
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