THE BYRDS

The Byrds, led by Roger McGuinn, pioneered folk rock and later country rock. With their high harmonies, ringing guitars (especially McGuinn's electric Rickenbacker 11-string), and obsession with studio technique, they also became a sonic model for many rock bands, including the Eagles, Tom Petty, the latter-day Fleetwood Mac, and REM.

The band was formed in summer 1964 as the Jet Set (McGuinn was fascinated by airplanes) and toyed with the name Beefeaters before settling on the Byrds, misspelled a la the Beatles. McGuinn had been a member of the Limeliters and the Chad Mitchell Trio and had backed Judy Collins until he went solo in 1964. Hillman had worked in the Hillmen and the Green Grass Group. Gene Clark was a member of the New Christy Minstrels. He and Crosby met at L.A's Troubadour on a hootenanny night. A few months after their formation, with Beatles publicist Derek Taylor on the payroll, the Byrds were touted as "L.A's answer to London." After signing with Columbia in November 1964 (jazz trumpeter Miles Davis had recommended them to the record company) they recorded demos released years later as Preflyte. In January 1965 they met Bob Dylan, who publicly endorsed them and, more important, provided their first hit, the #1 "Mr. Tambourine Man." The single, cut by studio musicians, with McGuinn on guitar and the group singing, had Dylan's lyrics, a guitar hook, chorus harmonies, and a rock rhythm section: folk rock. Mr Tambourine Man, released in June 1965, went to #6.

In 1966 the Byrds had a major hit with the anthemic "Turn! Turn! Turn!" -- a Bible passage set to music by Pete Seeger. But the album of the same name suffered a dearth of new material, and the Byrds were less commercial for the rest of their existence. By the time Fifth Dimension was released in summer 1966, Gene Clark had left. He had frequently argued with McGuinn, and he suffered from a fear of flying that made touring difficult. His departure, plus their somewhat avant-garde LP, marked the start of the Byrds' "space rock" phase. The hit single "Eight Miles High" (#14, 1966) from Fifth Dimension solidified their new style, sporting a thunderous bass line, free-form guitar lines, and a corps of otherworldly harmonies. It was also one of the first records to be widely banned because of supposedly drug-oriented lyrics.

As McGuinn's technocratic grip on the Byrds began to tighten, internal tensions increased and occasionally erupted into onstage fisticuffs. After 1967's Younger Than Yesterday Crosby was gone, bound for superstardom with Stills, Nash and Young. McGuinn and the two remaining Byrds -- bassist Hillman and drummer Michael Clarke -- added studio players for 1968's countryish The Notorious Byrd Brothers. Praised by some critics as a conceptual masterpiece, it fared less well with the record-buying public. By fall 1968's Sweetheart of the Rodeo, Clarke had left to join the Dillard and Clark group. Sweetheart, recorded in Nashville with newcomers Gram Parsons and Kevin Kelley, mixed country and rock as they had mixed folk and rock, anticipating groups from the Eagles to Firefall.

By October McGuinn was the only original Byrd remaining, as Parsons and Hillman left to continue their country experiments with the Flying Burrito Brothers. He kept the patchwork Byrds alive through 1973 with a series of partners who were occasionally brilliant (like former bluegrass guitarist Clarence White) but more often merely functional. The various combos toured steadily and put out a series of mildly successful albums, including Untitled, which contained McGuinn's "Chestnut Mare" (cowritten with Jacques Levy, a later collaborator with Dylan), one of his signature tunes. Despite the regrouping of the original lineup for a one-shot album in 1973 (which, despite dubious quality -- Hillman later called the disc "embarrassing" -- reached the Top Twenty), the Byrds were finally put to rest.

McGuinn subsequently embarked on a low-key solo career. In late 1975 and early 1976 he was prominently featured in Dylan's Rolling Thunder Revue. With fellow Revue trouper Mick Ronson producing, he recorded Cardiff Rose. In early 1977 he assembled a new band, wryly dubbed Thunderbyrd, and recorded an album of the same name. By late in the year he was playing occasional dates in tandem with Clark, and the alliance soon expanded to include Hillman as well. In 1979 the three recorded their self-titled debut disc and enjoyed some pop success with "Don't You Write Her Off" (#33, 1979). In 1980 McGuinn and Hillman returned with City before the band gradually fragmented, and McGuinn took up his solo career again. It was more than ten years before he released another LP, Back from Rio, with assistance from admirers such as Tom Petty and Elvis Costello, reached #44.

The same month the LP charted, January 1991, the Byrds were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. McGuinn, Hillman, and Crosby had been at odds with Michael Clarke and Gene Clark for touring using the Byrds name. To prevent them from doing so, in 1989 McGuinn, Hillman, and Crosby had played three dates to establish their legal right to the name. A year later they recorded four songs for inclusion on the four-CD The Byrds anthology.

Just four months after the Hall of Fame ceremonies, Gene Clark died at age 46; in 1993 Michael Clarke (who, undeterred, continued to play clubs billed as Michael Clarke's Byrds) died of liver failure.