We went to see a friend’s band on Sunday — a pickup band featuring guys playing their favorite classic rock. It was a loose affair, but the harmonies were tight and it made for a nice respite from grading and the craziness of the season.
It was an interesting mix of songs, but one jumped out — “I’ll Feel a Whole Lot Better” by The Byrds. The guys did a nice job with a song that, while sounding simple, is one that helped remake rock ‘n’ roll. Critics credit The Byrds with creating a new genre, folk rock — a hybrid of Dylan folk and Beatles rock. That’s probably too simple — 1965 was also the year Dylan went electric and released both Bringing It All Back Home and Highway 61 Revisited and The Beatles issued Rubber Soul.
But The Byrds added something to the mix — a California feel, perhaps, or a softer sound infused with a kinetic charge that made it feel revolutionary.
“I’ll Feel a Whole Lot Better” appears on Mr. Tambourine Man, which came out in the summer of 1965. A second Byrds album, Turn! Turn! Turn!, arrived in December of that year — making this year that is closing the 50th anniversary of the band. (It also is the 50th anniversary of what may be the single most significant year in rock history, but that’s another discussion.)
What strikes me is that The Byrds are sometimes overlooked, that when we tick off the list of important and influential rock acts, The Byrds do not always make the list, though there is no question they belong.
1. 12-string guitars: The Byrds were not the first to use the 12-string, but the band’s reliance on the instrument created a signature sound that many have tried to emulate. The jangling sound has influenced many, most notably early Tom Petty and the power pop movement led by Big Star.
2. Roger — or is it Jim — McGuinn: McGuinn was a transformative guitar player. Rolling Stone ranked him 95th (I’d rank him higher) and had this to say about him:
Roger McGuinn’s sparkling, chordal 12-string Rickenbacker riffs on the Byrds‘ early hits were the sonic bridge between folk and rock – and an irreplaceable color in rock’s palette: Every indie band who’s more interested in beatific strumming than screaming solos owes him a debt (the striking break in “Bells of Rhymney” could be on a Smiths record). McGuinn could do a lot more than chime, however, as demonstrated by his still-astonishing psychedelic-raga-Coltrane licks on “Eight Miles High.”
3. Gram Parsons and the creation of alt-country: Four words (an album title) — Sweetheart of the Rodeo. Simply a breathtaking work, it is Americana or alt-country years before we recognized those genres.
4. Those harmonies: In early rock, only The Beatles’ use of harmonies was as divine.
5. “Eight Miles High”: Listen to McGuinn’s guitar. Just listen. No one was doing that in rock at the time, and few have done it as impressively since.
6. “So You Want to be a Rock ‘n’ Roll Star”: A parody of the the industry, the song flat out rocks — and features among the greatest trumpet work (by the legendary Hugh Masekela) on a rock record you will ever hear.
7. Aside from, maybe, Jimi Hendrix — and this a big maybe — no one covers Dylan like Roger McGuinn and company. From their debut record, Mr. Tambourine Man through the early ’70s, the band in its many incarnations turned out one great cover after another of the rock bard’s songs. (They were eventually collected on a single record long after the band split.)
Hank Kalet 
Great post. I'm old enough to date back to the day. At the time The Byrds were my favorite band, even more so than the pre-Sergeant Pepper Beatles. Over the years their songs have not lost power to take me right back there, not just in the sense of evoking memories, but of reviving the ~feel~ of that time. Likewise true of Donovan, for that brief \”flower power\” moment that came later. Other bands/artists may be much more famous, recognized and remembered, but these are two that, for me, preserve the flavor in a unique way …