Summer of Love: The Byrds

Today, mwbh begins its "Summer of Love" series, showing clips from pop artists of 1967 or thereabouts, in no particular order.

Our first installment is the "folk-rock" band known as The Byrds. David Crosby (guitarist on the right wearing a cape) went on to the "supergroup" known as Crosby Stills and Nash, and being in and out of jail. James McGuinn (the guy in the granny glasses, which were in vogue at the time, don't ask me why) ended up finding Jesus or something like that, and continues with a respectable solo career. Oh, and at some point, he changed his name to Roger. Notice his signature 12-string Rickenbacker guitar, playing that signature sound which became his... well, signature. Chris Hillman (the quiet guy on the left playing bass, I think) went on to the California country-folk-rock scene of the 1970s, briefly playing with Richie Furay and J D Souther (as the Souther-Hillman-Furay Band).

The song in question, "Turn, Turn, Turn," was penned by Pete Seeger, and was based (with surprising accuracy) on verses from the Book of Ecclesiastes in the Old Testament. This performance aired on the ABC program "Shindig" on October 21, 1965.

There were two shows in the mid-60s that featured pop and rock artists. Sometimes, when my parents weren't feeling as threatened as they usually did, about the effect of such degenerate music on our young and impressionable minds, they'd let us watch them. "Shindig" was one; the other was NBC's "Hulabaloo." Both were in black and white, and so is this.
.