The Byrds

Essential Albums

  • Sweetheart of the Rodeo (Reissue Edition with Bonus Tracks)
  • The Notorious Byrd Brothers (Reissue Edition with Bonus Tracks)
  • Younger Than Yesterday (Reissue Edition with Bonus Tracks)
  • Turn! Turn! Turn! (Reissue Edition with Bonus Tracks)
  • Mr. Tambourine Man (Reissue Edition with Bonus Tracks)

Artist Playlists

About The Byrds

Folk rock, psychedelic rock, country rock—The Byrds helped pioneer them all in the ’60s and forever changed the face of popular music. ∙ Emerging from the L.A. folk scene, the group formed as The Jet Set in 1964, later changing their name to The Byrds as a tribute to the misspelled moniker of The Beatles. ∙ They twice hit No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1965—first with their debut, a cover of Bob Dylan’s “Mr. Tambourine Man,” and then with “Turn! Turn! Turn! (To Everything There Is a Season).” ∙ The 1966 single “Eight Miles High” ushered in the band’s psychedelic era, best exemplified by that year’s LP Fifth Dimension and 1967’s Younger Than Yesterday. ∙ South African jazz artist Hugh Masekela played trumpet on their 1967 single “So You Want to Be a Rock ’n’ Roll Star,” which went on to be covered years later by Patti Smith and Tom Petty. ∙ Gram Parsons was drafted into the band in 1968 and featured heavily on that year’s Sweetheart of the Rodeo, one of the very first country-rock albums. ∙ Following numerous personnel changes, the group’s original lineup reunited in 1972 to record one final, self-titled LP, which surfaced the following year as the members went their separate ways. ∙ The Byrds were inducted to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1991, and the band was later included on Rolling Stone’s list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time.

ORIGIN
Los Angeles, CA, United States
FORMED
1964
GENRE
Rock

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