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.