The sounds of the the British Invasion transformed American rock music in 1965 by taking it back to its roots.
Folk-rock came into being as the first iteration of the new music introduced by the Beatles , Rolling Stones and other UK bands. The band who first popularized it through hit records was the Byrds. Inspired by A Hard Days Night the band released Bob Dylan’s “Mr. Tambourine Man,” and the album of the same name.
Teen magazines like 16 tended to bury the Byrds and Dylan in a sea of Beatles, Hermits, and Raiders.
But Hit Parader, more focused on music than adorableness, produced some of the first insightful writing about the rise of folk-rock. Starting with Dylan’s set with the Paul Butterfield Blues Band at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival, Hit Parader played a key role in bringing the music to a new generation. They began to label it “folk-rock.”
But the musically eclectic Byrds rejected all forms of labels. Including, as they called it, “rock-folk.” Let’s be glad that term didn’t catch on.
From the November 1965 Hit Parader, a glimpse of the Byrds at the peak of their popularity:
© 2020 Music Journalism History
2 replies on “The Byrds Talk to Hit Parader Magazine”
“If you don’t look like the Byrds you can’t work in Hollywood!” noted Frank Zappa
“kissable”sez it all!