That sound, which would influence countless groups from Big Star to the Bangles in decades to come, had an immediate and profound impact on the Byrds' contemporaries, and even on the artists who'd inspired it in the first place. pop charts.Īiming consciously for a vocal style in between Dylan's and Lennon's, McGuinn sang lead, with Gene Clark and David Crosby, providing the complex harmony that would, along with McGuinn's jangly electric 12-string Rickenbacker guitar, form the basis of the Byrds' trademark sound. On January 20, 1965, they entered the studio to record what would become the title track of their debut album and, incidentally, the only Bob Dylan song ever to reach #1 on the U.S. Tambourine Man' even before their label-mate, Bob Dylan, had a chance to record it for his own upcoming album. Newly signed to Columbia Records, the Byrds had access to an early demo version of 'Mr. Tambourine Man' and had the idea of somehow combining the two, but neither of those recordings existed when the Byrds' Roger McGuinn devised his group's new sound. Perhaps someone else could have listened to the bright guitar lines of the Beatles' 'Ticket To Ride' and to Bob Dylan's original 'Mr. In just a few months, the Byrds had become a household name, with a #1 single and a smash-hit album that married the ringing guitars and backbeat of the British Invasion with the harmonies and lyrical depth of folk to create an entirely new sound. Tambourine Man, marked a critical beginning of the folk-rock revolution. Released on this day in 1965 - 56 years ago - the Byrds' debut album, Mr.

The byrds mr.tambourine man album