Fifty years ago, Roger McGuinn, Gene Clark, David Crosby, Michael Clarke and Chris Hillman got together to form a band. They called themselves The Byrds and created what would be known as folk rock — essentially, putting a “Beatle beat” to folk songs. They not only borrowed their beat, The Byrds also copied The Fab Four’s instrumentation after watching The Beatles’ movie A Hard Day’s Night, with McGuinn procuring an instrument that would give The Byrds their signature “jingle-jangle” sound: A Rickenbacker electric 12-string guitar.
As the golden anniversary of The Byrds looms, McGuinn is adamant about not doing any reunions, despite the fact that any show they did would probably sell out.
“It has a been a big thing I did in my life, but I was with The Byrds for nine years — and I’ve been doing my solo thing for more than 20 years,” he told TODAY. “(The Byrds) was not the longest thing I did, but probably the most successful in terms of audience reaction and No 1 hits.
“But I don’t want to do it again,” he added. “David Crosby does, but I don’t. Every chance he gets with the press he goes, ‘I want to get The Byrds back together again, but Roger McGuinn won’t do it!’ (Laughs) But you know, I’m very happy doing what I’m doing. I get to travel around the world with my lovely wife and I get to play for people and it’s great fun. Getting The Byrds together wouldn’t be fun for me. Not now, anyway.”
THE BYRDS AT GONZO
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