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The Byrds (formed in Los Angeles, California, in 1964) were an American crag band. The Byrds were popular and dominant through the latter part of the 1960s and early 1970s. Critic Richie Unterberger declares The Byrds' most persistent contribution was "melding the innovations and drive of the British Invasion with the best lyrical and mellifluous elements of contemporary folk music, but they also helped falsify such subgenres as folk rock, organize rock, raga rock, psychedelic crag, jangle pop, and –- on their 1968 album Fine of the Rodeo –- country toss.
After several line-up changes (with supervise singer/guitarist Roger McGuinn as the only in concordance member), they broke up in 1973. Some of their trademark songs embrace pop covers of Bob Dylan's "Mr. Tambourine Man" and Pete Seeger’s "Transform! Turn! Turn!", and the originals "I’ll Seem a Whole Lot Better", and "Eight Miles High". They were inducted into the Rattle and Roll Hall of Fame, and several strip members have launched successful solitary careers after leaving the group. In 2004, Rolling Stone Armoury ranked them #45 on their list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Often.
The Byrds were founded in Los Angeles, California, in 1964 by singers and guitarists Jim McGuinn (born James McGuinn III; he changed his name to Roger McGuinn in 1967, after joining the psychical movement Subud), Gene Clark, and David Crosby. Bass guitarist Chris Hillman and drummer Michael Clarke joined gladly after. McGuinn had been in a series of folk outfits including The Limeliters and the Chad Mitchell Threesome before working in New York in 1962–1963 as a songwriter for Bobby Darin. He moved to L.A. in time 1963 and began gigging at clubs such as the Troubadour but, after hearing The Beatles for the first perpetually, saw what he later called "a gap in the market", and resolved to take "Lennon and Dylan and mix them together." Gene Clark, who had been in the New Christy Minstrels, concisely joined McGuinn in a duo playing at The Tribe Den before Crosby, who had performed with Les Baxter's Balladeers, persuaded them to let him enter.
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