One Hit Wonder: Barry McGuire

Welcome, all of you time travelers, to Rock and Roll Flashback!  I'm Jumpin' John, and on this episode in the One Hit Wonders Series I will indeed transport you back to the year 1965.  That year a quickly recorded protest song shot up to #1 on the Billboard Hot 100:  Barry McGuire's version of “Eve of Destruction”!

All podcasts on the Rock and Roll Flashback Podcast are produced by brothers-in-law Bill Price and "Jumpin' John" McDermott. The Podcast Theme Song, "You Essay", was written by John. It was initially recorded by Bill and John on April 1, 2004 with several revisions since then.
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Transcript

Welcome, all of you time travelers, to Rock and Roll Flashback!  I'm Jumpin' John, and on this episode in the One Hit Wonders Series I will indeed transport you back to the year 1965.  That year a quickly recorded protest song shot up to #1 on the Billboard Hot 100:  Barry McGuire's version of “Eve of Destruction”!

Philip Gary "Flip" Sloan was born in New York City on September 18th, 1945.  He became a singer, guitarist, and songwriter, and was known professionally as P. F. Sloan.  During the mid-1960's he wrote, performed, and produced many Billboard Top 20 hits for artists such as the Searchers, Jan and Dean, Herman's Hermits, Johnny Rivers, the Grass Roots, and the Turtles.  Sloan generally played the lead guitar tracks on most of the songs he wrote, including the famous riff in "Secret Agent Man".  Sloan created and played a guitar introduction as a hook to a new song by John Phillips entitled "California Dreamin'", and the same backing track was used for a hit version by Phillips' group The Mamas & the Papas.  This led to Sloan being a regular in The Mamas & the Papas recording sessions.  Sloan occasionally wrote songs in collaboration with Steve Barri.  Sloan and Barri got their start back in Phil Spector’s Wall of Sound days.  Together P. F. and Steve wrote and arranged many songs during  the 1960's and early 1970's, such as the Grass Roots’ “Let’s Live for Today.”  Sloan also became a session guitarist as part of the talented group of L.A. session musicians known as The Wrecking Crew.   

The mid 1960's were a volatile time in American history with racism, injustice, and hypocrisy.  In 1965, in the style of Bob Dylan, P. F. Sloan wrote a protest song called “Eve of Destruction”.    The lyrics addressed the tensions and fears of the era, reflecting on the destructive potential of war, political unrest, and social injustice.  The song references such social issues as the Vietnam War, the draft, the threat of nuclear war during the Cold War, the Civil Rights Movement, turmoil in the Middle East, and the American space program.  Specific lyrics mention the Civil Rights marches in Selma and elsewhere and the four days in space of NASA’s Gemini 4 mission.   Sloan had hoped that the Byrds would record the song, as they had success with several similar Dylan covers.  However, the Byrds passed on the song.  Then the Turtles, known for picking up tunes the Byrds turned down, recorded the song.  

Around this time Sloan met a former New Christy Minstrel singer, who was also working with Dunhill Records.  That singer, Barry McGuire, was famous for his deep voice heard on the New Christy Minstrel's 1963 Top Twenty hit, “Green Green.”  The twenty-nine year old McGuire had just left the group and was on his own and looking for material to record.  Sloan proposed four tunes for McGuire to record.  McGuire apparently didn't really care for "Eve of Destruction" as much as the other three songs.  So, originally "Eve of Destruction" was intended to be the "B" side of a single, with "What Exactly's the Matter With Me" as the "A" side.  

At the recording session, the accompanying musicians were P. F. Sloan on acoustic guitar and "Wrecking Crew" session musicians Hal Blaine on drums and Larry Knechtel on bass guitar.  In the session one late night in July, a fatigued McGuire sang the song, hastily reading the lyrics that Sloan had scrawled on a crumpled piece of paper.  McGuire also played some harmonica on the recording.  Barry McGuire's vocal track was not intended to be the final version, and the musicians left the studio.  However, reportedly Dunhill producer Jay Lasker liked the rough mix, and he took the song to LA radio station KFWB.  

Heavy airplay in the Los Angeles market prompted Dunhill to release the single on July 26th, 1965.  In the first week of its release the single was at #103 on the Billboard chart.  That single steadily climbed the national charts, and a more polished vocal track was never recorded.  On August 12th Dunhill released the LP, also called Eve of Destruction.  That album reached its peak of #37 on the Billboard album chart during the week ending September 25th.  The Barry McGuire single version of "Eve of Destruction" knocked the Beatles' "Help!" out of the top spot and reached #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 on September 25th, 1965.  It also reached #1 in the Cash Box Top 100, #1 in Canada, and #3 on the UK Singles Chart.

“Eve of Destruction” would become such a phenomenon that it generated several answer songs and parodies.  The American media helped to make the song popular by using it as an example of everything that was supposedly wrong with the youth culture of the time.  Its controversial lyrics caused it to be banned by some American radio stations, claiming that the song's lyrics were an aid to the enemy in Vietnam.  It was also famously banned by both the BBC and Radio Scotland.  The song would eventually be featured in numerous TV shows and movies.  Due to its line "You're old enough to kill, but not for votin'", "Eve of Destruction" became a rallying cry by supporters of the Twenty-sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution.  That Amendment changed the US voting age from 21 to 18 as of 1971. 

The previously mentioned Turtles' version of "Eve of Destruction" appeared as a track on their October 1965 debut album It Ain't Me Babe.  The Turtles version was later released as a single in 1970, but it only reached #100 on the Billboard Hot 100.  Barry McGuire would never again break into the top 40 of the Billboard Hot 100.  However, he would later became a successful Contemporary Christian artist.  

This podcast episode is being recorded in September 2025.  Sadly, present-day life in the United States is once again filled with turmoil and controversy.  Unfortunately, with the current every day instances of cruelty, hate, and political division, the song "Eve of Destruction" is once again very powerful and relevant in the United States.  I'm Jumpin' John McDermott, and I will close out this podcast with Barry McGuire's version of "Eve of Destruction".  And until next time...Rock On!