title: The Byrds

text: The Byrds' second album, "Turn! Turn! Turn!", was released in December 1965 and while it received a mostly positive reception, critical consensus deemed it to be inferior to the band's debut. Nonetheless, it was a commercial success, peaking at number 17 on the U.S. charts and number 11 in the UK. Author Scott Schinder has stated that "Turn! Turn! Turn!", along with "Mr. Tambourine Man", served to establish the Byrds as one of rock music's most important creative forces, on a par with the Beatles, the Beach Boys and the Rolling Stones. Like their debut, the album comprised a mixture of group originals, folk songs, and Bob Dylan covers, all characterized by the group's clear harmonies and McGuinn's distinctive guitar sound. However, the album featured more of the band's own compositions than its predecessor, with Clark in particular coming to the fore as a songwriter. His songs from this period, including "She Don't Care About Time", "The World Turns All Around Her", and "Set You Free This Time", are widely regarded by critics as among the best of the folk rock genre. The latter song was even chosen for release as a single in January 1966, but its densely worded lyrics, melancholy melody, and ballad-like tempo contributed to it stalling at number 63 on the "Billboard" chart and failing to reach the UK chart altogether.


title: The Byrds

text: While the Byrds outwardly seemed to be riding the crest of a wave during the latter half of 1965, the recording sessions for their second album had not been without tension. One source of conflict was the power struggle that had begun to develop between producer Melcher and the band's manager, Jim Dickson, with the latter harboring aspirations to produce the band himself, causing him to be overly critical of the former's work. Within a month of "Turn! Turn! Turn!" being released, Dickson and the Byrds approached Columbia Records and requested that Melcher be replaced, despite the fact that he had successfully steered the band through the recording of two number 1 singles and two hit albums. Any hopes that Dickson had of being allowed to produce the band himself, however, were dashed when Columbia assigned their West Coast head of A&R, Allen Stanton, to the band.


title: The Byrds

text: On December 22, 1965, the Byrds recorded a new, self-penned composition titled "Eight Miles High" at RCA Studios in Hollywood. However, Columbia Records refused to release this version because it had been recorded at another record company's facility. As a result, the band was forced to re-record the song at Columbia Studios in Los Angeles on January 24 and 25, 1966, and it was this re-recorded version that would be released as a single and included on the group's third album. The song represented a creative leap forward for the band and is often considered the first full-blown psychedelic rock recording by critics, although other contemporaneous acts, such as Donovan and the Yardbirds, were also exploring similar musical territory. It was also pivotal in transmuting folk rock into the new musical forms of psychedelia and raga rock.


title: The Byrds

text: "Eight Miles High" is marked by McGuinn's groundbreaking lead guitar playing, which saw the guitarist attempting to emulate the free form jazz saxophone playing of John Coltrane, and in particular, Coltrane's playing on the song "India" from his "Impressions" album. It also exhibits the influence of the Indian classical music of Ravi Shankar in the droning quality of the song's vocal melody and in McGuinn's guitar playing. The song's subtle use of Indian influences resulted in it being labeled as "raga rock" by the music press, but in fact, it was the single's B-side, "Why", that drew more directly on Indian ragas.


title: The Byrds

text: Upon release, "Eight Miles High" was banned by many U.S. radio stations, following allegations made by the broadcasting trade journal the "Gavin Report", that its lyrics advocated recreational drug use. The band and their management strenuously denied these allegations, stating that the song's lyrics actually described an airplane flight to London and the band's subsequent concert tour of England. The relatively modest chart success of "Eight Miles High" (number 14 in the U.S. and number 24 in the UK) has been largely attributed to the broadcasting ban, although the challenging and slightly uncommercial nature of the track is another possible reason for its failure to reach the Top 10.


title: The Byrds

text: In February 1966, just prior to the release of "Eight Miles High", Gene Clark left the band. His departure was partly due to his fear of flying, which made it impossible for him to keep up with the Byrds' itinerary, and partly due to his increasing isolation within the band. Clark, who had witnessed a fatal airplane crash as a youth, had a panic attack on a plane bound for New York and as a result, he disembarked and refused to take the flight. In effect, Clark's exit from the plane represented his exit from the Byrds, with McGuinn telling him, "If you can't fly, you can't be a Byrd." However, it has become known in the years since the incident that there were other stress and anxiety-related factors at work, as well as resentment within the band that Gene's songwriting income had made him the wealthiest member of the group. Clark was subsequently signed by Columbia Records as a solo artist and went on to produce a critically acclaimed but commercially unsuccessful body of work. He died on May 24, 1991, at the age of 46, from heart failure brought on by a bleeding stomach ulcer, although years of alcohol abuse and a heavy cigarette habit were also contributing factors.


title: The Byrds

text: The Byrds' third album, "Fifth Dimension", was released in July 1966. Much of the album's material continued to build on the band's new psychedelic sound, with McGuinn extending his exploration of jazz and raga styles on tracks such as "I See You" and the Crosby-penned "What's Happening?!?!". The album also saw Hillman coming forward as the band's third vocalist, in order to fill the hole in the group's harmonies that Clark's departure had left. The title track, "5D (Fifth Dimension)", was released as a single ahead of the album and was, like "Eight Miles High" before it, banned by a number of U.S. radio stations for supposedly featuring lyrics that advocated drug use. In addition, the album's front cover artwork featured the first appearance of the Byrds' colorful, psychedelic mosaic logo, variations of which would subsequently appear on a number of the band's compilation albums, as well as on their 1967 release, "Younger Than Yesterday".


title: The Byrds

text: The "Fifth Dimension" album received a mixed critical reception upon release and was less commercially successful than its predecessors, peaking at number 24 in the U.S. and number 27 in the UK. Band biographer Bud Scoppa has remarked that with the album's lackluster chart performance, its lukewarm critical reception, and the high-profile loss of Clark from the group, the Byrds' popularity began to wane at this point and by late 1966, the group had been all but forgotten by the mainstream pop audience. Nonetheless, the band were considered forefathers of the emerging rock underground, with many of the new L.A. and San Francisco groups of the day, including Love, Jefferson Airplane, and the Buffalo Springfield, publicly naming the Byrds as a primary influence.


title: The Byrds

text: The band returned to the studio between November 28 and December 8, 1966, to record their fourth album, "Younger Than Yesterday". With Allen Stanton having recently departed Columbia Records to work for A&M, the band chose to bring in producer Gary Usher to help guide them through the album sessions. Usher, who had a wealth of production experience and a love of innovative studio experimentation, would prove invaluable to the Byrds as they entered their most creatively adventurous phase. The first song to be recorded for the album was the McGuinn and Hillman-penned "So You Want to Be a Rock 'n' Roll Star", a satirical and heavily sarcastic jibe at the manufactured nature of groups like the Monkees. The song features the trumpet playing of South African musician Hugh Masekela and as such, marks the first appearance of brass on a Byrds' recording. "So You Want to Be a Rock 'n' Roll Star" was issued as a single in January 1967 and peaked at number 29 in America but failed to chart in the UK. Despite this relatively poor chart showing, "So You Want to Be a Rock 'n' Roll Star" has become one of the Byrds' best-known songs in the years since its initial release, inspiring cover versions by the likes of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers and the Patti Smith Group amongst others.


title: The Byrds

text: Released on February 6, 1967, the Byrds' fourth album, "Younger Than Yesterday", was more varied than its predecessor and saw the band successfully mixing psychedelia with folk rock and country and western influences. Although it received generally positive reviews upon its release, the album was, to a degree, overlooked by the record-buying public and consequently peaked at number 24 on the "Billboard" chart and number 37 on the UK Albums Chart. However, music expert Peter Buckley has pointed out that although the album may have passed the Byrds' rapidly shrinking teen audience by, it found favor with "a new underground following who disdained hit singles, but were coming to regard albums as major artistic statements".


title: The Byrds

text: In addition to "So You Want to Be a Rock 'n' Roll Star", "Younger Than Yesterday" also includes the evocative Crosby and McGuinn penned song "Renaissance Fair", a cover of Dylan's "My Back Pages" (which was later released as a single), and a quartet of Chris Hillman songs, which found the bassist emerging fully formed as an accomplished songwriter. Two of Hillman's country-oriented compositions on the album, "Time Between" and "The Girl with No Name", can be seen as early indicators of the country rock direction that the band would pursue on later albums. "Younger Than Yesterday" also features the jazz-tinged Crosby ballad "Everybody's Been Burned", which critic Thomas Ward has described as "one of the most haunting songs in the Byrds' catalogue, and one of David Crosby's finest compositions".


title: The Byrds

text: By mid-1967, McGuinn had changed his first name from Jim to Roger as a result of his interest in the Indonesian religion Subud, into which he had been initiated in January 1965. The adoption of a new name was common among followers of the religion and served to signify a spiritual rebirth for the participant. Shortly after McGuinn's name change, the band entered the studio to record the Crosby-penned, non-album single "Lady Friend", which was released on July 13, 1967. The Byrds' biographer Johnny Rogan has described "Lady Friend" as "a work of great maturity" and "the loudest, fastest and rockiest Byrds' single to date". Regardless of its artistic merits, however, the single stalled at a disappointing number 82 on the "Billboard" chart, despite the band making a number of high-profile television appearances to promote the record. Crosby, who had closely overseen the recording of the song, was bitterly disappointed by the single's lack of success and blamed Gary Usher's mixing of the song as a factor in its commercial failure.


title: The Byrds

text: The poor sales suffered by "Lady Friend" were in stark contrast to the chart success of the band's first compilation album, "The Byrds' Greatest Hits", which was released on August 7, 1967. Sanctioned by Columbia Records in the wake of the Top 10 success of "Bob Dylan's Greatest Hits", the album was a critical and commercial triumph, peaking at number six on the "Billboard" Top LPs chart and giving the band their highest-charting album in America since their 1965 debut, "Mr. Tambourine Man". Within a year, the compilation would be certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America, eventually going platinum on November 21, 1986, and is today the biggest-selling album in the Byrds' discography.


title: The Byrds

text: Prior to the release of "The Byrds' Greatest Hits", the band decided to dispense with the services of their co-managers Jim Dickson and Eddie Tickner. The relationship between Dickson and the band had soured over recent months, and he and Tickner's business arrangement with the Byrds was officially dissolved on June 30, 1967. At Crosby's recommendation, Larry Spector was brought in to handle the Byrds' business affairs, with the group electing to manage themselves to a large extent.


title: The Byrds

text: Between June and December 1967, the Byrds worked on completing their fifth album, "The Notorious Byrd Brothers". The lead single from the album was a cover of the Gerry Goffin and Carole King song "Goin' Back", which was released in October 1967 and peaked at number 89 on the "Billboard" chart. Despite this lack of commercial success, the Byrds' rendition of "Goin' Back" featured a band performance that author Ric Menck has described as "a beautiful recording", while music critic Richie Unterberger has called it "a magnificent and melodic cover ... that should have been a big hit". The song found the Byrds successfully blending their signature harmonies and chiming 12-string guitar playing with the sound of the pedal steel guitar for the first time, foreshadowing their extensive use of the instrument on their next album, "Sweetheart of the Rodeo".


title: The Byrds

text: Released in January 1968, "The Notorious Byrd Brothers" album saw the band taking their psychedelic experimentation to its furthest extremes by mixing folk rock, country music, jazz, and psychedelia (often within a single song), while utilizing innovative studio production techniques such as phasing and flanging. The album featured contributions from a number of noted session musicians, including bluegrass guitarist and future Byrd, Clarence White. White, who had also played on "Younger Than Yesterday", contributed country-influenced guitar to the tracks "Natural Harmony", "Wasn't Born to Follow", and "Change Is Now". Upon release, the album was almost universally praised by music critics but it was only moderately successful commercially, particularly in the United States where it peaked at number 47. However, the album's reputation has grown over the years and today it is widely regarded by critics and fans as one of the Byrds' best album releases.


title: The Byrds

text: While the band worked on "The Notorious Byrd Brothers" album throughout late 1967, there was increasing tension and acrimony among the members of the group, which eventually resulted in the dismissals of Crosby and Clarke. McGuinn and Hillman became increasingly irritated by what they saw as Crosby's overbearing egotism and his attempts to dictate the band's musical direction. In addition, during the Byrds' performance at the Monterey Pop Festival on June 17, 1967, Crosby gave lengthy in-between-song speeches on controversial subjects, including the JFK assassination and the benefits of giving LSD to "all the statesmen and politicians in the world", to the intense annoyance of the other band members. He further irritated his bandmates by performing with rival group Buffalo Springfield at Monterey, filling in for ex-member Neil Young. His reputation within the band deteriorated even more following the commercial failure of "Lady Friend", the first Byrds' single to feature a song penned solely by Crosby on its A-side.


title: The Byrds

text: Tensions within the band finally erupted in August 1967, during recording sessions for "The Notorious Byrd Brothers" album, when Michael Clarke quit the sessions over disputes with his bandmates and his dissatisfaction with the material that the songwriting members of the band were providing. Session drummers Jim Gordon and Hal Blaine were brought in to replace Clarke temporarily in the studio, although he continued to honor his live concert commitments with the group. Then, in September, Crosby refused to participate in the recording of the Goffin–King song "Goin' Back", considering it to be inferior to his own "Triad", a controversial song about a ménage à trois that was in direct competition with "Goin' Back" for a place on the album. Crosby felt that the band should rely on self-penned material for their albums, rather than cover songs by other artists and writers. He would eventually give "Triad" to the San Francisco band Jefferson Airplane, who included a recording of it on their 1968 album, "Crown of Creation".


title: The Byrds

text: When tensions reached a breaking point during October 1967, McGuinn and Hillman drove to Crosby's home and fired him, stating that they would be better off without him. Crosby subsequently received a cash settlement, with which he bought a sailboat and soon after, he began working with Stephen Stills and Graham Nash in the successful supergroup Crosby, Stills & Nash. In the years since his exit from the Byrds, Crosby has enjoyed an influential and commercially successful career as a part of Crosby, Stills & Nash (sometimes augmented by Neil Young), Crosby & Nash, CPR, and as a solo artist. During the 1980s, he fought against crippling drug addiction and eventually served a year in prison on drug-related charges. He emerged from jail free of his drug habit and remains musically active up to the present day.


title: The Byrds

text: Following Crosby's departure, Gene Clark briefly rejoined the band, but left just three weeks later, after again refusing to board an aircraft while on tour. There is some disagreement among biographers and band historians as to whether Clark actually participated in the recording sessions for "The Notorious Byrd Brothers", but there is evidence to suggest that he sang backing vocals on the songs "Goin' Back" and "Space Odyssey". Michael Clarke also returned to the recording studio briefly, towards the end of the album sessions, before being informed by McGuinn and Hillman that they were dismissing him from the band.


title: The Byrds

text: Now reduced to a duo, McGuinn and Hillman elected to hire new band members. Hillman's cousin Kevin Kelley was quickly recruited as the band's new drummer and the trio embarked on an early 1968 college tour in support of "The Notorious Byrd Brothers". It soon became apparent, however, that recreating the band's studio recordings with a three-piece line-up wasn't going to be possible and so, McGuinn and Hillman, in a fateful decision for their future career direction, hired Gram Parsons as a keyboard player, although he quickly moved to guitar. Although Parsons and Kelley were both considered full members of the Byrds, they actually received a salary from McGuinn and Hillman, and did not sign with Columbia Records when the Byrds' recording contract was renewed on February 29, 1968.


title: The Byrds

text: Following his induction into the band, Gram Parsons began to assert his own musical agenda in which he intended to marry his love of country and western music with youth culture's passion for rock and, in doing so, make country music fashionable for a young audience. He found a kindred spirit in Hillman, who had played mandolin in a number of notable bluegrass bands before joining the Byrds. In addition, Hillman had also persuaded the Byrds to incorporate subtle country influences into their music in the past, beginning with the song "Satisfied Mind" on the "Turn! Turn! Turn!" album. Although McGuinn had some reservations about the band's proposed new direction, Parsons convinced him that a move towards country music could theoretically expand the group's declining audience. Thus, McGuinn was persuaded to change direction and abandon his original concept for the group's next album, which had been to record a history of 20th century American popular music, and instead explore country rock.


title: The Byrds

text: On March 9, 1968, the band decamped to Columbia's recording studios in Nashville, Tennessee, with Clarence White in tow, to begin the recording sessions for the "Sweetheart of the Rodeo" album. While in Nashville, the Byrds also appeared at the "Grand Ole Opry" on March 15, 1968, where they performed the Merle Haggard song "Sing Me Back Home" and Parsons' own "Hickory Wind" (although they were actually scheduled to play a second Haggard song, "Life in Prison"). Being the first group of hippie "longhairs" ever to play at the venerable country music institution, the band was met with heckling, booing, and mocking calls of "tweet, tweet" from the conservative "Opry" audience.


title: The Byrds

text: The band also incurred the wrath of renowned country music DJ Ralph Emery, when they appeared on his Nashville-based WSM radio program. Emery mocked the band throughout their interview and made no secret of his dislike for their newly recorded country rock single, "You Ain't Goin' Nowhere". Parsons and McGuinn would later write the pointedly sarcastic song "Drug Store Truck Drivin' Man" about Emery and their appearance on his show. Journalist David Fricke has described the reactions of Emery and the "Grand Ole Opry" audience as indicative of the resistance and hostility that the Byrds' venture into country music provoked from the Nashville old guard.


title: The Byrds

text: Following their stay in Nashville, the band returned to Los Angeles and throughout April and May 1968, they worked on completing their new country-oriented album. During this period, Parsons attempted to exert a controlling influence over the group by pressuring McGuinn to recruit either JayDee Maness or Sneaky Pete Kleinow as the band's permanent pedal steel guitar player. When McGuinn refused, Parsons next began to push for a higher salary, while also demanding that the group be billed as "Gram Parsons and the Byrds" on their forthcoming album. Even Hillman, who had previously been Parsons' biggest supporter in the band, began to grow weary of his forceful demands. Ultimately, Parsons' behavior led to a power struggle for control of the group, with McGuinn finding his position as band leader challenged. However, biographer Johnny Rogan has pointed out that the April 1968 release of "You Ain't Goin' Nowhere" served to strengthen McGuinn's position as head Byrd, with the guitarist's familiar drawl occupying the lead vocal spot and negligible input from Parsons, despite the single's obvious country leanings.


title: The Byrds

text: Parsons' dominance over the band waned still further during post-production for "Sweetheart of the Rodeo", when his appearance on the album was contested by music business impresario Lee Hazlewood, who alleged that the singer was still under contract to his LHI record label, creating legal complications for Columbia Records. As a result of this, McGuinn and Hillman replaced Parsons' lead vocals on the songs "You Don't Miss Your Water", "The Christian Life", and "One Hundred Years from Now" before the legal problems could be resolved. However, album producer Gary Usher would later put a different slant on the events surrounding the removal of Parsons' vocals by telling his biographer Stephen J. McParland that the alterations to the album arose out of creative concerns, not legal ones; Usher and the band were both worried that Parsons' contributions were dominating the record so his vocals were excised in an attempt to increase McGuinn and Hillman's presence on the album. In the album's final running order, Parsons is still featured as lead vocalist on the songs "You're Still on My Mind", "Life in Prison", and "Hickory Wind".


title: The Byrds

text: With their new album now completed, the Byrds flew to England for an appearance at a charity concert at the Royal Albert Hall on July 7, 1968. Following the concert, just prior to a tour of South Africa, Parsons quit the Byrds on the grounds that he did not want to perform in a racially segregated country (apartheid did not end in South Africa until 1994). Hillman doubted the sincerity of Parsons' gesture, believing that the singer had in fact left the band in order to remain in England with Mick Jagger and Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones, whom he had recently befriended. Parsons stayed at Richards' house in West Sussex immediately after leaving the Byrds, and the pair developed a close friendship over the next few years. After leaving the Byrds, Parsons would go on to produce an influential but commercially unsuccessful body of work, both as a solo artist and with the band the Flying Burrito Brothers (which also featured Hillman). He died on September 19, 1973, at the age of 26, following an accidental overdose of morphine and alcohol in his room at the Joshua Tree Inn.


title: The Byrds

text: With Parsons gone from the band and their tour of South Africa due to begin in two days time, the Byrds were forced to draft in their roadie Carlos Bernal as a substitute rhythm guitar player. The ensuing South African tour was a disaster, with the band finding themselves having to play to segregated audiences—something that they had been assured by promoters they would not have to do. The under-rehearsed band gave ramshackle performances to audiences that were largely unimpressed with their lack of professionalism and their antagonistic, anti-apartheid stance. The Byrds left South Africa amid a storm of bad publicity and death threats, while the liberal press in the U.S. and the UK attacked the band for undertaking the tour and questioned their political integrity. McGuinn attempted to counter this criticism by asserting that the tour of South Africa had, in some small way, been an attempt to challenge the country's political status quo and protest against apartheid.


title: The Byrds

text: After returning to California, the Byrds' released the "Sweetheart of the Rodeo" album on August 30, 1968, almost eight weeks after Parsons had left the band. It comprised a mixture of country music standards and contemporary country material, along with a country reworking of William Bell's soul hit "You Don't Miss Your Water". The album also included the Parsons originals "Hickory Wind" and "One Hundred Years from Now", along with the Bob Dylan-penned songs "Nothing Was Delivered" and "You Ain't Goin' Nowhere", the latter of which had been a moderately successful single. Although it was not the first country rock album, "Sweetheart of the Rodeo" was the first album widely labeled as country rock to be released by an internationally successful rock act, pre-dating Dylan's "Nashville Skyline" by over six months.


title: The Byrds

text: However, the stylistic shift away from psychedelia towards country rock that "Sweetheart of the Rodeo" represented served to alienate much of the Byrds' counterculture following, while at the same time, eliciting hostility from the ultra-conservative Nashville country music establishment. As a result, the album peaked at number 77 on the U.S. charts and was the least commercially successful Byrds' album to date upon its initial release. Today, however, it is considered a seminal and highly influential album, serving as a blueprint for the entire 1970s country rock movement, the outlaw country scene, and the alternative country genre of the 1990s and early 21st century.


title: The Byrds

text: After Gram Parsons' departure, McGuinn and Hillman decided to recruit noted session guitarist Clarence White as a full-time member of the band in late July 1968. White, who had contributed countrified guitar playing to every Byrds' album since 1967's "Younger Than Yesterday", was brought in at Hillman's suggestion as someone who could handle the band's older rock repertoire and their newer country-oriented material. Shortly after his induction into the band, White began to express dissatisfaction with drummer Kevin Kelley and soon persuaded McGuinn and Hillman to replace him with Gene Parsons (no relation to Gram), who White had previously played with in the country rock band Nashville West.


title: The Byrds

text: The McGuinn–Hillman–White–Parsons line-up was together for less than a month before Hillman quit to join Gram Parsons in forming the Flying Burrito Brothers. Hillman had become increasingly disenchanted with the Byrds since the South African débâcle, and was also frustrated by business manager Larry Spector's mishandling of the group's finances. Things came to a head on September 15, 1968, following a band performance at the Rose Bowl stadium in Pasadena, when Hillman and Spector came to blows backstage. In a fit of rage, Hillman threw down his bass in disgust and walked out of the group. Following his exit, Hillman would have a successful career both as a solo artist and with bands such as the Flying Burrito Brothers, Manassas, the Souther–Hillman–Furay Band, and the Desert Rose Band. He remains active, releasing albums and touring, often with ex-Desert Rose Band member Herb Pedersen.


title: The Byrds

text: As the only original band member left, McGuinn elected to hire bassist John York as Hillman's replacement. York had previously been a member of the Sir Douglas Quintet and had also worked as a session musician with Johnny Rivers and the Mamas & the Papas. In October 1968, the new line-up entered Columbia Studios in Hollywood to begin recording the "Dr. Byrds & Mr. Hyde" album with producer Bob Johnston. The sessions saw the band juxtaposing their new country rock sound with more psychedelic-oriented material, giving the resulting album a stylistic split personality that was alluded to in its title. In the wake of the recent changes in band personnel, McGuinn decided that it would be too confusing for fans of the group to hear the unfamiliar voices of White, Parsons and York coming forward at this stage, and so they were relegated to backing vocals on the album. As a result, "Dr. Byrds & Mr. Hyde" is unique in the Byrds' back catalogue as McGuinn sings lead on every track.


title: The Byrds

text: The album was released on March 5, 1969 to generally positive reviews, but in America became the lowest-charting album of the Byrds' career, peaking at number 153 on the "Billboard" album charts. However, the album fared much better in the UK, where it attracted glowing reviews and reached number 15. A number of tracks on "Dr Byrds & Mr. Hyde", including the instrumental "Nashville West" and the traditional song "Old Blue", featured the sound of the Parsons and White designed StringBender (also known as the B-Bender), an invention that allowed White to duplicate the sound of a pedal steel guitar on his Fender Telecaster. The distinctive sound of the StringBender became characteristic of the Byrds' music during White's tenure.


title: The Byrds

text: Following the release of "Dr. Byrds & Mr. Hyde" the band issued a version of Dylan's "Lay Lady Lay" as a single in May 1969, which failed to reverse the group's commercial fortunes in the U.S., reaching number 132. The Byrds' producer Bob Johnston took it upon himself to overdub a female choir onto the record, something the group only became aware of after the single was issued, leaving them incensed by what they saw as an embarrassing and incongruous addition. As a result, the band dispensed with Johnston and re-enlisted Terry Melcher, who had produced the band's first two albums, to produce their next LP. Although he was happy to accept the band's invitation, Melcher insisted that he also manage the group to avoid a repeat of the conflict he had experienced in 1965 with Jim Dickson.


title: The Byrds

text: Prior to the release of the Byrds' next studio album, however, the band's former producer Gary Usher managed to acquire a number of demo recordings from Dickson, dating from the group's 1964 rehearsal sessions at World Pacific Studios. These recordings were subsequently issued as the "Preflyte" album on Usher's own Together Records imprint in July 1969. Although the material on "Preflyte" was five years old at the time of its release, the album actually managed to outperform "Dr. Byrds & Mr. Hyde" in America, garnering moderately enthusiastic reviews and peaking at number 84 on the "Billboard" album chart.


title: The Byrds

text: Between June and August 1969, the Byrds worked with Melcher to complete the "Ballad of Easy Rider" album. Musically, the album represented a consolidation and streamlining the band's country rock sound, and mostly consisted of cover versions and traditional material, along with three self-penned originals. The first single to be released from the album was the title track, issued in October 1969 in America and reaching number 65 on the "Billboard" Hot 100 chart. Composed primarily by McGuinn, with some input from Bob Dylan (although not credited), "Ballad of Easy Rider" was written as the theme tune for the 1969 counterculture film "Easy Rider". However, the Byrds' recording of the song does not appear in the film and an acoustic version credited to McGuinn alone was used instead. The Byrds' song "Wasn't Born to Follow" from "The Notorious Byrd Brothers" album was featured in the film and also included on the "Easy Rider" soundtrack album in August 1969. The Byrds' association with the film heightened their public profile and when the "Ballad of Easy Rider" album was released in November 1969, it peaked at number 36 in the U.S. and number 41 in the UK, becoming the band's highest-charting album for two years in America. A second single taken from the album, "Jesus Is Just Alright", was released in December 1969, but it only managed to reach number 97. Despite this lack of commercial success, the Doobie Brothers' later hit version of "Jesus Is Just Alright" features an arrangement that was heavily influenced by the Byrds' recording.


title: The Byrds

text: Just prior to the release of "Ballad of Easy Rider", the Byrds underwent yet another change in personnel when bassist John York was asked to leave the band in September 1969. York had become disenchanted with his role in the Byrds and had voiced his reluctance to perform material that had been written and recorded by the group before he had joined. The rest of the band had begun to doubt his commitment and so, a consensus was reached among the other three members that York should be fired. He was replaced, at the suggestion of Parsons and White, by Skip Battin, a freelance session musician and one-time member of the duo Skip & Flip. Battin's recruitment marked the last personnel change to the group for almost three years and as a result, the McGuinn-White-Parsons-Battin line-up became the most stable and longest-lived of any configuration of the Byrds.


title: The Byrds

text: The latter-day, post-"Sweetheart of the Rodeo" version of the band, featuring McGuinn and White's dual lead guitar work, toured relentlessly between 1969 and 1972 and was regarded by critics and audiences as much more accomplished in concert than any previous configuration of the Byrds had been. As a result of this, it was decided in early 1970 that the time was right for the group to issue a live album. However, it was also felt that the band had a sufficient backlog of new compositions to warrant the recording of a new studio album. It was therefore suggested by Melcher that the band should release a double album, featuring one LP of concert recordings and another LP of new studio material. To help with the editing of the live recordings, the band's ex-manager Jim Dickson, who had been fired by the group in June 1967, was invited back into the Byrds' camp. At around this same time, former business manager Eddie Tickner also returned to the group's employ as a replacement for Larry Spector, who had quit the management business and relocated to Big Sur.


title: The Byrds

text: The two-record "(Untitled)" album was released by the Byrds on September 14, 1970, to positive reviews and strong sales, with many critics and fans regarding the album as a return to form for the band. Peaking at number 40 on the "Billboard" Top LPs chart and number 11 in the UK, the album's success continued the upward trend in the band's commercial fortunes and popularity that had begun with the release of the "Ballad of Easy Rider" album. The live half of "(Untitled)" included both new material and new renditions of previous hit singles, including "Mr. Tambourine Man", "So You Want to Be a Rock 'n' Roll Star" and a 16-minute version of "Eight Miles High", which comprised the whole of one side of the original LP release. Band biographer Johnny Rogan has suggested that the inclusion of these newly recorded live versions of older songs served to forge a spiritual and musical link between the Byrds' current line-up and the original mid-1960s incarnation of the band.


title: The Byrds

text: The studio recordings featured on "(Untitled)" mostly consisted of newly written, self-penned material, including a number of songs that had been composed by McGuinn and Broadway theatre impresario Jacques Levy for a planned country rock musical titled "Gene Tryp" that the pair were developing. Plans for the musical had fallen through and as a result, McGuinn decided to record some of the material originally intended for the production with the Byrds. Among the "Gene Tryp" songs included on "(Untitled)" was "Chestnut Mare", which had originally been written for a scene in which the musical's eponymous hero attempts to catch and tame a wild horse. The song was issued as a single in the U.S. on October 23, 1970, but it only managed to climb to number 121 on the "Billboard" chart. Nonetheless, the song went on to become a staple of FM radio programming in America during the 1970s. "Chestnut Mare" did much better in the UK, however, when it was released as a single on January 1, 1971, reaching number 19 on the UK Singles Chart and giving the Byrds their first UK Top 20 hit since their cover of Bob Dylan's "All I Really Want to Do" had peaked at number 4 in September 1965.


title: The Byrds

text: The Byrds returned to the recording studio with Melcher sporadically between October 1970 and early March 1971, in order to complete the follow-up to "(Untitled)", which would be released in June 1971 as "Byrdmaniax". Unfortunately, the grueling pace of the band's touring schedule at the time meant that they were not fully prepared for the sessions and much of the material they recorded was under-developed. Following completion of the album recording sessions, the Byrds once again headed out on tour, leaving Melcher and engineer Chris Hinshaw to finish mixing the album in their absence. Controversially, Melcher and Hinshaw elected to bring in arranger Paul Polena to assist in the overdubbing of strings, horns, and a gospel choir onto many of the songs, allegedly without the band's consent. Drummer Gene Parsons recalled in a 1997 interview that when the band heard Melcher's additions they campaigned to have the album remixed and the orchestration removed, but Columbia Records refused, citing budget restrictions, and so the record was duly pressed up and released.


title: The Byrds

text: In May 1971, just prior to the release of the "Byrdmaniax" album, the Byrds undertook a sell-out tour of England and Europe, which included a performance at the Royal Albert Hall in London that was released for the first time in 2008 as "Live at Royal Albert Hall 1971". The British and European press were unanimous in their praise of the Byrds' live performances during the tour, reinforcing their reputation as a formidable live act during this period. Over the course of the tour, the band chose to expand their ranks, with roadie Jimmi Seiter joining the group on stage to provide additional percussion as an unofficial member. Seiter would continue to sit in with the Byrds during their live performances until August 1971, when he decided to leave the group's employ.


title: The Byrds

text: When the "Byrdmaniax" album was released on June 23, 1971 it was received poorly by most critics and did much to undermine the new-found popularity that the Byrds had enjoyed since the release of "Ballad of Easy Rider". The response to the album from the American music press was particularly scathing, with a review in the August 1971 edition of "Rolling Stone" magazine describing the Byrds as "a boring dead group" and memorably dismissing the entire album as "increments of pus". The consensus among most reviewers was that "Byrdmaniax" was hampered by Melcher's inappropriate orchestration and by being an album almost totally bereft of the Byrds' signature sound. The band themselves were publicly critical of the album upon its release, with Gene Parsons referring to it as "Melcher's folly". For his part, Melcher later stated that he felt that the band's performances in the studio during the making of "Byrdmaniax" were lackluster and he therefore employed the orchestration in order to cover up the album's musical shortcomings. Regardless, by the time of the album's release, Melcher had resigned as the Byrds' manager and producer. Despite the band's dissatisfaction with the finished product and its poor critical reception, "Byrdmaniax" made a respectable showing on the U.S. charts, peaking at number 46. However, the album failed to sell in sufficient quantities to reach the UK charts. Author Christopher Hjort has remarked that in the years since its release, "Byrdmaniax" has become arguably "the least-liked album in the Byrds catalogue" among the group's fanbase.


title: The Byrds

text: The Byrds moved quickly to record a self-produced follow-up to "Byrdmaniax", in an attempt to stem the criticism that the album was receiving in the music press and as a reaction to their own dislike of Melcher's overproduction. Rogan has speculated that the Byrds' decision to produce their next album themselves was an attempt on the band's part to prove that they could do a better job than Melcher had done on their previous record. While in England for an appearance at the Lincoln Folk Festival, the Byrds decamped to CBS Studios in London with engineer Mike Ross and between July 22 and 28, 1971, they recorded an album's worth of new material.


title: The Byrds

text: In October 1971, CBS Records in the UK issued "The Byrds' Greatest Hits Volume II" to capitalize on the group's recent appearance at the Lincoln Folk Festival and perhaps as a reaction to the chart failure suffered by "Byrdmaniax". Unfortunately, the compilation album also failed to reach the UK charts, while contemporary reviews made note of its misleading and inaccurate title, since among its twelve tracks, only "Chestnut Mare" had been a genuine hit in the United Kingdom. An equivalent compilation wasn't released in the U.S. until November 1972, when "" was issued.


title: The Byrds

text: On November 17, 1971, less than five months after the release of "Byrdmaniax", the Byrds issued their eleventh studio album, "Farther Along". The album was met with slightly more enthusiastic reviews than its predecessor but nevertheless, only managed to climb to number 152 on the "Billboard" Top LPs chart, while failing to reach the charts in the United Kingdom altogether. Musically, the album found the Byrds beginning to move away from their country rock sound—although at least half the album still bore a strong country influence—and instead, embrace a style indebted to 1950s rock 'n' roll music. The Skip Battin and Kim Fowley penned song "America's Great National Pastime" was taken from the album and released as a single in late November, but it failed to chart on either side of the Atlantic. Rogan has concluded that, ultimately, the rapidity with which the Byrds planned and recorded "Farther Along" resulted in an album that was just as flawed as "Byrdmaniax" and as a result, it failed to rehabilitate the band's ailing commercial fortunes or increase their declining audience. The album's title track, sung by White with the rest of the group harmonizing, would later become a poignant and prophetic epitaph for the guitarist when it was sung by ex-Byrd Gram Parsons and the Eagles' Bernie Leadon at White's funeral in July 1973.


title: The Byrds

text: Following the release of "Farther Along", the Byrds continued to tour throughout 1972, but no new album or single release was forthcoming. Gene Parsons was fired from the group in July 1972 for a number of reasons, including McGuinn's growing dissatisfaction with his drumming, disagreements that he and McGuinn were having over band members' pay, and his own discontent over the band's lack of morale during this period.


title: The Byrds

text: Parsons was quickly replaced with L.A. session drummer John Guerin, who remained with the Byrds until January 1973, when he decided to return to studio work. Although Guerin participated in recording sessions with the band and appeared on stage with them from September 1972, he was never an official member of the Byrds and instead received a standard session musician's wage, while continuing to undertake work for other artists as an in-demand studio player. Three officially released Byrds recordings exist of the McGuinn-White-Battin-Guerin lineup: live versions of "Mr. Tambourine Man" and "Roll Over Beethoven" that were recorded for the soundtrack of the Earl Scruggs' film "Banjoman", and a studio recording of "Bag Full of Money" that was included as a bonus track on the remastered reissue of "Farther Along" in 2000.


title: The Byrds

text: Following Guerin's departure, he was temporarily replaced for live performances by session drummers Dennis Dragon and Jim Moon. The band underwent a further personnel change following a show on February 10, 1973 in Ithaca, New York, when Skip Battin was dismissed by McGuinn, who had capriciously decided that the bassist's playing abilities were no longer of a sufficient standard. McGuinn turned to ex-Byrd Chris Hillman – who at that time was a member of the band Manassas – and asked him to step in as Battin's replacement for two upcoming shows on February 23 and 24. Hillman agreed to play both concerts for the sum of $2,000 and also brought in Manassas percussionist Joe Lala to fill the vacant spot behind the drum kit. Following a shambolic, underrehearsed performance at the Capitol Theatre in Passaic, New Jersey, on February 24, 1973, McGuinn cancelled the band's remaining concert commitments and disbanded the touring version of the Byrds, in order to make way for a reunion of the original five-piece line-up of the band.


title: The Byrds

text: Five months later, guitarist Clarence White was killed by a drunk driver in the early hours of July 15, 1973, while he loaded guitar equipment into the back of a van after a concert appearance in Palmdale, California.


title: The Byrds

text: The five original members of the Byrds reunited briefly during late 1972, while McGuinn was still undertaking selected concerts with the touring version of the group. Discussions regarding a reunion between Roger McGuinn, Gene Clark, David Crosby, Chris Hillman, and Michael Clarke had taken place as early as July 1971, around the same time as the then current line-up of the band were recording the "Farther Along" album. Plans for a reunion accelerated in mid-1972, however, when the founder of Asylum Records, David Geffen, offered each of the original band members a sizable amount of money to reform and record an album for his label. The reunion actually took place in early October 1972, beginning with a rehearsal at McGuinn's house, where the group began selecting suitable material for a new album. The five original Byrds booked into Wally Heider's Studio 3 in Hollywood from October 16 until November 15, 1972, recording their first album together in seven years.


title: The Byrds

text: Following completion of the album, Crosby persuaded McGuinn to dissolve the Columbia version of the Byrds, who were still touring at that time. Crosby had long been vocal regarding his displeasure over McGuinn's decision to recruit new band members following his dismissal from the group in 1967, and had stated in a number of interviews that in his opinion "there were only ever five Byrds". In keeping with the new spirit of reconciliation that the reunion fostered, McGuinn permanently disbanded the Columbia lineup of the group in February 1973.


title: The Byrds

text: The reunion album, titled simply "Byrds", was released on March 7, 1973, to mixed reviews. As a result, a planned tour in support of the album failed to materialize. Among the album's shortcomings, critics made note of a lack of sonic unity and the absence of the Byrds' signature jangly guitar sound. Nonetheless, the album managed to climb to number 20 on the "Billboard" Top LPs & Tapes chart and number 31 in the UK. In the United States, the album became the band's highest charting LP of new material since 1965's "Turn! Turn! Turn!", which had also been the last Byrds' album to feature Gene Clark as a full member. Among the tracks included on the album were McGuinn's folk-flavored "Sweet Mary", the Joni Mitchell cover "For Free", a re-recording of Crosby's song "Laughing" (which had originally appeared on his 1971 solo album, "If I Could Only Remember My Name"), and a pair of Neil Young songs. The album also featured the Gene Clark compositions "Changing Heart" and "Full Circle", the latter of which had provided the reunion album with its working title and was subsequently released as a single, although it failed to chart.


title: The Byrds

text: The negative critical reception that "Byrds" received in the music press resulted in the band losing faith in the idea of an ongoing series of reunions. In the years following its release, all five band members were openly critical of the album, with the general consensus being that the material included on it was weak and that the recording sessions had been rushed and ill-thought out. In addition, McGuinn and Hillman have both suggested that with the exception of Gene Clark, the songwriting members of the band were reluctant to bring their strongest compositions to the recording sessions, preferring instead to hold those songs back for their own solo projects. In the wake of the reunion, the five original Byrds quietly returned to their own careers, with the June 1973 release of McGuinn's eponymously titled solo album serving to effectively mark the end of the Byrds.


title: The Byrds

text: Following the reunion of 1972/1973, the Byrds remained disbanded throughout the rest of the decade. Roger McGuinn turned his attention to establishing his own career, releasing a series of solo albums between 1973 and 1977, and making a high-profile appearance with Bob Dylan's Rolling Thunder Revue. Chris Hillman worked as part of the Souther–Hillman–Furay Band following the Byrds reunion and released a pair of solo albums entitled "Slippin' Away" and "Clear Sailin"' in 1976 and 1977 respectively. David Crosby returned to the supergroup Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young for their 1974 tour and subsequently continued to produce albums with Graham Nash. He also took part in a 1977 reunion of Crosby, Stills & Nash, which saw the group release their multi-platinum selling "CSN" album. Michael Clarke also found success following the Byrds reunion as the drummer for soft rock group Firefall, while Gene Clark returned to his solo career, producing the critically acclaimed but commercially unsuccessful albums "No Other" (1974) and "Two Sides to Every Story" (1977).


title: The Byrds

text: Between 1977 and 1980, McGuinn, Clark and Hillman worked on and off together as a trio, modeled after Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young and, to a lesser extent, the Eagles. This supergroup made up of former Byrds was reasonably successful commercially and managed to score a Top 40 hit with the single "Don't You Write Her Off" in March 1979. The trio toured internationally and recorded the albums "McGuinn, Clark & Hillman" and "City". Clark departed the group in late 1979, resulting in a third and final album being billed as McGuinn-Hillman. The two former Byrds continued to play low-key gigs after the release of the "McGuinn/Hillman" album, but they split up in early 1981.


title: The Byrds

text: In 1984, Gene Clark approached McGuinn, Crosby, and Hillman in an attempt to reform the Byrds in time for the 20th anniversary of the release of the "Mr. Tambourine Man" single in 1985. None of these three original members were interested in the venture and so Clark instead assembled a group of musicians and friends, including Rick Roberts, Blondie Chaplin, Rick Danko, Richard Manuel, and the ex-Byrds Michael Clarke and John York, under the banner of "The 20th Anniversary Tribute to the Byrds". This tribute act began performing on the lucrative nostalgia circuit in early 1985, but a number of concert promoters began to shorten the band's name to the Byrds in advertisements and promotional material. As the band continued to tour throughout 1985, they eventually decided to shorten their name to the Byrds themselves, prompting McGuinn, Crosby and Hillman to berate the tribute group in interviews, with McGuinn deriding the act as "a cheap show".


title: The Byrds

text: After the tour wound down in late 1985, Clark returned to his solo career, leaving Michael Clarke to soldier on with a band that was now billed as "A Tribute to the Byrds" (although again, it was often shortened to the Byrds by promoters). Gene Clark returned to the group following the release of his and Carla Olson's "So Rebellious a Lover" album, and the tribute band continued to work on and off in 1987 and 1988. Author Johnny Rogan has stated that most die-hard fans of the Byrds were mortified by the existence of this ersatz version of the group, while Byrds expert Tim Connors has commented that "no chapter in the history of the Byrds caused as much consternation and controversy among fans".


title: The Byrds

text: In June 1988, McGuinn, Crosby and Hillman appeared at a concert celebrating the reopening of the Ash Grove folk club in Los Angeles. Although they were billed as solo artists, the three musicians came together for an on-stage reunion during the show, performing a string of Byrds hits including "Mr. Tambourine Man" and "Eight Miles High". Although Clark and Clarke's Byrds tribute group was inactive at the time of this high-profile get-together of McGuinn, Crosby, and Hillman, Michael Clarke did mount another tribute tour shortly afterwards, this time featuring former Byrd Skip Battin and newcomers Terry Jones Rogers and Jerry Sorn, under the banner of "The Byrds featuring Michael Clarke". In addition, the drummer also sought to trademark the name "The Byrds" for his own use.


title: The Byrds

text: In retaliation against Clarke's trademark application, McGuinn, Crosby and Hillman submitted their own counter-claim to gain ownership of the band's name. McGuinn had actually attempted to trademark the Byrds name himself during the 1970s, in order to prevent its misuse, but his application had been turned down. To strengthen their case, the three musicians announced in December 1988 that they would be performing a series of concerts in January 1989 as the Byrds. Although he was no longer connected with Clarke's tribute act, Gene Clark was not invited to participate in these official Byrds reunion concerts due to residual ill-feeling stemming from his earlier "20th Anniversary Tribute to the Byrds".


title: The Byrds

text: The reunion concerts were a resounding success, but with Michael Clarke continuing to tour with his Byrds tribute, McGuinn, Crosby and Hillman filed a lawsuit against the drummer in the spring of 1989, suing him for allegedly false advertising, unfair competition and deceptive trade practices, as well as seeking a preliminary injunction against Clarke's use of the name. At the court hearing in May 1989, the judge denied the injunction, ruling that McGuinn, Crosby and Hillman had failed to show that they would be irreparably damaged by Clarke's actions. As a result, Clarke gained full legal ownership of the name the Byrds. In the wake of this ruling, McGuinn, Crosby and Hillman dropped their lawsuit, but to demonstrate that they had not wholly surrendered the Byrds name to Clarke, the three musicians appeared under the banner of "The Original Byrds" at a Roy Orbison tribute concert on February 24, 1990, where they were joined on-stage by Bob Dylan for a rendition of "Mr. Tambourine Man". Later that year, McGuinn, Crosby and Hillman entered Treasure Isle Recorders in Nashville to record four new Byrds tracks for inclusion on the forthcoming "The Byrds" box set.


title: The Byrds

text: On January 16, 1991, the five original members of the Byrds put aside their differences to appear together at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York City for their induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. The ceremony honored the original line-up of Roger McGuinn, Gene Clark, David Crosby, Chris Hillman, and Michael Clarke, while later configurations of the group featuring such key personnel as Gram Parsons and Clarence White were quietly passed over. The occasion, which saw the band come together on stage to perform the songs "Turn! Turn! Turn! (to Everything There Is a Season)", "Mr. Tambourine Man", and "I'll Feel a Whole Lot Better", represented the first time that all five original Byrds had stood together since 1973. Unfortunately, it would also represent the last time that the five original members were gathered together. Clark died later that year of heart failure, and on December 19, 1993, Clarke succumbed to liver disease brought on by alcoholism.


title: The Byrds

text: Following Clarke's death, Terry Jones Rogers resurrected the Byrds tribute act, with guitarist Scott Nienhaus and former Byrds Skip Battin and Gene Parsons on bass and drums respectively. Performing under the banner of The Byrds Celebration, the tribute group toured extensively throughout the remainder of the 1990s, although Parsons was replaced by session drummer Vince Barranco in 1995 and Battin was forced to retire due to ill-health in 1997. Since 2002, Rogers and Nienhaus have continued to tour as part of the band Younger Than Yesterday: A Tribute to the Byrds, along with bassist Michael Curtis and drummer Tim Politte.


title: The Byrds

text: McGuinn, Crosby and Hillman all returned to their individual solo careers following the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame ceremony. However, the Byrds did reunite for a third time on August 8, 2000, to give an impromptu, one-off performance at a tribute concert for Fred Walecki, the owner of a Los Angeles music equipment store who was suffering from throat cancer. Crosby and Hillman were booked to appear at the event separately, but McGuinn, who was not listed on the bill, made a surprise appearance and joined his two former partners on stage. McGuinn introduced the hastily reformed trio with the words, "And now, ladies and gentlemen, the Byrds", as the group launched into renditions of "Mr. Tambourine Man" and "Turn! Turn! Turn! (to Everything There Is a Season)". According to contemporary press reports, the reunion was an unmitigated success, with the audience giving the band multiple standing ovations and shouting for more as they left the stage.


title: The Byrds

text: During the 2000s, two more ex-members of the Byrds died when drummer Kevin Kelley succumbed of natural causes in 2002 and bassist Skip Battin, who was suffering from Alzheimer's disease, died at his home in 2003. Former members Gene Parsons and John York both remain active and continue to perform and record various musical projects.


title: The Byrds

text: Perhaps the most surprising development in the Byrds' story during the 2000s, however, was the acquisition by David Crosby of the rights to the band's name in 2002. Ownership of the Byrds' name had reverted to Clarke's estate upon his death in 1993 and Crosby's purchase served to effectively bring the convoluted battle for control of the group's name to an end.


title: The Byrds

text: To date, the Fred Walecki tribute concert appearance in 2000 was the last performance by the Byrds. However, Hillman and Crosby have both expressed an interest in working with McGuinn again on future Byrds projects, but the lead guitarist and head Byrd remains adamant that he is not interested in another full reunion. During an interview with music journalist John Nork, McGuinn replied "absolutely not", when asked if he had any plans to revive the Byrds, explaining, "No, I don't want to do that. I just want to be a solo artist. The Byrds are well documented. I don't think we need anymore from the Byrds."


title: The Byrds

text: In spite of McGuinn's comments, he and Hillman undertook a series of concerts together in 2018 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Byrds' "Sweetheart of the Rodeo" album. Though not billed as the Byrds, the duo, together with backing band Marty Stuart and his Fabulous Superlatives, played some earlier Byrds' material before performing all of the songs from the album and telling stories about its creation.


title: The Byrds

text: Since the band's 1960s heyday, the influence of the Byrds on successive generations of rock and pop musicians has grown steadily, with acts such as the Eagles, Big Star, Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers, R.E.M., the Bangles, the Smiths, and innumerable alternative rock bands of the post-punk era all exhibiting signs of their influence. Musician and author Peter Lavezzoli described the Byrds in 2007 as "one of the few bands to exert a decisive influence on the Beatles", while also noting that they helped to persuade Bob Dylan to begin recording with electric instrumentation. Lavezzoli concluded that "like it or not, terms like 'folk rock', 'raga rock' and 'country rock' were coined for a reason: the Byrds did it first, and then kept moving, never staying in the 'raga' or 'country' mode for very long. This is precisely what made the Byrds such a rewarding band to follow from one record to the next".


title: The Byrds

text: In his book "The Great Rock Discography", music researcher Martin C. Strong describes the Byrds' cover of "Mr. Tambourine Man" as "a timeless slice of hypnotic, bittersweet pop" and a record that "did nothing less than change the course of pop/rock history". Author and musician Bob Stanley, writing in his 2013 book "Yeah Yeah Yeah: The Story of Modern Pop", has called the Byrds' music "a phenomenon, a drone, genuinely hair-raising and totally American".


title: The Byrds

text: In his book "Riot on Sunset Strip: Rock 'n' Roll's Last Stand in 60s Hollywood", music historian Domenic Priore attempts to sum up the band's influence by stating: "Few of The Byrds' contemporaries can claim to have made such a subversive impact on popular culture. The band had a much larger, more positive impact on the world at large than any "Billboard" chart position or album sales or concert attendance figure could possibly measure."


title: The Byrds

text: In 2004, "Rolling Stone" magazine ranked the Byrds at number 45 on their list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time. In 2006, they were inducted into the Vocal Group Hall of Fame.


title: Jack Sparrow

text: Captain Jack Sparrow is a fictional character and the main protagonist of the "Pirates of the Caribbean" film series. The character was created by screenwriters Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio and is portrayed by Johnny Depp.


title: Jack Sparrow

text: The characterization of Sparrow is based on a combination of The Rolling Stones' guitarist Keith Richards and Looney Tunes cartoons, specifically the characters Bugs Bunny and Pepé Le Pew. He first appears in the 2003 film "". He later appears in the sequels "" (2006), "" (2007), "" (2011), and "" (2017).


title: Jack Sparrow

text: In the films, Sparrow is one of the nine pirate lords in the Brethren Court, the Pirate Lords of the Seven Seas. He can be treacherous and survives mostly by using wit and negotiation rather than by force, opting to flee most dangerous situations and to fight only when necessary.


title: Jack Sparrow

text: Sparrow is introduced seeking to regain his ship, the "Black Pearl", from his mutinous first mate, Hector Barbossa. Later, he attempts to escape his blood debt to the legendary Davy Jones while fighting the East India Trading Company. In later adventures he searches for the and the .


title: Jack Sparrow

text: The "Pirates of the Caribbean" series was inspired by the Disney theme park ride of the same name, and when the ride was revamped in 2006, the character of Captain Jack Sparrow was added to it. He headlined the Legend of Captain Jack Sparrow attraction at Disney's Hollywood Studios, and is the subject of spin-off novels, including a children's book series, "", which chronicles his childhood years.


title: Jack Sparrow

text: When writing the screenplay for "The Curse of the Black Pearl", Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio envisioned Captain Jack Sparrow as a supporting character in the vein of Bugs Bunny and Groucho Marx. The producers saw him as a young Burt Lancaster. Director Gore Verbinski admitted, "The first film was a movie, and then Jack was put into it almost. He doesn't have the obligations of the plot in the same ways that the other characters have. He meanders his way through, and he kind of affects everybody else." Sparrow represents an ethical pirate, with Captain Barbossa as his corrupt foil, though both characters viewed as both light and dark tricksters. His true motives usually remain masked, and whether he is honorable or evil depends on the audience's perspective. This acts as part of Will Turner's arc, in which Sparrow tells him a pirate can be a good man, like his father.


title: Jack Sparrow

text: Following the success of "The Curse of the Black Pearl", the challenge to creating a sequel was, according to Verbinski, "You don't want just the Jack Sparrow movie. It's like having a garlic milkshake. He's the spice and you need a lot of straight men ... Let's not give them too much Jack. It's like too much dessert or too much of a good thing." Although "Dead Man's Chest" was written to propel the trilogy's plot, Sparrow's state-of-mind as he is pursued by Davy Jones becomes increasingly edgy, and the writers concocted the cannibal sequence to show that he was in danger whether on land or at sea. Sparrow is perplexed over his attraction to Elizabeth Swann, and attempts to justify it throughout the film.


title: Jack Sparrow

text: "At World's End" was meant to return it tonally to a character piece. Sparrow, in particular, is tinged with madness after extended solitary confinement in Davy Jones's Locker, and now desires immortality. Sparrow struggles with what it takes to be a moral person, after his honest streak caused his doom in the second film. This is mainly shown by his increasingly erratic behaviour and Jack's hallucinations, which appeared to be simply his deranged mind in the beginning where dozens of "Jack Sparrows" appeared to crew the ship in his solitary exile, but later the hallucinations grew more important and there were mainly two "Jacks" constantly arguing about which path to follow: the immortality or the mortality. The last hallucination took place while Jack was imprisoned on the Dutchman, where his honest streak won. By the end of "At World's End", Sparrow is sailing to the Fountain of Youth, an early concept for the second film. Rossio said in 2007 that a fourth film was possible, and producer Jerry Bruckheimer expressed interest in a spin-off. Gore Verbinski concurred that "all of the stories set in motion by the first film have been resolved. If there ever were another "Pirates of the Caribbean" film, I would start fresh and focus on the further adventures of Captain Jack Sparrow."


title: Jack Sparrow

text: "On Stranger Tides" was first announced on September 28, 2008, during a Disney event at the Kodak Theatre. Verbinski did not return to direct the fourth installment and was replaced by Rob Marshall. The movie uses elements from Tim Powers' novel of the same name, particularly Blackbeard and the Fountain of Youth, but the film is not a straight adaptation of the novel.


title: Jack Sparrow

text: Looking to do a family film, Johnny Depp visited the Walt Disney Studios in 2001 when he heard of plans to adapt the Pirates of the Caribbean ride into a film. Depp was excited by the possibility of reviving an old Hollywood genre, and found the script met his quirky sensibilities: the crew of the "Black Pearl" were not in search of treasure but trying to return it to lift a curse on them, and the traditional mutiny had already occurred. Depp was cast on June 10, 2002. Producer Jerry Bruckheimer felt Depp would give the film an edge that could draw teenage and adult audiences despite Disney's reputation for soft children's fare.


title: Jack Sparrow

text: According to various reports and interviews, Johnny Depp prepared for the role while rehearsing in the steam room of a sauna. At times, he claimed to turn the heat up to its max temperature of 1,000 degrees. The actor was quoted as saying, ""Captain Jack was actually born in a sauna—my sauna. I figured this is a guy who has been on the high seas for probably all of his life, the majority of his life at least, and therefore probably dealt with a lot of inescapable heat to the brain."" Depp also said, due to his daughter Lily-Rose Depp being three years old at the time, he watched various cartoons, using and as examples.


title: Jack Sparrow

text: At the first read-through, Depp surprised the cast and crew by portraying the character in an off-kilter manner. He researched 18th-century pirates and, seeing parallels with modern rock stars, modeled his performance on Keith Richards. Richards later appeared in two cameos as Jack's father, Captain Teague, in "At World's End" and "On Stranger Tides". Verbinski and Bruckheimer had confidence in Depp, partly because Orlando Bloom would play the traditional Errol Flynn-type character. Depp improvised the film's final line, "Now, bring me that horizon", which the writer called his favorite line. Disney executives were initially confused by Depp's performance, questioning whether the character was drunk or gay. While watching the rushes, Disney CEO Michael Eisner proclaimed Depp was ruining the film. Depp's response to Disney executives was they could trust him with his choices or let him go. Many industry insiders questioned Depp's casting, as he was an unconventional actor not known for working within the traditional studio system.


title: Jack Sparrow

text: Depp's performance won acclaim from film critics. Alan Morrison found it "Gloriously over-the-top ... In terms of physical precision and verbal delivery, it's a master-class in comedy acting." Roger Ebert praised Depp for drawing away from the character as written and found Depp's performance "original in its every atom. There has never been a pirate, or for that matter a human being, like this in any other movie ... his behavior shows a lifetime of rehearsal". Depp won a Screen Actor's Guild award for his performance, and was nominated for a Golden Globe and the Academy Award for Best Actor, the first in his career. "Film School Rejects" argued the film made Depp as much a movie star as he was a character actor.


title: Jack Sparrow

text: Depp's return in "Dead Man's Chest" was the first time he had ever made a sequel. Drew McWeeny wrote, "Remember how cool Han Solo was in "Star Wars" the first time you saw it? And then remember how much cooler he seemed when "Empire" came out? This is that big a jump." Depp received an MTV Movie Award and a Teen Choice Award for "Dead Man's Chest", and was nominated for an Empire Award and another Golden Globe. For his performance in "At World's End", Depp won an MTV Movie Award for Best Comedic Performance, as well as a People's Choice Award, a Kids' Choice Award, and another Teen Choice Award. He has signed on to reprise the role for future sequels.


title: Jack Sparrow

text: Depp wears a dreadlock wig in a rock-and-roll approach to a pirate aesthetic. He wears a red bandanna and numerous objects in his hair, influenced by Keith Richards' habit of collecting souvenirs from his travels; Sparrow's decorations include his "piece of eight". Sparrow wears kohl around his eyes, which was inspired by Depp's study of nomads, whom he compared to pirates, and he wore contacts that acted as sunglasses. Sparrow has several gold teeth, two of which belong to Depp, although they were applied during filming. Depp initially forgot to have them removed after shooting "The Curse of the Black Pearl", and wore them throughout the shooting of the sequels. Like all aspects of Depp's performance, Disney initially expressed great concern over Depp's teeth. Sparrow wears his goatee in two braids. Initially wire was used in them, but the wires were abandoned because they made the braids stick up when Depp lay down. Sparrow has numerous tattoos, and has been branded a pirate on his right arm by Cutler Beckett, underneath a tattoo of a sparrow.


title: Jack Sparrow

text: Depp collaborated with costume designer Penny Rose on his character's appearance, handpicking a tricorne as Sparrow's signature leather hat; to make Sparrow's unique, the other characters did not wear leather hats. A rubber version was used for the scene in "Dead Man's Chest" when the hat floats on water. Depp liked to stick to one costume, wearing one lightweight silk tweed frock coat throughout the series, and he had to be coaxed out of wearing his boots for a version without a sole or heel in beach scenes. The official line is that none of the costumes from "The Curse of the Black Pearl" survived, which allowed the opportunity to create tougher linen shirts for stunts. However, one remains which has been displayed in an exhibition of screen costumes in Worcester, England. It was a nightmare for Rose to track down the same makers of Sparrow's sash in Turkey. Rose did not want to silkscreen it, as the homewoven piece had the correct worn feel. Sparrow wears an additional belt in the sequels, because Depp liked a new buckle which did not fit with the original piece.


title: Jack Sparrow

text: Sparrow's weapons are genuine 18th-century pieces: his sword dates to the 1740s and his pistol is from the 1760s. Both were made in London. Depp used two pistols on set, one of rubber. Both survived production of the first film. Sparrow's magic compass also survived into the sequels, though director Gore Verbinski had a red arrow added to the dial as it became a more prominent prop. As it does not act like a normal compass, a magnet was used to make it spin. Sparrow wears four rings, two of which belong to Depp. Depp bought the green ring in 1989 and the gold ring is a replica of a 2400-year-old ring Depp gave to the crew, though the original was later stolen. The other two are props to which Depp gave backstories: the gold-and-black ring is stolen from a Spanish widow Sparrow seduced and the green dragon ring recalls his adventures in the Far East. Among Depp's additional ideas was the necklace made of human toes that Sparrow wears as the Pelegosto prepare to eat him, and the sceptre was based on one a friend of Depp's owned.


title: Jack Sparrow

text: During the course of the trilogy, Sparrow undergoes physical transformations. In "The Curse of the Black Pearl", Sparrow curses himself to battle the undead Barbossa. Like all the actors playing the "Black Pearl" crew, Depp had to shoot scenes in costume as a reference for the animators, and his shots as a skeleton were shot again without him. Depp reprised the scene again on a motion capture stage. In "At World's End", Sparrow hallucinates a version of himself as a member of Davy Jones's crew, adhered to a wall and encrusted with barnacles. Verbinski oversaw that the design retained Sparrow's distinctive look, and rejected initial designs which portrayed him as over 100 years old.


title: Jack Sparrow

text: In his debut scene, Sparrow arrives in Port Royal, Jamaica on a sinking boat, seeking to commandeer a new ship. Despite rescuing Elizabeth Swann, the daughter of Governor Weatherby Swann, from drowning, he is jailed for piracy. That night, a cursed pirate ship called the "Black Pearl" attacks Port Royal and Elizabeth is kidnapped. The "Black Pearl"s captain, Hector Barbossa, desperately seeks one last gold coin to break an ancient Aztec curse that he and his crew are under. A blacksmith named Will Turner frees Sparrow to aid him in rescuing Elizabeth. They commandeer HMS "Interceptor" and recruit a motley crew in Tortuga, Haiti before heading to Isla de Muerta, where Elizabeth is held captive. Along the way, Will learns that Sparrow was the "Black Pearl"s original captain until Barbossa led a mutiny ten years earlier and took over the ship, marooning Sparrow on an island to die. Sparrow tells Turner that his father was a pirate known as "Bootstrap" Bill Turner.


title: Jack Sparrow

text: The rescue attempt goes awry and Barbossa maroons Jack and Elizabeth on the same island upon which he had stranded Sparrow before. Elizabeth creates a signal fire from rum barrels and they are rescued by the Royal Navy. Sparrow cuts a deal with Commodore James Norrington to lead Norrington to the "Black Pearl". Norrington refuses until Elizabeth, desperate to save Will, spontaneously accepts Norrington's earlier marriage proposal. Right before the film's climactic battle with the pirates at Isla de Muerta, Sparrow swipes a cursed coin from the treasure chest, making himself immortal and capable of dueling Barbossa. He shoots his nemesis with the pistol he has carried for ten years just as Will breaks the curse, killing Barbossa. Despite having assisted the Navy, Sparrow is sentenced to hang.


title: Jack Sparrow

text: At Sparrow's execution in Port Royal, Will saves Sparrow, but they are quickly captured. Elizabeth intervenes, declaring her love for Will who is pardoned, while Sparrow escapes by tumbling off a sea wall. The "Black Pearl" and her new crew arrive in time to retrieve him, and he becomes captain once more. Impressed by the wily pirate, Norrington allows him one day's head start before giving chase.


title: Jack Sparrow

text: A year following the events of the first film, Sparrow searches for the Dead Man's Chest, which contains the heart of Davy Jones. Sparrow made a bargain with Jones to raise the sunken "Black Pearl" and make Sparrow captain for thirteen years. Now the debt is due, and Sparrow must either serve one hundred years aboard the "Flying Dutchman", or be dragged to Davy Jones's Locker by the Kraken. If he can find the Dead Man's Chest, Sparrow can free his soul and control Jones and the seas.


title: Jack Sparrow

text: Adding to Sparrow's woes, Lord Cutler Beckett of the East India Trading Company has a personal score to settle with Sparrow. Beckett wants the chest and forces Will Turner to search for Sparrow and his magic compass. Turner locates Sparrow and his crew on Pelegosto, held captive by cannibals who intend to eat Sparrow. They escape, and voyage to Tia Dalma (a magical woman later revealed to be the Goddess, Calypso, bound in human form as Dalma, and former lover of Jones). Dalma immediately sees destiny in Will, and provides Sparrow with a jar of dirt – Jones can only set foot on land once every 10 years, and since land is where Sparrow is safe, Dalma suggests with the dirt that he takes land with him.


title: Jack Sparrow

text: Sparrow strikes a new deal with Jones to deliver one hundred souls in exchange for his own. Jones agrees but keeps Turner as a "good faith payment". Sparrow is recruiting sailors in Tortuga when he encounters Elizabeth Swann and James Norrington, the latter having succumbed to alcohol. Sparrow convinces Elizabeth that Turner can be freed by using the magic compass to find the chest. The duo head for Isla Cruces and find Will, who escaped Jones's ship and has stolen the key to the Chest. Turner wants to stab Jones's heart and free his father from Jones's servitude, while Norrington plots to restore his career by delivering the heart to Beckett. Sparrow wants it to convince Jones to call off the Kraken.


title: Jack Sparrow

text: Norrington escapes with the heart amid a battle with Jones's crew, and Jones summons the Kraken. Realizing Sparrow is the target, Elizabeth traps him aboard the "Black Pearl" as the crew abandons the ship, and kisses him while she handcuffs him to the mast. Then, the monster devours Sparrow and drags the ship and his soul to Davy Jones's Locker. The surviving crew seeks refuge with Tia Dalma who produces a captain she says can rescue Sparrow: a resurrected Hector Barbossa.


title: Jack Sparrow

text: Two months following the events of the second film, with Davy Jones's heart in his possession and the "Flying Dutchman" under his command, Cutler Beckett begins exterminating all pirates. To combat Beckett, the nine pirate lords of the Brethren Court convene at Shipwreck Cove. Only Jack Sparrow is missing, killed and sent to Davy Jones's Locker at the end of the previous film. Sparrow, as Pirate Lord of the Caribbean, must attend, as he did not bequeath to a designated heir his "piece of eight", a pirate lord's marker. The collective "nine pieces of eight" are needed to free sea goddess Calypso to defeat Beckett. With Elizabeth and Will, Barbossa leads Sparrow's crew to Davy Jones's Locker using stolen navigational charts from the pirate lord Sao Feng. After the crew locate him, Sparrow deciphers a clue on the charts allowing them to escape the Locker.


title: Jack Sparrow

text: At the Brethren Court, Elizabeth has succeeded Captain Sao Feng as a Pirate Lord and is elected "Pirate King" after Sparrow breaks a stalemate vote. Sparrow is briefly reunited with his father, Captain Teague. During a parley with Beckett and Jones, Sparrow is traded for Turner, whom Jones and Beckett had captured. The "Black Pearl" battles the "Flying Dutchman" during a maelstrom created by Calypso, during which Sparrow steals Jones's heart to become immortal. When Jones mortally wounds Turner, Sparrow instead chooses to save Turner by helping him stab the heart, which kills Jones and makes Turner the "Dutchman"s captain. Together, the "Pearl" and the "Dutchman" destroy Beckett's ship. At the end, Barbossa again commandeers the "Pearl" and Sao Feng's charts, stranding Sparrow and Gibbs in Tortuga. However, Sparrow had managed to cut out the navigational section of the charts and with them begins to search for the legendary Fountain of Youth.


title: Jack Sparrow

text: After failing to find the Fountain of Youth, Sparrow arrives in London only to learn someone is gathering a crew by using his name. While searching for the imposter, he saves Gibbs from being hanged but is captured by the Royal Guards. They present him to King George II. Sparrow is surprised to learn Captain Barbossa is now a privateer in the Royal Navy. Sparrow refuses to negotiate with them to locate the Fountain of Youth and escapes. Soon he crosses paths with his impersonator, an old flame named Angelica. She shanghais him to serve aboard the "Queen Anne's Revenge", the ship captained by her father Blackbeard, who forces Sparrow to search for the Fountain of Youth.


title: Jack Sparrow

text: Sparrow fails in his attempt to take over the ship in a mutiny against Blackbeard and save the naive Angelica from her evil father. After encountering dangerous mermaids, Barbossa, and the Spanish Navy, Sparrow locates the Fountain of Youth. When Angelica is mortally wounded, he tricks Blackbeard into sacrificing himself to save her, and Angelica blames Sparrow for her father's death. Sparrow and Angelica acknowledge their feelings for one another, but Sparrow maroons Angelica on an island, deeming her untrustworthy and dangerous. Gibbs, meanwhile, has retrieved the shrunken "Black Pearl" from Blackbeard's collection of shrunken ships in the hope of restoring it to normal size. Though he has forfeited his opportunity for immortality, Sparrow settles for being famous as the one who found the Fountain of Youth. Following the film's end credits, Angelica's voodoo doll of Sparrow has drifted to the island that she is marooned on.


title: Jack Sparrow

text: Some time after the quest for the Fountain of Youth, Jack has reassembled a small crew, but the "Black Pearl" is still trapped in a bottle, his new ship the "Dying Gull" has never left berth, and his latest plans have met with failure. Meanwhile, his rival Barbossa has become the richest and most powerful pirate of the seven seas.


title: Jack Sparrow

text: Sparrow and his crew attempt to rob the new bank of St. Martin. The robbery is a success, but all the gold in it had fallen while they were dragging the locker, and Sparrow's crew abandons him. Despondent, Jack trades his magical compass for a drink. However, this betrayal of the compass releases an old enemy of Sparrow, who holds a serious grudge against him; the ruthless undead pirate hunter Captain Salazar. Years previously, Jack had defeated Salazar by tricking him into sailing his ship into the Devil's Triangle, where Salazar and his crew were cursed to live as the undead. Salazar states that Jack perched in the ship's rigging like a "little bird", earning him the name "Jack the Sparrow". It was during this event that Jack received his compass, as well as his characteristic gear.


title: Jack Sparrow

text: While in prison, Jack is contacted by Henry Turner, the son of Will and Elizabeth, to seek his aid in finding the Trident of Poseidon. Remembering Elizabeth and Will from his previous misadventures, Jack agrees but not before expressing some hesitation. The next day, Sparrow is sentenced to be executed by guillotine (by Jack's accidental choosing), but is rescued by Henry and his crew. Aided by aspiring astronomer Carina, Jack and Henry attempt to locate the Trident of Poseidon, as both are in need of its power to break curses related to the sea. Barbossa releases the "Pearl" from its bottle, giving them a chance to outrun Salazar. Jack and Barbossa discuss the fact that Carina is in truth Barbossa's long-lost daughter, whom he had left at an orphanage in order to give her a chance for a better life. Jack attempts to use the secret to blackmail Barbossa, but fails.


title: Jack Sparrow

text: They are able to track the Trident to its resting place. Though Salazar nearly kills Jack, they are able to destroy the Trident. With the destruction of the Trident, Salazar and his crew become mortal again. Jack, Henry and Carina escape as Barbossa sacrifices himself to kill Salazar. Despite their differences, Jack mourns Barbossa's death. Later, Jack watches Will and Elizabeth's reunion before he departs, the "Black Pearl" and his compass once again in his possession.


title: Jack Sparrow

text: According to screenwriters Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio, Sparrow is a trickster who uses wit and deceit to attain his goals, preferring to end disputes verbally instead of by force. He walks with a slightly drunken swagger and has slurred speech and flailing hand gestures. Sparrow is shrewd, calculating, and eccentric. He fools Norrington and his crew to set sail on the royal ship "Interceptor", which compels the admiration of Lieutenant Groves as he concedes: "That's got to be the best pirate I have ever seen". Norrington himself acquiesces to this praise: "So it would seem", in sharp contrast to what he had previously proclaimed: "You are without doubt the worst pirate I have ever heard of". In the third film, while he leaves Beckett's ship stranded and makes off, Lieutenant Groves asks him: "Do you think he plans it all out, or just makes it up as he goes along?"


title: Jack Sparrow

text: Though a skilled swordsman, Sparrow prefers to use his superior intelligence during combat, exploiting his environment to turn the tables on his foes, reasoning "Why fight when you can negotiate?" He uses strategies of non-violent negotiation and turning his enemies against each other. He invokes parleys and tempts his enemies away from their murderous intentions, encouraging them to see the bigger picture, as he does when he persuades Barbossa to delay returning to mortal form so he can battle the Royal Navy. He often uses complex wordplay and vocabulary to confound his enemies, and it is suggested that his pacifism may be one reason Barbossa and the crew of the "Black Pearl" mutinied.


title: Jack Sparrow

text: The character is portrayed as having created, or at least contributed to, his own reputation. When Gibbs tells Will that Sparrow escaped from a desert island by strapping two sea turtles together, Sparrow embellishes the story by claiming the rope was made from hair from his own back, while in reality, Sparrow escaped the island by bartering with rum traders. The video game "" bases itself on these tall tales, including the sacking of Nassau port without firing a shot. Depp has likened pirates to rock stars in that their fame preceded them. Sparrow insists on being addressed as "Captain" and often gives the farewell, "This is the day you will always remember as the day that you "almost" caught Captain Jack Sparrow!" which is sometimes humorously cut off. When Norrington accuses him of being the worst pirate he has ever heard of, Sparrow replies, "But you "have" heard of me." In a deleted scene from "The Curse of the Black Pearl" Sparrow ponders being "the immortal Captain Jack Sparrow", and during "At World's End" he again is interested in immortality, although his father, Captain Teague, warns it can be a terrible curse. Sparrow ponders being "Captain Jack Sparrow, the last pirate," as the East India Trading Company purges piracy. The topic of immortality is brought up again during "On Stranger Tides," when Jack says "But better to not know which moment may be your last,every mortal of your entire being alive to the infinite mystery of it all".


title: Jack Sparrow

text: Despite his many heroics, Sparrow is a pirate and a morally ambiguous character. When agreeing to trade 100 souls, including Will, to Davy Jones in exchange for his freedom, Jones asks Sparrow whether he can, "condemn an innocent man—a "friend"—to a lifetime of servitude in your name while you roam free?" After a hesitation Sparrow merrily replies, "Yep! I'm good with it!" He carelessly runs up debts with Anamaria, Davy Jones, and the other pirate lords. Sao Feng, pirate lord of Singapore, is particularly hateful towards him. In a cowardly moment, Sparrow abandons his crew during the Kraken's attack, but underlying loyalty and morality compel him to return and save them. Sparrow claims to be a man of his word, and expresses surprise that people doubt his truthfulness; there is no murder on his criminal record.


title: Jack Sparrow

text: Depp partly based the character on Pepé Le Pew, a womanizing skunk from "Looney Tunes". Sparrow claims to have a "tremendous intuitive sense of the female creature," although his conquests are often left with a sour memory of him. Former flames, Scarlett and Giselle, usually slap him or anyone looking for him. His witty charm easily attracts women, and even has Elizabeth questioning her feelings. Verbinski noted phallic connotations in Sparrow's relationship with his vessel, as he grips the ship's wheel. The "Black Pearl" is described as "the only ship which can outrun the "Flying Dutchman"". The Freudian overtones continue in the third film when Sparrow and Barbossa battle for captaincy of the "Black Pearl", showing off the length of their telescopes, and in a deleted scene, they fight over the steering wheel. Sparrow claims his "first and only love is the sea," and describes his ship as representing freedom. Davy Jones's Locker is represented as a desert, symbolizing his personal hell.


title: Jack Sparrow

text: According to writer Giles Milton, Jack Sparrow was inspired by the seventeenth-century English pirate Jack Ward.


title: Jack Sparrow

text: When "Dead Man's Chest" grossed over worldwide, Ian Nathan attributed this to Sparrow's popularity: ""Pirates", the franchise, only had to turn up. There was a powerful holdover from the cheeky delights of its debut, something we hadn't felt since the Clone Wars called it a day." "Empire" in 2006 declared Depp's performance the seventy-fourth "thing that rocked our world" and later named him the eighth greatest movie character of all time. In 2015, a new poll of the 100 greatest film characters of all time placed him as the fourteenth greatest. A survey of more than 3,000 people showed Jack Sparrow was the most popular Halloween costume of 2006, and a 2007 poll held by the Internet Movie Database showed Sparrow to be the second most popular live action hero after Indiana Jones. In a 2007 Pearl & Dean poll, Jack Sparrow was listed as Depp's most popular performance.


title: Jack Sparrow

text: Todd Gilchrist feels Sparrow is the only element of the films that will remain timeless. According to Sharon Eberson, the character's popularity can be attributed to his being a "scoundrel whose occasional bouts of conscience allow viewers to go with the flaws because, as played to the larger-than-life hilt by Depp, he owns every scene he is in". Film history professor Jonathan Kuntz attributed Sparrow's popularity to the increased questioning of masculinity in the 21st century, and Sparrow's personality contrasts with action-adventure heroes in cinema. Leonard Maltin concurs that Sparrow has a carefree attitude and does not take himself seriously. Mark Fox noted Sparrow is an escapist fantasy figure for women, free from much of the responsibility of most heroes. Sparrow is listed by "IGN" as one of their ten favorite film outlaws, as he "lives for himself and the freedom to do whatever it is that he damn well pleases. Precious few film characters have epitomized what makes the outlaw such a romantic figure for audiences as Captain Jack Sparrow has." "Entertainment Weekly" put it on its end-of-the-decade, "best-of" list, saying, "Part Keith Richards rift, part sozzled lounge lizard, Johnny Depp's swizzleshtick pirate was definitely one of the most dazzling characters of the decade." In June 2010, Sparrow was named one of "Entertainment Weekly" "100 Greatest Characters of the Last 20 Years".


title: Jack Sparrow

text: An internet hoax about a reality program on the now-defunct Quibi platform called "Jack Sparrow House" gained traction in the early 2020s. The program supposedly featured fourteen Jack Sparrow impersonators living in a house together, with them being eliminated if they broke character. The hoax included a detailed Wikipedia article, which was eventually deleted. Snopes said that comedian Rory Strahan-Mauk was behind it, and that a photo claiming to be of the contestants were actually fans attending the Tokyo premiere of "Dead Men Tell No Tales".


title: Jack Sparrow

text: Jack Sparrow also appears in video games and books spun off the "Pirates of the Caribbean" media franchise. Jack also appears in the "Disney Infinity" series, where he is voiced by Jared Butler, and in the "Kingdom Hearts" series, first in 2005's "Kingdom Hearts II", where he is voiced by James Arnold Taylor, and again in 2019's "Kingdom Hearts III", reprised by Butler. In the video game "Sea of Thieves" he is voiced again by Butler. Jack Sparrow also appears as playable character in "Disney Magic Kingdoms", where he also has his captain coat as a costume.


title: Jack Sparrow

text: "Pirates of the Caribbean: The Complete Visual Guide" gives a backstory to Sparrow in which he was born on a pirate ship during a typhoon in the Indian Ocean and was trained to fence by an Italian. Books following Sparrow's adventures before the events of the film include a twelve-book series focusing on his teenage years entitled "", and a five-books "" series. In 2011, Ann C. Crispin wrote a novel titled "", which follows Jack's adventures as a merchant captain for the East India Trading Company.


title: Jack Sparrow

text: In 2011, comedy group the Lonely Island, in collaboration with ballad singer Michael Bolton, released a song named for Jack.


title: Jack Sparrow

text: In July 2022, Depp portrayed a parody of Sparrow, Phillip Artoosh, in "Adventurer's Game", a promotional short film for the mobile game "Sea of Dawn".


title: Macklemore

text: Benjamin Hammond Haggerty (born June 19, 1983), better known by his stage name Macklemore ( ; (formerly Professor Macklemore), is an American rapper and songwriter. A native of Seattle, Washington, he has collaborated with producer Ryan Lewis as the duo Macklemore & Ryan Lewis. His releases to date include one mixtape, three EPs, and four albums.


title: Macklemore

text: Macklemore and Lewis's single "Thrift Shop" (featuring Wanz) reached number one on the U.S. "Billboard" Hot 100 in 2013. The single was dubbed by "Billboard" as the first song since 1994 to top the Hot 100 chart without the support of a major record label; however Macklemore, in a slightly unusual recording contract, pays a nominal percentage of sales to use Warner Bros. Records's radio promotion department to push his singles. Their second single, "Can't Hold Us", also peaked at number one on the Hot 100 chart, making Macklemore and Lewis the first duo in the chart's history to have their first two singles both reach the peak position. Their debut studio album "The Heist" was released on 9 October 2012, and charted at number 2 on the U.S. "Billboard" 200. The duo won four Grammy Awards at the 2014 ceremony, including Best New Artist, Best Rap Album ("The Heist"), Best Rap Song and Best Rap Performance ("Thrift Shop").


title: Macklemore

text: Macklemore and Lewis's second album, "This Unruly Mess I've Made", was released on February 26, 2016. In June 2017, Macklemore released "Glorious", a single featuring Skylar Grey, which marked his return to the music industry as well as his first major single produced without Lewis since his mainstream breakthrough. Macklemore released a second solo studio album, "Gemini", in September that year.


title: Macklemore

text: Ben Haggerty was born in Seattle, Washington, on June 19, 1983, one of two sons born to Bill Haggerty and Julie Schott. He was raised with his brother Tim in Seattle's Capitol Hill neighborhood. He has Irish heritage and was raised Catholic. Haggerty was six years old when hip hop first came into his life by way of Digital Underground. At the age of 15, he began to write lyrics.


title: Macklemore

text: At the time he started to sing, Haggerty listened to "a lot of East Coast underground hip hop", listing Hieroglyphics, Freestyle Fellowship, Aceyalone, Living Legends, Wu-Tang Clan, Mobb Deep, Nas, and Talib Kweli as his major influences. He was interested in reaching a younger generation through his music and became part of a program focusing on education and cultural identity called "Gateways for Incarcerated Youth", where he facilitated music workshops. Haggerty attended Garfield High School and Nathan Hale High School. At Hale, he developed the stage name "Professor Macklemore" for an art project involving a made-up superhero, and at Garfield, he started a hip-hop group named Elevated Elements with other students. The group released an album, "Progress", in 2000.