Barry McGuire: "Eve of Destruction"

September 13, 1965 (1 week)

For this entry, I'd like to look at two versions of "Eve of Destruction" as well as its fairly notable response song. I started off with the intention of writing them as though they were meant to be reviews in some cheesy teenage pop and rock magazine from the mid-sixties but I found myself adding in an awful lot of myself. As such, read them as if I had been a music journalist back then but who had the same perspective I have now. Not ideal, I know, but those damn Spokesmen below make my blood boil. Reply songs are pointless for the most part but they take on a sinister tone when they're written from viewpoint of people defending the establishment with little more than the desire to shit of those who oppose them.

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The Turtles: "Eve of Destruction"

The Turtles give us something of a campfire singalong with their latest single release. It's not as immediately appealing as their summer hit "It Ain't Me Babe". Rather, they take its hard-hitting chorus and apply it to the entire song. That's certainly one way to approach it but it doesn't play to the group's strengths which are more about those lovely harmonies of theirs. Lead singer Howard Kaylan sounds all gooey and innocent at the start, as if trying to impart just how scared young men going off to Southeast Asia to fight in a war they're either against or, at best, ambivalent about must feel. Then he starts to pick up the intensity with his fellow Turtles and it's all ugliness and warfare. I kind of like this one even if I'm starting to think that it's a composition that no one can quite nail down in that sweet spot.

Barry McGuire: "Eve of Destruction"

You might not remember but Barry McGuire was once a member of The New Christy Minstrels, who had a hit a couple years back with "Green, Green". While everyone else sang like angels, he sounded like he had a mouthful of bumble bees which must've been why they gave him lead vocal duties. It was perhaps for the best that he wound up leaving them last year. I wonder if he heard The Turtles' version and said, "It's okay, I got this one".  The man is desperate. He exudes sincerity. Too much sincerity, if you ask me. Something tells me he can sing an awful lot better than he lets on. But don't get me wrong: this is about arresting as pop songs come. It's scarcely a pop song at all. I guess it's more like one of those folk music protest songs that Bob Dylan used to write until he got into The Beatles last year. Protest songs have their place but it's still just music at the end of the day. While I can empathize with McGuire's plight, he doesn't make for the easiest or most compelling listen. Maybe I'm no supposed to enjoy it, per se, but that begs the question: why the hell am I listening to the bloody thing in the first place?

The Spokesmen: "The Dawn of Correction"

You'll be doubled-over in laughter when you hear "The Dawn of Correction" for the first time. Not, mind you, because it's a genuinely funny reply record but because this silly and feeble group who call themselves The Spokesmen are convinced they're being clever. Had they been joshing among themselves in a bar or cafe or rumpus room then I might appreciate the sentiment but they didn't have to write and record the bloody thing. Apparently, young high school grads getting sent to die in 'Nam needn't sweat over not having the right to vote. Thanks for clearing that one up, guys. "Be thankful that our country allows demonstrations": oh joy, conservatives once again reminding us that others gave up their lives so we can be free. Does this mean we shouldn't be protesting or were the wars of the past just as useless as the one currently going on and they needn't have bothered going? "I don't understand the cause of your aggravation": well, that makes you qualified to be performing a counter-protest anthem, doesn't it? Way to read the room and go for a little understanding there, ya big bunch of right-wing fuck sticks. (On the bright side, at least it makes me a little more well-disposed towards McGuire's "Eve of Destruction", so if that's what they were going for, well done lads!)

Score: 5