The Byrds

The Byrds that made this album in late 1966 were a mess: reeling from the loss of singer-composer Gene Clark and the tensions between singer-guitarists Roger McGuinn and David Crosby. Yet Younger Than Yesterday was the Byrds' first mature album, a blend of space-flight twang and electric hoedown infused with the imminent glow of 1967 yet underlined with crackling realism. The galloping "So You Want to Be a Rock 'N' Roll Star" mocked overnight success, including the Byrds' own (the teen screams were taped at one of their gigs). Crosby's ballad "Everybody's Been Burned" hinted at the stress that soon culminated in his firing. And in "My Back Pages," McGuinn's stoic vocal captured the crisis and experience in Bob Dylan's lyrics, a lesson reflected in his own determination to keep the band alive.