Eve of Destruction
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- For the Battlefield 1942 mod, see Eve of Destruction (game).
"Eve of Destruction" is a protest song which was written in 1965 by P.F. Sloan. It has been recorded several times, but the definitive recording was performed by Barry McGuire. This recording was recorded between July 12 and 15, 1965 and released by Dunhill Records. His recording included master session drummer Hal Blaine on it. The vocal tack was thrown on as a rough mix and was not intended to be the final version, but a copy of the recording "leaked" out to a DJ, who began playing it. The song was an instant hit and as a result the more polished vocal track that was at first envisioned was never recorded.
The Turtles' version had been released as an album track before McGuire's version was issued.
In the first week of its release, the single was at #30 on the Cash Box charts, and #103 on the Billboard charts. By August 12, Dunhill released the LP, Barry McGuire Featuring Eve of Destruction. The LP reached it’s peak of #37 on the Billboard album chart during the week ending September 25th. That same day the single went to #1 on both charts. McGuire was never again to break into the Billboard Top 40, qualifying him to hold down slot 183 in The Billboard Book of Number One Hits as well as pages 188 and 189 in the The Billboard Book of One Hit Wonders.
The song is a grave warning of imminent apocalypse, and considered by some to be the epitome of a protest song. It expressed the frustrations and fears of young people in the age of the Cold War, Vietnam, and the nuclear arms race.
The American media helped popularize the song by using it as an example of everything that was wrong with the youth of that time. The song also drew flack from both conservatives and liberals. On the right, a group called The Spokesmen released an answer record entitled The Dawn of Correction. A few months later, Barry Sadler released the patriotic Ballad of the Green Berets.
In the late 1970s, Los Angeles punk band The Dickies recorded a memorable cover of "Eve of Destruction".
External links
- Lyrics (via Google) (http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=barry+mcguire+eve+of+destruction+lyrics)
- Barry McGuire Homepage (http://www.barrymcguire.com)
Eve of Destruction is also a 1991 film starring Gregory Hines.