Barry McGuire - Eve of Destruction

There have been many eras of thematic songwriting in human history, usually coinciding with the prominent public thought at the time. None are quite so well documented and, frankly, more numerous than the 60s protest song. It doesn’t take much research or brainpower to figure out why. Let alone being a period of human history when it was laughable to consider that someone of a different skin colour than white could share a bathroom (laughable to white people, anyway), the Vietnam War was in full swing, and the stories coming home were not pretty ones. Oh, there was also the ever-looming threat of nuclear annihilation, as a particularly fun cherry on top. To put it almost comically lightly, people were ticked off. 

While the big artists and poets like Bob Dylan compared political figures to scarecrows or submarines or something (my ear for subtlety goes as far as being elbowed in the face in mosh pits, usually), Barry McGuire made sure that The Eve of Destruction was a line drive directly to the “understanding” part of your brain. Written by P.F. Sloan, who added the guitar line to this version of the track, it does not make any pretence of messing around. Nuclear war? Get ready for it, pal. Racism? The tool of cowards and fools and big, bad Barry will make sure you recognise it happening on your front porch. The delivery is sincere as death, growled lows and sardonic tones so dry you could revive your phone in them if you’d dropped it in the bath. Supposedly, there were radio bans in place due to the anti-government message of the track, which, while utterly believable, I can’t actually verify (honest journalism starts at home). 

All of this added up to the song being a runaway train in popularity, hitting number one and becoming McGuire’s enduring hit. So enduring, that McGuire would release a follow-up nearly fifty years later. While slightly more newfound-Christian tinged with a children’s choir to boot and more focused on environmental issues rather than societal (though it could be argued they’re two sides of the worst coin ever minted), there is no less righteous fury behind it. “For the greed of the few, how much the innocent pay”, goes hard, Barry. 

It might feel like the world has been going to hell in a handbasket for as many decades as you or anyone else has been alive at this point, but it is always worth it to remember that, while the folks on the top turn a blind eye, most everyone else does not. When it comes to Rock Song of the Week picks, we don’t often offer ones that are the tone of an entire generation. But this week, we’re insistent that, other than here, there’s more than one place you can raise your fists and use your voice. It’s never too late or too soon to be a good person.