One of the most popular bubblegum groups reacted to this by changing their image. November 27th, 1964, just months after their first American tour, the Beatles released Beatles For Sale. Gone were the happy, chirpy songs of before. Lennon and McCartney were each perfecting their craft, as the songs became more and more intricate in both lyrics and music. Their movie had made them the most looked-to group in rock for inspiration. They had the rhythm, the beat that made the feet of the nation move. While other groups were still perfecting three-chord rock and roll, they had moved on to "I'll Follow The Sun" and "Every Little Thing".
Dylan, meanwhile, was also hitting new heights with his music. He had grown tired of the simple guitar and mouth organ folk that had become the standard. He released Another Side Of Bob Dylan in '64, full of songs that were "what's inside me." He continued to write some protest songs, but mainly he wrote about his life and the people in it, such as "My Back Pages". His next album, Bringing It All Back Home, from early 1965, was his first attempt at electric rock, with "Subterranean Homesick Blues", "Maggie's Farm" and "It's All Right Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)". It may have been his first attempt at electric rock, but it certainly wasn't the first time some one had electrified a Dylan song.
Roger McGuinn was a folkie who toured Greenwich Village in New York, just as Dylan had. The Village was free of capitalist corruption; aaaeach artist was working for their craft, helping each other and writing for those who could best get the message out. Profit was rarely seen, except when the owner of the coffeehouse they were performing in "passed a hat". McGuinn, like the others in the Village, appreciated Dylan's genius and could see the importance of the message. He also realised that that message wasn't reaching anyone outside of the Village. David Crosby, then with Les Baxter's Balladeers, was also caught up in the folk craze. "I didn't really like Dylan's voice... you'd listen to his lyrics and say 'oh, yeah, I wish I'd said that'", he once said. McGuinn and Crosby joined with Gene Clark, Chris Hillman and Michael Clarke to form the Byrds. "What I did was I'd take the beat from the Beatles songs, which is 4/4. Folk is 2/4. I'd take that beat and I'd put folk songs to it. Really, the beat sounds like the Beach Boys' "Don't Worry Baby". We only worked with studio musicians twice, and Mr. Tamborine Man was the first time. They had worked on "Don't Worry Baby", and when we played with them, you can hear the 'chunk, chunk' in the song." The Byrds had electrified folk and brought to number one on the pop charts, January 20th of 1965. Suddenly, folk had broken out from the Village. Suddenly, it was everywhere. The Turtles, a former surf band, turned to folk-rock with "It Ain't Me Babe". Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel teamed up to produce Wednesday, 3 A.M., which included "Sound Of Silence", a folk song that really hit the charts hard when the studio, without Simon knowing, added percussion and electric guitar. The Byrds kept at it, though, releasing "All I Really Want To Do", March 8, 1965. It didn't really do that well, until Cher covered it. Dylan was disappointed "He said "You let me down, man," McGuinn recalled. They bounced back with "I'll Feel A Whole Lot Better", April 14, 1965. It wasn't until July 25th of 1965, though, that electric rock really hit the mainstream.
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