The 1960s band Roger McGuinn never wanted to join: “I had two aces in the hole”
When we think of Roger McGuinn, we think of one of the best musicians to ever grace the industry with his presence, and rightly so.
If you’re a budding musician, chances are you look at innovative minds like that of Roger McGuinn and see it as this unique, unattainable level of brilliance. To those who think that, I would suggest looking into his backstory a little more. Sure, he basically invented folk rock and was one of the more innovative artists of his time, but there was a process he had to follow in order to get there.
One of the first things he was doing was essentially working in a hit factory. When Berry Gordy first set up Motown Records, he did so with the intention of it running like an assembly line, but instead of making cars, they made songs. It sounds ambitious, but these kinds of places existed before Motown even came along, and McGuinn found himself on the frontline of one.
He was working in the Brill Building, where his role was to essentially listen to whatever was charting at the time and then replicate it to the best of his ability, but not so closely that they could be sued. It certainly wasn’t the most rewarding role that McGuinn ever had in his life, but it did provide for a big learning curve, as suddenly McGuinn was devoting his time to the construction of hits and constantly learning how to most effectively put one together.
“It wasn’t the hardest work I’ve ever done but was a fantastic learning experience in the actual mechanics of songwriting,” recalled McGuinn. “At that time Surf music was just beginning to become popular so that was what I was influenced by. A few of my songs did get recorded but only one; ‘Beach Ball’ was actually a hit, by a band called The City Surfers; which was really me playing guitar and a bunch of friends.”
The next bit of experience that McGuinn had was playing live and going on tour. He did this with Bobby Darin, as he assumed backing guitar duties. The choice was a pretty easy one, as he had already worked with Bobby Darin in the Brill Building, and the only other band he could potentially play with was the New Christy Minstrels, who he had absolutely no intention of joining.
“But I had two aces in the hole. One was the New Christy Minstrels, which I didn’t particularly want to get into,” he said, “And the other was Bobby Darin, which was more bread and better exposure.”
The New Christy Minstrels certainly missed out here. They were a large folk ensemble with a stellar list of band members, including the likes of Kenny Rodgers; however, McGuinn wasn’t too bothered. It worked out for the best, as going on tour with Bobby Darin gave him plenty of experience of what it meant to not only write songs, but be a musician on the road and play with different line-ups.
It’s important to keep all of this in mind because when a lot of people think of Roger McGuinn, they think of The Byrds and the strides that he was responsible for in both folk and country rock. That’s all well and good, but it’s worth keeping in mind that before any of that, there was a process he had to follow that set him up for being a successful artist.
