‘Eve of Destruction’ singer Barry McGuire to headline Sept. 1 benefit

The most iconic protest song of the volatile 1960s?

Any single answer is going to generate major debate, but many ’60s aficionados would likely agree that the list should include Barry McGuire’s 1965 apocalyptic take on “Eve of Destruction.�

It packed just about every hot button issue of the time into a 3 1/2-minute musical rant, made all the more brash by the buzz-saw vocals of McGuire, who embarked on a solo career after his stint as a member of the New Christy Minstrels folk group.

McGuire, now 78, still takes the stage periodically and will be in the Southland for a performance Thursday night at the South Pasadena Public Library as part of an ongoing series of musical offerings to benefit the institution.

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McGuire’s version of the P.F. Sloan song, released 51 years ago this month, went to No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and also became a hit internationally. The opening verse:

The eastern world, it is explodin’

Violence flarin’, bullets loadin’

You’re old enough to kill but not for votin’

You don’t believe in war, but what’s that gun you’re totin’?

And even the Jordan River has bodies floatin’

“I don’t think it was a copy of anything,� said music executive and producer Lou Adler, who coaxed the song from Sloan after “I gave [him] a pair of boots and a hat and a copy of the Dylan album [‘Bringing It All Back Home’]. A week later he came back with 10 songs, including ‘Eve of Destruction.’

“It was the first rock ’n’ roll protest song, and Sloan laid it down in very simple terms, not like the folk people were doing,� Adler said in a 1972 interview with Melody Maker magazine. “If you listen to the song today, it holds up all the way — it’s the same problems. It’s certainly an honest feeling from a 16-year-old.�

McGuire’s record has been as polarizing over time as the issues it addresses. British author Jon Savage, in his recent book “1966 — The Year the Decade Exploded,� noted, “Barry McGuire’s splenetic ‘Eve of Destruction’ was the commercial zenith and, for many, the artistic nadir of this [protest music] trend. Mick Jagger and Paul McCartney both dismissed it, but the record went to No. 3 in the U.K. and No. 1 in the U.S.�

McGuire will be joined by latter-day Byrds member John York for the 8 p.m. show. Tickets are $20, and concert organizer Steve Fjeldsted said tickets should be available at the door on Thursday. Info: www.eveningwithbarrymcguire.eventbrite.com.

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