Eve of Destruction (song)

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For other uses see Eve of Destruction.

"Eve of Destruction" is a protest song written by P.F. Sloan in 1965. Several artists have recorded it, but the best-known recording was by Barry McGuire. This recording was made between July 12 and 15, 1965 and released by Dunhill Records. It is widely accepted that this song was, and is, one of the defining songs of the protest generation.^{[[Citing sources citation needed]]} The accompanying musicians were P.F. Sloan on guitar, Hal Blaine on drums and Larry Knechtel on bass. The vocal track 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.^{[[Citing sources citation needed]]} The song was an instant hit and as a result the more polished vocal track that was at first envisioned was never recorded.

In the first week of its release, the single was at number thirty on the Cash Box charts, and number 103 on the Billboard charts. By August 12, Dunhill released the LP, Barry McGuire Featuring Eve of Destruction. The LP reached its peak of number thirty-seven on the Billboard album chart during the week ending September 25. That same day the single went to number one on both charts. McGuire was never again to break into the top forty of the Billboard Hot 100.

The Turtles' version had been released as an album track before McGuire's version was issued. A 1970 single version of this track hit number 100 on the Billboard Hot 100.

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, the nuclear arms race, and the civil rights movement.

The American media helped popularize the song by using it as an example of everything that was wrong with the youth of that time.^{[[Citing sources citation needed]]} The song also drew flak 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 cover of "Eve of Destruction". Johnny Thunders has also frequently covered the song in concert, while veteran Canadian punk outfit D.O.A. also covered the song on their 2004 album Live Free Or Die.

The song was briefly featured on Stephen King's 1994 miniseries The Stand. It also appeared in The Simpsons episode GABF16, "The Girl Who Slept Too Little," and was also featured in Michael Winterbottom's 1997 film Welcome to Sarajevo. A Joey Scarbury cover was played repeatedly in the original airing of the Greatest American Hero episode "Operation Spoil Sport" to encourage the hero to prevent an automated nuclear strike being triggered by a renegade U.S. general (the aliens who provided the hero's super-powers commandeered his car radio and tuned it to stations playing the song). Due to rights issues, the song does not appear in the DVD version of the episode.

The song was banned by some radio stations in the USA as well as by the BBC and Radio Scotland.^{[[Citing sources citation needed]]}

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