A great rock trivia question is born !!

I luv music trivia as much as the next guy -- maybe even more !!

Back in the days when "Happy Hour" (2 for 1 beer prices) were legal in Ontario, a group of us would head to the local haunt.  Undoubtedly, a round or 20 of rock trivia would ensue.

My friend Bob O. figured he could stump me with a question about a one-hit wonder: "Who Sang Eve of Destruction"?   Well, Bob, you have to get up a lot earlier in the morning, if ya wanna catch me !!

Several artists have recorded it (The Turtles, Jan and Dean, The Grass Roots), but Barry McGuire's single went to number one on the Billboard chart in September 1965.  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.

From Wikipedia:

Barry McGuire became a born-again Christian, and as a result renounced the song for many years, refusing to perform it. Though he is now known primarily as a singer of contemporary Christian songs, McGuire has continued to sing "Eve Of Destruction" in recent years, often updating the lyrics to refer to such events as the Columbine High School massacre.

Barry McGuire updated the lyrics when he performed at a reunion of folksingers, with the line "Selma, Alabama", replaced by the words "Columbine, Colorado", referring to the student massacre of 1999. On March 12, 2008, McGuire appeared on the Australian music comedy/game show Spicks and Specks, performing an updated version of "Eve of Destruction", with new lines such as "You're old enough to kill/ you just started voting" and "...can live for ten years in space". The reference to "Red China" was also removed, and in its place were the more generic "Now think of all the hate, still living inside us/ its never too late, to let love guide us".

Today is Barry McGuire's birthday -- yipes !!....he's 76 years old  !!  Many happy returns, Barry !