{"id":398005,"date":"2026-03-22T10:43:26","date_gmt":"2026-03-22T10:43:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/398005\/"},"modified":"2026-03-22T10:43:26","modified_gmt":"2026-03-22T10:43:26","slug":"uncut-names-eight-miles-high-the-best-song-by-the-byrds-influential-rock-pioneers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/398005\/","title":{"rendered":"Uncut Names ‘Eight Miles High’ the Best Song by The Byrds, Influential Rock Pioneers"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Byrds<\/strong>, known for their expert way of blending folk, psychedelic, and country rock to transcendent effect, were a trailblazing sound of 1960s<\/strong> rock. From \u201cSo You Want to Be a Rock \u2018n\u2019 Roll Star\u201d<\/strong> to \u201cMr. Tambourine Man,\u201d <\/strong>the band achieved chart success<\/a> and helped redefine the sound of an entire generation.<\/p>\n

Uncut<\/a><\/strong> magazine, purveyors of music<\/a> journalism, compiled a list of the \u201cByrds\u2019 20 Best Songs,\u201d<\/strong> and let\u2019s just say, the list soars.<\/p>\n

\ud83c\udfac <\/strong>SIGN UP for Parade\u2019s Daily newsletter to get the latest pop culture news & celebrity interviews delivered right to your inbox<\/strong><\/a> \ud83c\udfac<\/strong><\/p>\n

Encompassing “Ballad of Easy Rider,\u201d<\/strong>\u201cMy Back Pages,”<\/strong> and \u201cI\u2019ll Feel a Whole Lot Better,\u201d<\/strong> the publication recruited Byrds frontman and leader Roger McGuinn<\/strong>, along with several other \u201cfamous fans,\u201d to offer their thoughts on the greatest musical contributions from the genre-defying, experimental band.<\/p>\n

\u201cLooking back, you can see there were several main stages of Byrds music,\u201d McGuinn says. \u201cWe started out with the folky thing, mixing Dylan<\/strong> and Pete Seeger <\/strong>with The Beatles<\/strong>, then we dabbled in a bit of jazz fusion with \u2018Eight Miles High,\u2019 <\/strong>which was misconstrued as psychedelic. It wasn\u2019t meant to be, but it was branded that way. Then we did things that were purposefully psychedelic, like \u2018Artificial Energy,\u2019 <\/strong>and then we got into country with Sweetheart of the Rodeo<\/strong>.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Byrds’ Best Song of All Time<\/p>\n

Topping the list of the best Byrds songs? \u201cEight Miles High.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

Off The Byrds\u2019 Fifth Dimension<\/strong> album released July 1966<\/strong>, the song hit No. 14<\/strong> on the U.S. <\/strong>chart and No. 24<\/strong> in the U.K. <\/strong>But that doesn\u2019t mean the single, released months earlier in March<\/strong>, is not No. 1<\/strong> worthy.<\/p>\n

\u201cA daring ascent into raga-rock, fusing modal jazz, Indian music, and nascent psychedelia,\u201d Uncut writes. \u201cSounds as timeless and progressive today as it did in 1966<\/strong>.\u201d<\/p>\n

McGuinn adds, \u201c\u2018Eight Miles High\u2019 is out there. It\u2019s spatial. I was trying to emulate [John] Coltrane<\/strong>\u2019s saxophone with my Rickenbacker<\/strong>. It\u2019s got a lot of what Coltrane was going for on \u2018India,\u2019<\/strong> which was to capture the elephants in India with his wails, and there\u2019s that tabla beat. He was trying to incorporate Indian music into jazz, and we were trying to incorporate his attempts to do that into a rock \u2019n\u2019 roll song. So there\u2019s a lot of things going on.\u201d<\/p>\n

Inspiration for ‘Eight Miles High’<\/p>\n

Written by McGuinn<\/strong>, David Crosby<\/a><\/strong>, and Gene Clark<\/strong>, the song kind of borrowed its title from a hit by The Beatles<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\u201c[Gene] didn\u2019t like the number seven, because the Beatles had \u2018Eight Days a Week\u2019 <\/strong>out and he thought that was much cooler. So we changed it to \u2018Eight Miles High,\u2019 even though commercial airliners didn\u2019t go to 42,000<\/strong> feet,” McGuinn says.<\/p>\n

He adds, \u201cThe Gavin Report <\/strong>came out with a tip sheet for radio and they banned the record because they thought it was a flagrant drug ad. Some of the band still like to pretend that it is.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cEight Miles High\u201d peaked on the Billboard Hot 100<\/a><\/strong> at No. 14<\/strong>. Often considered the first psychedelic rock song, it was stunted on the charts due to radio bans in the U.S. Didn\u2019t matter that the band confirmed the song was about a flight they took to London<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

The Byrds’ First No. 1 Hit<\/p>\n

Formed in 1964<\/strong> in Los Angeles<\/strong>, The Byrds first hit No. 1 on the Billboard chart with their cover of \u201cMr. Tambourine Man,\u201d a song written by Bob Dylan. On May 15, 1965<\/strong>, the track entered the charts and hit the top six weeks later.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe song\u2019s success made The Byrds one of the most influential bands in folk rock,\u201d Billboard<\/a> writes, \u201cthanks largely to then-22<\/strong>-year-old \u00adfrontman Roger McGuinn\u2019s jangly 12<\/strong>-string Rickenbacker guitar virtuosity, which inspired Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers<\/strong>, R.E.M.\u2019s Peter Buck <\/strong>and Mumford & Sons<\/strong>, among other contemporary acts.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cEight Miles High\u201d — and The Byrds — continue to soar 60 years later.<\/p>\n

Related: 1975 Hit Named Greatest Song From Top-5 \u2018Best Rock Band\u2019 of All Time<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

This story was originally published by Parade<\/a> on Mar 21, 2026, where it first appeared in the Celebs<\/a> section. Add Parade as a Preferred Source by clicking here.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Byrds, known for their expert way of blending folk, psychedelic, and country rock to transcendent effect, were…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":398006,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[264],"tags":[180950,18,117,19,17,337,15875,180949,338,180948],"class_list":["post-398005","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-country-rock","tag-eire","tag-entertainment","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-music","tag-psychedelic-rock","tag-roger-mcguinn","tag-the-beatles","tag-the-byrds"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/116272418574215264","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/398005","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=398005"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/398005\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/398006"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=398005"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=398005"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=398005"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}