The extraordinary, powerful, and, upon its 1965 release, highly controversial composition Eve of Destruction is performed live by vocalist Barry McGuire on the Hullabaloo show. McGuire, after being introduced by Jerry Lewis, delivers an emotionally charged rendition that made ripplesβmore like tsunamiβacross the US.
Composer P.F. Sloan recalls a few fascinating and unlikely (as in, almost credulity-strainingβ¦yet not) details: during the studio recording session, βBarry was reading it for the first time off a piece of paper I had written the lyric on! Okay. McGuireβs record is released but βEveβ is the B-side. Somewhere in the Great Midwest of America a DJ played the wrong side by mistake!β.
Banned and denounced as unpatriotic, Eve only became more and more popular, most likely benefiting from all the wild, incorrect accusations and censure. Its creator and performer were not so fortunate, however; Sloan: βIt ruined Barryβs career as an artist and in a year I would be driven out of the music business too.β.
Bideodromage 
One reply on “Eve of Destruction.”
hmmm I didn’t realize it ruined Barryβs career – how sad! Billy Idol did a remake which is pretty good. And anyone ahead of their times gets the Thor’s hammer of disapproval by the group think that always prevails (critics, record industry, Hollywood, and media). The song remains the same all these decades later. It’s still a good song even today!