Eve of Destruction
Encyclopedia
"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 July 15, 1965 and released by Dunhill Records
. The accompanying musicians were top-tier LA
session players: P.F. Sloan on guitar
, Hal Blaine
(of Phil Spector
's "Wrecking Crew
") 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. The song was an instant hit and as a result the more polished vocal track that was at first envisioned was never recorded.
as a Dylanesque
potential single, but they rejected it. The Turtles
, another LA group who often recorded The Byrds' discarded or rejected material, recorded a version instead. Their version was issued as an album track shortly before McGuire's version was cut. It eventually hit number 100 on the Billboard Hot 100
in 1970. The song was also recorded by Jan and Dean
on their album Folk 'n Roll in 1965 and by The Grass Roots
on their first album Where Were You When I Needed You
in 1966.
McGuire also mentioned that "Eve of Destruction" was recorded in one take on a Thursday morning (from words scrawled on a crumpled piece of paper), and he got a call from the record company at 7:00 the following Monday morning, telling him to turn on the radio—his song was playing.
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.
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".
charts. By August 12, Dunhill released the LP, Nick 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 the chart, and repeated the feat on the Cashbox chart, where it had debuted at number thirty. McGuire would never again break into the top forty of the Billboard Hot 100
. It went to number one in Norway
for two weeks.
The American media
helped popularize the song by using it as an example of everything that was wrong with the youth of that time. The song also drew flak from conservatives
. A group called The Spokesmen
released an answer record entitled "The Dawn of Correction". A few months later, Green Beret
medic Sgt. Barry Sadler
released the patriotic "Ballad of the Green Berets
". Johnny Sea
's spoken word
recording, "Day For Decision", was also a response to the song.
The song was banned by some radio stations in the USA ("claiming it was an aid to the enemy in Vietnam") and by Radio Scotland
. It was placed on a "restricted list" by the BBC
, and could not be played on "general entertainment programmes".
In the late 1970s, Los Angeles
punk
band The Dickies
recorded a cover of "Eve of Destruction". New Wave
group Red Rockers
covered the song in their 1984 album Schizoprenic Circus. Johnny Thunders
recorded it on his 1984 album Hurt Me and 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 has also been covered by Australian band Screaming Jets
on their 1997 album World Gone Crazy. Christian rock pioneer Larry Norman
released his cover version on a maxi-single CD in 2004. Left-wing Christian punk band Crashdog
also covered it on their album Cashists, Fascists, and Other Fungus. Post-Industrial psychedelic rock outfit Psychic TV
released "Eve Ov Destruction" as a limited edition single in the late 1980s. In 2003, the reggae
singer Luciano recorded a version of the song. The band Bishop Allen also released a song titled "Eve of Destruction" on their 2003 album, "Charm School" which takes its chorus from this song.
The Temptations
' song "Ball of Confusion (That's What the World Is Today)
" mentions the song title. The song was briefly featured on Stephen King
's 1994 miniseries The Stand
. With a burning Des Moines, Iowa
as a backdrop, Larry Underwood sits atop the hood of a car, belting out the song to amuse himself until interrupted by another survivor of the superflu. 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 copyright issues, the song does not appear in the DVD version of the episode. A French translation is used in the closing credits of Michael Moore
's film Sicko
. An Italian version, "Questo vecchio pazzo mondo" ("This old crazy world"), was recorded by Gino Santercole
in 1967; a 1984 recording by Adriano Celentano
was included in his album I miei americani (a collection of US hits translated into Italian). This song also makes an appearance in The Doors
(directed by Oliver Stone
), as the opening act performs it before The Doors
take the stage in Miami.
The song is played during the fourth season finale of The A-Team
, "The Sound of Thunder," when the team returns to Vietnam and flashbacks recall their tours of duty. The song is featured in the fourth level of the Vietnam War Video game Men of Valor
. While the song is playing, the main character's lieutenant
is dying of his wound on the battlefield.
The song, like many other popular songs of the day, gave its name to a gun truck
used by United States Army Transportation Corps forces during the Vietnam war
. The truck is on display at the U.S. Army Transportation Museum
and is believed to be the only surviving example of a Vietnam era gun truck.
sportscaster Chris Berman, famous for inventing nicknames for sports figures, and often bringing song titles into the play on words, dubbed slugger Mark McGwire
as "Mark 'Eve of Destruction' McGwire".
The indie rock group Bishop Allen
perform a song named by the same name which borrows heavily from the original, but with an even more sharply apocalyptic theme. It includes the lyrics "And if this moment is gone in a flash/ And my hand in yours becomes ash in ash", followed in the next verse by an imagining of rejection from Heaven: "Then we'll have a dance, yeah a dance, on the head of a pin/ Then God will grin, and shoo us away".
Protest song
A protest song is a song which is associated with a movement for social change and hence part of the broader category of topical songs . It may be folk, classical, or commercial in genre...
written by P. F. Sloan
P. F. Sloan
P.F. Sloan is an American pop-rock singer and songwriter. He was very successful during the mid-1960s, writing, performing and producing Billboard top 20 hits for artists such as Barry McGuire, Jan & Dean, Herman's Hermits, Johnny Rivers, The Grass Roots and the Mamas and the Papas...
in 1965. Several artists have recorded it, but the best-known recording was by Barry McGuire
Barry McGuire
Barry McGuire is an American singer-songwriter best known for the hit song "Eve of Destruction", and later as a pioneering singer and songwriter of Contemporary Christian Music.-Early life:...
. This recording was made between July 12 and July 15, 1965 and released by Dunhill Records
Dunhill Records
Dunhill Records was started by Lou Adler, Al Bennett, Pierre Cossette and Bobby Roberts in 1964 as Dunhill Productions, originally for the purpose of releasing Johnny Rivers recordings on Imperial Records. It became a record label in 1965 and was distributed by ABC Records...
. The accompanying musicians were top-tier LA
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
session players: P.F. Sloan on guitar
Guitar
The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
, Hal Blaine
Hal Blaine
Hal Blaine is an American drummer and session musician. He is most known for his work with the Wrecking Crew in California. Blaine played on numerous hits by popular groups, including Elvis Presley, John Denver, the Ronettes, Simon & Garfunkel, the Carpenters, the Beach Boys, Nancy Sinatra, and...
(of Phil Spector
Phil Spector
Phillip Harvey "Phil" Spector is an American record producer and songwriter, later known for his conviction in the murder of actress Lana Clarkson....
's "Wrecking Crew
The Wrecking Crew (music)
The Wrecking Crew was a nickname coined by the drummer Hal Blaine after the fact for a group of session musicians in Los Angeles, California, who earned wide acclaim in the 1960s. They backed dozens of popular singers, and were one of the most successful "groups" of studio musicians in music history...
") on drums
Drum kit
A drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....
, and Larry Knechtel
Larry Knechtel
Lawrence William "Larry" Knechtel was an American keyboard player and bassist, best known for his work as a session musician with such artists as Simon & Garfunkel, Duane Eddy, The Beach Boys, The Mamas & the Papas, The Partridge Family, The Doors, and Elvis Presley, and as a member of the 1970s...
on bass
Bass guitar
The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
. 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. The song was an instant hit and as a result the more polished vocal track that was at first envisioned was never recorded.
Background
The song had initially been presented to The ByrdsThe Byrds
The Byrds were an American rock band, formed in Los Angeles, California in 1964. The band underwent multiple line-up changes throughout its existence, with frontman Roger McGuinn remaining the sole consistent member until the group disbanded in 1973...
as a Dylanesque
Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter, musician, poet, film director and painter. He has been a major and profoundly influential figure in popular music and culture for five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when he was an informal chronicler and a seemingly...
potential single, but they rejected it. The Turtles
The Turtles
The Turtles are an American rock group led by vocalists Howard Kaylan and Mark Volman. The band became notable for several Top 40 hits beginning with its cover version of Bob Dylan's "It Ain't Me Babe" in 1965...
, another LA group who often recorded The Byrds' discarded or rejected material, recorded a version instead. Their version was issued as an album track shortly before McGuire's version was cut. It eventually hit number 100 on the Billboard Hot 100
Billboard Hot 100
The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...
in 1970. The song was also recorded by Jan and Dean
Jan and Dean
Jan and Dean were a rock and roll duo, popular from the late 1950s through the mid 1960s, consisting of William Jan Berry and Dean Ormsby Torrence...
on their album Folk 'n Roll in 1965 and by The Grass Roots
The Grass Roots
The Grass Roots is an American rock band that charted between 1966 and 1975 as the brainchild of songwriting duo P. F. Sloan and Steve Barri.In their career, The Grass Roots achieved two gold albums, one gold single and charted singles a total of 21 times. Among their charting singles, they...
on their first album Where Were You When I Needed You
Where Were You When I Needed You
Where Were You When I Needed You was the first album released by The Grass Roots. Most of the album is performed by the duo of P.F. Sloan and Steve Barri, although some of the album features a San Francisco band, including lead singer Willie "Bill" Fulton...
in 1966.
McGuire also mentioned that "Eve of Destruction" was recorded in one take on a Thursday morning (from words scrawled on a crumpled piece of paper), and he got a call from the record company at 7:00 the following Monday morning, telling him to turn on the radio—his song was playing.
The song is a grave warning of imminent apocalypse
Apocalypse
An Apocalypse is a disclosure of something hidden from the majority of mankind in an era dominated by falsehood and misconception, i.e. the veil to be lifted. The Apocalypse of John is the Book of Revelation, the last book of the New Testament...
, and considered by some to be the epitome
Epitome
An epitome is a summary or miniature form; an instance that represents a larger reality, also used as a synonym for embodiment....
of a protest song. It expressed the frustrations and fears of young people in the age of the Cold War
Cold War
The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...
, Vietnam
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
, the nuclear arms race
Nuclear arms race
The nuclear arms race was a competition for supremacy in nuclear warfare between the United States, the Soviet Union, and their respective allies during the Cold War...
, and the civil rights movement.
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
Columbine High School massacre
The Columbine High School massacre occurred on Tuesday, April 20, 1999, at Columbine High School in Columbine, an unincorporated area of Jefferson County, Colorado, United States, near Denver and Littleton. Two senior students, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, embarked on a massacre, killing 12...
.
Barry McGuire updated the lyrics when he performed at a reunion of folksingers, with the line "Selma, Alabama
Selma, Alabama
Selma is a city in and the county seat of Dallas County, Alabama, United States, located on the banks of the Alabama River. The population was 20,512 at the 2000 census....
", 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".
Reception
In the first week of its release, the single was at number 103 on the BillboardBillboard (magazine)
Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...
charts. By August 12, Dunhill released the LP, Nick 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 the chart, and repeated the feat on the Cashbox chart, where it had debuted at number thirty. McGuire would never again break into the top forty of the Billboard Hot 100
Billboard Hot 100
The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...
. It went to number one in Norway
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
for two weeks.
The American media
Mass media
Mass media refers collectively to all media technologies which are intended to reach a large audience via mass communication. Broadcast media transmit their information electronically and comprise of television, film and radio, movies, CDs, DVDs and some other gadgets like cameras or video consoles...
helped popularize the song by using it as an example of everything that was wrong with the youth of that time. The song also drew flak from conservatives
Conservatism
Conservatism is a political and social philosophy that promotes the maintenance of traditional institutions and supports, at the most, minimal and gradual change in society. Some conservatives seek to preserve things as they are, emphasizing stability and continuity, while others oppose modernism...
. A group called The Spokesmen
The Spokesmen
The Spokesmen were an American pop music trio. They scored a hit single in the U.S. in 1965 with the tune "Dawn of Correction", which was a patriotic answer record to Barry McGuire's protest song, "Eve of Destruction". The song was written by the group's members, John Medora, David White and Roy...
released an answer record entitled "The Dawn of Correction". A few months later, Green Beret
United States Army Special Forces
The United States Army Special Forces, also known as the Green Berets because of their distinctive service headgear, are a special operations force tasked with six primary missions: unconventional warfare, foreign internal defense, special reconnaissance, direct action, hostage rescue, and...
medic Sgt. Barry Sadler
Barry Sadler
Barry Sadler was an American soldier, author and musician. Sadler served as a Green Beret medic with the rank of Staff Sergeant in the U.S. Army during the Vietnam War...
released the patriotic "Ballad of the Green Berets
Ballad of the Green Berets
"The Ballad Of The Green Berets" is a patriotic song in the ballad style about the Green Berets, an elite special force in the U.S. Army. It is one of the very few songs of the 1960s to cast the military in a positive light, yet it became a major hit, reaching No. 1 on the Billboard charts for five...
". Johnny Sea
Johnny Sea
Johnny Sea, Johnny Seay is an American country singer. His first hits came in the late 1950s, and his career saw a resurgence in the mid-1960s, particularly with the release of his spoken word single "Day For Decision".-Biography:Seay grew up in Atlanta, and had his first major break in 1957 by...
's spoken word
Spoken word
Spoken word is a form of poetry that often uses alliterated prose or verse and occasionally uses metered verse to express social commentary. Traditionally it is in the first person, is from the poet’s point of view and is themed in current events....
recording, "Day For Decision", was also a response to the song.
The song was banned by some radio stations in the USA ("claiming it was an aid to the enemy in Vietnam") and by Radio Scotland
Radio Scotland
Radio Scotland was an offshore pirate radio station broadcasting on 1241 kHz mediumwave , created by Tommy Shields in 1965. The station was located on the former lightship M.V...
. It was placed on a "restricted list" by the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
, and could not be played on "general entertainment programmes".
Use
The Cookeville Tennessee Rock Band MerseySide has newly released a rocked up version with the lyric "Think of all the hate there is in Al Qaeda", with the Mayan Calendar as the cover this new release is to coincide with the Mayan 2012 phenomena.In the late 1970s, Los Angeles
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...
punk
Punk rock
Punk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...
band The Dickies
The Dickies
The Dickies are an American punk rock group formed in San Fernando Valley, Los Angeles, California, U.S. in 1977.-History:The Dickies were among the first punk rock bands to emerge from Los Angeles...
recorded a cover of "Eve of Destruction". New Wave
New Wave music
New Wave is a subgenre of :rock music that emerged in the mid to late 1970s alongside punk rock. The term at first generally was synonymous with punk rock before being considered a genre in its own right that incorporated aspects of electronic and experimental music, mod subculture, disco and 1960s...
group Red Rockers
Red Rockers
Red Rockers were a musical band from New Orleans, Louisiana, active from 1979 to 1985. They are best known for their 1983 hit single "China".-Origins:...
covered the song in their 1984 album Schizoprenic Circus. Johnny Thunders
Johnny Thunders
Johnny Thunders, born John Anthony Genzale, Jr. , was an American protopunk guitarist, singer and songwriter.He came to prominence in the early '70s as a member of the New York Dolls...
recorded it on his 1984 album Hurt Me and also frequently covered the song in concert, while veteran Canadian
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
punk outfit D.O.A.
D.O.A. (band)
D.O.A. is a hardcore punk band from Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. They are often referred to as the "founders" of hardcore punk, along with Black Flag, Bad Brains, Teen Idles, and Minor Threat. Their second album Hardcore '81 was thought by many to have been the first actual reference to...
also covered the song on their 2004 album Live Free Or Die. The song has also been covered by Australian band Screaming Jets
Screaming Jets
The Screaming Jets are an Australian hard rock band formed in Newcastle in 1989 by front man Dave Gleeson on vocals, Grant Walmsley on guitar and Paul Woseen on bass guitar and backing vocals...
on their 1997 album World Gone Crazy. Christian rock pioneer Larry Norman
Larry Norman
Larry David Norman was an American Christian musician, singer, songwriter, record label owner, and record producer, who worked with Christian rock music...
released his cover version on a maxi-single CD in 2004. Left-wing Christian punk band Crashdog
Crashdog
Crashdog was one of the first Christian punk bands and was active primarily in the early 1990s. Most of their albums were released by Grrr recordS, which has also been home to Headnoise, Resurrection Band, and Glenn Kaiser, among others....
also covered it on their album Cashists, Fascists, and Other Fungus. Post-Industrial psychedelic rock outfit Psychic TV
Psychic TV
Psychic TV or PTV, is a video art and music group that primarily performs psychedelic, punk, electronic and experimental music...
released "Eve Ov Destruction" as a limited edition single in the late 1980s. In 2003, the reggae
Reggae
Reggae is a music genre first developed in Jamaica in the late 1960s. While sometimes used in a broader sense to refer to most types of Jamaican music, the term reggae more properly denotes a particular music style that originated following on the development of ska and rocksteady.Reggae is based...
singer Luciano recorded a version of the song. The band Bishop Allen also released a song titled "Eve of Destruction" on their 2003 album, "Charm School" which takes its chorus from this song.
The Temptations
The Temptations
The Temptations is an American vocal group having achieved fame as one of the most successful acts to record for Motown Records. The group's repertoire has included, at various times during its five-decade career, R&B, doo-wop, funk, disco, soul, and adult contemporary music.Formed in Detroit,...
' song "Ball of Confusion (That's What the World Is Today)
Ball of Confusion (That's What the World is Today)
"Ball of Confusion " is a 1970 hit single for The Temptations. It was released on the Gordy label, and produced by Norman Whitfield....
" mentions the song title. The song was briefly featured on Stephen King
Stephen King
Stephen Edwin King is an American author of contemporary horror, suspense, science fiction and fantasy fiction. His books have sold more than 350 million copies and have been adapted into a number of feature films, television movies and comic books...
's 1994 miniseries The Stand
The Stand
The Stand is a post-apocalyptic horror/fantasy novel by American author Stephen King. It demonstrates the scenario in his earlier short story, Night Surf...
. With a burning Des Moines, Iowa
Des Moines, Iowa
Des Moines is the capital and the most populous city in the US state of Iowa. It is also the county seat of Polk County. A small portion of the city extends into Warren County. It was incorporated on September 22, 1851, as Fort Des Moines which was shortened to "Des Moines" in 1857...
as a backdrop, Larry Underwood sits atop the hood of a car, belting out the song to amuse himself until interrupted by another survivor of the superflu. It also appeared in The Simpsons
The Simpsons
The Simpsons is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical parody of a middle class American lifestyle epitomized by its family of the same name, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie...
episode GABF16, "The Girl Who Slept Too Little
The Girl Who Slept Too Little
"The Girl Who Slept Too Little" is the second episode of The Simpsons seventeenth season, which originally broadcast on September 18, 2005. 9.79 million viewers watched the episode.-Plot:...
", and was also featured in Michael Winterbottom
Michael Winterbottom
Michael Winterbottom is a prolific English filmmaker who has directed seventeen feature films in the past fifteen years. He began his career working in British television before moving into features...
's 1997 film Welcome to Sarajevo
Welcome To Sarajevo
Welcome to Sarajevo is a British war film from 1997. It is directed by Michael Winterbottom. The screenplay is by Frank Cottrell Boyce and is based on the book Natasha's Story by Michael Nicholson.- Synopsis :...
. A Joey Scarbury cover was played repeatedly in the original airing of The Greatest American Hero
The Greatest American Hero
The Greatest American Hero is an American comedy-drama television series that aired for three seasons from 1981 to 1983 on ABC. Created by producer Stephen J. Cannell, it premiered as a two-hour movie pilot on March 18, 1981...
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 copyright issues, the song does not appear in the DVD version of the episode. A French translation is used in the closing credits of Michael Moore
Michael Moore
Michael Francis Moore is an American filmmaker, author, social critic and activist. He is the director and producer of Fahrenheit 9/11, which is the highest-grossing documentary of all time. His films Bowling for Columbine and Sicko also place in the top ten highest-grossing documentaries...
's film Sicko
Sicko
Sicko is a 2007 documentary film by American filmmaker Michael Moore. The film investigates health care in the United States, focusing on its health insurance and the pharmaceutical industry. The movie compares the for-profit, non-universal U.S...
. An Italian version, "Questo vecchio pazzo mondo" ("This old crazy world"), was recorded by Gino Santercole
Gino Santercole
Gino Santercole is an Italian singer/songwriter, guitarist, and actor. He is well known for his breakthrough hit "Questo vecchio pazzo mondo" , a cover of P.F. Sloan's "Eve of Destruction," and for the song "Such a Cold Night Tonight" that he sang in the movie Yuppi Du.-Early life:Santercole was...
in 1967; a 1984 recording by Adriano Celentano
Adriano Celentano
Adriano Celentano is an Italian singer, songwriter, comedian, actor, film director and TV host.-Biography:Celentano was born in Milan at 14 Via Gluck, about which he later wrote the famous song "Il ragazzo della via Gluck"...
was included in his album I miei americani (a collection of US hits translated into Italian). This song also makes an appearance in The Doors
The Doors (film)
The Doors is a 1991 biopic about the 1960s-1970s rock band of the same name which emphasizes the life of its lead singer, Jim Morrison. It was directed by Oliver Stone, and stars Val Kilmer as Morrison, Meg Ryan as Pamela Courson , Kyle MacLachlan as Ray Manzarek, Frank Whaley as Robby Krieger,...
(directed by Oliver Stone
Oliver Stone
William Oliver Stone is an American film director, producer and screenwriter. Stone became well known in the late 1980s and the early 1990s for directing a series of films about the Vietnam War, for which he had previously participated as an infantry soldier. His work frequently focuses on...
), as the opening act performs it before The Doors
The Doors
The Doors were an American rock band formed in 1965 in Los Angeles, California, with vocalist Jim Morrison, keyboardist Ray Manzarek, drummer John Densmore, and guitarist Robby Krieger...
take the stage in Miami.
The song is played during the fourth season finale of The A-Team
The A-Team
The A-Team is an American action adventure television series about a fictional group of ex-United States Army Special Forces personnel who work as soldiers of fortune, while on the run from the Army after being branded as war criminals for a "crime they didn't commit". The A-Team was created by...
, "The Sound of Thunder," when the team returns to Vietnam and flashbacks recall their tours of duty. The song is featured in the fourth level of the Vietnam War Video game Men of Valor
Men of Valor
Men of Valor is a first-person shooter video game for the PC and Microsoft Xbox. It was developed by 2015, Inc., published by Vivendi Universal and first released on October 19, 2004...
. While the song is playing, the main character's lieutenant
Lieutenant
A lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer in many nations' armed forces. Typically, the rank of lieutenant in naval usage, while still a junior officer rank, is senior to the army rank...
is dying of his wound on the battlefield.
The song, like many other popular songs of the day, gave its name to a gun truck
Gun truck
A military gun truck is an improvised fighting vehicle used by units of regular armies or other official government armed forces, based on a conventional cargo truck, that is able to carry a large weight of weapons and armor...
used by United States Army Transportation Corps forces during the Vietnam war
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
. The truck is on display at the U.S. Army Transportation Museum
U.S. Army Transportation Museum
The U.S. Army Transportation Museum is a United States Army museum of vehicles and other transportation-related equipment and memorabilia. It is located on the grounds of Fort Eustis, Virginia, in Newport News, on the Virginia Peninsula.-History:...
and is believed to be the only surviving example of a Vietnam era gun truck.
Lyrical references
- "You’re old enough to kill, but not for votin’" refers to the fact that in the United States, men were subject to the draft at age 18, while at that time the minimum voting age (in all but four states) was 21.
- "And even the Jordan River has bodies floatin’" refers to The War over WaterThe War over WaterThe "War over Water" , also the Battle over Water , refers to a series of confrontations between Israel and its Arab neighbors from November 1964 to May 1967 over control of available water sources in the Jordan River drainage basin.-History:The 1949 Armistice Agreements which followed the 1948...
. - The song also makes reference to Selma, AlabamaSelma, AlabamaSelma is a city in and the county seat of Dallas County, Alabama, United States, located on the banks of the Alabama River. The population was 20,512 at the 2000 census....
where Bloody SundaySelma to Montgomery marchesThe Selma to Montgomery marches were three marches in 1965 that marked the political and emotional peak of the American civil rights movement. They grew out of the voting rights movement in Selma, Alabama, launched by local African-Americans who formed the Dallas County Voters League...
took place. (The version by Jan and Dean substitutes "Watts, California" in the lyrics, in apparent reference to the Watts RiotsWatts RiotsThe Watts Riots or the Watts Rebellion was a civil disturbance in the Watts neighborhood of Los Angeles, California from August 11 to August 15, 1965. The 5-day riot resulted in 34 deaths, 1,032 injuries, and 3,438 arrests...
.) - "Ah, you may leave here, for four days in space, but when you return, it's the same old place." This refers to the June 1965 mission of Gemini 4Gemini 4Gemini 4 was the second manned space flight in NASA's Project Gemini, occurring in June 1965. It was the tenth manned American spaceflight . Astronauts James McDivitt and Edward H. White, II circled the Earth 66 times in four days, making it the first US flight to approach the five-day flight of...
, which lasted just over four days. - According to Sloan, the lyric "The pounding of the drums the pride and disgrace" relates to the Kennedy assassinationJohn F. Kennedy assassinationJohn Fitzgerald Kennedy, the thirty-fifth President of the United States, was assassinated at 12:30 p.m. Central Standard Time on Friday, November 22, 1963, in Dealey Plaza, Dallas, Texas...
.
Other
ESPNESPN
Entertainment and Sports Programming Network, commonly known as ESPN, is an American global cable television network focusing on sports-related programming including live and pre-taped event telecasts, sports talk shows, and other original programming....
sportscaster Chris Berman, famous for inventing nicknames for sports figures, and often bringing song titles into the play on words, dubbed slugger Mark McGwire
Mark McGwire
Mark David McGwire , nicknamed "Big Mac", is an American former professional baseball player who played his major league career with the Oakland Athletics and the St. Louis Cardinals. He is currently the hitting coach for the St...
as "Mark 'Eve of Destruction' McGwire".
The indie rock group Bishop Allen
Bishop Allen
Bishop Allen is an American indie rock band from Brooklyn, New York. The band's core members are Justin Rice and Christian Rudder, who are supported both on stage and in the studio by a rotating cast of musical collaborators...
perform a song named by the same name which borrows heavily from the original, but with an even more sharply apocalyptic theme. It includes the lyrics "And if this moment is gone in a flash/ And my hand in yours becomes ash in ash", followed in the next verse by an imagining of rejection from Heaven: "Then we'll have a dance, yeah a dance, on the head of a pin/ Then God will grin, and shoo us away".