Songwriter P.F. Sloan, responsible for such classic tunes as Johnny Rivers’ “Secret Agent Man” and Barry McGuire’s “Eve of Destruction,” died yesterday from pancreatic cancer. He was 70.

"Phil was a key element on the music that became the sound of the Sunset Strip. Phil was a true prodigy, signing his first record deal with Aladdin Records when he was thirteen," his reps said in a statement. "P.F. Sloan's 'Eve Of Destruction' was an anthem for a generation. It is as relevant now as it ever has been."

The song, which was the biggest selling single of 1965, almost never made it to the radio. Both his writing partner and the record company said the song was too dark, and told him to forget about it.

Barry McGuire, recording his first solo album after leaving The New Christy Minstrels, recorded the song as an afterthought for his new album. When a DJ played the song accidentally (it was the B-side to Barry's first single), it received an immediate response and took off.

The song was banned for being 'Subversive' by many stations, and McGuire stopped performing it for a time, saying it was against his new found Christian beliefs. He later began singing it again, and updated the lyrics to incorporate current events like the Columbine school shootings and advances made in space travel.

Sloan took some criticism for the hit, with many feeling it was unpatriotic. He said about the backlash:

The media frenzy over the song tore me up and seemed to tear the country apart. I was an enemy of the people to some and a hero to others, but I was still only 20 years old and nobody really was looking. I have felt it was a love song and written as a prayer because, to cure an ill you need to know what is sick. In my youthful zeal I hadn't realized that this would be taken as an attack on The System! The media headlined the song as everything that is wrong with the youth culture.

The song even prompted a 'response' record called 'The Dawn Of Correction' by the Spokesmen. It sucked. Somehow it didn't capture the feeling of truth that 'Destruction' personified.

 

 

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