It was 1965 with bells on, the year the singles charts got wilder, heavier, druggier. Twelve months of traumas, transgressions and transvestism, experiments and explosions. How 20 revolutionary platters from 1966 revealed "the secrets of space and time". "Intensity was the keynote," says JON SAVAGE.

Fifty years on from their first successes, Roger McGuinn, the 12-string architect of THE BYRDS , tells Uncut about their exceptional first 18 months – and his relationship with Gene Clark. As the young group make their jet-powered escape from the folk think tank, we hear about making the scene on the Strip, outraging Iowa and a muted response in the United Kingdom. But ultimately how “Eight Miles High” became the spectacular conclusion of the band’s first era. “I almost left The Byrds entirely to go and be in this space band With Dino Valente,” McGuinn tells John Robinson

This month…

JOHN LYDON WITH PHIL MEARS “This pic of myself and John Lydon was taken at the Waterside Arts Centre in Sale, Greater Manchester, as part of his I Could Be Wrong, I Could Be Right spoken word tour on

It’s a joy watching our favourite singers or actors, but though we might admire them and enjoy the happiness they bring, do we ever give a thought as to how precarious the world of entertainment actua

Early Steps RHINO/WARNER BROS.