Forty years ago this week, the biggest hit to ever come out of Lincoln made it onto the Billboard Top 40.
The Lincoln Journal Star | Posted: Thursday, July 2, 2009 12:00 am
Forty years ago this week, the biggest hit to ever come out of Lincoln made it onto the Billboard Top 40.
Two weeks later, Zager and Evans' "In the Year 2525 (Exordium and Terminus)" hit No. 1 and remained there for six weeks. It was the most popular song in the country when Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin became the first men to walk on the moon and during the Woodstock Music Festival.
Zager and Evans were Denny Zager and Rick Evans, a Lincoln group that began as The Eccentrics and also included drummer Dave Trupp and bassist Mark Dalton.
Written by Evans and recorded for $500 in an Oklahoma studio, the folk-rock tune that portends the end of the human race because of technological innovations was picked up by RCA Records. "In the Year 2525" was dismissed by critics but sold 20 million copies.
Zager and Evans toured behind their hit, including a stint in Europe. They released other singles and some albums but never hit the charts again, becoming for many the definition of a "one-hit wonder."
Evans, according to Internet searches, remains in the music business. Zager is a luthier who builds custom guitars. His Web site is zagerguitar.com.
- L. Kent Wolgamott