Whilst you may not immediately recognize the name , P F Sloan , there ' s every chance that submerged somewhere in the depths of your record collection , perhaps in the section reserved solely for the 1960s , you ' ll find a song written by the gifted teenage composer , or indeed , even a track or two recorded by him , under one of his many pseudonyms .
Phil Sloan , as he was then known , already had a false start as a singer behind him when he was signed as a staff writer for the West Coast branch of Screen Gems in 1964 , at the splendidly tender age of eighteen . He was immediately teamed with another young songwriter , Steve Barri , and together they wrote , in quick succession , a stream of Billboard 100 hits , in a wide variety of genres , ranging from R & B and folk-rock to girl group and surf-pop . Sadly , a simmering feud with Dunhill Records ' President , Jay Lasker , which was largely the by-product of Sloan ' s understandable desire to perform under his own name , led to his being summarily dismissed from the fledgling label at the back end of 1967 . Barri , who ' d always been content with his role as a writer / producer , went on to become the label ' s Head of A & R before taking up the same post with Warner Bros . Records . He currently earns a crust touring the college circuit lecturing on the history of rock ' n ' roll .
After releasing a couple of solo albums , Measure for Pleasure ( 1968 ) and Raised on Records ( 1972 ), Sloan simply disappeared without a trace . He has subsequently admitted to being ' desolate and mentally ill ' for long periods . A review in the LA Times of a 1993 gig at the Troubadour , in West Hollywood , to promote his comeback album ( Still on the ) Eve of Destruction , suggests that his problems may not have been fully behind him even then :
' Unfortunately , Sloan ' s eccentric performing mannerisms too often jarred uncomfortably against the more attractive qualities of his songs . Constantly in motion , full of nervous tics and movements , chewing gum incessantly , he frequently interrupted the flow of the music with long , out-of-focus stories that were disconnected to the point of disassociation . As the evening wore on , he occasionally added aggressive harangues in support of a vague socio-political agenda '.
He had subsequently recorded just one more album , Sailover , in 2006 .
His incredible work rate at Dunhill , in the years preceding his devastating breakdown , must have taken their toll . Between 1964 and 1967 he penned , in partnership with Barri , hits for some of the decade ' s biggest acts , including The Searchers , The Mamas and Papas , The Fifth Dimension , The Turtles , Herman ' s Hermits and Johnny Rivers . In addition , his anguished protest song " Eve of Destruction ", written in the wake of the Cuban Missile crisis , was a world-wide smash for Barry McGuire . He also charted in the U . K under his own name or , at least , his latest variation of it , P . F . Sloan , for the first and last time , when his Dylanesque pot-boiler ' The Sins of a Family ' reached no . 38 in 1965 .
Throughout the Dunhill years , Sloan was also recording around the clock with Barri , under such group names as The Lifeguards , The Wildcats , Sheridan Hollenbeck Orchestra and Chorus , Phillip and Stephan , Willie & the Wheels , The Fantastic Baggys , Themes Inc ., The Street Cleaners and The Grass Roots . The Fantastic Baggys , perhaps the best of these side-projects , cut a truly wonderful surf pop album , Tell Em I ' m Surfin ' in 1964 , which is still regarded today as one of the best albums in the genre ' s history . When he wasn ' t writing or recording songs , on an industrial scale , Sloan was busy playing guitar on a multitude of other seminal records , including The Mamas and Papas ' all time classic " California Dreaming ". 1