Rick Evans and Denny Zager were in a band called the Eccentrics when, in 1964, Rick Evans wrote “In the Year 2525.” Both were born in Nebraska, Rick in Lincoln in 1943 and Denny in Wymore in 1944. They did not grow up together, but met while in college when Denny was looking for a guitarist for the band.

Actually, although they were together in the band for a while, Denny had left the Eccentrics when Rick wrote the song, so he didn’t hear it right away. Denny had moved on to another band called the Devilles. Rick tried to get the Eccentrics interested in recording the song, but they weren’t interested. By 1968, both guys were disillusioned with their respective bands and decided to join together as a duo and sing the type of music that they liked without having to deal with the rest of the band members.

Denny wasn’t crazy about the song when he first heard it and wrote a new arrangement which he felt was more commercial and they added it to their repertoire. The crowds seemed to like the song, so they decided to record it using their own money and a local recording studio in Lincoln, Nebraska. They pressed and distributed the record themselves to stores and radio stations and soon, it was being heard on the airwaves. People started calling in to hear it played again and it didn’t take long before Jerry Weintraub, head of a concert promoting company called Management III heard the song. He liked it and came to Nebraska to broker a deal with the guys and RCA Records.

Soon, the single was in national production on RCA and the song was an instant hit. The first week on the Billboard Hot 100, it came in at 72. Three weeks later, it was number one. The song is kind of a gloomy prediction of the future of mankind. Will mankind even be alive in 2525. The song then postulates what will happen to us during roughly 1010 year changes as it progresses through the song. By the year 10,000 Earth will be plunged into “eternal night.” Not a very rosy future for us, but a very catchy song.

By the way, if you don’t know Latin, the terms “Exordium & Terminus” mean, “the beginning and the end.” “In the Year 2525” was a true one-hit wonder. Zager and Evans never had another number one, they never had even another chart hit, This song sits all alone on the list of Top 40 hits. They tried again, but nothing clicked with the public like this song did. Even before the song had dropped off the charts, Zager decided this wasn’t the kind of music he wanted to be known for and the duo broke up, which probably goes a long way to explain why they didn’t have any more hits. They hit number one in the U.K. as well and remain, to this day, the only group in music history to have hit the top of the charts in both the United States and Great Britain and then never have another hit in either country.

“In the Year 2525 (Exordium and Terminus)” debuted on the pop charts on June 28, 1969 and stayed at number one for six weeks. However, that did not make it the number one song of the year. We have yet to talk about that hit. During the songs run at the top, two significant events happened in the United States, the first moon landing occurred on July 20, 1969 and Woodstock was held in New York on August 15-17, 1969.