 The band returned to the studio between November 28 and December 8 , 1966 to record their fourth album , Younger Than Yesterday . With Allen Stanton having recently departed Columbia Records to work for A & M , the band chose to bring in producer Gary Usher to help guide them through the album sessions . Usher , who had a wealth of production experience and a love of innovative studio experimentation , would prove invaluable to the Byrds as they entered their most creatively adventurous phase . The first song to be recorded for the album was the McGuinn and Hillman @-@ penned " So You Want to Be a Rock ' n ' Roll Star " , a satirical and heavily sarcastic jibe at the manufactured nature of groups like The Monkees . The song features the trumpet playing of South African musician Hugh Masekela and as such , marks the first appearance of brass on a Byrds ' recording . " So You Want to Be a Rock ' n ' Roll Star " was issued as a single in January 1967 and peaked at number 29 in America but failed to chart in the UK . Despite this relatively poor chart showing , " So You Want to Be a Rock ' n ' Roll Star " has become one of the Byrds ' best @-@ known songs in the years since its initial release , inspiring cover versions by the likes of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers and the Patti Smith Group amongst others . 
