The years 1968-1969 saw multiple historically important events occur, including the assassinations of John F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King, Jr., the Vietnam war, and the Apollo 11 moon landing. In the midst of the chaos of emotions resulting from these events arose a hit song that reached the top of the charts for six weeks: “In the Year 2525 (Exortium & Terminus).”
Denny Zager and Rick Evans, the two men who wrote and recorded the song as the band “Zager and Evans,” hail from Lincoln, Nebraska, where they met at Nebraska Wesleyan University. Truth Records originally released the song in 1968, with a second release followed by RCA Records in 1969. Its success prompted a feature on the cover of TIME Magazine in 1969. A photo of Zager and Evans was captioned: “Even the Beatles would be jealous!”
Zager and Evans, however, did not come close to the Beatles’ fame. The duo, who split in 1971, would go down in history as the only artists ever to have simultaneous Number One hits in both the United States and the United Kingdom without any others to follow—a true “one-hit wonder.”
“We had a lot of ‘end of the world’ songs in ’69,” remarked Dave Wingert, morning show host and account executive at Boomer Radio. “It was a different time, and I think it’s looked at as a novelty now.”
Although what makes this song special enough to have been covered at least 60 times in seven languages?
“In the Year 2525” is classified as a dystopian sci-fi tune, the lyrics expressing a prediction of the state of humanity and the earth in future years. Beginning with the year 2525, “if man is still alive,” the song takes listeners through thousands of years of societal deterioration through the advancement of technology. In 3535, “everything you think, do, and say is in the pill you took today;” in 4545, we won’t even need to eat and “nobody’s gonna look at you;” in 5555, our limbs will become obsolete, as “some machine’s doing that for you;” in 6565, “test tube babies” will dissolve the institute of marriage.
When we finally reach the year 8510, God will intervene—“He’ll either say, ‘I’m pleased where man has been,’ or tear it down and start again.” This reference to Genesis (the first book of the Bible, in which God sends a flood to wipe out all life on Earth) adds an even more pessimistic flavor to the song, heavily implying that this Biblical story will inevitably repeat itself.
By 9595, man has exhausted Earth and its resources with an air of nonchalance, mindlessly moving on to the next planet or universe across the stars, no doubt to repeat the process of the last 10,000 years over again.
This iconic song has garnered both positive and negative attention over the years, and many people have taken to online forums and blogs to explain why they think it either eerily prophetic or underserving of fame. Most agree on the latter, however, Wingert included. “It’s inelegant and musically boring,” he explained. “The song has been used in futuristic TV shows and used for a hook, but I think that’s because it’s theatrical, not because it’s melodic.”
Even Zager admitted it wasn’t a psychic vision of the future. In a 2020 interview with Forbes, he remarked, “Rick (Evans) said he wrote the lyrics in 10 minutes in the back of a Volkswagen van after a night of partying and a lot of Mary Jane.” (Today, Zager builds custom guitars at Zager Guitars in Lincoln, Nebraska. He could not be reached for comment on this story. Evans died in 2018.)
The song was significant enough, though, to be affected by later historical events. The attacks on the Twin Towers on September 11, 2001 brought grief and terror to the United States. Though it was recorded over 30 years prior, “In The Year 2525” was one of 165 songs on the memorandum distributed to radio stations by Clear Channel Communications (the largest owner of radio stations at the time) considered to be “lyrically questionable” to play over the air in the aftermath of the 9/11 tragedy.
“Apparently this dependence on our technologies really struck a chord with millions of people in the ‘60s,” Wingert said. “But now, when people really want to hear something from that time, it’s usually Lionel Ritchie, Barry White, the Bee Gees, the Beatles—something that’s musically brilliant.”
Whether an important warning to be heeded or just another briefly popular tune to be lost to time, there’s no denying “In The Year 2525” was one of the biggest music releases of the era and a significant blip in the timeline of music history.
To listen to songs from the “In the Year 2525 (Exortium & Terminus)” era, visit myboomerradio.com.
This article originally appeared in the May 2024 issue of Omaha Magazine. To receive the magazine, click here to subscribe.
