Philip Sloan was a Los Angeles songwriter who originally wrote surf music as half of the Fantastic Baggys (the other half being Steve Barri), that released the album Tell 'Em I'm Surfin' (1964). He then penned Eve Of Destruction (1965) for Barry McGuire, a former New Christy Minstrels, the first protest song to climb the pop charts, and the tv theme Secret Agent Man (1966), sung by Johnny Rivers. His own albums Songs of Our Times (1965) and Measure of Pleasure (1968) are influenced by Fred Neil and Bob Dylan.