in the mid to late 1960s, as music changed, so did the challengers. they began recording more pop-oriented music, like an instrumental version of "kicks" by paul revere & the raiders, "light my fire" by the doors, "the man from u.n.c.l.e" from the tv show and many others. by 1967, they had gone the way of most other surf bands and stopped performing live, but still continued recording and releasing albums. their album "billy strange and the challengers" brought the collaboration of another fine guitarist from the gnp crescendo label to work with the challengers.