The Beach Boys
Template:Short description Template:Other uses Template:Use American English Template:Use mdy dates Template:Infobox musical artist
The Beach Boys are an American rock band formed in Hawthorne, California, in 1961. The group's original lineup consisted of brothers Brian, Dennis and Carl Wilson, their cousin Mike Love, and their friend Al Jardine. Distinguished by their vocal harmonies, adolescent-oriented lyrics, and musical ingenuity, they are one of the most influential acts of the rock era. The group drew on the music of older pop vocal groups, 1950s rock and roll, and black R&B to create their unique sound. Under Brian's direction, they often incorporated classical or jazz elements and unconventional recording techniques in innovative ways.
The Beach Boys formed as a garage band centered on Brian's songwriting and managed by the Wilsons' father, Murry. In 1963, they enjoyed their first national hit with "Surfin' U.S.A.", beginning a string of top-ten singles that reflected a southern California youth culture of surfing, cars, and romance, dubbed the "California sound". They were one of the few American rock bands to sustain their commercial standing during the British Invasion. Starting with 1965's The Beach Boys Today!, they abandoned beachgoing themes for more personal lyrics and ambitious orchestrations. In 1966, the Pet Sounds album and "Good Vibrations" single raised the group's prestige as rock innovators; both are now widely considered to be among the greatest and most influential works in popular music history. After scrapping the Smile album in 1967, Brian gradually ceded control of the group to his bandmates.
In the late 1960s, the group's commercial momentum faltered in the U.S., and they were widely dismissed by the early rock music press before undergoing a rebranding in the early 1970s. Carl took over as de facto leader until the mid-1970s, when the band responded to the growing success of their live shows and greatest hits compilations by transitioning into an oldies act. Dennis drowned in 1983, and Brian soon became estranged from the group. Following Carl's death from lung cancer in 1998, the band granted Love legal rights to tour under the group's name. In the early 2010s, the surviving original members briefly reunited for the band's 50th anniversary tour. Currently, Brian and Jardine do not perform with Love's edition of the Beach Boys, but remain official members of the band.<ref name="m124">Template:Cite web</ref>
The Beach Boys are one of the most critically acclaimed and commercially successful bands of all time, selling over 100 million records worldwide. They helped legitimize popular music as a recognized art form, and influenced the development of music genres and movements such as psychedelia, power pop, progressive rock, punk, alternative, and lo-fi. Between the 1960s and 2020s, the group had 37 songs reach the U.S. Top 40 of the Billboard Hot 100 (the most by an American band), with four topping the chart. In 2004, the group was ranked number 12 on Rolling StoneTemplate:'s list of the greatest artists of all time. Many critics' polls have ranked Today!, Pet Sounds, Smiley Smile (1967), Sunflower (1970), and Surf's Up (1971) among the finest albums in history. The founding members were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1988. Other members during the band's history have been David Marks, Bruce Johnston, Blondie Chaplin, and Ricky Fataar.
History
[edit]1958–1961: Formation
[edit]
At the time of his 16th birthday on June 20, 1958, Brian Wilson shared a bedroom with his brothers, Dennis and CarlTemplate:Mdashaged 13 and 11, respectivelyTemplate:Mdashin their family home in Hawthorne. He had watched his father Murry Wilson play piano, and had listened intently to the harmonies of vocal groups such as the Four Freshmen.Template:Sfn After dissecting songs such as "Ivory Tower" and "Good News", Brian would teach family members how to sing the background harmonies.Template:Sfn For his birthday that year, Brian received a reel-to-reel tape recorder. He learned how to overdub, using his vocals and those of Carl and their mother.Template:Sfn Brian played piano, while Carl and David Marks, an eleven-year-old longtime neighbor, played guitars that each had received as Christmas presents.Template:Sfn
Soon Brian and Carl were avidly listening to Johnny Otis' KFOX radio show.Template:Sfn Inspired by the simple structure and vocals of the rhythm and blues songs he heard, Brian changed his piano-playing style and started writing songs.Template:Citation needed Family gatherings brought the Wilsons in contact with cousin Mike Love. Brian taught Love's sister Maureen and a friend harmonies.Template:Sfn Later, Brian, Love and two friends performed at Hawthorne High School.Template:Sfn Brian also knew Al Jardine, a high school classmate.Template:Sfn Brian suggested to Jardine that they team up with his cousin and brother Carl. Love gave the fledgling band its name: "The Pendletones", a pun on "Pendleton", a brand of woollen shirt popular at the time.Template:Sfn Dennis was the only avid surfer in the group, and he suggested that the group write songs that celebrated the sport and the lifestyle that it had inspired in Southern California.Template:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:Refn Brian finished the song, titled "[[Surfin'|SurfinTemplate:'-]]", and with Mike Love, wrote "Surfin' Safari".Template:Sfn
Murry Wilson, who was an occasional songwriter, arranged for the Pendletones to meet his publisher Hite Morgan.<ref name=RockHallofFame /> He said: "Finally, [Hite] agreed to hear it, and Mrs. Morgan said 'Drop everything, we're going to record your song. I think it's good.' And she's the one responsible."Template:Sfn On September 15, 1961, the band recorded a demo of "SurfinTemplate:'" with the Morgans. A more professional recording was made on October 3, at World Pacific Studio in Hollywood.Template:Sfn David Marks was not present at the session as he was in school that day.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>Template:Refn Murry brought the demos to Herb Newman, owner of Candix Records and Era Records, and he signed the group on December 8.Template:Sfn When the single was released a few weeks later, the band found that they had been renamed "the Beach Boys".Template:Sfn Candix wanted to name the group the Surfers until Russ Regan, a young promoter with Era Records, noted that there already existed a group by that name. He suggested calling them the Beach Boys.Template:Sfn "SurfinTemplate:'" was a regional success for the West Coast, and reached number 75 on the national Billboard Hot 100 chart.
1962–1967: Peak years
[edit]Surfin' Safari, Surfin' U.S.A., Surfer Girl, and Little Deuce Coupe
[edit]
By this time the de facto manager of the Beach Boys, Murry landed the group's first paying gig (for which they earned $300) on New Year's Eve, 1961, at the Ritchie Valens Memorial Dance in Long Beach.Template:Sfn In their early public appearances, the band wore heavy wool jacket-like shirts that local surfers favoredTemplate:Sfn before switching to their trademark striped shirts and white pants (a look that was taken directly from the Kingston Trio).Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn All five members sang, with Brian playing bass, Dennis playing drums, Carl playing lead guitar, and Al Jardine playing rhythm guitar, while Mike Love was the main singer and occasionally played saxophone. In early 1962, Morgan requested that some of the members add vocals to a couple of instrumental tracks that he had recorded with other musicians. This led to the creation of the short-lived group Kenny & the Cadets, which Brian led under the pseudonym "Kenny". The other members were Carl, Jardine, and the Wilsons' mother Audree.<ref name="Kenny"/>Template:Refn In February, Jardine left the Beach Boys and was replaced by David Marks on rhythm guitar.Template:Sfn A common misconception is that Jardine left to focus on dental school. In reality, Jardine did not even apply to dental school until 1964, and the reason he left in February 1962 was due to creative differences and his belief that the newly-formed group would not be a commercial success.Template:Sfn
After being turned down by Dot and Liberty, the Beach Boys signed a seven-year contract with Capitol Records.<ref name="photobucket13">Template:Cite magazine</ref> This was at the urging of Capitol executive and staff producer Nick Venet who signed the group, seeing them as the "teenage gold" he had been scouting for.Template:Sfn On June 4, 1962, the Beach Boys debuted on Capitol with their second single, "Surfin' Safari" backed with "409". The release prompted national coverage in the June 9 issue of Billboard, which praised Love's lead vocal and said the song had potential.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> "Surfin' Safari" rose to number 14 and found airplay in New York and Phoenix, a surprise for the label.Template:Sfn
The Beach Boys' first album, Surfin' Safari, was released in October 1962. It was different from other rock albums of the time in that it consisted almost entirely of original songs, primarily written by Brian with Mike Love and friend Gary Usher.Template:Sfn Another unusual feature of the Beach Boys was that, although they were marketed as "surf music", their repertoire bore little resemblance to the music of other surf bands, which was mainly instrumental and incorporated heavy use of spring reverb. For this reason, some of the Beach Boys' early local performances had young audience members throwing vegetables at the band, believing that the group were poseurs.<ref name="Emami">Template:Cite news</ref>
In January 1963, the Beach Boys recorded their first top-ten single, "Surfin' U.S.A.", which began their long run of highly successful recording efforts. It was during the sessions for this single that Brian made the production decision from that point on to use double tracking on the group's vocals, resulting in a deeper and more resonant sound.Template:Sfn The album of the same name followed in March and reached number 2 on the Billboard charts.Template:Sfn Its success propelled the group into a nationwide spotlight, and was vital to launching surf music as a national craze,Template:Sfn albeit the Beach Boys' vocal approach to the genre, not the original instrumental style pioneered by Dick Dale.<ref name="Emami"/> Biographer Luis Sanchez highlights the "Surfin' U.S.A." single as a turning point for the band, "creat[ing] a direct passage to California life for a wide teenage audience ... [and] a distinct Southern California sensibility that exceeded its conception as such to advance right to the front of American consciousness".Template:Sfn Jardine returned in spring 1963 so Brian could make fewer touring appearances. Issues between Marks, his parents, and manager/the Wilsons' father Murry led Marks to quit in October 1963.
Throughout 1963, and for the next few years, Brian produced a variety of singles for outside artists. Among these were the Honeys, a surfer trio that comprised sisters Diane and Marilyn Rovell with cousin Ginger Blake. Brian was convinced that they could be a successful female counterpart to the Beach Boys, and he produced a number of singles for them, although they could not replicate the Beach Boys' popularity.Template:Sfn He also attended some of Phil Spector's sessions at Gold Star Studios.Template:Sfn His creative and songwriting interests were revamped upon hearing the Ronettes' 1963 song "Be My Baby", which was produced by Spector. The first time he heard the song was while driving, and was so overwhelmed that he had to pull over to the side of the road and analyze the chorus.Template:Sfn Later, he reflected: "I was unable to really think as a producer up until the time where I really got familiar with Phil Spector's work. That was when I started to design the experience to be a record rather than just a song."Template:Sfn
Surfer Girl marked the first time the group used outside musicians on a substantial portion of an LP.Template:Sfn Many of them were the musicians Spector used for his Wall of Sound productions.Template:Sfn Only a month after Surfer Girl's release the group's fourth album Little Deuce Coupe was issued. To close 1963, the band released a standalone Christmas-themed single "Little Saint Nick", backed with an a cappella rendition of the scriptural song "The Lord's Prayer". The A-side peaked at number 3 on the US Billboard Christmas chart.Template:Sfn
British Invasion, Shut Down Volume 2, All Summer Long, and Christmas Album
[edit]The surf music craze, along with the careers of nearly all surf acts, was slowly replaced by the British Invasion.Template:Sfn Following a successful Australasian tour in January and February 1964, the Beach Boys returned home to face their new competition, the Beatles. Both groups shared the same record label in the US, and Capitol's support for the Beach Boys immediately began waning. Although it generated a top-five single in "Fun Fun Fun", the group's fifth album, Shut Down Volume 2, became their first since Surfin' Safari not to reach the US top-ten. This caused Murry to fight for the band at the label more than before, often visiting their offices without warning to "twist executive arms".Template:Sfn Carl said that Phil Spector "was Brian's favorite kind of rock; he liked [him] better than the early Beatles stuff. He loved the Beatles' later music when they evolved and started making intelligent, masterful music, but before that Phil was it."<ref name=HimesSurf/> According to Mike Love, Carl followed the Beatles closer than anyone else in the band, while Brian was the most "rattled" by the Beatles and felt tremendous pressure to "keep pace" with them.Template:Sfn For Brian, the Beatles ultimately "eclipsed a lot [of what] we'd worked for ... [they] eclipsed the whole music world".Template:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:Refn
Brian wrote his last surf song for nearly four years, "Don't Back Down", in April 1964.Template:Sfn That month, during recording of the single "I Get Around", the band dismissed Murry as their manager. He remained in close contact with the group, offering unsolicited advice on their business decisions.Template:Sfn When "I Get Around" was released in May, it would climb to number 1 in the US and Canada, their first single to do so (also reaching the top-ten in Sweden and the UK), proving that the Beach Boys could compete with contemporary British pop groups.Template:Sfn "I Get Around" and "Don't Back Down" both appeared on the band's sixth album All Summer Long, released in July 1964 and reaching number 4 in the US. All Summer Long introduced exotic textures to the Beach Boys' sound exemplified by the piccolos and xylophones of its title track.Template:Sfn The album was a swan-song to the surf and car music the Beach Boys built their commercial standing upon. Later albums took a different stylistic and lyrical path.Template:Sfn Before this, a live album, Beach Boys Concert, was released in October to a four-week chart stay at number 1, containing a set list of previously recorded songs and covers that they had not yet recorded.Template:Sfn
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In June 1964, Brian recorded the bulk of The Beach Boys' Christmas Album with a forty-one-piece studio orchestra in collaboration with Four Freshmen arranger Dick Reynolds. The album was a response to Phil Spector's A Christmas Gift for You (1963). Released in December, the Beach Boys' album was divided between five new, original Christmas-themed songs, and seven reinterpretations of traditional Christmas songs.Template:Sfn It would be regarded as one of the finest holiday albums of the rock era.Template:Sfn One single from the album, "The Man with All the Toys", was released, peaking at number 6 on the US Billboard Christmas chart.Template:Sfn On October 29, the Beach Boys performed for The T.A.M.I. Show, a concert film intended to bring together a wide range of musicians for a one-off performance. The result was released to movie theaters one month later.Template:Sfn
Today!, Summer Days, and Party!
[edit]
By the end of 1964, the stress of road travel, writing, and producing became too much for Brian. On December 23, while on a flight from Los Angeles to Houston, he suffered a panic attack.Template:Sfn In January 1965, he announced his withdrawal from touring to concentrate entirely on songwriting and record production. For the last few days of 1964 and into early 1965, session musician and up-and-coming solo artist Glen Campbell agreed to temporarily serve as Brian's replacement in concert.Template:Sfn Carl took over as the band's musical director onstage.<ref name="Jarnow15" />Template:Refn Now a full-time studio artist,Template:Sfn Brian wanted to move the Beach Boys beyond their surf aesthetic, believing that their image was antiquated and distracting the public from his talents as a producer and songwriter.<ref>Template:Harvnb; Template:Harvnb</ref> Musically, he said he began to "take the things I learned from Phil Spector and use more instruments whenever I could. I doubled up on basses and tripled up on keyboards, which made everything sound bigger and deeper."Template:Sfn
Released in March 1965, The Beach Boys Today! marked the first time the group experimented with the "album-as-art" form. The tracks on side one feature an uptempo sound that contrasts side two, which consists mostly of emotional ballads.<ref name="Bolin2012" /> Music writer Scott Schinder referenced its "suite-like structure" as an early example of the rock album format being used to make a cohesive artistic statement.Template:Sfn Brian also established his new lyrical approach toward the autobiographical; journalist Nick Kent wrote that the subjects of Brian's songs "were suddenly no longer simple happy souls harmonizing their sun-kissed innocence and dying devotion to each other over a honey-coated backdrop of surf and sand. Instead, they'd become highly vulnerable, slightly neurotic and riddled with telling insecurities."Template:Sfn In the book Yeah Yeah Yeah: The Story of Modern Pop, Bob Stanley remarked that "Brian was aiming for Johnny Mercer but coming up proto-indie."Template:Sfn In 2012, the album was voted 271 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>
In April 1965, Campbell's own career success pulled him from touring with the group.Template:Sfn Columbia Records staff producer Bruce Johnston was asked to locate a replacement for Campbell; having failed to find one, Johnston himself became a full-time member of the band on May 19, 1965. With Johnston's arrival, Brian now had a sixth voice he could work with in the band's vocal arrangements, with the June 4 vocal sessions for "California Girls" being Johnston's first recording session with the Beach Boys. "California Girls" was included on the band's next album Summer Days (And Summer Nights!!) and eventually charted at number 3 in the US as the second single from the album, while the album itself went to number 2. The first single from Summer Days had been a reworked arrangement of "Help Me, Rhonda", which became the band's second number 1 US single in the spring of 1965.Template:Sfn For contractual reasons, owing to his previous deal with Columbia Records, Johnston was not able to be credited or pictured on Beach Boys records until 1967.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
To appease Capitol's demands for a Beach Boys LP for the 1965 Christmas season, Brian conceived Beach Boys' Party!, a live-in-the-studio album consisting mostly of acoustic covers of 1950s rock and R&B songs, in addition to covers of three Beatles songs, Bob Dylan's "The Times They Are a-Changin'", and idiosyncratic rerecordings of the group's earlier songs.Template:Sfn The album was an early precursor of the "unplugged" trend. It also included a cover of the Regents' song "Barbara Ann", which unexpectedly reached number 2 when released as a single several weeks later.Template:Sfn In November, the group released another top-twenty single, "The Little Girl I Once Knew". It was considered the band's most experimental statement thus far.Template:Sfn The single continued Brian's ambitions for daring arrangements, featuring unexpected tempo changes and numerous false endings.Template:Sfn With the exception of their 1963 and 1964 Christmas singles ("Little Saint Nick" and "The Man with All the Toys") it was the group's lowest charting single on the Billboard Hot 100 since "Ten Little Indians" in 1962, peaking at number 20.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> According to Luis Sanchez, in 1965, Bob Dylan was "rewriting the rules for pop success" with his music and image, and it was at this juncture that Wilson "led The Beach Boys into a transitional phase in an effort to win the pop terrain that had been thrown up for grabs".Template:Sfn
Pet Sounds
[edit]
Wilson collaborated with jingle writer Tony Asher for several of the songs on the album Pet Sounds, a refinement of the themes and ideas that were introduced in Today!.<ref name=Bolin2012>Template:Cite web</ref> In some ways, the music was a jarring departure from their earlier style.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn Jardine explained that "it took us quite a while to adjust to [the new material] because it wasn't music you could necessarily dance to—it was more like music you could make love to".Template:Sfn In The Journal on the Art of Record Production, Marshall Heiser writes that Pet Sounds "diverges from previous Beach Boys' efforts in several ways: its sound field has a greater sense of depth and 'warmth;' the songs employ even more inventive use of harmony and chord voicings; the prominent use of percussion is a key feature (as opposed to driving drum backbeats); whilst the orchestrations, at times, echo the quirkiness of 'exotica' bandleader Les Baxter, or the 'cool' of Burt Bacharach, more so than Spector's teen fanfares".<ref name="ARP">Template:Cite journal</ref>
For Pet Sounds, Brian desired to make "a complete statement", similar to what he believed the Beatles had done with their newest album Rubber Soul, released in December 1965.Template:Sfn Brian was immediately enamored with the album, given the impression that it had no filler tracks, a feature that was mostly unheard of at a time when 45 rpm singles were considered more noteworthy than full-length LPs.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn He later said: "It didn't make me want to copy them but to be as good as them. I didn't want to do the same kind of music, but on the same level."<ref name=HimesSurf/> Thanks to mutual connections, Brian was introduced to the Beatles' former press officer Derek Taylor, who was subsequently employed as the Beach Boys' publicist. Responding to Brian's request to reinvent the band's image, Taylor devised a promotion campaign with the tagline "Brian Wilson is a genius", a belief Taylor sincerely held.<ref>Template:Harvnb; Template:Harvnb</ref> Taylor's prestige was crucial in offering a credible perspective to those on the outside, and his efforts are widely recognized as instrumental in the album's success in Britain.<ref>Template:Harvnb; Template:Harvnb; Template:Harvnb; Template:Harvnb</ref>
Released on May 16, 1966, Pet Sounds was widely influential and raised the band's prestige as an innovative rock group.Template:Sfn Early reviews for the album in the US ranged from negative to tentatively positive, and its sales numbered approximately 500,000 units, a drop-off from the run of albums that immediately preceded it.Template:Sfn It was assumed that Capitol considered Pet Sounds a risk, appealing more to an older demographic than the younger, female audience upon which the Beach Boys had built their commercial standing.Template:Sfn Within two months, the label capitulated by releasing the group's first greatest hits compilation album, Best of the Beach Boys, which was quickly certified gold by the RIAA.Template:Sfn By contrast, Pet Sounds met a highly favorable critical response in Britain, where it reached number 2 and remained among the top-ten positions for six months.Template:Sfn Responding to the hype, Melody Maker ran a feature in which many pop musicians were asked whether they believed that the album was truly revolutionary and progressive, or "as sickly as peanut butter". The author concluded that "the record's impact on artists and the men behind the artists has been considerable".Template:Sfn
"Good Vibrations" and Smile
[edit]
Throughout the summer of 1966, Brian concentrated on finishing the group's next single, "Good Vibrations".Template:Sfn Instead of working on whole songs with clear large-scale syntactical structures, he limited himself to recording short interchangeable fragments (or "modules"). Through the method of tape splicing, each fragment could then be assembled into a linear sequence, allowing any number of larger structures and divergent moods to be produced at a later time.<ref name="ARP"/> Coming at a time when pop singles were usually recorded in under two hours, it was one of the most complex pop productions ever undertaken, with sessions for the song stretching over several months in four major Hollywood studios. It was also the most expensive single ever recorded to that point, with production costs estimated to be in the tens of thousands.Template:Sfn
In the midst of "Good Vibrations" sessions, Wilson invited session musician and songwriter Van Dyke Parks to collaborate as lyricist for the Beach Boys' next album project, soon titled Smile. Parks agreed.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn Wilson and Parks intended Smile to be a continuous suite of songs linked both thematically and musically, with the main songs linked together by small vocal pieces and instrumental segments that elaborated on the major songs' musical themes.Template:Sfn It was explicitly American in style and subject, a conscious reaction to the overwhelming British dominance of popular music at the time.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn Some of the music incorporated chanting, cowboy songs, explorations in Indian and Hawaiian music, jazz, classical tone poems, cartoon sound effects, musique concrète, and yodeling.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Saturday Evening Post writer Jules Siegel recalled that, on one October evening, Brian announced to his wife and friends that he was "writing a teenage symphony to God".Template:Sfn
Recording for Smile lasted about a year, from mid-1966 to mid-1967, and followed the same modular production approach as "Good Vibrations".Template:Sfn Concurrently, Wilson planned many different multimedia side projects, such as a sound effects collage, a comedy album, and a "health food" album.<ref name="Nolan1971">Template:Cite magazine</ref> Capitol did not support all these ideas, which led to the Beach Boys' desire to form their own label, Brother Records. According to biographer Steven Gaines, Wilson employed his newfound "best friend" David Anderle as head of the label.Template:Sfn
Throughout 1966, EMI flooded the UK market with Beach Boys albums not yet released there, including Beach Boys' Party!, The Beach Boys Today! and Summer Days (and Summer Nights!!),Template:Sfn while Best of the Beach Boys was number 2 there for several weeks at the end of the year.<ref name="Mawer/OCC">Template:Cite web</ref> Over the final quarter of 1966, the Beach Boys were the highest-selling album act in the UK, where for the first time in three years American artists broke the chart dominance of British acts.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> In 1971, Cue magazine wrote that, from mid-1966 to late-1967, the Beach Boys "were among the vanguard in practically every aspect of the counter culture".<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>
Released on October 10, 1966, "Good Vibrations" was the Beach Boys' third US number 1 single, reaching the top of the Billboard Hot 100 in December, and became their first number 1 in Britain.Template:Sfn That month, the record was their first single certified gold by the RIAA.Template:Sfn It came to be widely acclaimed as one of the greatest masterpieces of rock music.Template:Sfn In December 1966, the Beach Boys were voted the top band in the world in the NMETemplate:'s annual readers' poll, ahead of the Beatles, the Walker Brothers, the Rolling Stones, and the Four Tops.Template:Sfn
Throughout the first half of 1967, the release date for Smile was repeatedly postponed as Brian continuously tinkered with the recordings, experimenting with different takes and mixes, and appeared unable or unwilling to supply finished versions of songs. Meanwhile, he began to suffer from delusions and paranoia, believing on one occasion that the would-be album track "Fire" caused a building to burn down.Template:Sfn On January 3, 1967, Carl Wilson refused to be drafted for military service, leading to indictment and criminal prosecution, which he challenged as a conscientious objector.<ref name="CW">Template:Cite web</ref> The FBI arrested him in April,Template:Sfn and it took several years for courts to resolve the matter.<ref name="MF1976">Template:Cite magazine</ref>
After months of recording and media hype, Smile was shelved for personal, technical, and legal reasons.Template:Sfn A February 1967 lawsuit seeking $255,000 (equivalent to $Template:Format price in Template:Inflation-year) was launched against Capitol Records over neglected royalty payments. Within the lawsuit was an attempt to terminate the band's contract with Capitol before its November 1969 expiry.Template:Sfn Many of Wilson's associates, including Parks and Anderle, disassociated themselves from the group by April 1967.Template:Sfn Brian later said: "Time can be spent in the studio to the point where you get so next to it, you don't know where you are with it—you decide to just chuck it for a while."<ref name="An American Band">Template:Cite AV media</ref>
In the decades following SmileTemplate:'s non-release, it became the subject of intense speculation and mystiqueTemplate:SfnTemplate:Sfn and the most legendary unreleased album in pop music history.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn Many of the album's advocates believe that had it been released, it would have altered the group's direction and cemented them at the vanguard of rock innovators.Template:Sfn In 2011, Uncut magazine staff voted Smile the "greatest bootleg recording of all time".<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>
1967–1969: Faltered popularity and Brian's reduced involvement
[edit]Smiley Smile and Wild Honey
[edit]From 1965 to 1967, the Beach Boys had developed a musical and lyrical sophistication that contrasted their work from before and after. This divide was further solidified by the difference in sound between their albums and their stage performances.Template:Sfn This resulted in a split fanbase corresponding to two distinct musical markets. One group enjoys the band's early work as a wholesome representation of American popular culture from before the political and social movements brought on in the mid-1960s. The other group also appreciates the early songs for their energy and complexity, but not as much as the band's ambitious work that was created during the formative psychedelic era.Template:Sfn At the time, rock music journalists typically valued the Beach Boys' early records over their experimental work.Template:SfnTemplate:Refn
In May 1967, the Beach Boys attempted to tour Europe with four extra musicians brought from the US, but were stopped by the British musicians' union. The tour went on without the extra support, and critics described their performances as "amateurish" and "floundering".Template:Sfn At the last minute, the Beach Boys declined to headline the Monterey Pop Festival, an event held in June. According to David Leaf, "Monterey was a gathering place for the 'far out' sounds of the 'new' rock ... and it is thought that [their] non-appearance was what really turned the 'underground' tide against them."<ref name=SmileySmileliner>Template:Cite AV media notes</ref> Fan magazines speculated that the group was on the verge of breaking up.Template:Sfn Detractors called the band the "Bleach Boys" and "the California Hypes" as media focus shifted from Los Angeles to the happenings in San Francisco.Template:Sfn As authenticity became a higher concern among critics, the group's legitimacy in rock music became an oft-repeated criticism, especially since their early songs appeared to celebrate a politically unconscious youth culture.Template:SfnTemplate:Refn
Although Smile had been cancelled, the Beach Boys were still under pressure and a contractual obligation to record and present an album to Capitol.Template:Sfn Carl remembered: "Brian just said, 'I can't do this. We're going to make a homespun version of [Smile] instead. We're just going to take it easy. I'll get in the pool and sing. Or let's go in the gym and do our parts.' That was Smiley Smile."<ref name=Himes1983>Template:Cite magazine</ref> Sessions for the new album lasted from June to July 1967 at Brian's new makeshift home studio. Most of the album featured the Beach Boys playing their own instruments, rather than the session musicians employed in much of their previous work.<ref name="Jarnow">Template:Cite web</ref> It was the first album for which production was credited to the entire group instead of Brian alone.Template:Sfn
In July 1967, lead single "Heroes and Villains" was issued, arriving after months of public anticipation, and reached number 12 in US. It was met with general confusion and underwhelming reviews, and in the NME, Jimi Hendrix famously dismissed it as a "psychedelic barbershop quartet". By then, the group's lawsuit with Capitol was resolved, and it was agreed that Smile would not be the band's next album.Template:Sfn In August, the group embarked on a two-date tour of Hawaii.Template:Sfn The shows saw Brian make a brief return to live performance, as Bruce Johnston chose to take a temporary break from the band during the summer of 1967, feeling that the atmosphere within the band "had all got too weird".<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>Template:Sfn The performances were filmed and recorded with the intention of releasing a live album, Lei'd in Hawaii, which was also left unfinished and unreleased.Template:Sfn The general record-buying public came to view the music made after this time as the point marking the band's artistic decline.Template:Sfn
Smiley Smile was released on September 18, 1967,Template:Sfn and peaked at number 41 in the US,Template:Sfn making it their worst-selling album to that date.Template:Sfn Critics and fans were generally underwhelmed by the album.Template:Sfn According to Scott Schinder, the album was released to "general incomprehension. While Smile may have divided the Beach Boys' fans had it been released, Smiley Smile merely baffled them."Template:Sfn The group was virtually blacklisted by the music press, to the extent that reviews of the group's records were either withheld from publication or published long after the release dates.Template:Sfn When released in the UK in November, it performed better, reaching number 9.Template:Sfn Over the years, the album gathered a reputation as one of the best "chill-out" albums to listen to during an LSD comedown.Template:Sfn In 1974, NME voted it the 64th-greatest album of all time.Template:Sfn
The Beach Boys immediately recorded a new album, Wild Honey, an excursion into soul music, and a self-conscious attempt to "regroup" themselves as a rock band in opposition to their more orchestral affairs of the past.Template:Sfn Its music differs in many ways from previous Beach Boys records: it contains very little group singing compared to previous albums, and mainly features Brian singing at his piano. Again, the Beach Boys recorded mostly at his home studio.<ref name="SmileySmileliner" /> Love reflected that Wild Honey was "completely out of the mainstream for what was going on at that time ... and that was the idea".<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Wild Honey was released on December 18, 1967, in competition with the Beatles' Magical Mystery Tour and the Rolling Stones' Their Satanic Majesties Request.Template:Sfn It had a higher chart placing than Smiley Smile, but still failed to make the top-twenty and remained on the charts for only 15 weeks.<ref name="SmileySmileliner" /> As with Smiley Smile, contemporary critics viewed it as inconsequential,Template:Sfn and it alienated fans whose expectations had been raised by Smile.<ref name="SmileySmileliner" /> That month, Mike Love told a British journalist: "Brian has been rethinking our recording program and in any case we all have a much greater say nowadays in what we turn out in the studio."<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>
Friends, 20/20, and Manson affair
[edit]The Beach Boys were at their lowest popularity in the late 1960s, and their cultural standing was especially worsened by their public image, which remained incongruous with their peers' "heavier" music.<ref name="Christgau1975">Template:Cite news</ref> At the end of 1967, Rolling Stone co-founder and editor Jann Wenner printed an influential article that denounced the Beach Boys as "just one prominent example of a group that has gotten hung up on trying to catch The Beatles. It's a pointless pursuit."Template:Sfn The article had the effect of excluding the group among serious rock fansTemplate:SfnTemplate:Sfn and such controversy followed them into the next year.<ref name="scullati">Template:Cite journal</ref> Capitol continued to bill them as "America's Top Surfin' Group!" and expected Brian to write more beachgoing songs for the yearly summer markets.Template:Sfn From 1968 onward, his songwriting output declined substantially, but the public narrative of "Brian as leader" continued.Template:Sfn The group also stopped wearing their longtime striped-shirt stage uniforms in favor of matching white, polyester suits that resembled a Las Vegas show band's.Template:Sfn
After meeting Maharishi Mahesh Yogi at a UNICEF Variety Gala in Paris, Love and other high-profile celebrities such as the Beatles and Donovan traveled to Rishikesh, India, in February–March 1968. The following Beach Boys album, Friends, had songs influenced by the Transcendental Meditation the Maharishi taught. In support of Friends, Love arranged for the Beach Boys to tour with the Maharishi in the US. Starting on May 3, 1968, the tour lasted five shows and was canceled when the Maharishi withdrew to fulfill film contracts. Because of disappointing audience numbers and the Maharishi's withdrawal, 24 tour dates were canceled at a cost estimated at $250,000.Template:Sfn Friends, released on June 24, peaked at number 126 in the US.Template:Sfn In August, Capitol issued an album of Beach Boys backing tracks, Stack-o-Tracks. It was the first Beach Boys LP that failed to chart in the US and UK.Template:Sfn
In June 1968, Dennis befriended Charles Manson, an aspiring singer-songwriter, and their relationship lasted for several months. Dennis bought him time at Brian's home studio, where recording sessions were attempted while Brian stayed in his room.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn Dennis then proposed that Manson be signed to Brother Records. Brian reportedly disliked Manson, and a deal was never made.Template:Sfn In July 1968, the group released the single "Do It Again", which lyrically harkened back to their earlier surf songs. Around this time, Brian admitted himself to a psychiatric hospital; his bandmates wrote and produced material in his absence.Template:Sfn Released in January 1969, the album 20/20 mixed new material with outtakes and leftovers from recent albums; Brian produced virtually none of the newer recordings.Template:Sfn
The Beach Boys recorded one song by Manson without his involvement: "Cease to Exist", rewritten as "Never Learn Not to Love", which was included on 20/20. As his cult of followers took over Dennis's home, Dennis gradually distanced himself from Manson.Template:Sfn According to Leaf, "The entire Wilson family reportedly feared for their lives."Template:Sfn
In August, the Manson Family committed the Tate–LaBianca murders. According to Jon Parks, the band's tour manager, it was widely suspected in the Hollywood community that Manson was responsible for the murders, and it had been known that Manson had been involved with the Beach Boys, causing the band to be viewed as pariahs for a time.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> In November, police apprehended Manson, and his connection with the Beach Boys received media attention. He was later convicted for several counts of murder and conspiracy to murder.Template:Sfn
Selling of the band's publishing
[edit]Template:Further In April 1969, the band revisited its 1967 lawsuit against Capitol after it alleged an audit revealed the band was owed over $2 million for unpaid royalties and production duties.Template:Sfn In May, Brian told the music press that the group's funds were depleted to the point that it was considering filing for bankruptcy at the end of the year, which Disc & Music Echo called "stunning news" and a "tremendous shock on the American pop scene". Brian hoped that the success of a forthcoming single, "Break Away", would mend the financial issues.Template:Citation needed The song, written and produced by Brian and Murry, reached number 63 in the US and number 6 in the UK,Template:Sfn and Brian's remarks to the press ultimately thwarted long-simmering contract negotiations with Deutsche Grammophon.Template:Sfn The group's Capitol contract expired two weeks later with one more album still due. Live in London, a live album recorded in December 1968, was released in the UK and a few other countries in 1970 to fulfil the contract, although it would not see US release until 1976, under the erroneous re-title Beach Boys '69.Template:Sfn After the contract was completed Capitol deleted the Beach Boys' catalog from print, effectively cutting off their royalty flow.Template:Sfn The lawsuit was later settled in their favor and they acquired the rights to their post-1965 catalog.Template:Sfn
In August, Sea of Tunes, the Beach Boys' catalog, was sold to Irving Almo Music for $700,000 (equivalent to $Template:Format price in Template:Inflation-year).Template:Sfn According to his wife, Marilyn Wilson, Brian was devastated by the sale.Template:Sfn Over the years, the catalog generated more than $100 million in publishing royalties, none of which Murry or the band members ever received.Template:Sfn That same month, Carl, Dennis, Love, and Jardine sought a permanent replacement for Johnston, with Johnston unaware of this search. They approached Carl's brother-in-law Billy Hinsche, who declined the offer to focus on his college studies.Template:Sfn
1970–1978: Reprise era
[edit]Sunflower, Surf's Up, Carl and the Passions, and Holland
[edit]
The group was signed to Reprise Records in 1970.<ref name="allmusic" /> Scott Schinder described the label as "probably the hippest and most artist-friendly major label of the time".Template:Sfn The deal was brokered by Van Dyke Parks, who was then employed as a multimedia executive at Warner Music Group. Reprise's contract stipulated Brian's proactive involvement with the band in all albums.Template:Sfn By the time the Beach Boys' tenure ended with Capitol in 1969, they had sold 65 million records worldwide, closing the decade as the most commercially successful American group in popular music.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>
After recording over 30 different songs and going through several album titles, their first LP for Reprise, Sunflower, was released on August 31, 1970.<ref name="White2000">Template:Cite AV media notes</ref> Sunflower featured a strong group presence with significant writing contributions from all six band members.Template:Sfn Brian was active during this period, writing or co-writing seven of Sunflower's 12 songs and performing at half of the band's domestic concerts in 1970.Template:Sfn The album received critical acclaim in both the US and the UK.Template:Sfn This was offset by the album reaching only number 151 on US record charts during a four-week stay,<ref name=White2000 /> becoming one of the worst-selling of the Beach Boys' albums at that point.Template:Sfn Fans generally regard the LP as the Beach Boys' finest post-Pet Sounds album.Template:Sfn In 2003, it placed at number 380 on Rolling StoneTemplate:'s "Greatest Albums of All Time" list.Template:Sfn
In mid-1970, the Beach Boys hired radio presenter Jack Rieley as their manager. One of his initiatives was to encourage the band to record songs featuring more socially conscious lyrics.Template:Sfn He also requested the completion of Smile track "Surf's Up" and arranged a guest appearance at a Grateful Dead concert at Bill Graham's Fillmore East in April 1971 to foreground the Beach Boys' transition into the counterculture.Template:Sfn During this time, the group ceased wearing matching uniforms on stage,Template:Sfn while Dennis took time to star alongside James Taylor, Laurie Bird, and Warren Oates in the cult film Two-Lane Blacktop, released in 1971. Later in 1971, Dennis injured his hand, leaving him temporarily unable to play the drums.Template:Sfn He continued in the band, singing and occasionally playing keyboards, while Ricky Fataar, formally of the Flames, took over on drums.Template:Sfn In July, the American music press rated the Beach Boys "the hottest grossing act" in the country, alongside Grand Funk Railroad.Template:Sfn The band filmed a concert for ABC-TV in Central Park, which aired as Good Vibrations from Central Park on August 19.Template:Sfn
On August 30, the band released Surf's Up, which was moderately successful, reaching the US top-thirty, a marked improvement over their recent releases.Template:Sfn While the record charted, the Beach Boys added to their renewed fame by performing a near-sellout set at Carnegie Hall; their live shows during this era included reworked arrangements of many of their previous songs,Template:Sfn with their set lists culling from Pet Sounds and Smile.Template:Sfn On October 28, the Beach Boys were the featured cover story on that date's issue of Rolling Stone. It included the first part of a lengthy two-part interview, titled "The Beach Boys: A California Saga", conducted by Tom Nolan and David Felton.Template:Sfn
Bruce Johnston left the Beach Boys in early 1972, with Fataar and another ex-Flames member, singer and guitarist Blondie Chaplin, becoming official members of the band. The new line-up released Carl and the Passions – "So Tough" in May 1972. The original US release was a double album, the second disc being a reissue of Pet Sounds.Template:Sfn After the upswing of Surf's Up, Carl and the Passions was relatively unsuccessful in the US, charting at number 50. It was more successful in the UK, where it was issued as a single album without Pet Sounds, peaking at number 25. The next album, Holland, was released in January 1973. Reprise initially rejected the album, feeling it lacked a strong single. Following the intervention of Van Dyke Parks, this resulted in the inclusion of "Sail On, Sailor".Template:Sfn Reprise approved, and the resulting album peaked at number 37. Brian's musical children's story, Mount Vernon and Fairway, was included with the album as a bonus EP.Template:Sfn
Greatest hits LPs, touring resurgence, and Caribou sessions
[edit]After Holland, the group maintained a touring regimen, captured on the double live album The Beach Boys in Concert released in November 1973, but recorded very little in the studio through 1975.Template:Sfn Several months earlier, they had announced that they would complete Smile, but this never came to fruition, and plans for its release were once again abandoned.Template:SfnTemplate:Refn Following Murry's death in June 1973, Brian retreated into his bedroom and withdrew further into drug abuse, alcoholism, chain smoking, and overeating.Template:Sfn In October, the band dismissed Rieley as manager and appointed Mike Love's brother, Stephen, and Chicago manager James William Guercio.Template:Sfn Chaplin and Fataar left the band in December 1973 and November 1974, respectively, with Dennis returning to drums following Fataar's departure.Template:Sfn
The Beach Boys' greatest hits compilation album Endless Summer was released in June 1974 to unexpected success, becoming the band's second number 1 US album in October.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn The LP had a 155-week chart run, selling over 3 million copies.Template:Sfn The Beach Boys became the number-one act in the US,Template:Sfn propelling themselves from opening for Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young in the summer of 1974 to headliners selling out basketball arenas in a matter of weeks.Template:Sfn Guercio prevailed upon the group to swap out newer songs with older material in their concert setlists,Template:Sfn partly to accommodate their growing audience and the demand for their early hits.Template:Sfn Later in the year, members of the band appeared as guests on Chicago's hit "Wishing You Were Here".Template:Sfn At the end of 1974, Rolling Stone proclaimed the Beach Boys "Band of the Year" based on the strength of their live performances.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn
To capitalize on their sudden resurgence in popularity, the Beach Boys accepted Guercio's invitation to record their next Reprise album at his Caribou Ranch studio, located around the mountains of Nederland, Colorado.Template:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:Sfn These October 1974 sessions marked the group's return to the studio after a 21-month period of virtual inactivity, but the proceedings were cut short after Brian had insisted on returning to his home in Los Angeles.Template:Sfn With the project put on hold, the Beach Boys spent most of the next year on the road playing college football stadiums and basketball arenas.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn The only Beach Boys recording of 1974 to see release at the time was the Christmas single "Child of Winter", recorded upon the group's return to Los Angeles in November and released the following month.
Over the summer of 1975, the touring group played a co-headlining series of concert dates with Chicago, a pairing that was nicknamed "Beachago".Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn The tour was massively successful and restored the Beach Boys' profitability to what it had been in the mid-1960s.Template:Sfn Although another joint tour with Chicago had been planned for the summer of 1976,Template:Sfn the Beach Boys' association with Guercio and his Caribou Management company ended in early 1976.Template:SfnTemplate:Refn Stephen Love subsequently took over as the band's de facto business manager.Template:Sfn
15 Big Ones, Love You, and Adult/Child
[edit]Early in 1975, Brian signed a production deal with California Music, a Los Angeles collective that included Bruce Johnston and Gary Usher, but was drawn away by the Beach Boys' pressing demands for a new album.Template:Sfn In October, Marilyn persuaded Brian to admit himself to the care of psychologist Eugene Landy, who kept him from indulging in substance abuse with constant supervision.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn Brian was kept in the program until December 1976.Template:Sfn
At the end of January 1976, the Beach Boys returned to the studio with Brian producing once again.Template:Sfn Brian decided the band should do an album of rock and roll and doo wop standards. Carl and Dennis disagreed, feeling that an album of originals was far more ideal, while Love and Jardine wanted the album out as quickly as possible.Template:Sfn To highlight Brian's recovery and his return to writing and producing, Stephen launched a media campaign and paid the Rogers & Cowan publicity agency $3,500 per month to implement it.Template:Sfn The band also commissioned an NBC-TV special, later known as The Beach Boys: It's OK!, that was produced by NBC's Saturday Night creator Lorne Michaels.Template:Sfn
Released on July 5, 1976, 15 Big Ones was generally disliked by fans and critics, as well as Carl and Dennis, who disparaged the album to the press.Template:Sfn The album peaked at number 8 in the US, becoming their first top-ten album of new material since Pet Sounds, and their highest-charting studio album since Summer Days (And Summer Nights!!).Template:Sfn Lead single "Rock and Roll Music" peaked at number 5 – their highest chart ranking since "Good Vibrations".Template:Sfn
From late-1976 to early-1977, Brian made sporadic public appearances and produced the band's next album, The Beach Boys Love You.Template:Sfn He regarded it as a spiritual successor to Pet Sounds, namely because of the autobiographical lyrics.Template:Sfn Released on April 11, 1977, Love You peaked at number 53 in the US and number 28 in the UK.Template:Sfn Critically, it was widely praised, though it initially met with polarized reactions from the public.Template:Sfn Numerous esteemed critics penned favorable reviews, but casual listeners generally found the album's idiosyncratic sound to be a detriment.Template:Sfn
Adult/Child, the intended follow-up to Love You, was completed, but the release was vetoed by Love and Jardine.Template:Sfn According to Stan Love, when his brother Mike heard the album, Mike turned to Brian and asked: "What the fuck are you doing?"Template:Sfn Some of the unreleased songs on Adult/Child later saw individual release on subsequent Beach Boys albums and compilations.Template:Sfn Following this period, his concert appearances with the band gradually diminished and their performances were occasionally erratic.Template:Sfn
CBS signing and M.I.U. Album
[edit]At the beginning of 1977, the Beach Boys had enjoyed their most lucrative concert tours ever, with the band playing in packed stadiums and earning up to $150,000 per show.Template:Sfn Concurrently, the band was the subject of a record company bidding war, as their contract with Warner Bros. had been set to expire soon.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn Stephen Love arranged for the Beach Boys to sign an $8 million deal with CBS Records on March 1.Template:Sfn Numerous stipulations were given in the CBS contract, including that Brian was required to write at least four songs per album, co-write at least 70% of all the tracks, and produce or co-produce alongside his brothers.Template:SfnTemplate:Refn Another part of the deal required the group to play thirty concerts a year in the U.S., in addition to one tour in Australia and Japan, and two tours in Europe.Template:Sfn
Within weeks of the CBS contract, the band dismissed Stephen, with one of the alleged reasons being that Mike had not permitted Stephen to sign on his behalf while at a TM retreat in Switzerland.Template:Sfn For Stephen's replacement, the group hired Carl's friend Henry Lazarus, an entertainment business owner that had no prior experience in the music industry.Template:Sfn Lazarus arranged a major European tour for the Beach Boys, starting in late July, with stops in Germany, Switzerland, and France.Template:Sfn Due to poor planning, the tour was cancelled shortly before it began. The band dismissed Lazarus and were sued by many of the concert promoters, with losses of $200,000 in preliminary expenses and $550,000 in potential revenue.Template:Sfn
In July, the Beach Boys played a concert at Wembley Stadium that was notable for the fact that, during the show, Mike attacked Brian with a piano bench onstage in front of over 15,000 attendees.Template:SfnTemplate:Refn In August, Mike and Jardine persuaded Stephen to return as the group's manager,Template:Sfn a decision that Carl and Dennis had strongly opposed.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn By this point, the band had effectively split into two camps; Dennis and Carl on one side, Mike and Jardine on the other, with Brian remaining neutral.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn These two opposing contingents within the group – known among their associates as the "free-livers" and the "meditators" – were traveling in different planes, using different hotels, and rarely speaking to each other.Template:Sfn According to Love, "the terms 'smokers' and 'nonsmokers' were also used".Template:Sfn
On September 3, after completing the final date of a northeastern US tour, the internal wrangling came to a head. Following a confrontation on an airport apron – a spectacle that a bystanding Rolling Stone journalist compared to the ending of Casablanca – Dennis declared that he had left the band.<ref name=Swenson1977>Template:Cite magazine</ref> The group was broken up until a meeting at Brian's house on September 17.Template:Sfn In light of the lucrative CBS contract, the parties negotiated a settlement resulting in Love gaining control of Brian's vote in the group, allowing Love and Jardine to outvote Carl and Dennis on any matter.Template:Sfn
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The group had still owed one more album for Reprise. Released in September 1978, M.I.U. Album was recorded at Maharishi International University in Iowa at the suggestion of Love.Template:Sfn The band originally attempted to record a Christmas album, to be titled Merry Christmas from the Beach Boys, but this idea was rejected by Reprise. These Christmas recordings would eventually be released in 1998 as part of the archival album Ultimate Christmas. Dennis and Carl made limited contributions to M.I.U. Album; the album was produced by Jardine and Ron Altbach, with Brian credited as "executive producer".Template:Sfn Dennis started to withdraw from the group to focus on his second solo album, Bambu, which was shelved just as alcoholism and marital problems overcame all three Wilson brothers.Template:Sfn Carl appeared intoxicated during concerts (especially at appearances for their 1978 Australia tour) and Brian gradually slid back into addiction and an unhealthy lifestyle.Template:SfnTemplate:Refn After the tour, Stephen was dismissed in part due to an incident in which Brian's caregivers, Rocky Pamplin and Stan Love, physically assaulted Dennis.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
1978–1998: Continued recording and Brian's estrangement
[edit]L.A. (Light Album) and Keepin' the Summer Alive
[edit]
The group's first two albums for CBS, 1979's L.A. (Light Album) and 1980's Keepin' the Summer Alive, struggled in the US, charting at 100 and 75 respectively, though the band did manage a top-forty single from L.A. (Light Album) with "Good Timin'". The recording of these albums saw Bruce Johnston return to the band, initially solely as a producer and eventually as a full-time band member. In-between the two albums, the group contributed the song "It's a Beautiful Day" to the soundtrack of the film Americathon. In an April 1980 interview, Carl reflected that "the last two years have been the most important and difficult time of our career. We were at the ultimate crossroads. We had to decide whether what we had been involved in since we were teenagers had lost its meaning. We asked ourselves and each other the difficult questions we'd often avoided in the past."<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> By the next year, he left the touring group because of unhappiness with the band's nostalgia format and lackluster live performances, subsequently pursuing a solo career.Template:Sfn He stated: "I haven't quit the Beach Boys but I do not plan on touring with them until they decide that 1981 means as much to them as 1961."<ref name="Jarnow15">Template:Cite web</ref> Carl returned in May 1982, after approximately 14 months of being away, on the condition that the group reconsider their rehearsal and touring policies and refrain from "Las Vegas-type" engagements.Template:Sfn
Template:Quote box On June 21, 1980, the Beach Boys performed a concert at Knebworth, England, which featured a slightly intoxicated Dennis. The concert would later be released as a live album titled Good Timin': Live at Knebworth England 1980 in 2002. In 1981, the band scored a surprise US top-twenty hit when their cover of the Del-Vikings' "Come Go with Me", from the three year old M.I.U. Album, was released as a single from Ten Years of Harmony, a double compilation album focusing on the Reprise and CBS years.<ref>Whitburn, Joel (2004). The Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits, 8th Edition (Billboard Publications), page 51.</ref>
In late 1982, Eugene Landy was hired once more as Brian's therapist.<ref name="TelegraphObit">Template:Cite web</ref> This involved removing him from the group on November 5, 1982, at the behest of Carl, Love, and Jardine,<ref name="Goldberg1984">Template:Cite magazine</ref> in addition to putting him on a strict diet and health regimen.Template:Sfn Coupled with counseling sessions that retaught him basic social etiquette, this therapy restored Brian's physical health, slimming down from Template:Convert to Template:Convert.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Death of Dennis, The Beach Boys, and Still CruisinTemplate:'
[edit]
By the late 1970s and early 1980s, Dennis had been embroiled in successive failed romantic relationships, including a tense and short-lived relationship with Fleetwood Mac's Christine McVie, and found himself in severe economic trouble resulting in the sale of Brother Studios, established by the Wilson brothers in 1974 and where Pacific Ocean Blue was produced, and the forfeiture of his beloved yacht. To cope with the combination of devastating losses, Dennis heavily abused alcohol, cocaine, and heroin and was, by 1983, homeless and lived a nomadic lifestyle. He was often seen spending much of his time wandering the Los Angeles coast and often missed Beach Boys performances. By this point, he had lost his voice and much of his ability to play drums.<ref>Template:Cite AV media</ref>
That year, tensions between Dennis and Love escalated to the point that each filed a restraining order against the other.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Following Brian's readmission for Landy's treatment, Dennis was given an ultimatum after his last performance in November to check into rehab for his alcohol problems or be banned from performing live with the band again. Dennis checked into rehab for his chance to get sober, but on December 28, he drowned at the age of 39 in Marina del Rey while diving from a friend's boat trying to recover items that he had previously thrown overboard in a fit of rage.Template:Sfn
The Beach Boys spent the next several years touring, often playing in front of large audiences, and recording songs for film soundtracks and various artists compilations.Template:Sfn One new studio album, the self-titled The Beach Boys, appeared in 1985 and proved a modest success, becoming their highest-charting album in the US since 15 Big Ones. The Beach Boys was the group's final album for CBS. The following year they returned to Capitol with a 25th anniversary greatest hits album Made in U.S.A, which featured two new tracks, "Rock 'n' Roll to the Rescue" and a cover of the Mamas and the Papas' "California Dreamin'", with the latter featuring Roger McGuinn of the Byrds on lead guitar. Made in U.S.A eventually went double platinum.
Commenting on his relationship to the band in 1988, Brian said that he avoided his family at Landy's suggestion, adding that "Although we stay together as a group, as people we're a far cry from friends."<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Mike denied the accusation that he and the band were keeping Brian from participating with the group.Template:Sfn In 1987 the band scored a top-twenty single in collaboration with rap group the Fat Boys, on their cover of the Surfaris' "Wipeout!". The following year, the Beach Boys unexpectedly claimed their first US number 1 single in 22 years with "Kokomo", which topped the chart for one week.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> The track was featured in the film Cocktail. Both "Wipeout!" and "Kokomo" were included on the band's next album, 1989's Still Cruisin', which went platinum in the US.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>
During 1990 and 1991, the group's original Capitol-era albums (Surfin' Safari through Live in London) were released on CD for the first time, with The Beach Boys' Christmas Album and Pet Sounds being individual titles, and the remaining albums issued as two-fers (two albums on one CD). The Reprise and CBS albums (Sunflower through The Beach Boys) would eventually receive the same treatment in 2000. In 1991 the band contributed a cover of "Crocodile Rock" to the Elton John and Bernie Taupin tribute album Two Rooms.
Lawsuits, Summer in Paradise, and Stars and Stripes, Vol. 1
[edit]Template:See also Carlin summarized: "Once surfin' pin-ups, they remade themselves as avant-garde pop artists, then psychedelic oracles. After that they were down-home hippies, then retro-hip icons. Eventually they devolved into none of the above: a kind of perpetual-motion nostalgia machine."<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Music journalist Erik Davis wrote in 1990: "the Beach Boys are either dead, deranged, or dinosaurs; their records are Eurocentric, square, unsampled; they've made too much money to merit hip revisionism".<ref name="Davis1990"/> In 1992, critic Jim Miller wrote: "They have become a figment of their own past, prisoners of their unflagging popularity—incongruous emblems of a sunny myth of eternal youth belied by much of their own best music. ... The group is still largely identified with its hits from the early Sixties."Template:Sfn
Love filed a defamation lawsuit against Brian due to how he was presented in Brian's 1992 memoir Wouldn't It Be Nice: My Own Story. Its publisher HarperCollins settled the suit for $1.5 million. He said that the suit allowed his lawyer "to gain access to the transcripts of Brian's interviews with his [book] collaborator, Todd Gold. Those interviews affirmed—according to Brian—that I had been the inspiration of the group and that I had written many of the songs that [would soon be] in dispute."Template:Sfn Other defamation lawsuits were filed by Carl, Brother Records, and the Wilsons' mother Audree.Template:Sfn With Love and Brian unable to determine exactly what Love was properly owed in royalties and songwriting credits, Love sued Brian in 1992, awarding him $5 million and a share of future royalties from Wilson.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Thirty-five of the group's songs were then amended to credit Love.<ref name="Times1994">Template:Cite news</ref> He later called it "almost certainly the largest case of fraud in music history".Template:Sfn
After dissolving his relationship with Landy, Brian phoned Sire Records staff producer Andy Paley to collaborate on new material tentatively for the Beach Boys.Template:Sfn After losing the songwriting credits lawsuit with Love, Brian told MOJO in February 1995: "Mike and I are just cool. There's a lot of shit Andy and I got written for him. I just had to get through that goddamn trial!"<ref name="MOJO1995">Template:Cite magazine</ref> In April, it was unclear whether the project would turn into a Wilson solo album, a Beach Boys album, or a combination of the two.<ref name=Verna1995>Template:Cite magazine</ref> The project ultimately disintegrated.Template:Sfn Instead, Brian and his bandmates recorded Stars and Stripes Vol. 1, an album of country music stars covering Beach Boys songs, with co-production helmed by River North Records owner Joe Thomas.Template:Sfn Afterward, the group discussed finishing the album Smile, but Carl rejected the idea, fearing that it would cause Brian another nervous breakdown.Template:Sfn
The 1990s saw the release of the critically acclaimed multi-CD box sets Good Vibrations: Thirty Years of the Beach Boys (1993) and The Pet Sounds Sessions (1997), both featuring unreleased archive recordings, as well as two single-CD archival sets, Ultimate Christmas and Endless Harmony Soundtrack (both 1998), with the latter a companion to the official career-spanning documentary Endless Harmony: The Beach Boys Story, which first aired on VH1 and was later issued on VHS and DVD.
1998–present: Love-led tours and brief reunion
[edit]Carl's death and band name litigation
[edit]
Early in 1997, Carl was diagnosed with lung and brain cancer after years of heavy smoking. Despite his terminal condition, Carl continued to perform with the band on its summer tour (a double-bill with the band Chicago) while undergoing chemotherapy. During performances, he sat on a stool and needed oxygen after every song.Template:Sfn Carl died on February 6, 1998, at the age of 51, two months after the death of the Wilsons' mother, Audree.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
After Carl's death, Jardine left the touring line-up and began to perform regularly with his band "Beach Boys: Family & Friends" until he ran into legal issues for using the name without license. Meanwhile, Jardine sued Love, claiming that he had been excluded from their concerts,<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> BRI, through its longtime attorney, Ed McPherson, sued Jardine in Federal Court. Jardine, in turn, counter-claimed against BRI for wrongful termination.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Courts ruled in Love's favor, denying Jardine the use of the Beach Boys name in any fashion. However, Jardine proceeded to appeal this decision in addition to seeking $4 million in damages. The California Court of Appeal proceeded to rule that "Love acted wrongfully in freezing Jardine out of touring under the Beach Boys name", allowing Jardine to continue with his lawsuit.<ref name="Billboard">Template:Cite web</ref> The case ended up being settled outside of court with the terms not disclosed.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> BRI ultimately prevailed.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>
Jardine's final appearance with the band for more than a decade occurred on May 9, 1998, which was the final official Beach Boys show performed before the license dispute.<ref name="Bellagio G&S 1998">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="Billboard"/> During the license dispute, Love (with Marks) toured as "The California Beach Band"; it was previously believed he did so "America's Band", but this has since been disproven.<ref name="Bellagio G&S 1998" /> Love then continued touring with Johnston (and David Marks, until he left the band again in 1999, due to health issues when he was diagnosed with hepatitis C<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Harvnb</ref>), after securing a license from BRI, with the first performance of the 'reorganized' Love and Johnston-led touring band on July 4, 1998.<ref name="Bellagio G&S 1998" /><ref name="Billboard"/>
In 2000, ABC-TV premiered a two-part television miniseries, The Beach Boys: An American Family, that dramatized the Beach Boys' story. It was produced by Full House actor John Stamos, and was criticized by numerous parties, including Brian Wilson, for historical inaccuracies.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Sounds of Summer: The Very Best of the Beach Boys, a greatest hits compilation, was released in 2003, eventually going multi-platinum. In 2004, Wilson recorded and released his solo album Brian Wilson Presents Smile, a reinterpretation of the unfinished Smile project. That September, Wilson issued a free CD through the Mail On Sunday that included Beach Boys songs he had recently rerecorded, five of which he co-authored with Love. The 10 track compilation had 2.6 million copies distributed and prompted Love to file a lawsuit in November 2005; he claimed the promotion hurt the sales of the original recordings and that his image was used for the CD.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Wilson's wife Melinda alleged that, during the deposition, Love turned to Wilson and remarked: "you better start writing a real big hit because you're going to have to write me a real big check".<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Love's suit was dismissed in 2007 when a judge determined that there were no triable issues and that the case was without merit.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="LA Times">Template:Cite news</ref>
In 2006, Brian Wilson, Love, Jardine, Marks, and Johnston participated in a non-performing reunion on the rooftop of the Capitol Records building in Los Angeles to celebrate that Sounds of Summer had been certified double-platinum.<ref name="Billboard 2012-2006 rooftop reunion">Template:Cite magazine</ref> Later that year, Jardine joined Brian Wilson and his band for a short tour celebrating the 40th anniversary of Pet Sounds.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
In 2008, Marks briefly reunited with Love and Johnston's touring band for a tour of Europe.<ref name="Bellagio G&S 2008">Template:Cite web</ref>
In 2010, Jardine released A Postcard from California, his solo debut, in June 2010 (re-released with two extra tracks on April 3, 2012). The album features contributions from Beach Boys Brian Wilson, Carl Wilson (posthumously), Bruce Johnston, David Marks, and Mike Love. Other guests with Beach Boys connections included Glen Campbell, Scott Mathews, Stephen Kalinich, and Gerry Beckley and Dewey Bunnell of America.<ref name="huffingtonpost1">Template:Cite news</ref> Also in 2010, Brian Wilson and Jardine sang on "We Are the World 25: for Haiti", a new recording of "We Are the World" (with partially revised lyrics), which was released as a charity single to benefit the population of Haiti.<ref name="Bellagio Guest Appearances">Template:Cite web</ref>
Jardine made his first appearance with the Beach Boys touring band in more than 10 years in 2011 at a tribute concert for Ronald Reagan's 100th birthday;<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> at this concert, he sang lead on "Help Me, Rhonda" and "Sloop John B". He made a handful of other appearances with Love and Johnston's touring band in preparation for a reunion.
The Smile Sessions, That's Why God Made the Radio, and 50th anniversary reunion tour
[edit]On October 31, 2011, Capitol released a double album and box set dedicated to the Smile recordings in the form of The Smile Sessions. The album garnered universal critical acclaim and charted in both the US Billboard and UK top-thirty. It went on to win Best Historical Album at the 2013 Grammy Awards.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
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On December 16, 2011, it was announced that Wilson, Love, Jardine, Johnston, and David Marks would reunite for a new album and 50th anniversary tour.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> On February 12, 2012, the Beach Boys performed at the 2012 Grammy Awards, in what was billed as a "special performance" by organizers. It marked the group's first live performance to include Wilson since 1996, Jardine since 1998, and Marks since 1999.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Released on June 5, That's Why God Made the Radio debuted at number 3 on the US charts, expanding the group's span of Billboard 200 top-ten albums across 49 years and one week, passing the Beatles with 47 years of top-ten albums.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> Critics generally regarded the album as an "uneven" collection, with most of the praise centered on its closing musical suite.<ref name=Bolin2012/>
During the tour, in May 2012, when asked about the future held for the band and its reunion after the scheduled end of the tour in September, Love stated that "We're looking at our present and future. I think we're going to be doing this again with Brian for a long time." Wilson said that he had begun planning for another Beach Boys album for the band would record after the tour.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> On June 1, 2012, Love received an e-mail from Ledbetter stating "no more shows for Wilson". Love then began accepting invitations for when the reunion was over.Template:Sfn Johnston told reporter Mark Dillon in mid-June that the current tour was "a one-time event. You're not going to see this next year. I'm busy next year doing my thing with Mike."<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> On June 25, Ledbetter sent another e-mail asking to disregard her last message, but by then, Love claimed that "it was too late. We had booked other concerts, and promoters had begun selling tickets."
Despite this, in July, Love stated: "There's talk of us going and doing a return to the Grammys next year, and there's talk about doing another album together. There's nothing in stone, but there's a lot of ideas being floated around. So after this year, after completing the 50th anniversary reunion, we'll entertain doing some more studio work and see what we can come up with and can do in the future." Love said that Wilson and producer Joe Thomas had over 80 hours of material recorded, much of it culled from material they were working on around the time of Wilson's 1998 Imagination album that "were always songs he had earmarked for the Beach Boys" and that their label Capitol Records was excited by the band's reunion and was encouraging the band for more new music and more tour dates.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>
Ultimately, the reunion tour ended in September 2012 as planned, after a final show on September 28, but amid erroneous rumors that Love had dismissed Wilson from the Beach Boys.Template:Sfn<ref name="Wilson">Template:Cite web</ref> At this time, Love and Johnston had announced via a press release that following the end of the reunion tour the Beach Boys would revert to the pre-reunion tour Love/Johnston lineup, without Brian, Jardine, or Marks, all of whom expressed surprise. Although such dates were noted in a late June issue of Rolling Stone, it was widely reported that the three had been "fired".<ref name="Wilson"/> Love later wrote that the end of the reunion came partly as a result of 'interference' from Brian's wife and manager Melinda Ledbetter-Wilson and that he (Love) "had wanted to send out a joint press release, between Brian and me, formally announcing the end of the reunion tour on September 28. But I couldn't get Brian's management team on boardTemplate:Nbsp..."Template:Sfn<ref name="latimes.com"/><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>Template:Sfn
On October 5, Love responded in a self-written press release to the Los Angeles Times stating he "did not fire Brian Wilson from the Beach Boys. I cannot fire Brian Wilson from the Beach Boys ... I do not have such authority. And even if I did, I would never fire Brian Wilson from the Beach Boys." He claimed that nobody in the band "wanted to do a 50th anniversary tour that lasted 10 years" and that its limited run "was long agreed upon".<ref name="latimes.com">Template:Cite news</ref> On October 9, Wilson and Jardine submitted a written response to the rumors stating: "I was completely blindsided by his press release ... We hadn't even discussed as a band what we were going to do with all the offers that were coming in for more 50th shows."<ref name="Los Angeles Times">Template:Cite news</ref>
From late September, Love and Johnston continued to perform under the Beach Boys name, while Wilson, Jardine, and Marks toured as a trio in 2013,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> and a subsequent tour with guitarist Jeff Beck also included Blondie Chaplin at select dates.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Wilson and Jardine continued to tour together in 2014 and following years, often joined by Chaplin; Marks declined to join them after 2013.
Copyright extension releases and occasional partial reunions
[edit]Responding to a new European Union copyright law that extended copyright to 70 years for recordings that were published within 50 years after they were made, Capitol began issuing annual 50-year anniversary "copyright extension" releases of Beach Boys recordings, starting with The Big Beat 1963 (2013).<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
In June 2013, Wilson's website announced that he was recording and self-producing new material with Jardine, Marks, Chaplin, Don Was, and Jeff Beck.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> It stated that the material might be split into three albums: one of new pop songs, another of mostly instrumental tracks with Beck, and another of interwoven tracks dubbed "the suite" which initially began form as the closing four tracks of That's Why God Made the Radio.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In January 2014, Wilson declared in an interview that the Beck collaborations would not be released.<ref name="Somethingelse">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="DesertSun">Template:Cite news</ref> Released in April 2015, No Pier Pressure marked another collaboration between Wilson and Joe Thomas, featuring guest appearances from Jardine, Marks, Chaplin, and others.Template:Sfn
Jardine, Marks, Johnston and Love appeared together at the 2014 Ella Awards Ceremony, where Love was honored for his work as a singer.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>Template:Better source needed<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In 2015, Soundstage aired an episode featuring Wilson performing with Jardine, Chaplin, and Ricky Fataar at The Venetian in Las Vegas.<ref name=venetian>Template:Cite web</ref> In April, when asked if he was interested in making music with Love again, Wilson replied: "I don't think so, no",<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> adding in July that he "doesn't talk to the Beach Boys [or] Mike Love".<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
In 2016, Wilson and Jardine embarked on the Pet Sounds 50th Anniversary World Tour, promoted as Wilson's final performances of the album,Template:Sfn with Chaplin appearing as a special guest at all dates on select songs. That same year, Love and Wilson each published memoirs, Good Vibrations: My Life as a Beach Boy and I Am Brian Wilson, respectively. Asked about negative comments that Wilson made about him in the book, Love challenged the legitimacy of statements attributed to Wilson in the book and in the press.<ref name="fes">Template:Cite news</ref> In an interview with Rolling Stone conducted in June 2016, Wilson said he would like to try to repair his relationship with Love and collaborate with him again.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> In January 2017, Love said: "If it were possible to make it just Brian and I, and have it under control and done better than what happened in 2012, then yeah, I'd be open to something."<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
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In July 2018, Wilson, Jardine, Love, Johnston, and Marks reunited for a one-off Q&A session moderated by director Rob Reiner at the Capitol Records Tower in Los Angeles. It was the first time the band had appeared together in public since their 2012 tour.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> That December, Love described his new holiday album, Reason for the Season, as a "message to Brian" and said that he "would love nothing more than to get together with Brian and do some music".<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
In 2019, Wilson and Jardine (with Chaplin) embarked on a co-headlining tour with the Zombies, performing selections from Friends and Surf's Up.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
In February 2020, Wilson and Jardine's official social media pages encouraged fans to boycott the band's music after it was announced that Love's Beach Boys would perform at the Safari Club International Convention in Reno, Nevada on animal rights grounds. The concert proceeded despite online protests, as Love issued a statement that said his group has always supported "freedom of thought and expression as a fundamental tenet of our rights as Americans".<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In October, Love and Johnston's Beach Boys performed at a fundraiser for Donald Trump's presidential re-election campaign; Wilson and Jardine again issued a statement that they had not been informed about this performance and did not support it.<ref>Shaffer, Claire (October 19, 2020). "Brian Wilson, Al Jardine Disavow Donald Trump's Beach Boys Fundraiser". Template:Webarchive. Rolling Stone. Retrieved June 23, 2021.</ref>
Selling of the band's intellectual property and 60th anniversary
[edit]In March 2020, Jardine was asked about a possible reunion and responded that the band would reunite for a string of live performances in 2021, although he believed a new album was unlikely.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> In response to reunion rumors, Love said in May that he was open to a 60th anniversary tour, although Wilson has "some serious health issues", while Wilson's manager Jean Sievers commented that no one had spoken to Wilson about such a tour.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In February 2021, it was announced that Brian Wilson, Love, Jardine, and the estate of Carl Wilson had sold a majority stake in the band's intellectual property to Irving Azoff and his new company Iconic Artists Group; rumors of a 60th anniversary reunion were again discussed.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>
In April 2021, Omnivore Recordings released California Music Presents Add Some Music, an album featuring Love, Jardine, Marks, Johnston, and several children of the original Beach Boys (most notably on a re-recording of The Beach Boys' "Add Some Music to Your Day" from 1970's Sunflower).<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> In August, Capitol released the box set Feel Flows: The Sunflower & Surf's Up Sessions 1969–1971.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In 2022, the group was expected to participate in a "60th anniversary celebration". Azoff stated in an interview from May 2021: "We're going to announce a major deal with a streamer for the definitive documentary on The Beach Boys and a 60th anniversary celebration. We're planning a tribute concert affiliated with the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and SiriusXM, with amazing acts. That's adding value, and that's why I invested in The Beach Boys."<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
On Mike Love's 81st birthday, Jardine once again hinted at a possible reunion on his Facebook page by stating that he was "looking forward" to seeing Love at the "reunion".<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> However, while a reunion ultimately did not occur in 2022, Capitol released the Sail On Sailor – 1972 box set in December; following on from the Feel Flows box set, which focused on Sunflower and Surf's Up, Sail On Sailor focused on Carl and the Passions and Holland.
In January 2023, the tribute concert mentioned by Azoff in 2021 was announced as being part of the "Grammys Salute" series of televised tribute concerts.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> On February 8—three days after the 2023 Grammy award ceremonies, A Grammy Salute to the Beach Boys was recorded at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, California and subsequently aired as a two-hour special on CBS on April 9. Present for the taping were Wilson, Jardine, Marks, Johnston, and Love—this time not as performers but as featured guests, seated in a luxury box at the theatre, overlooking tribute performances covering the gamut of their catalog by mostly contemporary artists. According to Billboard, the program had 5.18 million viewers.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>
In July 2023, the Beach Boys announced a limited edition to their book, The Beach Boys by The Beach Boys, set to be released in 2024. It will feature exclusive interviews, archived photos, live shots, as well as archived texts from late members Carl and Dennis Wilson.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>
In March 2024, the band announced the release of a self-titled documentary which would be released by streaming service Disney+, which includes new and archived interviews from various members of the band and their inner circle, including Brian Wilson, Love, Jardine, Marks, Johnston, Carl Wilson, Dennis Wilson, Chaplin, Fataar, Brian Wilson's ex-wife Marilyn, and Don Was, among others. The documentary was directed by Frank Marshall and Thom Zimny and was released on May 24, 2024.<ref name="2024 self-titled documentary announcement">Template:Cite web</ref> The documentary included some footage from a private reunion of Brian Wilson, Love, Jardine, Marks, and Johnston at Paradise Cove, where the Surfin' Safari album cover photo was taken in 1962.<ref name="USA Today Paradise Cove 2023">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="Rolling Stone Paradise Cove reunion 2023">Template:Cite magazine</ref><ref name="Billboard Paradise Cove reunion 2023">Template:Cite magazine</ref> Brian Wilson, Love, Jardine, Marks, Johnston, and Blondie Chaplin also participated in a non-performing reunion at the documentary's premiere on May 24, 2024.<ref name="2024 documentary premiere reunion #1">Template:Cite web</ref>
By their 2024 tour, the Beach Boys had played nearly 7,300 concerts.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Musical style and development
[edit]Template:See also In Understanding Rock: Essays in Musical Analysis, musicologist Daniel Harrison writes: Template:Blockquote
The Beach Boys began as a garage band playing 1950s style rock and roll,Template:Sfn reassembling styles of music such as surf to include vocal jazz harmony, which created their unique sound.Template:Sfn In addition, they introduced their signature approach to common genres such as the pop ballad by applying harmonic or formal twists not native to rock and roll.Template:Sfn Among the distinct elements of the Beach Boys' style were the nasal quality of their singing voices, their use of a falsetto harmony over a driving, locomotive-like melody, and the sudden chiming in of the whole group on a key line.<ref name="nasal">Template:Cite journal</ref> Brian Wilson handled most stages of the group's recording process from the beginning, even though he was not properly credited on most of the early recordings.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn
Early on, Mike Love sang lead vocals in the rock-oriented songs, while Carl contributed guitar lines on the group's ballads.Template:Sfn Jim Miller commented: "On straight rockers they sang tight harmonies behind Love's lead ... on ballads, Brian played his falsetto off against lush, jazz-tinged voicings, often using (for rock) unorthodox harmonic structures."Template:Sfn Harrison adds that "even the least distinguished of the Beach Boys' early uptempo rock 'n' roll songs show traces of structural complexity at some level; Brian was simply too curious and experimental to leave convention alone".Template:Sfn Although Brian was often dubbed a perfectionist, he was an inexperienced musician, and his understanding of music was mostly self-taught.Template:Sfn At the lyric stage, he usually worked with Love,Template:Sfn whose assertive persona provided youthful swagger that contrasted Brian's explorations in romanticism and sensitivity.Template:Sfn Luis Sanchez noted a pattern where Brian would spare surfing imagery when working with collaborators outside of his band's circle, in the examples "Lonely Sea" and "In My Room".Template:Sfn
Brian's bandmates resented the notion that he was the sole creative force in the group.Template:Sfn In a 1966 article that asked if "the Beach Boys rely too much on sound genius Brian", Carl said that although Brian was the most responsible for their music, every member of the group contributed ideas.Template:Sfn Mike Love wrote: "As far as I was concerned, Brian was a genius, deserving of that recognition. But the rest of us were seen as nameless components in Brian's music machine ... It didn't feel to us as if we were just riding on Brian's coattails."Template:Sfn Conversely, Dennis defended Brian's stature in the band, stating: "Brian Wilson is the Beach Boys. He is the band. We're his fucking messengers. He is all of it. Period. We're nothing. He's everything."Template:Sfn
Influences
[edit]Template:Further The band's earliest influences came primarily from the work of Chuck Berry and the Four Freshmen.Template:Sfn Performed by the Four Freshmen, "Their Hearts Were Full of Spring" (1961) was a particular favorite of the group.Template:Sfn By analyzing their arrangements of pop standards, Brian educated himself on jazz harmony.Template:Sfn Bearing this in mind, Philip Lambert noted: "If Bob Flanigan helped teach Brian how to sing, then Gershwin, Kern, Porter, and the other members of this pantheon helped him learn how to craft a song."Template:Sfn Other general influences on the group included the Hi-Los,Template:Sfn the Penguins, the Robins, Bill Haley & His Comets, Otis Williams, the Cadets, the Everly Brothers, the Shirelles, the Regents, and the Crystals.Template:Sfn
Template:Quote box The eclectic mix of white and black vocal group influences – ranging from the rock and roll of Berry, the jazz harmonies of the Four Freshmen, the pop of the Four Preps, the folk of the Kingston Trio, the R&B of groups like the Coasters and the Five Satins, and the doo wop of Dion and the Belmonts – helped contribute to the Beach Boys' uniqueness in American popular music.Template:Sfn Carl remembered that Love was "really immersed in doo-wop" and likely "influenced Brian to listen to it", adding that the "black artists were so much better in terms of rock records in those days that the white records almost sounded like put-ons".<ref name=HimesSurf />
Another significant influence on Brian's work was Burt Bacharach.Template:Sfn He said in the 1960s: "Burt Bacharach and Hal David are more like me. They're also the best pop team – per se – today. As a producer, Bacharach has a very fresh, new approach."Template:Sfn Regarding surf rock pioneer Dick Dale, Brian said that his influence on the group was limited to Carl and his style of guitar playing.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Carl credited Chuck Berry, the Ventures, and John Walker with shaping his guitar style, and that the Beach Boys had learned to play all of the Ventures' songs by ear early in their career.<ref name="Hinsche">Template:Cite magazine</ref>
In 1967, Lou Reed wrote in Aspen that the Beach Boys created a "hybrid sound" out of old rock and the Four Freshmen, explaining that such songs as "Let Him Run Wild", "Don't Worry Baby", "I Get Around", and "Fun, Fun, Fun" were not unlike "Peppermint Stick" by the Elchords.Template:Sfn Similarly, John Sebastian of the Lovin' Spoonful noted: "Brian had control of this vocal palette of which we had no idea. We had never paid attention to the Four Freshmen or doo-wop combos like the Crew Cuts. Look what gold he mined out of that."Template:Sfn
Vocals
[edit]Brian identified each member individually for their vocal range, once detailing the ranges for Carl, Dennis, Jardine ("[they] progress upwards through G, A, and B"), Love ("can go from bass to the E above middle C"), and himself ("I can take the second D in the treble clef").<ref name="PopGenius"/>Template:Refn He declared in 1966 that his greatest interest was to expand modern vocal harmony, owing to his fascination with a voice to the Four Freshmen, which he considered a "groovy sectional sound".<ref name="PopGenius">Template:Cite magazine</ref> He added: "The harmonies that we are able to produce give us a uniqueness which is really the only important thing you can put into records – some quality that no one else has got. I love peaks in a song – and enhancing them on the control panel. Most of all, I love the human voice for its own sake."Template:Sfn<ref name="PopGenius"/> For a period, Brian avoided singing falsetto for the group, saying: "I thought people thought I was a fairy ... the band told me, 'If that's the way you sing, don't worry about it.'"<ref name=RCMSharp>Template:Cite magazine</ref>
In the group's early recordings, from lowest intervals to highest, the group's vocal harmony stack usually began with Love or Dennis, followed by Jardine or Carl, and finally Brian on top, according to Jardine,<ref name=Sharp2013>Template:Cite web</ref> while Carl said that the blend was Love on bottom, Carl above, followed by Dennis or Jardine, and then Brian on top.<ref name="HimesSurf">Template:Cite web</ref> Jardine explains: "We always sang the same vocal intervals. ... As soon as we heard the chords on the piano we'd figure it out pretty easily. If there was a vocal move [Brian] envisioned, he'd show that particular singer that move. We had somewhat photographic memory as far as the vocal parts were concerned so that [was] never a problem for us."<ref name=Sharp2013/> Striving for perfection, Brian insured that his intricate vocal arrangements exercised the group's calculated blend of intonation, attack, phrasing, and expression.Template:Sfn Sometimes, he would sing each vocal harmony part alone through multi-track tape.Template:Sfn
Template:Quote box On the group's blend, Carl said: "[Love] has a beautifully rich, very full-sounding bass voice. Yet his lead singing is real nasal, real punk. [Jardine]'s voice has a bright timbre to it; it really cuts. My voice has a kind of calm sound. We're big oooh-ers; we love to oooh. It's a big, full sound, that's very pleasing to us; it opens up the heart."<ref name=HimesSurf/> Rock critic Erik Davis wrote: "The 'purity' of tone and genetic proximity that smoothed their voices was almost creepy, pseudo-castrato, [and] a 'barbershop' sound."<ref name="Davis1990">Template:Cite news</ref> Jimmy Webb said: "They used very little vibrato and sing in very straight tones. The voices all lie down beside each other very easily – there's no bumping between them because the pitch is very precise."Template:Sfn According to Brian, "Jack Good once told us, 'You sing like eunuchs in a Sistine Chapel', which was a pretty good quote."<ref name="PopGenius"/> Writer Richard Goldstein reported that, according to a fellow journalist who asked Brian about the black roots of his music, Brian's response was: "We're white and we sing white." Goldstein added that when he asked where his approach to vocal harmonies had derived from, Wilson answered: 'Barbershop'."<ref name=GoldsteinSalon>Template:Cite web</ref>
Use of studio musicians
[edit]
Biographer James Murphy said: "By most contemporary accounts, they were not a very good live band when they started. ... The Beach Boys learned to play as a band in front of live audiences", eventually to become "one of the best and enduring live bands".<ref name=RCMMurphy>Template:Cite web</ref> With only a few exceptions, the Beach Boys played every instrument heard on their first four albums and first five singles.Template:Sfn It is the belief of Richie Unterberger that "Before session musicians took over most of the parts, the Beach Boys could play respectably gutsy surf rock as a self-contained unit."Template:Sfn
As Wilson's arrangements increased in complexity, he began employing a group of professional studio musicians, later known as "the Wrecking Crew", to assist with recording the instrumentation on select tracks.Template:Sfn According to some reports, these musicians then completely replaced the Beach Boys on the backing tracks to their records.Template:Sfn<ref name="wong">Template:Cite web</ref> Much of the relevant documentation, while accounting for the attendance of unionized session players, had failed to record the presence of the Beach Boys themselves.<ref name="wong"/><ref name="SlowinskiMyth"/> These documents, along with the full unedited studio session tapes, were not available for public scrutiny until the 1990s.<ref name="SlowinskiMyth"/>
Wilson started occasionally employing members of the Wrecking Crew for certain Beach Boys tracks during the 1963 Surfer Girl sessions – specifically, on two songs, "Hawaii" and "Our Car Club".Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn The 1964 albums Shut Down Volume 2 and All Summer Long featured the Beach Boys themselves playing the vast majority of the instruments while occasionally being augmented by outside musicians.Template:Sfn It is commonly misreported that Dennis in particular was replaced by Hal Blaine on drums.<ref name="SlowinskiMyth"/><ref name=P4K2008>Template:Cite web</ref> Dennis's drumming is documented on a number of the group's singles, including 1964's "I Get Around", "Fun, Fun, Fun", and "Don't Worry Baby".<ref name="Slowinski2014b">Template:Cite AV media notes (Mirror)</ref> Starting with the 1965 albums Today! and Summer Days, Brian used the Wrecking Crew with greater frequency, "but still", Stebbins writes, "the Beach Boys continued to play the instruments on many of the key tracks and single releases".Template:Sfn
Overall, the Beach Boys played the instruments on the majority of their recordings from the decade,<ref name="SlowinskiMyth"/> with 1966 and 1967 being the only years when Wilson used the Wrecking Crew almost exclusively.Template:Sfn<ref name="SlowinskiMyth"/> Pet Sounds and Smile are their only albums in which the backing tracks were largely played by studio musicians.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn After 1967, the band's use of studio musicians was considerably reduced.Template:Sfn Wrecking Crew biographer Kent Hartman supported in his 2012 book about the musicians: "Though [Brian Wilson] had for several months brought in various session players on a sporadic, potluck basis to supplement things, the other Beach Boys generally played on the earliest songs, too."Template:Sfn
The source of the longstanding controversy regarding the Beach Boys' use of studio musicians largely derives from a misinterpreted statement in David Leaf's 1978 biography The Beach Boys and the California Myth, later bolstered by erroneous recollections from participants of the recording sessions.<ref name="SlowinskiMyth"/>Template:Refn Starting in the 1990s, unedited studio session tapes, along with American Federation of Musicians (AFM) sheets and tape logs, were leaked to the public. Music historian Craig Slowinski, who contributes musician credits to the liner notes of the band's reissues and compilations, wrote in 2006: "[O]nce the vaults were opened up and the tapes were studied, the true situation became clear: the Boys themselves played most of the instruments on their records until the Beach Boys Today! album in early 1965."<ref name="SlowinskiMyth">Template:Cite web</ref> Slowinski goes on to note: "when painting a picture of a Beach Boys recording session, it's important to examine both the AFM contracts and the session tapes, either of which may be incomplete on their own".<ref name="SlowinskiMyth"/>
During the period when Brian relied heavily on studio musicians, Carl was an exception among the Beach Boys in that he played alongside the studio musicians whenever he was available to attend sessions.Template:Sfn In Slowinski's view, "One should not sell short Carl's own contributions; the youngest Wilson had developed as a musician sufficiently to play alongside the horde of high-dollar session pros that big brother was now bringing into the studio. Carl's guitar playing [was] a key ingredient."<ref name="slowtoday">Template:Cite web</ref>Template:Refn
Spirituality
[edit]The band members often reflected on the spiritual nature of their music (and music in general), particularly for the recording of Pet Sounds and Smile.Template:Sfn Even though the Wilsons did not grow up in a particularly religious household,Template:Sfn Carl was described as "the most truly religious person I know" by Brian, and Carl was forthcoming about the group's spiritual beliefs stating: "We believe in God as a kind of universal consciousness. God is love. God is you. God is me. God is everything right here in this room. It's a spiritual concept which inspires a great deal of our music."Template:Sfn Carl told Rave magazine in 1967 that the group's influences are of a "religious nature", but not any religion in specific, only "an idea based upon that of Universal Consciousness. ... The spiritual concept of happiness and doing good to others is extremely important to the lyric of our songs, and the religious element of some of the better church music is also contained within some of our new work."<ref name=Rave1967>Template:Cite news</ref>
Brian is quoted during the Smile era: "I'm very religious. Not in the sense of churches, going to church; but like the essence of all religion."Template:Sfn During the recording of Pet Sounds, Brian held prayer meetings, later reflecting that "God was with us the whole time we were doing this record ... I could feel that feeling in my brain."Template:Sfn In 1966, he explained that he wanted to move into a white spiritual sound, and predicted that the rest of the music industry would follow suit.Template:Sfn In 2011, Brian maintained the spirituality was important to his music, and that he did not follow any particular religion.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Carl said that Smile was chosen as an album title because of its connection to the group's spiritual beliefs.<ref name=Rave1967/> Brian referred to Smile as his "teenage symphony to God",Template:Sfn composing a hymn, "Our Prayer", as the album's opening spiritual invocation.Template:Sfn Experimentation with psychotropic substances also proved pivotal to the group's development as artists.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>Template:Sfn He spoke of his LSD trips as a "religious experience", and during a session for "Our Prayer", Brian can be heard asking the other Beach Boys: "Do you guys feel any acid yet?".Template:Sfn In 1968, the group's interest in transcendental meditation led them to record the original song, "Transcendental Meditation".Template:Sfn
Legacy
[edit]Achievements
[edit]The Beach Boys are one of the most critically acclaimed, commercially successful,<ref name=RockHallofFame /><ref name="Rolling Stone">Template:Cite magazine</ref> and influential bands of all time.<ref name="Vogue2015">Template:Cite magazine</ref> They have sold over 100 million records worldwide.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The group's early songs made them major pop stars in the US, the UK, Australia and other countries, having seven top 10 singles between April 1963 and November 1964.Template:Sfn They were one of the first American groups to exhibit the definitive traits of a self-contained rock band, playing their own instruments and writing their own songs,Template:Sfn and they were one of the few American bands formed prior to the 1964 British Invasion to continue their success.Template:Sfn Among artists of the 1960s, they are one of the central figures in the histories of rock.Template:Sfn Between the 1960s and 2020s, they had 37 songs reach the US Top 40 (the most by an American group) with four topping the Billboard Hot 100; they also hold Nielsen SoundScan's record as the top-selling American band for albums and singles.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Brian Wilson's artistic control over the Beach Boys' records was unprecedented for the time.Template:Sfn Carl Wilson elaborated: "Record companies were used to having absolute control over their artists. It was especially nervy, because Brian was a 21-year-old kid with just two albums. It was unheard of. But what could they say? Brian made good records."<ref name="Himes1983"/> This made the Beach Boys one of the first rock groups to exert studio control.Template:Sfn Music producers after the mid-1960s would draw on Brian's influence, setting a precedent that allowed bands and artists to enter a recording studio and act as producers, either autonomously, or in conjunction with other like minds.Template:Sfn
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In 1988, the original five members (the Wilson brothers, Love, and Jardine) were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.<ref name=RockHallofFame>Template:Cite web</ref> Ten years later, they were selected for the Vocal Group Hall of Fame.<ref name="vocal hall">Vocal Group Hall of Fame Inductees: The Beach Boys Template:Webarchive, vocalgroup.org. Retrieved January 15, 2007.</ref> In 2004, Pet Sounds was preserved in the National Recording Registry by the Library of Congress for being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".<ref name="PetSoundsCongress">Template:Cite web</ref> Their recordings of "In My Room", "Good Vibrations", "California Girls" and the entire Pet Sounds album have been inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
The Beach Boys are one of the most influential acts of the rock era.<ref name="allmusic">[[[:Template:AllMusic]] AllMusic "The Beach Boys – Overview"]. John Bush. AllMusic. Retrieved July 12, 2008.</ref> In 2017, a study of AllMusic's catalog indicated the Beach Boys as the 6th most frequently cited artist influence in its database.<ref name="AMinfluence">Template:Cite web</ref> In 2021, the staff of Ultimate Classic Rock ranked the Beach Boys as the top American band of all time; the publication's editor wrote in the group's entry that "few bands ... have had a greater impact on popular music".<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
California sound
[edit]
Professor of cultural studies James M. Curtis wrote in 1987: "We can say that the Beach Boys represent the outlook and values of white Protestant Anglo-Saxon teenagers in the early sixties. Having said that, we immediately realize that they must mean much more than this. Their stability, their staying power, and their ability to attract new fans prove as much."Template:Sfn Cultural historian Kevin Starr explains that the group first connected with young Americans specifically for their lyrical interpretation of a mythologized landscape: "Cars and the beach, surfing, the California Girl, all this fused in the alembic of youth: Here was a way of life, an iconography, already half-released into the chords and multiple tracks of a new sound."Template:Sfn In music critic Robert Christgau's opinion, "the Beach Boys were a touchstone for real rock and rollers, all of whom understood that the music had its most essential roots in an innocently hedonistic materialism".<ref name="Christgau1975"/>
The group's "California sound" grew to national prominence through the success of their 1963 album Surfin' U.S.A.,Template:Sfn which helped turn the surfing subculture into a mainstream youth-targeted advertising image widely exploited by the film, television, and food industry.Template:Sfn The group's surf music was not entirely of their own invention, being preceded by artists such as Dick Dale.Template:Sfn However, previous surf musicians did not project a world view as the Beach Boys did.Template:Sfn The band's earlier surf music helped raise the profile of the state of California, creating its first major regional style with national significance, and establishing a musical identity for Southern California, as opposed to Hollywood.Template:Sfn California ultimately supplanted New York as the center of popular music thanks to the success of Brian's productions.Template:Sfn
A 1966 article discussing new trends in rock music writes that the Beach Boys popularized a type of drum beat heard in Jan and Dean's "Surf City", which sounds like "a locomotive getting up speed", in addition to the method of "suddenly stopping in between the chorus and verse".<ref name="nasal"/> Pete Townshend of the Who is credited with coining the term "power pop", which he defined as "what we play—what the Small Faces used to play, and the kind of pop the Beach Boys played in the days of 'Fun, Fun, Fun' which I preferred".<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>
The California sound gradually evolved to reflect a more musically ambitious and mature worldview, becoming less to do with surfing and cars and more about social consciousness and political awareness.Template:Sfn Between 1964 and 1969, it fueled innovation and transition, inspiring artists to tackle largely unmentioned themes such as sexual freedom, black pride, drugs, oppositional politics, other countercultural motifs, and war.Template:Sfn Soft pop (later known as "sunshine pop") derived in part from this movement.Template:Sfn Sunshine pop producers widely imitated the orchestral style of Pet Sounds; however, the Beach Boys themselves were rarely representative of the genre, which was rooted in easy-listening and advertising jingles.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
By the end of the 1960s, the California sound declined due to a combination of the West Coast's cultural shifts, Wilson's professional and psychological downturn, and the Manson murders, with David Howard calling it the "sunset of the original California Sunshine Sound ... [the] sweetness advocated by the California Myth had led to chilling darkness and unsightly rot".Template:Sfn Drawing from the Beach Boys' associations with Manson and former California governor Ronald Reagan, Erik Davis remarked: "The Beach Boys may be the only bridge between those deranged poles. There is a wider range of political and aesthetic sentiments in their records than in any other band in those heady times—like the state [of California], they expand and bloat and contradict themselves."<ref name="Davis1990"/>
During the 1970s, advertising jingles and imagery were predominately based on the Beach Boys' early music and image.Template:Sfn The group also inspired the development of the West Coast style later dubbed "yacht rock". According to JacobinTemplate:'s Dan O'Sullivan, the band's aesthetic was the first to be "scavenged" by yacht rock acts like Rupert Holmes. O'Sullivan also cites the Beach Boys' recording of "Sloop John B" as the origin of yacht rock's preoccupation with the "sailors and beachgoers" aesthetic that was "lifted by everyone, from Christopher Cross to Eric Carmen, from 'Buffalo Springfield' folksters like Jim Messina to 'Philly Sound' rockers like Hall & Oates".<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Innovations
[edit]Template:See also Pet Sounds came to inform the developments of genres such as pop, rock, jazz, electronic, experimental, punk, and hip hop.<ref name="Pitchfork50">Template:Cite web</ref> Similar to subsequent experimental rock LPs by Frank Zappa, the Beatles, and the Who, Pet Sounds featured countertextural aspects that called attention to the very recordedness of the album.Template:Sfn Professor of American history John Robert Greene stated that the album broke new ground and took rock music away from its casual lyrics and melodic structures into what was then uncharted territory. He furthermore called it one factor which spawned the majority of trends in post-1965 rock music, the only others being Rubber Soul, the Beatles' Revolver, and the contemporary folk movement.Template:Sfn The album was the first piece in popular music to incorporate the Electro-Theremin, an easier-to-play version of the theremin, as well as the first in rock music to feature a theremin-like instrument.Template:Sfn With Pet Sounds, they were also the first group to make an entire album that departed from the usual small-ensemble electric rock band format.<ref name="Sommer2016">Template:Cite web</ref>
According to David Leaf in 1978, Pet Sounds and Good Vibrations "established the group as the leaders of a new type of pop music, Art Rock".Template:Sfn Academic Bill Martin states that the band opened a path in rock music "that went from Sgt. Pepper's to Close to the Edge and beyond". He argues that the advancing technology of multitrack recording and mixing boards were more influential to experimental rock than electronic instruments such as the synthesizer, allowing the Beatles and the Beach Boys to become the first crop of non-classically trained musicians to create extended and complex compositions.Template:Sfn In Strange Sounds: Offbeat Instruments and Sonic Experiments in Pop, Mark Brend writes: Template:Blockquote
The making of "Good Vibrations", according to Domenic Priore, was "unlike anything previous in the realms of classical, jazz, international, soundtrack, or any other kind of recording",Template:Sfn while biographer Peter Ames Carlin wrote that it "sounded like nothing that had ever been played on the radio before".Template:Sfn It contained previously untried mixes of instruments, and was the first successful pop song to have cellos in a juddering rhythm.Template:Sfn Musicologist Charlie Gillett called it "one of the first records to flaunt studio production as a quality in its own right, rather than as a means of presenting a performance".Template:Sfn Again, Brian employed the use of Electro-Theremin for the track. Upon release, the single prompted an unexpected revival in theremins while increasing awareness of analog synthesizers, leading Moog Music to produce their own brand of ribbon-controlled instruments.Template:SfnTemplate:Refn In a 1968 editorial for Jazz & Pop, Gene Sculatti predicted that the song "may yet prove to be the most significantly revolutionary piece of the current rock renaissance ... In no minor way, 'Good Vibrations' is a primary influential piece for all producing rock artists; everyone has felt its import to some degree".<ref name="scullati" />
Discussing Smiley Smile, Daniel Harrison argues that the album could "almost" be considered art music in the Western classical tradition, and that the group's innovations in the musical language of rock can be compared to those that introduced atonal and other nontraditional techniques into that classical tradition. He explains: "The spirit of experimentation is just as palpable ... as it is in, say, Schoenberg's op. 11 piano pieces."Template:Sfn However, such notions were not widely acknowledged by rock audiences nor by the classically minded at the time.Template:Sfn Harrison concludes: "What influences could these innovations then have? The short answer is, not much. Smiley Smile, Wild Honey, Friends, and 20/20 sound like few other rock albums; they are sui generis. ... It must be remembered that the commercial failure of the Beach Boys' experiments was hardly motivation for imitation."Template:Sfn Musicologist David Toop, who included the Smiley Smile track "Fall Breaks and Back to Winter" on a companion CD for his book Ocean of Sound, placed the Beach Boys' effect on sound pioneering in league with Les Baxter, Aphex Twin, Herbie Hancock, King Tubby, and My Bloody Valentine.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Sunflower marked an end to the experimental songwriting and production phase initiated by Smiley Smile.Template:Sfn After Surf's Up, Harrison wrote, their albums "contain a mixture of middle-of-the-road music entirely consonant with pop style during the early 1970s with a few oddities that proved that the desire to push beyond conventional boundaries was not dead", until 1974, "the year in which the Beach Boys ceased to be a rock 'n' roll act and became an oldies act".Template:Sfn
Punk, alternative, and indie
[edit]Template:Quote box In the 1970s, the Beach Boys served a "totemic influence" on punk rock that later gave way to indie rock. Brad Shoup of Stereogum surmised that, thanks to the Ramones' praise for the group, many punk, pop punk, or "punk-adjacent" artists showed influence from the Beach Boys, noting cover versions of the band's songs recorded by Slickee Boys, Agent Orange, Bad Religion, Shonen Knife, the Queers, Hi-Standard, the Descendents, the Donnas, M.O.D., and the Vandals. The Beach Boys Love You is sometimes considered the group's "punk album",<ref name=Shoup2015>Template:Cite web</ref>Template:Refn and Pet Sounds is sometimes advanced as the first emo album.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
In the 1990s, the Beach Boys experienced a resurgence of popularity with the alternative rock generation.Template:Sfn According to Sean O'Hagan, leader of the High Llamas and former member of Stereolab, a younger generation of record-buyers "stopped listening to indie records" in favor of the Beach Boys.Template:SfnTemplate:Refn Bands who advocated for the Beach Boys included founding members of the Elephant 6 Collective (Neutral Milk Hotel, the Olivia Tremor Control, the Apples in Stereo, and of Montreal). United by a shared love of the group's music, they named Pet Sounds Studio in honor of the band.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn Rolling Stone writer Barry Walters wrote in 2000 that albums such as Surf's Up and Love You "are becoming sonic blueprints, akin to what early Velvet Underground LPs meant to the previous indie peer group".<ref name="CN00"/> The High Llamas, Eric Matthews and Saint Etienne are among the "alt heroes" who contributed cover versions of "unreleased, overlooked or underappreciated Wilson/Beach Boys obscurities" on the tribute album Caroline Now! (2000).<ref name="CN00">Template:Cite magazine</ref>
The Beach Boys remained among the most significant influences on indie rock into the late 2000s.Template:Sfn Smile became a touchstone for many bands who were labelled "chamber pop",<ref name=BBCMozart/> a term used for artists influenced by the lush orchestrations of Brian Wilson, Lee Hazlewood, and Burt Bacharach.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Pitchfork writer Mark Richardson cited Smiley Smile as the origin point of "the kind of lo-fi bedroom pop that would later propel Sebadoh, Animal Collective, and other characters".<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The Sunflower track "All I Wanna Do" is also cited as one of the earliest precursors to chillwave, a microgenre that emerged in 2009.<ref name="Relix">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="Polinice">Template:Cite web</ref>
Landmarks
[edit]
- The Wilsons' California house, where the Wilson brothers grew up and the group began, was demolished in 1986 to make way for Interstate 105, the Century Freeway. A Beach Boys Historic Landmark (California Landmark No. 1041 at 3701 West 119th Street), dedicated on May 20, 2005, marks the location.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
- On December 30, 1980, the Beach Boys were awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, located at 1500 Vine Street.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
- On September 2, 1977, the Beach Boys performed before an audience of 40,000 at Narragansett Park in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, which remains the largest concert audience in Rhode Island history. On August 9, 2017, a commemoration ceremony produced by Al Gomes and Connie Watrous of Big Noise took place in Rhode Island with the Beach Boys, and the street where the concert stage formerly stood (at 510 Narragansett Park Drive) was officially renamed to "Beach Boys Way".<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
- On September 21, 2017, the Beach Boys were honored by Roger Williams University, along with Al Gomes and Connie Watrous of Big Noise, and plaques were unveiled to commemorate the band's concert on September 22, 1971, at the Baypoint Inn & Conference Center in Portsmouth, Rhode Island. The concert was the first-ever appearance of South African Ricky Fataar as an official member of the band and Filipino Billy Hinsche as a touring member, essentially changing the Beach Boys' live and recording act's line-up into a multi-cultural group. Diversity is a credo of Roger Williams University, which is why they chose to celebrate this moment in the band's history.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Members
[edit]Current members
[edit]- Brian Wilson – vocals, keyboards, bass Template:Small
- Mike Love – vocals, percussion, saxophone, electro-Theremin Template:Small
- Al Jardine – vocals, rhythm guitar, bass Template:Small
- Bruce Johnston – vocals, keyboards, bass Template:Small
Former members
[edit]- Carl Wilson – vocals, lead and rhythm guitars, bass, keyboards Template:Small
- Dennis Wilson – vocals, drums, percussion, keyboards Template:Small
- David Marks – vocals, lead and rhythm guitars Template:Small
- Ricky Fataar – vocals, drums, percussion, rhythm guitar, pedal steel guitar, flute Template:Small
- Blondie Chaplin – vocals, lead and rhythm guitars, slide guitar, bass Template:Small
Timeline
[edit]<timeline> ImageSize = width:900 height:auto barincrement:22 PlotArea = left:85 bottom:100 top:00 right:0 Alignbars = justify DateFormat = mm/dd/yyyy Period = from:08/01/1961 till:{{#time:m/d/Y}} TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal format:yyyy
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</timeline>
Discography
[edit]Template:Main Template:Further
Studio albums
[edit]- Surfin' Safari (1962)
- Surfin' U.S.A. (1963)
- Surfer Girl (1963)
- Little Deuce Coupe (1963)
- Shut Down Volume 2 (1964)
- All Summer Long (1964)
- The Beach Boys' Christmas Album (1964)
- The Beach Boys Today! (1965)
- Summer Days (And Summer Nights!!) (1965)
- Beach Boys' Party! (1965)
- Pet Sounds (1966)
- Smiley Smile (1967)
- Wild Honey (1967)
- Friends (1968)
- 20/20 (1969)
- Sunflower (1970)
- Surf's Up (1971)
- Carl and the Passions – "So Tough" (1972)
- Holland (1973)
- 15 Big Ones (1976)
- The Beach Boys Love You (1977)
- M.I.U. Album (1978)
- L.A. (Light Album) (1979)
- Keepin' the Summer Alive (1980)
- The Beach Boys (1985)
- Still Cruisin' (1989)
- Summer in Paradise (1992)
- Stars and Stripes Vol. 1 (1996)
- That's Why God Made the Radio (2012)
Selected archival releases
[edit]- The Pet Sounds Sessions (1997)
- Endless Harmony Soundtrack (1998)
- Ultimate Christmas (1998)
- Hawthorne, CA (2001)
- The Smile Sessions (2011)
- The Big Beat 1963 (2013)
- Keep an Eye on Summer 1964 (2014)
- Becoming the Beach Boys: The Complete Hite & Dorinda Morgan Sessions (2015)
- Beach Boys' Party! Uncovered and Unplugged (2015)
- 1967 – Sunshine Tomorrow (2017)
- Wake the World: The Friends Sessions (2018)
- I Can Hear Music: The 20/20 Sessions (2018)
- Feel Flows: The Sunflower & Surf's Up Sessions 1969–1971 (2021)
- Sail On Sailor – 1972 (2022)
Filmography
[edit]- 1962: One Man's Challenge
- 1964: T.A.M.I. Show
- 1965: The Girls on the Beach
- 1965: The Monkey's Uncle
- 1971: Good Vibrations from Central Park
- 1976: The Beach Boys: Good Vibrations Tour
- 1979: The Midnight Special
- 1980: Beach Boys 4th of July Celebration: Live from Queen Mary
- 1980: The Beach Boys: A Celebration Concert
- 1981: The Beach Boys: 20th Anniversary Special
- 1985: The Beach Boys: An American Band
- 1987: The Beach Boys: 25 Years Together
- 1991: The Beach Boys Live in Japan '91
- 1993: The Beach Boys Today
- 1996: The Beach Boys: Nashville Sounds
- 1998: Endless Harmony: The Beach Boys Story
- 1998: The Beach Boys: The Lost Concert 1964
- 2002: Good Timin': Live at Knebworth England 1980
- 2004: Sights + Sounds of Summer: The Very Best of The Beach Boys
- 2006: The Beach Boys: In London 1966
- 2012: The Beach Boys 50: Doin' It Again
- 2012: The 50th Reunion Tour
- 2014: The Beach Boys: Live at the Hollywood Bowl
- 2016: Classic Albums: Pet Sounds
- 2023: A Grammy Salute to The Beach Boys
- 2024: The Beach Boys documentary on Disney+<ref name="2024 self-titled documentary announcement" />
Notes
[edit]References
[edit]Citations
[edit]Template:Reflist Template:Reflist
Print sources
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Further reading
[edit]Articles
Books Template:Refbegin
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- Berry, Torrence (2013). Beach Boys Archives, Volume 2. White Lightning Publishing. Template:ISBN.
- Berry, Torrence (2014). Beach Boys Archives, Volume 5. White Lightning Publishing. Template:ISBN.
- Berry, Torrence (2015). Beach Boys Archives, Volume 7. White Lightning Publishing. Template:ISBN.
- Berry, Torrence and Zenker, Gary (2013). Beach Boys Archives, Volume 1. White Lightning Publishing. Template:ISBN.
- Berry, Torrence and Zenker, Gary (2014). Beach Boys Archives, Volume 3. White Lightning Publishing. Template:ISBN.
- Berry, Torrence and Zenker, Gary (2014). Beach Boys Archives, Volume 4. White Lightning Publishing. Template:ISBN.
- Cox, Perry D. (2017). Price and Reference Guide for the Beach Boys American Records (By Perry Cox, Frank Daniels & Mark Galloway. Foreword by Jeffrey Foskett). Perry Cox Ent. Template:ISBN.
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External links
[edit]- Pages with broken file links
- The Beach Boys
- 1961 establishments in California
- Musical quintets from California
- American pop music groups
- American surf rock music groups
- Rock music groups from California
- Brian Wilson
- California Sound
- Capitol Records artists
- Carl Wilson
- Dennis Wilson
- Family musical groups
- Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award winners
- Musical groups established in 1961
- Musicians from Hawthorne, California
- Proto-prog groups
- Psychedelic musical groups
- Reprise Records artists
- Sibling musical groups
- Warner Records artists