Beach Boys

The Beach Boys were the greatest of the surf music groups, but they would not go down in history for that matter. The Beach Boys were mostly Brian Wilson, one of the greatest songwriters of the early 1960s, along with Lennon-McCartney , Lee Hazelwood and a few others. Brian Wilson was possibly the first popular musician to excel in both composition and arrangement (as well as inventing a much-imitated style for his instrument, the bass). In this sense, he was more of a classical composer (with a marked sensitivity for symphonic polyphony) than a pop singer. The original format of his songs (surf music) served to pay the bills, but it obviously grew tight to him, quickly. Even when Wilson emancipated himself from that format and began producing more elaborate songs, however, his career remained essentially a wasted career: with that ear he could have achieved much more than just songs.

The Beach Boys were born from a simple but brilliant idea, one of those ideas that end up influencing an entire era: merging vocal groups and rock and roll. Brian Wilson was fascinated as much by the four-part harmonies of the Four Freshmen (the most successful group of the 1950s) as by the guitar riffs and fever pitch of Chuck Berry. The Beach Boys were not much more than the fusion of the two. But it was that exact spark that unleashed a musical and social revolution, which would give birth to the Beatles and Byrds, which would forever change the concept of melodic music.

The Beach Boys, more humbly, also represented the beginning Californian music’s golden age. California had not been one of the music capitals but it became one after their success and for the rest of the century its importance would only increase. Elements of the Beach Boys will remain in the music of subsequent generations.

The music of the Beach Boys was essentially the music of the white bourgeoisie that had rejected and criminalized rock and roll and its pornographic stars and thugs. As in the case of the Beatles, the ethereal atmospheres distilled by these children of the metropolitan suburbs concealed for a moment the turmoil of the ghettos and the restlessness of an entire generation. But they constituted an essential link in the evolutionary chain of vocal rock, which, starting from the rockabilly of the Everly Brothers, was to arrive at the folk-rock of the Byrds.

The Beach Boys entered the surf music scene in December 1961 ( Surfin ' , followed by Surfin' Safari in June 1962) as a typical family-run group (three brothers, a cousin and a neighbor) of conservative America. They had chosen to sing about surfing because Dick Dale was the phenomenon of the moment in Los Angeles, but in reality, the band themselves weren't even surfers.

The group represented continuity with the vocal groups of the 1950s and did not worry middle-class America as the rockers had done. If the format was harmless, their songs were even of an almost grotesque simplicity: centered around a catchy refrain, and teenage lyrics, they used all their voices to enhance its effect. The melody became something ethereal and celestial thanks to the pure timbre of the singers, and to a limpid art of falsettos and counter-songs. The instrumentation mattered little or not. It was a purely vocal style, borrowed from sacred hymn, from the harmonies of doo-wop and gospel, and from antiphonal rockabilly, clearly derived from that of the Four Freshmen. What was unique was the spirit, which burst up a joy of living from all the notes.
From a marketing point of view, the idea was just as brilliant: for the first time a musical genre was entirely dedicated to the most innocent adolescent entertainment, and sonically represented its enthusiasm. Rock and roll hadn't been quite as innocent, and certainly not as peaceful and cheerful.

Brian Wilson composed the songs himself, rarely consulting with others, who often just followed his orders. Carl Wilson played the guitar and has the merit of having coined a sound to the instrument (even if that sound is the antithesis of virtuosity). Mike Love, Brian's cousin, was the official "frontman", but repulsive compared to Presley or the Beatles. Dennis, Brian's brother, was almost as trite a drummer as Ringo Starr.

At first the theme of the songs was the sport of surfing, but soon Brian Wilson began to wander over the whole universe of youth "fun", which in California was particularly innocent and carefree.

Surfin USA , the disc that in 1963 launched them to the top of rankings sale, was an adaptation of Sweet Little Sixteen by Chuck Berry, with typical twelve blues beats, with the "walking bass" used to boogie, and Beats hands in countertime (pause, clap / clap, pause, clap / pause, clap / clap, pause, clap).

The first three albums are named after as their many successful singles. The first two are Surfin’ Safari (Capitol, October 1962) and Surfin' USA (Capitol, 1963). Surfer Girl (Capitol, September 1963) is a more curated album, containing the slow romantic ballads In My Room and Surfer Girl , as well as Little Deuce Coupe. By this point Brian Wilson was already writing almost all of the band's material, but the pace of production was hellish. Little Deuce Coupe (Capitol, October 1963) contains the hit Be True To Your School , but was released only a single month after the previous one and could not boast anymore.

In 1964 they already had several gold records and small classics of their simple and easy art behind them, in particular
the album of the period is Shut Down Volume 2 (March 1964). Fun Fun Fun is another masterpiece, with a typical Chuck Berry "ringing" guitar introduction and doo-wop choral counterpoints. Don't Worry Baby (1964), with Hal Blaine on drums, is Wilson at his most boring pop, but a masterpiece for those who love Revolver-era Beatles .

All Summer Long (Capitol, July 1964) is the first "experimental" album by the Beach Boys, in the sense that it does not contain only silly surf dances. In particular I Get Around (1964), the most complex vocal vortex of their career and one of the most easygoing songs, is the masterpiece of this period (with Hal Blaine on drums). Wendy and All Summer Long are mini-jewels of naive melodiousness.

Brian Wilson had become the composer of the group and was no longer interested in the part of the bass player. Struck by a first nervous breakdown (and notoriously drug addict), Wilson retired from the stage and reduced his role to that of composer, a role more unique than rare in rock music. While the other Beach Boys were on tour (having replaced him with Bruce Johnston), Brian Wilson was studying new production techniques and writing more and more bizarre songs. The Beach Boys' contribution was purely vocal. Everything else was played by savvy sessionmen, chosen and directed by Brian Wilson.

The Beach Boys Today (March 1965) contains When I Grow Up , Please Let Me Wonder , and especially Help Me Rhonda , another masterpiece of vocal counterpoint (but the version on the album, titled without the "h", is more gorgeous and more slow), but with a more goliardic novelty trend than doo-wop. Dance Dance Dance was a bridge to the past, an unbridled rock and roll with classic three-part vocal harmonies. Also on the back of the single Help Me Rhonda was Kiss Me Baby . Don't Worry Baby was another romantic arrangement tour de force.

Summer Days (July 1965), influenced by the productions of Phil Spector, unveils California Girls , one of the posters of their model of life, but Wilson becomes more and more eccentric in songs like Let Him Run Wild and I'm Bugged At My Old Man that now belong to another era. Each of these albums is naturally full of "fillers" and hits.

Party! (Capitol, November 1965) features Barbara Ann , the most famous party joke of the time, actually sung by Dean Torrence of Jan And Dean. Like Help Me Rhonda and California Girls , it was an exquisite essay on the suggestive power of vocal reverbs from I Get Around .

There was no trace of Dylan's protest song in their songs. Their lyrics were silent about the Vietnam War, the peace marched and the sit-ins. Theirs was a home world, made up of the silly little everyday things. Their hits were melodic miniatures of middle-class youth entertainment. With the Beach Boys the American dream was tinged with beaches, picnics, parties and endless summers.

Brian Wilson's operation was of a completely different kind. Wilson frescoed a microcosm, that of the Californian middle-class, and elevated it to "Promised Land" with an operation that was mythological and almost biblical.

Even more surprising was the fact that their music was produced in such a patently amateur way. The recording studios of the majors employed increasingly shrewd teams of arrangers and sessionmen to get the most out of a singer's interpretation. The Beach Boys, on the other hand, were spokespeople for a "familiar" style of production (choir and guitars without any particular makeup). Their basses and falsettos were very mediocre compared to the baritones and tenors of the majors, and the lyrics were certainly less polished than the Broadway melodramas, yet it was in them, their magic was in their carefree amateurism, that the young people recognized themselves. It was a revelation for everyone.

However, the Beatles ' Rubber Soul had upped the ante for pop music with his Carthusian arrangements and Wilson was aware that their underground style had its days numbered in an increasingly "electric" musical world. Wilson then gave his tour de force as a composer and arranger: Pet Sounds (Reprise, 1966), released on May 16th, 1966. Not only was it a concept album (a collection of "rock motets", according to the author, which describe the maturation of a young man through his love experiences and his friendships , with an underlying pessimistic message), but it was full of eccentric sounds and the songs seemed like collages obtained with a painstaking art of editing, making use of a small orchestra (trombone, harmonica, harpsichord, bells, violins). The songs follow each other as in a melodic fantasy, alternating the romantic Brian Wilson of Wouldn't It Be Nice , Caroline No (harpsichord), You Still Believe In Me , and God Only Knows (which Paul McCartney considers his favorite song ever) with French horn, harpsichord, rattles, flutes and clarinet. But also the neurotically autobiographical Brian Wilson of I Just Wasn't Made For These Times (with the Theremin) and That's Not Me. The instrumental Let's Go Away For Awhile is a chamber sonata for 12 violins, four saxophones, two basses, piano, oboe, vibraphone, guitar and percussion. Sloop John B was the only concession to the charts. The lyrics were co-written by Tony Asher. Among the musicians were Glen Campbell on guitar, Steve Douglas on saxophone, Paul Horn on flute, Larry Knechtel on keyboards, Hal Blaine on drums. To record it, Wilson used pioneering eight-track technology.  Obviously Pet Sounds was the least selling of all their albums at the time. Pet Sounds is also now one of the most overrated albums ever.
Pet Sounds would be reissued in 1996 in a quadruple box: mono mix, stereo mix, vocals, etc.

The manifesto of the new, sophisticated season was the pressing refrain of Good Vibrations (October 1966), orchestrated in a revolutionary way for the times, thanks to the synthesizer. Enlisting a bevy of sessionmen from Phil Spector's entourage, plus jazz and classical musicians, Wilson spent months in the recording studio, refining his compositions obsessively. Good Vibrations has often been referred to by international critics as the greatest single of all time.

Hal Blaine was the Beach Boys drummer on hits like Good Vibrations , I Get Around , Help me Rhonda , etc.

The "lost album", Smile, recorded in 1966-67 with producer Van Dyke Parks, that Wilson defined as "a teenage symphony to God", was originally intended to be acapella, then became a Brian Wilson obsession with studio experimentation, then eventually disappeared in a black hole of personal and legal problems. About 30 minutes of those sessions will eventually appear on Good Vibrations (Capitol, 1993), a five-disc box-set, and rerecorded versions of Wind Chimes, Wonderful and Vegetables feature on Smiley Smile (September 1967), an album highlighted by much vocal experimentation but an utter commercial failure. Material originally recorded for Surf's Up (a nostalgic lullaby), Child Is The Father To The Man, Elements and others will be recycled for subsequent albums. Heroes And Villains was released as a single. The album was cancelled in May 1967 and the sessions were not released until the double-LP Smile (2011).
Legend has it that 24-years old Brian Wilson was psychologically destroyed by the loss of this album and almost took his life during a nervous breakdown in 1982.

When the 62-year-old Brian Wilson (helped by co-songwriter Van Dyke Parks) finally released his version of Smile (Nonesuch, 2005), 38 years after the fact, having lost both his brothers Dennis and Carl, it sounded completely different. Instead of the manic studio work of the originals, Wilson presented a rock-band effort. Ironically, the 2005 version sounded "older" than the 1967 version: the 2005 version (which does not use any of the 1967 recordings) was more traditional, the 1967 was more revolutionary. The biggest surprise was perhaps the sequencing, that highlighted how, for example, songs were meant not to be taken individually but to constitute suites, a feat that was accomplished particularly in Wonderful/ Song for Children/ Child Is the Father of the Man/ Surf's Up.

Perhaps as a consequence of that turbulent season, Wild Honey (December 1967) marked a return to simplicity (Darlin) and probably a rebellion against Brian Wilson's eccentricity by the rest of the band.

Heroes And Villains (July 1967) is a highly sophisticated game of voices and harpsichord with which the band temporarily embraced the psychedelic religion.

Friends (June 1968) contains another odd experiment, Busy Doin' Nothin'.

20/20 (February 1969) includes Cabinessence, another lost Smile classic. The material runs the gamut from the relatively normal single Do It Again to a collaboration with mass murderer Charles Manson (Never Learn Not To Love).

Sunflower (Brother, 1970) was the last experimental album by the band, hailed as their Sgt Pepper. It includes This Whole World. The best track, Cool Cool Water, was a remake of a Smile track, Elements.

Surf's Up (Brother, 1971) contains Surf's Up, which is a rerecording of a Smile track plus a piece of another Smile track,. Child Is The Father To The Man. As it is, Surf's Up remains one of the band's masterpieces (but for the first time it was Carl, not Brian, who produced). Thanks to this track and other gems (Til I Die, Long Promised Road, Feel Flows), Surf's Up is probably their best album since Pet Sounds.

Carl And The Passions (Brother, 1972) has Marcella, All This Is That and You Need A Mess.

Holland (Brother, 1972), that takes the title from the place where it was recorded, has Sail On Sailor, Steamboat, California Saga.

15 Big Ones (Brother, 1976), trumpeted as Brian Wilson's return, was a collection of rock and roll and rhythm and blues covers.

Brian did write the entire Love You (Brother, 1977) and it was one of his quirkiest and most electronic works, possibly influenced by the emergence of disco-music (Let Us Go On This Way, Mona, Johnny Carson).

Pacific Ocean Blue (Brother, 1977) was Dennis Wilson's solo album and the first solo by any of the Beach Boys. The 2008 reissue adds the unfinished and unreleased follow-up, Bambu. Both were almost as obnoxious as Paul McCartney's solo albums.

20 Golden Greats (Capitol, 1977) was a mercyful anthology of the historical hits.

More albums followed till Keepin' The Summer Alive (Brother, 1980) and Beach Boys (Brother, 1985), all of them absolutely terrible.

Endless Harmony (Capitol, 1998) is a collection of rarities that finally presented two of Wilson's most legendary compositions, Soulful Old Man Sunshine (1969) and Loop De Loop.

Ironically, Dennis Wilson (the only member of the Beach Boys who was truly a surfer) drowned in 1983. He had been a notorious drunkard all his life.

For years Brian Wilson was rumoured to have gone mad and to have ruined his voice. But rehabilitation was on its way, thanks to a psychiatrist and to strong will.

In 1988 the Beach Boys reunited and returned to the top of the charts with Kokomo, from a movie soundtrack.

Brian Wilson (Sire, 1988) was the solo debut by the Beach Boys genius, but as big a disappointment as any Paul McCartney solo (Love And Mercy, Solar System, Melt Away).

A weary songwriter sings behind the curtain on Sweet Insanity (Vigoton, 1993), that contains nice melodies like Water Builds Up, Don't Let Her Know She's An Angel and Rainbow Eyes, but is hardly a masterpiece.

An old feud with Mike Love (and possibly a personal nemesis) was definitely left behind in 1994, when Brian Wilson paid him $5 million for royalties on songs they co-composed together.

I Just Wasn't Made For These Times (MCA, 1995), the soundtrack to a documentary on Brian Wilson, revisits some of his career's off-kilter tracks.

Orange Crate Art (Warner Bros, 1995) is a collaboration with Van Dyke Parks, the ideal healing of the scar left by their previous collaboration, Smile. But it is a Parks album, with Wilson singing over his scores.

Landylocked (Geritol, 1996)

The five-disc box-set Good Vibrations (Capitol, 1993) is the best anthology.

Imagination (Giant, 1998) is a gracious but not particularly innovative collection of melodies that could have been made by any Wilson clone.

Pet Sounds Sessions (Capitol, 1997) is a four-disc box set that follows the genesis of Wilson's masterpiece (it includes a complete acapella version of the album).

Carl Wilson died of lung cancer in february of 1998.

Brian Wilson's Getting In Over My Head (Rhino, 2004) is not only mediocre but also self-derivative, as most songs echo past Wilson songs. That Lucky Old Sun (Capitol, 2008) was a concept about a day and a night in Los Angeles.

Brian Wilson paid tribute to George Gershwin on Reimagines Gershwin (Pearl Records, 2010) and to Walt Disney soundtracks on In the Key of Disney (Walt Disney Records, 2011).

The Beach Boys (including founding members Brian Wilson, Mike Love and Al Jardine) reunited in 2012 to celebrate their 50th anniversary, and released the ridiculous reunion album That's Why God Made the Radio (Capitol, 2012).

Brian Wilson's No Pier Pressure (Capitol, 2015) was probably the worst album of his career, a collection of bland orchestral songs.

Hal Blaine, who drummed on Pet Sounds, died in 2019 at the age of 90. News of Brian Wilson's dementia surfaced in 2024.

Brian Wilson's wife of 28 years died in 2024 and the 81-year-old Wilson, who was suffering from dementia, was placed under a conservatorship.

Brian Wilson died in June 2025.