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FORMED: 1961, Hawthorne, CA
Beginning their career as the most popular surf band in the nation, the
Beach Boys finally emerged by 1966 as America's preeminent pop group,
the only act able to challenge (for a brief time) the over-arching
success of the Beatles with both mainstream listeners and the critical
community. From their 1961 debut with the regional hit
"Surfin," the three Wilson brothers -- Brian, Dennis, and Carl
-- plus cousin Mike Love and friend Al Jardine constructed the most
intricate, gorgeous harmonies ever heard from a pop band. With Brian's
studio proficiency growing by leaps and bounds during the mid-'60s, ... continue
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the Beach Boys also proved to be one of the best-produced groups of the '60s,
exemplified by their 1966 peak with the Pet Sounds LP and the number one single,
"Good Vibrations." Though Brian Wilson's escalating drug use and
obsessive desire to trump the Beatles (by recording the perfect LP statement)
eventually led to a nervous breakdown after he heard Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts
Club Band, the group soldiered on long into the 1970s and '80s, with Brian only
an inconsistent participant. The band's post-1966 material is often maligned (if
it's recognized at all), but the truth is the Beach Boys continued to make great
music well into the '70s. Displayed best on 1970's Sunflower, each member
revealed individual talents never fully developed during the mid-'60s -- Carl
Wilson became a solid, distinctive producer and Brian's replacement as nominal
band-leader, Mike continued to provide a visual focus as the frontman for live
shows, and Dennis developed his own notable songwriting talents. Though legal
wranglings and marginal oldies tours during the '90s often obscured what made
the Beach Boys great, the band's unerring ability to surf the waves of
commercial success and artistic development during the '60s made them America's
first, best rock band.
The origins of the group lie in Hawthorne, California, a southern suburb of Los
Angeles situated close to the Pacific coast. The three sons of a part-time
song-plugger and occasionally abusive father, Brian, Dennis and Carl grew up a
just few miles from the ocean -- though only Dennis Wilson had any interest in
surfing itself. The three often harmonized together as youths, spurred on by
Brian's fascination with '50s vocal acts like the Four Freshmen and the Hi-Lo's.
Their cousin Mike Love often joined in on the impromptu sessions, and the group
gained a fifth with the addition of Brian's high-school football teammate, Al
Jardine. His parents helped rent instruments (with Brian on bass, Carl on
guitar, Dennis on drums) and studio time to record "Surfin'," a
novelty number written by Brian and Mike Love. The single, initially released in
1961 on Candix and billed to the Pendletones (a musical paraphrase of the
popular Pendleton shirt), prompted a little national chart action and gained the
renamed Beach Boys a contract with Capitol. The group's negotiator with the
label, the Wilsons' father Murray, also took over as manager for the band.
Before the release of any material for Capitol, however, Jardine left the band
to attend college in the Midwest. A friend of the Wilsons, David Marks, replaced
him.
Finally, in mid-1962 the Beach Boys released their major-label debut, Surfin'
Safari. A more accomplished novelty single than its predecessor, the single hit
the Top 20 and helped launch the surf-rock craze just beginning to blossom
around Southern California thanks to artists like Dick Dale, Jan & Dean, the
Chantays, and dozens more. A similarly themed follow-up, Surfin' U.S.A., hit the
Top Ten in early 1963 before Jardine returned from school and resumed his place
in the group. By that time, the Beach Boys had recorded their first two albums,
a pair of 12-track collections that added a few novelty songs to the hits they
were packaged around (unsurprisingly, the titles were Surfin' Safari and Surfin'
U.S.A.). Though Capitol policy required the group to work with a studio
producer, Brian quickly took over the sessions and began expanding the group's
range beyond simple surf rock.
By the end of 1963, the Beach Boys had recorded three full LPs, hit the Top Ten
as many times, and toured incessantly. Also, Brian began to grow as a producer,
best documented on the third Beach Boys LP, Surfer Girl. Though surf songs still
dominated the album, "Catch a Wave," the title track, and especially
"In My Room" presented a giant leap in songwriting, production, and
group harmony -- especially astonishing considering they'd been recording for
barely two years. Brian's intense scrutiny of Phil Spector's famous Wall of
Sound productions were paying quick dividends, and revealed his intuitive,
unerring depths of musical knowledge.
The following year, "I Get Around" became the first number one hit for
the Beach Boys. Riding a crest of popularity, the late 1964 LP Beach Boys
Concert spent four weeks at the top of the album charts, just one of five Beach
Boys LPs simultaneously on the charts. The group also undertook promotional
tours of Europe, but the pressures and time-constraints proved too much for
Brian. At the end of the year, he decided to quit the touring band and
concentrate on studio productions. (Glen Campbell toured with the group briefly,
then friend and colleague Bruce Johnston became Brian's permanent replacement.)
With the Beach Boys as his musical messengers to the world, Brian began working
full-time in the studio, writing songs and enlisting the cream of Los Angeles
session players to record instrumental backing tracks before Carl, Dennis, Mike
and Al returned to add vocals. The single "Help Me, Rhonda" became the
Beach Boys' second chart-topper in early 1965. On the group's seventh studio LP,
The Beach Boys Today!, Brian's production skills hit another level entirely. In
the rock era's first flirtation with an extended album-length statement, side
two of the record presented a series of downtempo ballads, arranged into a suite
that stretched the group's lyrical concerns beyond youthful infatuation and into
more adult notions of love.
Two more LPs followed in 1965, Summer Days (And Summer Nights!!) and Beach Boys'
Party. The first featured "California Girls," one of the best fusions
of Brian's production mastery, infectious melodies, and gorgeous close harmonies
(it's still his personal favorite song). However, dragging down those few
moments of brilliance were novelty tracks like "Amusement Parks USA,"
"Salt Lake City" and "I'm Bugged at My Old Man" that
appeared a step back from Today. When Capitol asked for a Beach Boys' record to
sell at Christmas, the live-in-the-studio vocal jam-session Beach Boys' Party
resulted, and sold incredibly well after the single "Barbara Ann"
became a surprise hit. In a larger sense though, both of these LPs were
stopgaps, as Brian prepared for production on what he hoped would be the Beach
Boys' most effective musical statement yet.
In late 1965, the Beatles released Rubber Soul. Amazed at the high song quality
and overall cohesiveness of the album, Brian began writing songs -- with help
from lyricist Tony Asher -- and producing sessions for a song suite charting a
young man's growth to emotional maturity. Though Capitol was resistant to an
album with few obvious hits, the group spent more time working on the vocals and
harmonies than any other previous project. The result, released in May 1966 as
Pet Sounds, more than justified the effort. It's still one of the best-produced
and most influential rock LPs ever released, culminating years of Brian's
perfectionist productions and songwriting. Critics praised Pet Sounds, but the
new direction failed to impress American audiences. Though it reached the Top
Ten, Pet Sounds missed a gold certificate (the first to do so since the group's
debut LP). Conversely, worldwide reaction was not just positive but jubilant. In
England, the album hit number two and earned the Beach Boys honors for best
group in year-end polls by NME -- above even the Beatles, hardly slouches
themselves with the releases of "Paperback Writer"/"Rain"
and Revolver.
The Beach Boys' next single, "Good Vibrations," had originally been
written for the Pet Sounds sessions, though Brian removed it from the songlist
to give himself more time for production. He resumed working on it after the
completion of Pet Sounds, eventually devoting up to six months (and three
different studios) on the single. Released in October 1966, "Good
Vibrations" capped off the year as the group's third number one single and
still stands as one of the best singles of all time. Throughout late 1966 and
early 1967, Brian worked feverishly on the next Beach Boys' LP -- a project
named Dumb Angel, but later titled Smile -- that promised to be as great an
artistic leap beyond Pet Sounds than that album was from Today. He drafted Van
Dyke Parks, an eccentric lyricist and session man, as his songwriting partner,
and recorded reams of tape containing increasingly fragmented tracks that grew
ever more speculative as the months wore on. Already wary of Brian's
increasingly artistic leanings and drug experimentation, the other Beach Boys
grew hostile when called in to the studio to add vocals for Parks lyrics like,
"A blind class aristocracy / Back through the opera glass you see / The pit
and the pendulum drawn / Columnaded ruins domino / Canvas the town and brush the
backdrop" (from "Surf's Up"). A rift soon formed between the band
and Brian; they felt his intake of marijuana and LSD had clouded his judgment,
while he felt they were holding him back from the coming psychedelic era.
As recording for Smile dragged on into spring 1967, Brian began working fewer
hours. For the first time in the Beach Boys' career, he appeared unsure of his
direction. If Smile ever appeared salveagable, those hopes were dashed in late
June, when the Beatles released Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. Its
unparalleled critical success proved to be the last straw for Brian's fragile
emotions, and he all but quit recording for the project. In August, the group
finally released a new single, "Heroes & Villains." Very similar
to the fragmentary style of "Good Vibrations," though a distinctly
inferior follow-up, it missed the Top Ten. Then, in September, the group cobbled
together a few Smile tapes plus new recordings of Smile songs and finally
emerged with an album, Smiley Smile. Carl summed up the LP as "a bunt
instead of a grand slam," and its near-complete lack of cohesiveness all
but destroyed the group's reputation for forward-thinking pop.
As the Beatles were ushering in the psychedelic age, the Beach Boys stalled with
the all-important teen crowd, who quickly began to see the group as
conservative, establishment throwbacks. The perfect chance to stem the tide, a
headlining spot at the pioneering Monterey Pop Festival in summer 1967, was
squandered. Though the Beach Boys regrouped quickly -- the back-to-basics Wild
Honey LP appeared before the end of 1967 -- their hopes of becoming the world's
preeminent pop group with both hippies and critics had fizzled in a matter of
months.
All this incredible promise wasted made fans, critics, and radio programmers
undeniably bitter toward future product. Predictably, both Wild Honey and 1968's
Friends suffered with all three audiences. They survive as interesting records
nevertheless; the skeletal white-boy soul on Wild Honey and the laidback
orchestral pop of Friends made them favorites after fans realized the Beach Boys
were a radically different group in 1968 than in 1966. Sparked by the Top 20 hit
"Do It Again" -- a song that saw the first shades of the group as an
oldies act -- 1969's 20/20 did marginally better. Still, Capitol dropped the
band soon after. One year later, the Beach Boys signed to Reprise.
The first LP for Brother/Reprise was 1970's Sunflower, a surprisingly strong
album featuring a return to the gorgeous harmonies of the mid-'60s and many
songs written by different members of the band. Surf's Up, titled after a
reworked song originally intended for Smile, followed in 1971. The songs on
Surf's Up were eccentric and frequently loveable; "Til I Die," ranks
as the most beautiful Brian Wilson song composed after 1967. During sessions for
the album though, Dennis put his hand through a plate glass window and was
unable to play drums. Early in 1972, the band hired drummer Ricky Fataar and
guitarist Blondie Chaplin, two members of a South African rock band named the
Flame (Carl had produced their self-titled debut for Brother Records the
previous year).
Carl and the Passions - So Tough, the first album released with Fataar and
Chaplin in the band, descended into lame early-'70s AOR-rock. For the first
time, a Beach Boys album retained nothing from their classic sound. Brian's
mental stability wavered from year to year, and he spent much time in his
mansion with no wish to even contact the outside world. He occasionally
contributed to the songwriting and session load, but was by no means a member of
the band anymore (he rarely even appeared on album covers or promotional shots).
Though it's unclear why Reprise felt ready to take such a big risk, the label
authorized a large recording budget for the next Beach Boys album. After
shipping most of the group's family and entourage over to Amsterdam (plus an
entire studio), the Beach Boys re-emerged in 1973 with Holland. The LP scraped
the bottom rungs of the Top 40, and the single "Sail On, Sailor" (with
vocals by Chaplin) did receive some FM radio airplay. Still, Holland's muddy
sound did nothing for the aging band, and it earned scathing reviews.
Perhaps a bit gun-shy, the Beach Boys essentially retired from recording during
the mid-'70s. Instead, the band concentrated on grooming their live act, which
quickly grew to become an incredible experience. It was a good move, considering
the Beach Boys could lay claim to more hits than any other '60s rock act on the
road (even the Stones). The Beach Boys in Concert, their third live album in
total, appeared in 1973.
Then, in mid-1974, Capitol Records went to the vaults and issued a repackaged
hits collection, Endless Summer. Both band and label watched, dumbfounded, as
the double-LP hit number one, spent almost three years on the charts, and went
gold. Endless Summer capitalized on a growing fascination with oldies rock that
had made Sha Na Na, American Graffiti, and Happy Days big hits. Rolling Stone,
never the most friendly magazine to the group, named the Beach Boys their Band
of the Year at the end of the year. Another collection, Spirit of America, hit
the Top Ten in 1974, and the Beach Boys were hustled into the studio to begin
new recordings.
Trumpeted by the barely true marketing campaign "Brian's Back!,"
1976's 15 Big Ones balanced a couple of '50s oldies with some justifiably
exciting Brian Wilson oddities like "Had to Phone Ya." It also hit the
Top Ten and went gold, despite many critical misgivings. Brian took a much more
involved position for the following year's The Beach Boys Love You (it was
almost titled Brian Loves You and released as a solo album). In marked contrast
to the fatalistic early-'70s pop of "Til I Die" and others, Brian
sounded positively jubilant on gruff proto-synth-pop numbers like "Let Us
Go on This Way" and "Mona." However idiosyncratic compared to
what oldies fans expected of the Beach Boys, Love You was the group's best album
in years. (A suite of beautiful, tender ballads on side two was quite
reminiscent of 1965's Today.)
After 1979's M.I.U. Album, the group signed a large contract with CBS that
stipulated Brian's involvement on each album. However, his brief return to the
spotlight ended with two dismal efforts, L.A. (Light Album) and Keepin' the
Summer Alive. The Beach Boys began splintering by the end of the decade, with
financial mismanagement by Mike Love's brothers Stan and Steve fostering tension
between him and the Wilsons. By 1980, both Dennis and Carl had left the Beach
Boys for solo careers. (Dennis had already released his first album, Pacific
Ocean Blue, in 1977, and Carl released his eponymous debut in 1981.) Brian was
removed from the group in 1982 after his weight ballooned to over 300 pounds,
though the tragic drowning death of Dennis in 1983 helped bring the group back
together. In 1985, the Beach Boys released a self-titled album which returned
them to the Top 40 with "Getcha Back." It would be the last proper
Beach Boys album of the '80s, however.
Brian had been steadily improving in both mind and body during the mid-'80s,
though the rest of the group grew suspicious of his mentor, Dr. Eugene Landy.
Landy was a dodgy psychiatrist who reportedly worked wonders with the easily
impressionable Brian but also practically took over his life. He collaborated
with Brian on the autobiography Wouldn't It Be Nice and wrote lyrics for Brian's
first solo album, 1988's Brian Wilson. Critics and fans enjoyed Wilson's return
to the studio, but the charts were unforgiving, especially with attention
focused on the Beach Boys once more. The single "Kokomo," from the
soundtrack to Cocktail, hit number one in the US late that year, prompting a
haphazard collection named Still Cruisin'. The group also sued Brian, more to
force Landy out of the picture than anything, and Mike Love later sued Brian for
songwriting royalties (Brian had frequently admitted Love's involvement on most
of them).
Despite the many quarrels, the Beach Boys kept touring during the early '90s,
and Mike Love and Brian Wilson actually began writing songs together in 1995.
Instead of a new album though, the Beach Boys returned with Stars and Stripes,
Vol. 1, a collection of remade hits with country stars singing lead and the
group adding backing vocals. Also, a Brian Wilson documentary titled I Just
Wasn't Made for These Times aired on the Disney Channel, with an accompanying
soundtrack featuring spare renditions of Beach Boys classics by Brian himself.
Just as the band appeared to be pulling together for a proper studio album
though, Carl died of cancer in 1998.
Ten years after his first solo album, Brian became aware of his immense
influence on the alternative-rock community; he worked with biggest-fans Sean
O'Hagan (of the High Llamas) and Andy Paley on a series of recordings. Again,
good intentions failed to carry through, as the recordings were ditched in favor
of another overly produced, mainstream-slanted work, Imagination. By early 1999,
no less than three Beach Boys-connected units were touring the country -- a
Brian Wilson solo tour, the "official" Beach Boys led by Mike Love,
and the "Beach Boys Family" led by Al Jardine. In 2000, Capitol
instituted a long-promised reissue campaign, focusing on the group's long
out-of-print '70s LPs. ~ John Bush, All Music Guide
