They formed as agarage band centered on Brian's songwriting and managed by the Wilsons' father,Murry. Jardine was briefly replaced byDavid Marks during 1962–1963. In 1962, they enjoyed their first national hit with "Surfin' Safari", beginning astring of hit singles that reflected asouthern Californiayouth culture ofsurfing, cars, and romance, dubbed the "California sound". They were one of the few American rock bands to sustain their commercial standing during theBritish Invasion. 1965 saw the addition ofBruce Johnston to the band, as well as Brian's move away from beach-going themes for more introspective lyrics and ambitious studio productions. In 1966, thePet 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 inpopular music history.
After shelving theSmile 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 frequently dismissed by theearly rock music press. Rebranding themselves in the early 1970s,Blondie Chaplin andRicky Fataar ofthe Flames briefly joined their lineup while Johnston left the band before rejoining in the late 1970s. Carl took over asde facto leader until the mid-1970s, when the band responded to the growing success of their live shows andgreatest hits compilations by becoming anoldies touring act. Brian would return as producer for15 Big Ones (1976) andThe Beach Boys Love You (1977) after which his contributions again became sporadic. Dennis drowned in 1983, and Brian became estranged from the group in the late 1990s. Following Carl's death from lung cancer in 1998, Jardine left the band while Love was granted legal rights totour under the group's name and continued performing with Johnston and, occasionally, Marks. In the early 2010s, the surviving original members, alongside Marks and Johnston, briefly reunited for the albumThat's Why God Made the Radio (2012) and a50th anniversary tour. Brian died in 2025 of respiratory arrest.
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At the time of his 16th birthday on June 20, 1958,Brian Wilson shared a bedroom with his brothers,Dennis andCarl—aged 13 and 11, respectively—in their family home inHawthorne. He had watched his fatherMurry Wilson play piano, and had listened intently to the harmonies of vocal groups such asthe Four Freshmen.[1] After dissecting songs such as "Ivory Tower" and "Good News", Brian would teach family members how to sing the background harmonies.[2] For his birthday that year, Brian received areel-to-reel tape recorder. He learned how tooverdub, using his vocals and those of Carl and their mother.[1] Brian played piano, while Carl andDavid Marks, an eleven-year-old longtime neighbor, played guitars that each had received as Christmas presents.[3]
Soon Brian and Carl were avidly listening toJohnny Otis'KFOX radio show.[1] Inspired by the simple structure and vocals of therhythm and blues songs he heard, Brian changed his piano-playing style and started writing songs.[citation needed] Family gatherings brought the Wilsons in contact with cousinMike Love. Brian taught Love's sister Maureen and a friend harmonies.[1] Later, Brian, Carl, Love and two friends performed atHawthorne High School under the name "Carl and The Passions".[4] Brian also knewAl Jardine, a high school classmate.[5] Brian suggested to Jardine that they team up with his cousin and brother Carl. Soon after Dennis also joined the band on demand of the Wilson's mother Audree. Love gave the fledgling band its name: "The Pendletones", a pun on "Pendleton", a brand of woolen shirt popular among local surfers at the time.[6] 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 inSouthern California.[7][8][nb 1] Brian finished the song, titled "Surfin'", and with Mike Love, wrote "Surfin' Safari".[8]
Murry Wilson, who was an occasional songwriter, arranged for the Pendletones to meet his publisher Hite Morgan.[10] 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."[11] On September 15, 1961, the band recorded a demo of "Surfin'" with the Morgans. A more professional recording was made on October 3, at World Pacific Studio in Hollywood.[7] David Marks was not present at the session as he was in school that day.[12][nb 2] Murry brought the demos to Herb Newman, owner ofCandix Records andEra Records, and he signed the group on December 8.[8] When the single was released a few weeks later, the band found that they had been renamed "the Beach Boys".[7] Candix wanted to name the group the Surfers untilRuss Regan, a young promoter with Era Records, noted that there already existed a group by that name. He suggested calling them the Beach Boys.[14] "Surfin'" was a regional success for the West Coast, and reached number 75 on the nationalBillboard Hot 100 chart.
The Beach Boys, inPendleton outfits, performing at a local high school, late 1962
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 theRitchie Valens Memorial Dance inLong Beach.[8] In their early public appearances, the band wore the heavy Pendleton woolen jacket-like shirts that local surfers favored[15] before switching to their trademark striped shirts and white pants (a look that was taken directly from theKingston Trio).[16][17] 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.[18][nb 3] In February, Jardine left the Beach Boys and was replaced by David Marks on rhythm guitar.[19] A common misconception is that Jardine left to focus ondental 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.[20]
After being turned down byDot andLiberty, the Beach Boys signed a seven-year contract withCapitol Records.[21] This was at the urging of Capitol executive and staff producerNick Venet who signed the group, seeing them as the "teenage gold" he had been scouting for.[22] 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 ofBillboard, which praised Love's lead vocal and said the song had potential.[23] "Surfin' Safari" rose to number 14 and found airplay in New York and Phoenix, a surprise for the label.[19]
The Beach Boys' debut 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 friendGary Usher.[19] 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 ofspring 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.[24]
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 usedouble tracking on the group's vocals, resulting in a deeper and more resonant sound.[26] Thealbum of the same name followed in March and reached number 2 on theBillboard charts.[27] Its success propelled the group into a nationwide spotlight, and was vital to launching surf music as a national craze,[28] albeit the Beach Boys' vocal approach to the genre, not the original instrumental style pioneered byDick Dale.[24] 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".[29] 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.
Surfer Girl marked the first time the group used outside musicians on a substantial portion of an LP.[30] Many of them were the musicians Spector used for hisWall of Sound productions.[31] Only a month afterSurfer Girl's release the group's fourth albumLittle Deuce Coupe was issued. To close 1963, the band released a standalone Christmas-themed single "Little Saint Nick", backed with ana cappella rendition of thescriptural song "The Lord's Prayer". The A-side peaked at number 3 on the USBillboard Christmas chart.[32]
The surf music craze, along with the careers of nearly all surf acts, was slowly replaced by theBritish Invasion.[33] 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 sinceSurfin' 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".[34] 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."[35] According to Mike Love, Carl followed the Beatles more closely than anyone else in the band, while Brian was the most "rattled" by the Beatles and felt tremendous pressure to "keep pace" with them.[36] For Brian, the Beatles ultimately "eclipsed a lot [of what] we'd worked for ... [they] eclipsed the whole music world".[37][38][nb 4]
Brian wrote his last surf song for nearly four years, "Don't Back Down", in April 1964.[41] 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.[42] 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.[43] "I Get Around" and "Don't Back Down" both appeared on the band's sixth albumAll 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 thepiccolos andxylophones ofits title track.[44] 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.[45] 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.[46]
In June 1964, Brian recorded the bulk ofThe Beach Boys' Christmas Album with a forty-one-piece studio orchestra in collaboration withFour Freshmen arrangerDick Reynolds. The album was a response to Phil Spector'sA 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.[47] It would be regarded as one of the finestholiday albums of the rock era.[43] One single from the album, "The Man with All the Toys", was released, peaking at number 6 on the USBillboard Christmas chart.[48] On October 29, the Beach Boys performed forThe 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.[49]
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 apanic attack.[50] 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 artistGlen Campbell agreed to temporarily serve as Brian's replacement in concert.[51] Carl took over as the band's musical director onstage.[52][nb 5] Now a full-time studio artist,[31] 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.[54] 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."[55]
Released in March 1965,The Beach Boys Today! marked the first time the group experimented with the "album-as-art" form. Music writer Scott Schinder referenced its "suite-like structure" as an early example of therock album format being used to make a cohesive artistic statement.[31] Brian also established his new lyrical approach toward the autobiographical; journalistNick 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".[56] In the bookYeah Yeah Yeah: The Story of Modern Pop,Bob Stanley remarked that "Brian was aiming forJohnny Mercer but coming upproto-indie."[57] In 2012, the album was voted 271 onRolling Stone magazine's list of the500 Greatest Albums of All Time.[58]
We needed to grow. Up to this point we had milked every idea dry [and did] every possible angle about surfing and [cars]. But we needed to growartistically.
In April 1965, Campbell's own career success pulled him from touring with the group.[60]Columbia Records staff producerBruce 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 albumSummer Days (And Summer Nights!!). The first single fromSummer 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.[61] To appease Capitol's demands for a Beach Boys LP for the 1965 Christmas season, Brian conceivedBeach 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.[28] The album was an early precursor of the "unplugged" trend. It also included a cover ofthe Regents' song "Barbara Ann", which unexpectedly reached number 2 when released as a single several weeks later.[62] 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.[46]
Wilson collaborated withjingle writerTony Asher for several of the songs on the albumPet Sounds, a refinement of the themes and ideas that were introduced inToday!.[63] In some ways, the music was a jarring departure from their earlier style.[64][65] 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".[66] InThe Journal on the Art of Record Production, Marshall Heiser writes thatPet 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' bandleaderLes Baxter, or the 'cool' ofBurt Bacharach, more so than Spector's teen fanfares".[67]
ForPet Sounds, Brian desired to make "a complete statement", similar to what he believed the Beatles had done with their newest albumRubber Soul, released in December 1965.[68] Brian was immediately enamored with the album, given the impression that it had nofiller tracks, a feature that was mostly unheard of at a time when 45 rpm singles were considered more noteworthy than full-length LPs.[69][70] 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."[35] Thanks to mutual connections, Brian was introduced to the Beatles' former press officerDerek 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.[71] 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.[72]
"God Only Knows" conditions itstonality between the keys ofE andA major, which according to musicologist Stephen Downes, was innovative even in the context of the song'sBaroque antecedents. It is often praised as one of the greatest songs ever written.[73]
Released on May 16, 1966,Pet Sounds was widely influential and raised the band's prestige as an innovative rock group.[46] 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.[74] It was assumed that Capitol consideredPet Sounds a risk, appealing more to an older demographic than the younger, female audience upon which the Beach Boys had built their commercial standing.[75] Within two months, the label capitulated by releasing the group's firstgreatest hits compilation album,Best of the Beach Boys, which was quickly certified gold by theRIAA.[76] 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.[77] 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 andprogressive, 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".[78]
Throughout the summer of 1966, Brian concentrated on finishing the group's next single, "Good Vibrations".[79] Instead of working on whole songs with clear large-scale syntactical structures, he recorded short interchangeable fragments. Throughtape splicing, each fragment could be assembled into a linear sequence, allowing larger structures and divergent moods to be produced later.[67] Pop singles were usually recorded in under two hours at that time, so it was one of the most complex pop productions ever undertaken, with sessions for the song stretching over months in four major Hollywood studios. It was the most expensive single then ever recorded, with production costs estimated to be tens of thousands.[80]
In the midst of "Good Vibrations" sessions, Wilson invited session musician and songwriterVan Dyke Parks to collaborate as lyricist for the Beach Boys' next album project, soon titledSmile.[81][82] Wilson and Parks intendedSmile to be a continuous suite of songs linked thematically and musically, with the main songs linked together by small vocal pieces and instrumental segments that elaborated on the major songs' musical themes.[83] It was explicitly American in style and subject, a conscious reaction to the overwhelming British dominance of popular music .[84][85] Some of the music incorporated chanting, cowboy songs, explorations in Indian and Hawaiian music, jazz, classicaltone poems, cartoon sound effects,musique concrète, and yodeling.[86]Saturday Evening Post writerJules Siegel recalled that, on one October evening, Brian announced to his wife and friends that he was "writing a teenage symphony to God".[87]
Recording forSmile lasted from mid-1966 to mid-1967, and followed the same modular production approach as "Good Vibrations".[88] Concurrently, Wilson planned different multimedia side projects, such as a sound effects collage, a comedy album, and a "health food" album.[89] Capitol did not support all these, which led to the Beach Boys' desire to form their own label,Brother Records. Wilson employed his newfound "best friend"David Anderle as head of the label.[90] Released on October 10, 1966, "Good Vibrations" was the Beach Boys' third US number 1 single, reaching the top of theBillboard Hot 100 in December, and became their first number 1 in Britain.[91] The record was their first single certified gold by theRIAA.[92] It came to be widely acclaimed as one of the greatest masterpieces of rock music.[93] In December, the Beach Boys were voted the top band in the world in theNME's annual readers' poll, ahead of the Beatles,the Walker Brothers,the Rolling Stones, andthe Four Tops.[94]
"Good Vibrations" was the Beach Boys' third single to top theBillboard Hot 100. It proliferated a wave of pop experimentation with its rush of riff changes, echo-chamber effects, and intricate harmonies.[95]
Throughout the first half of 1967, the release date forSmile was repeatedly postponed as Brian tinkered with the recordings, experimenting with different takes and mixes, and appeared 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.[96] On January 3, 1967, Carl Wilson refused to be drafted for military service, leading to indictment and criminal prosecution, which he challenged as aconscientious objector.[97] The FBI arrested him in April,[98] and it took years for courts to resolve the matter.[99]
After months of recording and media hype,Smile was shelved for personal, technical, and legal reasons.[100] A February 1967 lawsuit seeking $255,000 (equivalent to $2.4 million in 2024) 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.[101] Many of Wilson's associates, including Parks and Anderle, disassociated themselves from the group by April 1967.[102] 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."[103] In the decades followingSmile's non-release, it became the subject of intense speculation and mystique[96][104] and the most legendary unreleased album in pop music history.[46][105] 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.[106] In 2011,Uncut magazine staff votedSmile the "greatestbootleg recording of all time".[107]
Throughout 1966,EMI flooded the UK market with Beach Boys albums not yet released there, includingBeach Boys' Party!,The Beach Boys Today! andSummer Days (and Summer Nights!!),[108] whileBest of the Beach Boys was number 2 there for several weeks at the end of the year.[109] 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.[110] 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".[111]
1967–1969: Faltering popularity and Brian's reduced involvement
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.[112] 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 formativepsychedelic era.[112] At the time, rock music journalists typically valued the Beach Boys' early records over their experimental work.[113][nb 6]
AlthoughSmile had been cancelled, the Beach Boys were still under pressure and a contractual obligation to record and present an album to Capitol.[114] 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 wasSmiley Smile."[115] Sessions for the new album lasted from June to July 1967 atBrian'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.[116] It was the first album for which production was credited to the entire group instead of Brian alone.[106]
In July 1967, lead single "Heroes and Villains" was issued, arriving after months of public anticipation, and reached number 12 in US. By then, the group's lawsuit with Capitol was resolved, and it was agreed thatSmile would not be the band's next album.[117] In August, the group embarked on a two-date tour of Hawaii.[118] 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".[119][120]Smiley Smile was released on September 18, 1967,[121] and peaked at number 41 in the US,[106] making it their worst-selling album to that date.[122] Critics and fans were generally underwhelmed by the album.[123] According to Scott Schinder, the album was released to "general incomprehension. WhileSmile may have divided the Beach Boys' fans had it been released,Smiley Smile merely baffled them."[106] 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.[121] When released in the UK in November, it performed better, reaching number 9.[124] Over the years, the album gathered a reputation as one of the best "chill-out" albums to listen to during an LSDcomedown.[125] In 1974,NME voted it the 64th-greatest album of all time.[126]
The Beach Boys immediately recorded a new album,Wild Honey, an excursion intosoul music, and a self-conscious attempt to "regroup" themselves as a rock band in opposition to their more orchestral affairs of the past.[127] 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.[128] Love reflected thatWild Honey was "completely out of the mainstream for what was going on at that time ... and that was the idea".[129]
Wild Honey was released on December 18, 1967, in competition with the Beatles'Magical Mystery Tour and the Rolling Stones'Their Satanic Majesties Request.[130] It had a higher chart placing thanSmiley Smile, but still failed to make the top-twenty and remained on the charts for only 15 weeks.[128] As withSmiley Smile, contemporary critics viewed it as inconsequential,[131] and it alienated fans whose expectations had been raised bySmile.[128] 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."[132]
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.[133] At the end of 1967,Rolling Stone co-founder and editorJann 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."[134] The article had the effect of excluding the group among serious rock fans[134][135] and such controversy followed them into the next year.[136] Capitol continued to bill them as "America's Top Surfin' Group!" and expected Brian to write more beachgoing songs for the yearly summer markets.[137] From 1968 onward, his songwriting output declined substantially, but the public narrative of "Brian as leader" continued.[138] 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.[139]
The Beach Boys in 1968, left to right: Dennis Wilson, Mike Love, Carl Wilson (top), Al Jardine, Bruce Johnston
After meetingMaharishi Mahesh Yogi at aUNICEF Variety Gala in Paris, Love and other high-profile celebrities such as the Beatles andDonovan traveled toRishikesh, India, in February–March 1968. The following Beach Boys album,Friends, had songs influenced by theTranscendental Meditation the Maharishi taught. In support ofFriends, Love arranged for the Beach Boys totour 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.[140]Friends, released on June 24, peaked at number 126 in the US.[141] 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.[142]
In June 1968, Dennis befriendedCharles 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.[143][144] Dennis then proposed that Manson be signed to Brother Records. Brian reportedly disliked Manson, and a deal was never made.[145] 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.[146] Released in January 1969, the album20/20 mixed new material with outtakes and leftovers from recent albums; Brian produced virtually none of the newer recordings.[147]
The Beach Boys recorded one song by Manson without his involvement: "Cease to Exist", rewritten as "Never Learn Not to Love", which was included on20/20. Ashis cult of followers took over Dennis's home, Dennis gradually distanced himself from Manson.[148] According to authorDavid Leaf, "The entire Wilson family reportedly feared for their lives."[149]
In August, the Manson Family committed theTate–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.[150] In November, police apprehended Manson, and his connection with the Beach Boys received media attention. He was later convicted for several counts of murder andconspiracy to murder.[151]
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.[152] 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, whichDisc & 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.[citation needed] The song, written and produced by Brian and Murry, reached number 63 in the US and number 6 in the UK,[153] and Brian's remarks to the press ultimately thwarted long-simmering contract negotiations withDeutsche Grammophon.[154] 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-titleBeach Boys '69.[155] After the contract was completed Capitol deleted the Beach Boys' catalog from print, effectively cutting off their royalty flow.[152] The lawsuit was later settled in their favor and they acquired the rights to their post-1965 catalog.[156]
In August,Sea of Tunes, the Beach Boys' catalog, was sold to Irving Almo Music for $700,000 (equivalent to $6 million in 2024).[157] According to his wife,Marilyn Wilson, Brian was devastated by the sale.[158] Over the years, the catalog generated more than $100 million in publishing royalties, none of which Murry or the band members ever received.[159] 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-lawBilly Hinsche, who declined the offer to focus on his college studies.[160]
The Beach Boys in 1971; top left to right: Mike Love, Brian Wilson; middle left to right: Carl Wilson, Al Jardine, Dennis Wilson; bottom: Bruce Johnston
The group was signed toReprise Records in 1970.[161] Scott Schinder described the label as "probably the hippest and most artist-friendly major label of the time".[162] The deal was brokered by Van Dyke Parks, who was then employed as a multimedia executive atWarner Music Group. Reprise's contract stipulated Brian's proactive involvement with the band in all albums.[163] 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.[164] After recording over 30 different songs and going through several album titles, their first LP for Reprise,Sunflower, was released on August 31, 1970.[165]Sunflower featured a strong group presence with significant writing contributions from all six band members.[166] Brian was active during this period, writing or co-writing seven ofSunflower's 12 songs and performing at half of the band's domestic concerts in 1970.[167] The album received critical acclaim in both the US and the UK.[168]
In early-1970, the Beach Boys hired radio presenterJack Rieley as their manager. One of his initiatives was to encourage the band to record songs featuring more socially conscious lyrics.[169] He also requested the completion ofSmile track "Surf's Up" and arranged a guest appearance at aGrateful Dead concert atBill Graham'sFillmore East in April 1971 to foreground the Beach Boys' transition into the counterculture.[170] During this time, the group ceased wearing matching uniforms on stage,[171] while Dennis took time to star alongsideJames Taylor,Laurie Bird, andWarren Oates in the cult filmTwo-Lane Blacktop, released in 1971. In early 1971, David Marks reunited onstage in Boston with the Beach Boys, after which he received an offer from Mike Love to rejoin, which he declined.[172] In July, the American music press rated the Beach Boys "the hottest grossing act" in the country, alongsideGrand Funk Railroad.[173] The band filmed a concert forABC-TV inCentral Park, which aired asGood Vibrations from Central Park on August 19.[174]
On August 30, the band releasedSurf's Up, which was moderately successful, reaching the US top-thirty, a marked improvement over their recent releases.[175] While the record charted, the Beach Boys added to their renewed fame by performing a near-sellout set atCarnegie Hall; their live shows during this era included reworked arrangements of many of their previous songs,[176] with theirset lists culling fromPet Sounds andSmile.[177] On October 28, the Beach Boys were the featured cover story on that date's issue ofRolling Stone. It included the first part of a lengthy two-part interview, titled "The Beach Boys: A California Saga", conducted byTom Nolan and David Felton.[178]
Early 1972 saw Bruce Johnston leave the band, and the recruitment of two former members of South African bandthe Flames, guitarist/singerBlondie Chaplin and drummer/singerRicky Fataar. The new line-up releasedCarl and the Passions – "So Tough" in May 1972. The original US release was a double album, the second disc being a reissue ofPet Sounds.[179] After the upswing ofSurf'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 withoutPet 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".[180] 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 bonusEP.[181]
Greatest hits LPs, touring resurgence, and Caribou sessions
AfterHolland, the group maintained a touring regimen, captured on the double live albumThe Beach Boys in Concert released in November 1973, but recorded very little in the studio through 1975.[182] Several months earlier, they had announced that they would completeSmile, but this never came to fruition, and plans for its release were once again abandoned.[183][nb 7] Following Murry's death in June 1973, Brian retreated into his bedroom and withdrew further into drug abuse, alcoholism,chain smoking, and overeating.[185] In October, the band dismissed Rieley as manager and appointed Mike Love's brother, Stephen, andChicago managerJames William Guercio.[186] Chaplin and Fataar left the band in December 1973 and November 1974, respectively, reducing the band back to the original five members.[187]
The Beach Boys' greatest hits compilation albumEndless Summer was released in June 1974 to unexpected success, becoming the band's second number 1 US album in October.[188][189] The LP had a 155-week chart run, selling over 3 million copies.[190] A second volume of greatest hits,Spirit of America, followed in April 1975, reaching US number 8, being certified Gold, and having a 43-week chart run. The Beach Boys became the number-one act in the US,[189] propelling themselves from opening forCrosby, Stills, Nash and Young in the summer of 1974 to headliners selling out basketball arenas in a matter of weeks.[191] Guercio prevailed upon the group to swap out newer songs with older material in their concert setlists,[192] partly to accommodate their growing audience and the demand for their early hits.[193] Later in the year, members of the band appeared as guests on Chicago's hit "Wishing You Were Here".[194] At the end of 1974,Rolling Stone proclaimed the Beach Boys "Band of the Year" based on the strength of their live performances.[191][195]
To capitalize on their sudden resurgence in popularity, the Beach Boys accepted Guercio's invitation to record their next Reprise album at hisCaribou Ranch studio, located around the mountains ofNederland, Colorado.[196][188][197] 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.[196] 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.[198][195] 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".[199][200] The tour was massively successful and restored the Beach Boys' profitability to what it had been in the mid-1960s.[201] Although another joint tour with Chicago had been planned for the summer of 1976,[200] the Beach Boys' association with Guercio and his Caribou Management company ended in early 1976.[202][nb 8] Stephen Love subsequently took over as the band'sde facto business manager.[203]
Early in 1975, Brian signed a production deal withCalifornia 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.[204] In October, Marilyn persuaded Brian to admit himself to the care of psychologistEugene Landy, who kept him from indulging in substance abuse with constant supervision.[205][206] Brian was kept in the program until December 1976.[207]
Brian Wilson behindBrother Studios' mixing console in early 1976
At the end of January 1976, the Beach Boys returned to the studio with Brian producing once again.[208] Brian decided the band should do an album of rock and roll anddoo 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.[208] To highlight Brian's recovery and his return to writing and producing, Stephen launched a media campaign and paid theRogers & Cowan publicity agency $3,500 per month to implement it.[209] The band also commissioned anNBC-TV special, later known asThe Beach Boys: It's OK!, that was produced byNBC's Saturday Night creatorLorne Michaels.[207]
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.[210] The album peaked at number 8 in the US, becoming their first top-ten album of new material sincePet Sounds, and their highest-charting studio album sinceSummer Days (And Summer Nights!!).[211] Lead single "Rock and Roll Music" peaked at number 5 – their highest chart ranking since "Good Vibrations".[202]
From late-1976 to early-1977, Brian made sporadic public appearances and produced the band's next album,The Beach Boys Love You.[212] He regarded it as a spiritual successor toPet Sounds, namely because of the autobiographical lyrics.[213] Released on April 11, 1977,Love You peaked at number 53 in the US and number 28 in the UK.[214] Critically, it was widely praised, though it initially met with polarized reactions from the public.[215] Numerous esteemed critics penned favorable reviews, but casual listeners generally found the album's idiosyncratic sound to be a detriment.[216]
Adult/Child, the intended follow-up toLove You, was completed, but the release was vetoed by Love and Jardine.[217] According to Stan Love, when his brother Mike heard the album, Mike turned to Brian and asked: "What the fuck are you doing?"[218] Some of the unreleased songs onAdult/Child later saw individual release on subsequent Beach Boys albums and compilations.[219] Following this period, his concert appearances with the band gradually diminished and their performances were occasionally erratic.[220]
The Beach Boys performing a concert in Michigan, August 1978
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.[221] Concurrently, the band was the subject of a record company bidding war, as their contract with Warner Bros. had been set to expire soon.[222][223] Stephen Love arranged for the Beach Boys to sign an $8 million deal withCBS Records on March 1.[224] 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.[225][nb 9] 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.[225] The first Beach Boys-related release on CBS was Dennis' solo albumPacific Ocean Blue, which would be issued in August 1977.
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.[226] 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.[227] Lazarus arranged a major European tour for the Beach Boys, starting in late July, with stops in Germany, Switzerland, and France.[227] 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.[228]
In July, the Beach Boys played a concert atWembley Stadium before Mike attacked Brian with a piano bench onstage in front of over 15,000 attendees.[229][nb 10] In August, Mike and Jardine persuaded Stephen to return as the group's manager,[231] a decision that Carl and Dennis had strongly opposed.[232][231] By this point, the band had effectively split into two camps; Dennis and Carl on one side, and Mike and Jardine on the other, with Brian remaining neutral.[233][214] The internal wrangling came to a head in September, with Dennis declaring to aRolling Stone journalist that he had left the band.[234] The group was broken up until a meeting at Brian's house on September 17.[214] 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.[214]
The group had still owed one more album for Reprise. Released in September 1978,M.I.U. Album was recorded atMaharishi International University in Iowa at the suggestion of Love.[235] The band originally attempted to record a Christmas album, to be titledMerry 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 albumUltimate Christmas. Dennis and Carl made limited contributions toM.I.U. Album; the album was produced by Jardine andRon Altbach, with Brian credited as "executive producer".[236] 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.[215]
1978–1998: Continued recording and Brian's estrangement
The group's first two albums for CBS, 1979'sL.A. (Light Album) and 1980'sKeepin' the Summer Alive, struggled in the US, charting at 100 and 75 respectively, though the band did manage a top-forty single fromL.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 filmAmericathon.
I think a lot of critics punish the band for not going beyond "Good Vibrations" ... they love the band so much that they get crazy because we don't top ourselves. ... [but] growth in this business is tough.
On June 21, 1980, the Beach Boys performed a concert atKnebworth, England, which featured a slightly intoxicated Dennis. The concert would later be released as a live album titledGood Timin': Live at Knebworth England 1980 in 2002. In 1981, the band scored a surprise US top-twenty hit when their cover ofthe Del-Vikings' "Come Go with Me", from the three year oldM.I.U. Album, was released as a single fromTen Years of Harmony, a double compilation album focusing on the Reprise and CBS years.[238]
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."[239] In 1981, he temporarily left the touring group because of unhappiness with the band's nostalgia format and lackluster live performances, taking the time to record and release his first solo albumCarl Wilson.[215] 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."[52] He 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.[240]
During Carl's absence,Jeffrey Foskett, who previously performed in Love's Endless Summer Beach Band, was recruited to the touring band to sing Carl's parts.[241] On Carl's return, Foskett remained in the band to perform falsetto vocals and guitar until 1990, and would return for the 2012 reunion tour and album, and the touring band of 2014-2019. Though never named as an official member of the Beach Boys, he would later be identified by members as the band's only "vice principal".[241]
In late 1982, Eugene Landy was hired once more as Brian's therapist.[242] On November 5, Carl, Love and Jardine falsely informed Brian that he was destitute and no longer a Beach Boy, insisting he reenlist Landy as his caretaker to continue receiving his touring income,[243] in addition to putting him on a strict diet and health regimen.[244] Coupled with counseling sessions that retaught him basic social etiquette, this therapy restored Brian's physical health, slimming down from 311 pounds (141 kg) to 185 pounds (84 kg) and Brian returned to the group.[245]
By the late 1970s and early 1980s, Dennis had been embroiled in successive failed romantic relationships, including a tense and short-lived relationship withFleetwood Mac'sChristine McVie, and found himself in severe economic trouble resulting in the sale ofBrother Studios, established by the Wilson brothers in 1974 and wherePacific 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.[246]
That year, tensions between Dennis and Love escalated to the point that each filed a restraining order against the other.[247] 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 inMarina del Rey while diving from a friend's boat trying to recover items that he had previously thrown overboard in a fit of rage.[248]
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.[249] One new studio album, the self-titledThe Beach Boys, appeared in 1985 and proved a modest success, becoming their highest-charting album in the US since15 Big Ones. It was the band's last album for CBS, as they returned to Capitol in 1986 with a 25th anniversary greatest hits album,Made in U.S.A, which went double platinum. In 1988, the Beach Boys unexpectedly claimed their first US number 1 single in 22 years with "Kokomo", which topped the chart for one week.[250] The track was included on the band's next studio album, 1989'sStill Cruisin', which went platinum in the US.[251] During that period, Brian was largely absent during the recording sessions and tour dates due the recording of his debut solo albumBrian Wilson and conflicts between the band and Landy.
Lawsuits,Summer in Paradise, andStars and Stripes, Vol. 1
BiographerPeter Ames Carlin summarized: "Once surfin' pin-ups, they remade themselves asavant-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."[252] 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".[253] 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."[254]
Love filed a defamation lawsuit against Brian due to how he was presented in Brian's 1992 memoirWouldn't It Be Nice: My Own Story. Its publisherHarperCollins 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."[255] Other defamation lawsuits were filed by Carl, Brother Records, and the Wilsons' mother Audree.[256] 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.[257] Thirty-five of the group's songs were then amended to credit Love.[258] He later called it "almost certainly the largest case of fraud in music history".[259]
After dissolving his relationship with Landy, Brian phonedSire Records staff producerAndy Paley to collaborate on new material tentatively for the Beach Boys.[260] After losing the songwriting credits lawsuit with Love, Brian toldMOJO 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!"[261] 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.[262] The project ultimately disintegrated.[263] Instead, Brian and his bandmates recordedStars and Stripes Vol. 1, an album ofcountry music stars covering Beach Boys songs, with co-production helmed byRiver North Records ownerJoe Thomas.[264] After the release ofStars and Stripes Vol. 1, Brian became completely estranged from the band and did not perform or collaborate with his bandmates until 2012, focussing on his solo career instead. The group would also discuss about finishing the albumSmile, but Carl rejected the idea, fearing that it would cause Brian another nervous breakdown.[265] TheGrammy-nominated[266]The Pet Sounds Sessions box set was released in 1997.
The touring lineup of Mike Love and Bruce Johnston's "The Beach Boys Band", with David Marks, in 2008
In 1997, Carl was diagnosed withlung andbrain cancer after years of heavy smoking. Despite his terminal condition, Carl performed with the band on its summer tour (a double-bill withChicago) while undergoing chemo. During performances, he sat on a stool and needed oxygen after each song.[267] When Carl became too unwell to perform in late 1997, David Marks returned as lead guitarist. Carl died on February 6, 1998, aged 51, two months after the death of the Wilsons' mother, Audree.[268]
After Carl's death, Jardine quit the band. His 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.[269][270] During the dispute, Love, Johnston and Marks toured as "The California Beach Band".[nb 11][269] After Love secured a license from BRI, he, Johnston and Marks continued touring as the Beach Boys from July 4, 1998.[269][270] At the time, Brian was also offered the license, but declined. Jardine began to perform regularly with his band "Beach Boys: Family & Friends" until he ran into legal issues for using the name without license. Jardine sued Love, claiming he had been excluded from their concerts.[271] Brother Records, Inc. (BRI), through its attorney, Ed McPherson, sued Jardine. Jardine counter-claimed against BRI for wrongful termination.[272] Courts ruled in Love's favor, denying Jardine use of the Beach Boys name. Jardine appealed, and sought $4 million in damages. TheCalifornia Court of Appeal ruled that "Love acted wrongfully in freezing Jardine out of touring under the Beach Boys name", allowing Jardine to continue with his lawsuit.[270] The case was settled outside of court with the terms undisclosed.[273][274] Marks quit the band again in 1999, due to a diagnosis ofhepatitis C and Love and Johnston continued touring without him.[275][276]
In 2000, ABC-TV premiered a miniseries,The Beach Boys: An American Family, that dramatized the Beach Boys' story. It was criticized by numerous parties, including Wilson, for inaccuracies.[277]
Sounds of Summer: The Very Best of the Beach Boys, a greatest hits compilation, was released in 2003, going multi-platinum. In 2004, Wilson recorded and released his solo albumBrian Wilson Presents Smile, a reinterpretation of the unfinishedSmile project. That September, Wilson issued a free CD through theMail On Sunday that included Beach Boys songs he had 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 2005; he claimed the promotion hurt sales of the original recordings and his image was used for the CD.[278] Wilson's wifeMelinda 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".[279] Love's suit was dismissed in 2007 when a judge determined there were no triable issues and the case was without merit.[280][281]
In 2006, Brian Wilson, Love, Jardine, Marks, and Johnston participated in a non-performing reunion atop theCapitol Records Building to celebrate thatSounds of Summer had been certified double-platinum.[282] Later that year, Jardine joined Wilson and his band for a tour celebrating the 40th anniversary ofPet Sounds.[283] In 2008, Marks briefly reunited with Love and Johnston's touring band for a tour of Europe.[284]
In 2010, Jardine releasedA Postcard from California, his solo debut. The album features contributions from Brian, Johnston, Marks, and Love, as well as a posthumous feature from Carl and features of several other artist.[285] Also in 2010, Brian and Jardine sang on "We Are the World 25 for Haiti", a new recording of "We Are the World", to benefit the population ofHaiti.[286]
Jardine made his first appearance with the Beach Boys touring band in more than 10 years in 2011 at a tribute concert forRonald Reagan's 100th birthday.[287] He made other appearances with Love and Johnston's touring band in preparation for a reunion.[citation needed]
On December 16, 2011, it was announced that Wilson, Love, Jardine, Johnston, and David Marks would reunite for a new album and50th anniversary tour.[291] On February 12, 2012, the Beach Boys performed at the2012 Grammy Awards. It marked the group's first live performance to include Wilson since 1996, Jardine since 1998, and Marks since 1999.[292] A new studio album,That's Why God Made the Radio, was released on July 5; it debuted at number 3 on theBillboard 200, expanding the group's span of top-ten albums there across 49 years and one week, passing the Beatles with 47 years of top-ten albums.[293] Critics generally regarded the album as an "uneven" collection, with most of the praise centered on its closing musical suite.[63]
During the tour, 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 to record after the tour.[294] On June 1, 2012, Love received an e-mail stating "no more shows for Wilson". Love then began accepting invitations for when the reunion was over.[295] 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."[296] On June 25, Wilson's team sent another e-mail asking Love to disregard the previous message, but by then, Love claimed that "it was too late. We had booked other concerts, and promoters had begun selling tickets."
Brian Wilson, David Marks, Mike Love, Bruce Johnston and Al Jardine performing together in May 2012.
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".[297] Ultimately, the reunion tour ended in September 2012 as planned, after a final show on September 28, but amid rumors that Love had dismissed Wilson from the Beach Boys.[298][299] Love and Johnston announced that the Beach Boys would revert to the pre-reunion lineup, without Brian, Jardine or Marks, all of whom expressed surprise. Although such dates were noted in a late June issue ofRolling Stone, it was widely reported that the three had been "fired".[299] On October 5, Love responded in a self-written press release to theLos 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".[300] Love and Johnston continue to perform under the Beach Boys name, while Wilson, Jardine, and Marks toured as a trio in 2013,[301] and a subsequent tour with guitaristJeff Beck also included Blondie Chaplin at select dates.[302] Wilson and Jardine continued to tour together in 2014 and following years, often joined by Chaplin; Marks declined to join them after 2013.[citation needed]
Wilson and Jardine performing during the Pet Sounds 50th Anniversary World Tour in 2016
In June 2013, Wilson's website announced that he was recording and self-producing new material featuring Jardine, Marks, and Chaplin, among others.[303]No Pier Pressure, Brian's solo album for April 2015, marked another collaboration between him and Joe Thomas, featuring guest appearances from Jardine, Marks and Chaplin.[304]
In February 2014, Love, Jardine, Marks and Johnston appeared together at the 2014 Ella Awards Ceremony, where Love was honored for his work as a singer.[305] In April, when asked if he was interested in making music with Love again, Wilson said he wasn't,[306] adding in July that he "doesn't talk to the Beach Boys [or] Mike Love".[307] In December,Soundstage aired an episode featuring Wilson performing with Jardine, Chaplin and Ricky Fataar atThe Venetian inLas Vegas.[308]
Wilson, Jardine and Blondie Chaplin performing with Wilson's solo band in 2017
In 2016, Wilson and Jardine embarked on thePet Sounds 50th Anniversary World Tour, promoted as Wilson's final performances of the album,[309] 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 andI 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.[310] In an interview withRolling Stone conducted in June 2016, Wilson said he would like to try to repair his relationship with Love and collaborate with him again.[311] 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."[312]
Johnston and Love performing as the Beach Boys in 2019
In July 2018, Wilson, Jardine, Love, Johnston, and Marks reunited for a one-off Q&A session moderated by directorRob Reiner at the Capitol Records Building in Los Angeles. It was the first time the band had appeared together in public since their 2012 tour.[313] 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".[314] In 2019, Wilson and Jardine (with Chaplin) embarked on a co-headlining tour withthe Zombies, performing selections fromFriends andSurf's Up.[315]
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 inReno, 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".[316] In October, Love and Johnston's Beach Boys performed at a fundraiser forDonald Trump's2020 presidential campaign; Wilson and Jardine again issued a statement that they had not been informed about this performance and did not support it.[317]
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 toIrving Azoff and his new companyIconic Artists Group.[318] In April,Omnivore Recordings released the albumCalifornia Music Presents Add Some Music, featuring Love, Jardine, Marks, Johnston, and several of their children.[319] That August, Capitol released theFeel Flows box set, comprising sessions fromSunflower and Surf's Up.[320] Capitol succeeded this in December 2022 with theSail On Sailor – 1972 box set, this time focusing onCarl and the Passions andHolland.
The Beach Boys touring band in 2024
In March 2024, the band announced aself-titled documentary directed byFrank Marshall andThom Zimny, which would be released by streaming serviceDisney+, which includes new and archived interviews from various members of the band and their inner circle.[321] The documentary included some footage from a private reunion of Wilson, Love, Jardine, Marks, and Johnston at Paradise Cove, where theSurfin' Safari album cover photo was taken in 1962.[322][323][324] They and Chaplin also participated in a non-performing reunion at the documentary's premiere on May 24, 2024.[325]
In August 2024, Jardine revealed that, with Wilson's permission for the use of his band and name, he was planning a tour with many of the musicians from the Brian Wilson Band, minus Wilson himself as he had retired touring in 2022. In May 2025, during an interview withVariety that month, while promoting his tour with the newly-formed Pet Sounds Band, Jardine announced the upcoming release of a box set, calledBrother Records 1454, and due for release in early 2026, which will release the albumAdult/Child alongside reissues of15 Big Ones,The Beach Boys Love You, andM.I.U. Album.[326][327]
Brian Wilson died in his sleep in his Beverly Hills home on June 11, 2025, at the age of 82.[328][329][330][331] His primary cause of death was declared asrespiratory arrest amidsepsis,cystitis, and other associated factors.[332] Wilson had also been battlingdementia.[332][333] Wilson's death left Love and Jardine as the two remaining original members. Shortly after Wilson's death, Love, Jardine, and Chaplin paid tribute to Wilson on social media.[334] Jardine's tour with the Pet Sounds Band started in July, and was dedicated to Brian's memory. Love and Johnston would also pay tribute to Brian by playing a slideshow during their shows.[335]
InUnderstanding Rock: Essays in Musical Analysis, musicologist Daniel Harrison writes:
Even from their inception, the Beach Boys were anexperimental group. They combined, as Jim Miller has put it, "the instrumental sleekness ofthe Ventures, the lyric sophistication of Chuck Berry, and the vocal expertise of some weird cross betweenthe Lettermen andFrankie Lymon andthe Teenagers" with lyrics whose images, idioms, and concerns were drawn from the rarefied world of the middle-class white male southern California teenager. ... [But] it was the profound vocal virtuosity of the group, coupled with the obsessional drive and compositional ambitions of their leader, Brian Wilson, that promised their survival after the eventual breaking of fad fever. ... Comparison to other vocally oriented rock groups, such asthe Association, shows the Beach Boys' technique to be far superior, almost embarrassingly so. They were so confident of their ability, and of Brian's skill as a producer to enhance it, that they were unafraid of doing sophisticated,a cappella glee-club arrangements containing multiplesuspensions, passingformations, complex chords, and bothchromatic andenharmonicmodulations.[93]
The Beach Boys began as agarage band playing 1950s stylerock and roll,[336] reassembling styles of music such as surf to includevocal jazz harmony, which created their unique sound.[337] In addition, they introduced their signature approach to common genres such as thepop ballad by applying harmonic or formal twists.[338] 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.[339] Brian Wilson handled most stages of the group's recording process from the beginning, even though he was not properly credited on earlier recordings.[19][340]
ARickenbacker 360/12 identical to the 12-string guitar used by Carl Wilson in the early to mid-1960s
Early on, Mike Love sang lead vocals in the rock-oriented songs, while Carl contributed guitar lines on the group's ballads.[341] Jim Miller commented: "On straight rockers they sang tight harmonies behind Love's lead ... on ballads, Brian played hisfalsetto off against lush,jazz-tinged voicings, often using (for rock) unorthodox harmonic structures."[341] 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".[93] Although Brian was often dubbed a perfectionist, he was an inexperienced musician, and his understanding of music was mostly self-taught.[342] At the lyric stage, he usually worked with Love,[343] whose assertive persona provided youthful swagger that contrasted Brian's explorations in romanticism and sensitivity.[344] 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".[345]
Brian's bandmates resented the notion that he was the sole creative force in the group.[346] 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.[347] Mike Love wrote: "As far as I was concerned, Brianwas 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."[348] Conversely, Dennis defended Brian's stature in the band, stating: "Brian Wilsonis the Beach Boys. He is the band. We're his fucking messengers. He is all of it. Period. We're nothing. He's everything."[349]
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 ofthe Four Preps, the folk ofthe Kingston Trio, the R&B of groups likethe Coasters andthe Five Satins, and the doo wop ofDion and the Belmonts – helped contribute to the Beach Boys' uniqueness in American popular music.[354] 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".[35]
Another significant influence on Brian's work wasBurt Bacharach.[355] He said in the 1960s: "Burt Bacharach andHal 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."[356] Regarding surf rock pioneerDick Dale, Brian said that his influence on the group was limited to Carl and his style of guitar playing.[357] Carl credited Chuck Berry,the Ventures, andJohn 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.[358]
In 1967,Lou Reed wrote inAspen that the Beach Boys created a "hybrid sound" out of rock and roll 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.[359] Similarly,John Sebastian ofthe 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 likethe Crew Cuts. Look what gold he mined out of that."[360]
Brian identified each member individually for theirvocal 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 thetreble clef").[361][nb 12] 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".[361] 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."[363][361] For a period, Brian avoided singing falsetto for the group, saying: "I thought people thought I was afairy ... the band told me, 'If that's the way you sing, don't worry about it.'"[364]
In the group's early recordings, from lowestintervals 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,[365] while Carl said that the blend was Love on bottom, Carl above, followed by Dennis or Jardine, and then Brian on top.[35] 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.[365]
Striving for perfection, Brian ensured that his intricate vocal arrangements exercised the group's calculated blend ofintonation,attack,phrasing, andexpression.[366] Sometimes, he would sing each vocal harmony part alone through multi-track tape.[367]
[Love] had a hand in a lot of the arrangements. He would bring out the funkier approaches, whether to goshoo-boo-bop orbom-bom-did-di-did-did. It makes a big difference, because it can change the whole rhythm, the whole color and tone of it.
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."[35] Rock criticErik Davis wrote: "The 'purity' of tone and genetic proximity that smoothed their voices was almost creepy, pseudo-castrato, [and] a 'barbershop' sound."[253]Jimmy Webb said: "They used very littlevibrato 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."[369] WriterRichard 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'."[370]
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".[371] With only a few exceptions, the Beach Boys played every instrument heard on their first four albums and first five singles.[13] Music criticRichie Unterberger believed that "Before session musicians took over most of the parts, the Beach Boys could play respectably gutsy surf rock as a self-contained unit."[28]
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.[372] According to some reports, these musicians then completely replaced the Beach Boys on the backing tracks to their records.[13][373] 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.[373][374] These documents, along with the full unedited studio session tapes, were not available for public scrutiny until the 1990s.[374]
Wilson started occasionally employing members of the Wrecking Crew for certain Beach Boys tracks during the 1963Surfer Girl sessions – specifically, on two songs, "Hawaii" and "Our Car Club".[375][13] The 1964 albumsShut Down Volume 2 andAll Summer Long featured the Beach Boys themselves playing the vast majority of the instruments while occasionally being augmented by outside musicians.[13] It is commonly misreported that Dennis in particular was replaced byHal Blaine on drums.[374][376] 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".[377] Starting with the 1965 albumsToday! andSummer 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".[13]
Overall, the Beach Boys played the instruments on the majority of their recordings from the decade,[374] with 1966 and 1967 being the only years when Wilson used the Wrecking Crew almost exclusively.[13][374]Pet Sounds andSmile are their only albums in which the backing tracks were largely played by studio musicians.[13][378] After 1967, the band's use of studio musicians was considerably reduced.[13] Wrecking Crew biographerKent Hartman supported inhis 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."[379]
The source of the longstanding controversy regarding the Beach Boys' use of studio musicians largely derives from a misinterpreted statement in Leaf's 1978 biographyThe Beach Boys and the California Myth, later bolstered by erroneous recollections from participants of the recording sessions.[374][nb 13] Starting in the 1990s, unedited studio session tapes, along withAmerican Federation of Musicians (AFM) sheets and tape logs, were leaked. 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 playedmost of the instruments on their records until theBeach Boys Today! album in early 1965."[374] Slowinski goes on to note: "when painting a picture of a Beach Boys recording session, it's important to examineboth the AFM contracts and the session tapes, either of which may be incomplete on their own".[374]
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.[381] 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."[382][nb 14]
The band members often reflected on the spiritual nature of their music (and music in general), particularly for the recording ofPet Sounds andSmile.[384] Even though the Wilsons did not grow up in a particularly religious household,[385] 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 ofuniversal 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."[386] Carl toldRave 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 betterchurch music is also contained within some of our new work."[387]
During the recording ofPet Sounds, Brian heldprayer meetings, later reflecting that "God was with us the whole time we were doing this record ... I could feel that feeling in my brain."[388] In 1966, he explained that he wanted to move into awhite spiritual sound, and predicted that the rest of the music industry would follow suit.[389] In 2011, Brian maintained the spirituality was important to his music, and that he did not follow any particular religion.[390]
Carl said thatSmile was chosen as an album title because of its connection to the group's spiritual beliefs.[387] Brian referred toSmile as his "teenage symphony to God",[391] composing ahymn, "Our Prayer", as the album's opening spiritual invocation.[392] Experimentation withpsychotropic substances also proved pivotal to the group's development as artists.[393][394] 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?".[395] In 1968, the group's interest intranscendental meditation led them to record the original song, "Transcendental Meditation".[396]
The Beach Boys are one of the most critically acclaimed,commercially successful,[10][397] and influential bands of all time.[398] They have sold over 100 million records worldwide.[399] 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.[400] 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,[401] and they were one of the few American bands formed prior to the 1964 British Invasion to continue their success.[400] Among artists of the 1960s, they are one of the central figures in the histories of rock.[402] Between the 1960s and 2020s, they had 37 songs reach the USTop 40 (the most by an American group) with four topping theBillboard Hot 100; they also holdNielsen SoundScan's record as the top-selling American band for albums and singles.[403]
Brian Wilson's artistic control over the Beach Boys' records was unprecedented for the time.[404] 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."[115] This made the Beach Boys one of the first rock groups to exert studio control.[405] 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.[406]
The Beach Boys are one of the most influential acts of the rock era.[161] In 2017, a study ofAllMusic's catalog indicated the Beach Boys as the sixth most frequently cited artist influence in its database.[410] In 2021, the staff ofUltimate 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".[411]
The Beach Boys appearing in a 1963Billboard advertisement
Professor of cultural studies James M. Curtis wrote in 1987:
We can say that the Beach Boys represent the outlook and values ofwhite 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.[400]
HistorianKevin 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."[412] In criticRobert 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".[133]
The group's "California sound" grew to prominence through the success of their 1963 albumSurfin' U.S.A.,[413] which helped turn the surfing subculture into a mainstream youth-targeted advertising image exploited by the film, television, and food industry.[414] The group's surf music was not entirely their invention, being preceded by artists such as Dick Dale.[415] However, previous surf musicians did not project a world view as the Beach Boys did.[405] The band's earlier surf music helped raise the profile of California, creating its first major regional style with national significance, and establishing a musical identity forSouthern California, as opposed toHollywood.[416] California supplanted New York as the center of popular music thanks to the success of Brian's productions.[404]
A 1966 article discussing trends in rock music writes that the Beach Boys popularized a type of drum beat heard inJan 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".[339]Pete Townshend ofthe Who coined the term "power pop", which he defined as "what we play—what theSmall Faces used to play, and the kind of pop the Beach Boys played in the days of 'Fun, Fun, Fun' which I preferred".[417]
The California sound 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.[418] Throughout the 1960s, it fueled innovation and transition, inspiring artists to tackle largely unmentioned themes such assexual freedom,black pride,drugs,oppositional politics, othercountercultural motifs, andwar.[419] Soft pop, later known as "sunshine pop", derived in part from this movement.[420] Sunshine pop producers imitated the orchestral style ofPet Sounds; however, the Beach Boys were rarely representative of the genre, which was rooted ineasy listening and advertisingjingles.[421]
By the end of the 1960s, the California sound declined due to a combination of the West Coast's cultural shifts, Wilson's 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".[422] 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."[253]
During the 1970s, advertising jingles and imagery were predominately based on the Beach Boys' early music and image.[423] The group inspired the development of the West Coast style later dubbed "yacht rock". According toJacobin's Dan O'Sullivan, the band's aesthetic was the first to be "scavenged" by yacht rock acts likeRupert Holmes. O'Sullivan 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, fromChristopher Cross toEric Carmen, from 'Buffalo Springfield' folksters likeJim Messina to 'Philly Sound' rockers likeHall & Oates".[424]
Pet Sounds informed the development of pop, rock, jazz,electronic,experimental,punk, andhip-hop.[425] Similar to subsequentexperimental rock LPs byFrank Zappa, the Beatles, and the Who,Pet Sounds featured countertextural aspects that called attention to the very recordedness of the album.[426] ProfessorJohn Robert Greene stated that the album broke new ground and took rock music away from its casual lyrics and melodic structures into then uncharted territory. He called it one factor which spawned the majority of trends in post-1965 rock music, the only others beingRubber Soul, the Beatles'Revolver, and the contemporary folk movement.[427] The album was the first in popular music to incorporate theElectro-Theremin, an easier-to-play version of thetheremin, as well as the first in rock music to feature a theremin-like instrument.[428] WithPet Sounds, they were the first group to make an entire album that departed from the usual small-ensemble electric rock band format.[429]
According to David Leaf in 1978,Pet Sounds andGood Vibrations "established the group as the leaders of a new type of pop music,Art Rock".[430] AcademicBill Martin states that the band opened a path in rock music "that went fromSgt. Pepper's toClose to the Edge and beyond". He argues that the advancing technology ofmultitrack recording andmixing boards were more influential to experimental rock thanelectronic instruments such as thesynthesizer, allowing the Beatles and Beach Boys to become the first crop of non-classically trained musicians to create extended and complex compositions.[431] InStrange Sounds: Offbeat Instruments and Sonic Experiments in Pop, Mark Brend writes:
Other artists and producers, notably the Beatles and Phil Spector, had used varied instrumentation and multi-tracking to create complex studio productions before. And others, likeRoy Orbison, had written complicated pop songs before. But "Good Vibrations" eclipsed all that came before it, in both its complexity as a production and the liberties it took with conventional notions of how to structure a pop song.[432]
The production of "Good Vibrations" was unprecedented in any prior genre or recording;[433] Carlin wrote that it "sounded like nothing that had ever been played on the radio before".[434] It contained previously untried mixes of instruments, and was the first successful pop song to have cellos in a juddering rhythm.[435]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".[77] Brian used Electro-Theremin for the track. Upon release, the single prompted an unexpected revival in theremins while increasing awareness ofanalog synthesizers, leadingMoog Music to produce their own brand ofribbon-controlled instruments.[436][nb 15] In a 1968 editorial forJazz & 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".[136]
DiscussingSmiley 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 language of rock can be compared to those that introducedatonal and other nontraditional techniques into that classical tradition.[438] However, such notions were not widely acknowledged by rock audiences nor by the classically-minded at the time.[439] Harrison concludes: "What influences could these innovations then have? The short answer is, not much.Smiley Smile,Wild Honey,Friends, and20/20 sound like few other rock albums; they aresui generis. ... It must be remembered that the commercial failure of the Beach Boys' experiments was hardly motivation for imitation."[439] MusicologistDavid Toop placed the Beach Boys' innovations alongsideLes Baxter,Aphex Twin,Herbie Hancock,King Tubby, andMy Bloody Valentine.[440]
Sunflower marked an end to the experimental songwriting and production phase initiated bySmiley Smile.[441] AfterSurf'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".[441]
For the artier branches ofpost-punk, Wilson's pained vulnerability, his uses of offbeat instruments and his intricate harmonies, not to mention theSmile saga itself, became a touchstone, fromPere Ubu andXTC toREM [sic] and thePixies toU2 and My Bloody Valentine.
— Music criticCarl Wilson (no relation to Beach Boys member Carl Wilson)[442]
In the 1990s, the Beach Boys experienced a resurgence of popularity with thealternative rock generation.[446] According toSean O'Hagan, leader ofthe High Llamas and former member ofStereolab, a younger generation of record-buyers "stopped listening to indie records" in favor of the Beach Boys.[447][nb 17] Bands who advocated for the Beach Boys included founding members ofthe Elephant 6 Collective (Neutral Milk Hotel,the Olivia Tremor Control,the Apples in Stereo, andof Montreal). United by a shared love of the group's music, they namedPet Sounds Studio in honor of the band.[449][450]Rolling Stone writer Barry Walters wrote in 2000 that albums such asSurf's Up andLove You "are becoming sonic blueprints, akin to what early Velvet Underground LPs meant to the previous indie peer group".[451] The High Llamas,Eric Matthews andSaint Etienne are among the "alt heroes" who contributed cover versions of "unreleased, overlooked or underappreciated Wilson/Beach Boys obscurities" on the tribute albumCaroline Now! (2000).[451]
The Beach Boys remained among the most significant influences on indie rock into the late 2000s.[452]Smile became a touchstone for many bands who were labelled "chamber pop",[442] a term used for artists influenced by the lush orchestrations of Brian Wilson,Lee Hazlewood, and Burt Bacharach.[453]Pitchfork writer Mark Richardson citedSmiley Smile as the origin point of "the kind oflo-fibedroom pop that would later propelSebadoh,Animal Collective, and other characters".[454] TheSunflower track "All I Wanna Do" is also cited as one of the earliest precursors tochillwave, amicrogenre that emerged in 2009.[455][456]
The Wilsons' California house, where the Wilson brothers grew up and the group began, was demolished in 1986 to make way forInterstate 105, the Century Freeway. ABeach Boys Historic Landmark (California Landmark No. 1041 at 3701 West 119th Street), dedicated on May 20, 2005, marks the location.[458]
On December 30, 1980, the Beach Boys were awarded a star on theHollywood Walk of Fame, located at 1500 Vine Street.[459]
On September 2, 1977, the Beach Boys performed before an audience of 40,000 atNarragansett Park inPawtucket, Rhode Island, which remains the largest concert audience in Rhode Island history. On August 9, 2017, a commemoration ceremony produced byAl Gomes and Connie Watrous ofBig 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".[460][461][462][463][464]
On September 21, 2017, the Beach Boys were honored byRoger 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 inPortsmouth, Rhode Island. The concert was the first-ever appearance of South AfricanRicky Fataar as an official member of the band and FilipinoBilly 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.[465][466]
^Nick Venet said that none of the members, including Dennis, surfed until after the fact.[9]
^Since he did not appear on the first performance by the band that would become "the Beach Boys", most historians discount him as a true founding member of the group.[13]
^The only songs the group recorded were two Morgan compositions "Barbie" and "What Is a Young Girl Made Of?"[18]
^He remembered "flipping out [over the Beatles]. I couldn't understand how a group could be just yelled and screamed at. The music they made, 'I Want to Hold Your Hand' for example, wasn't even that great a record, but the[ir fans] just screamed at it. ... It got us off our asses in the studio. [We] said 'look, don't worry about the Beatles, we'll cut our own stuff'."[39] He recalled that he and Love immediately felt threatened by the Beatles, believing that the Beach Boys could never match the excitement created by the Beatles as performers, and that this realization led him to concentrate his efforts on trying to outdo them in the recording studio.[40]
^Contracts at that time stipulated that promoters hire "Carl Wilson plus four other musicians".[52] Additionally, in February, July, and October, Brian rejoined the live group for one-off occasions.[53]
^For example, critics fromRolling Stone were wary of the group's changing music, withRalph J. Gleason writing in January 1968: "The Beach Boys, when they were a reflection of an actuality of American society (i.e., Southern California hot rod, surfing and beer-bust fraternity culture), made music that had vitality and interest. When they went past that, they were forced inexorably to go into electronics and this excursion, for them, is of limited scope, good as the vibrations were."[113]
^Pursuant to the terms of their record contract, when the group missed their May 1973 deadline to deliver theSmile album, Warner Bros. deducted $50,000 from the band's next advance.[184]
^According to Gaines, Guercio may have been fired because members of the group "felt Caribou was being overpaid", although "many observers suggest the Beach Boys followed an old pattern of jettisoning personnel when their financial situation improved".[203] Biographer Mark Dillon states that the tour evaporated due to Dennis' budding romance withKaren Lamm, the ex-wife of Chicago keyboardistRobert Lamm.[200]
^According to Gaines, "When Brian signed the contract, he cried, knowing he would now have to go back to the studio full-time."[225]
^Love later explained that he had been "in a state of extreme sensitivity" after learning that his girlfriend was in a vegetative state following "a horrific car accident".[230]
^It was previously believed they did so as "America's Band", but this was disproven
^Starting with the 1970 sessions for theSurf's Up album, Stephen Desper remembers the emerging corrosive effects of Brian's incessantchain smoking andcocaine use: "He could still do falsettos and stuff, but he'd need Carl to help him. Either that or I'd modify the tape speed-wise to make it artificially higher, so it sounded like the old days."[362]
^The statement in question was: "from 1963 through 1966 Brian used studio musicians on the instrumental tracks".[380][374]
^Carl's lead and rhythm guitar playing is featured on several of the band's singles, including "I Get Around", "Fun, Fun, Fun", "Don't Worry Baby",[383] "When I Grow Up (To Be A Man)", "Do You Wanna Dance?", and "Dance, Dance, Dance".[382]
^Even though the Electro-Theremin was not technically a theremin, the song became the most frequently cited example of the theremin in pop music.[437]
^In 2015, Wilson was asked about punk rock and responded: "I don't know what that is. Punk rock? Punk? What is that? ... Oh yeah. I never went for that. I never went for the fast kind of music. I go for the more medium tempo.Spencer Davis, I liked that."[444]
^When asked how he felt about "reintroducing Brian Wilson as an alternative music hero and getting people back intoPet Sounds andSMiLE", O'Hagan mentioned that a "few of the touring American bands have told me that we did have such an impact, especially in LA".[448]
^Lewis, Randy (November 4, 2005)."Mike Love sues Brian Wilson".Los Angeles Times.Archived from the original on November 6, 2013. RetrievedAugust 4, 2013.
^Sterdan, Darryl (December 16, 2011)."Beach Boys gear up for reunion".Sun Media. Archived from the original on July 9, 2012. RetrievedDecember 16, 2011.
^abc"Brian Wilson, Al Jardine and David Marks announce tour dates".Uncut. March 8, 2013. RetrievedJune 12, 2025.Brian Wilson has announced details of two live shows he will play with fellow former Beach Boys, Al Jardine and David Marks. The announcement of the live date comes after the group fell out with fellow members Mike Love and Bruce Johnston in 2012 when the pair revealed plans to continue playing live under The Beach Boys name, with or without Wilson, Jardine and Marks.
^ab"Brian Wilson urges fans to boycott Beach Boys gig".BBC News. February 4, 2020. RetrievedJune 13, 2025.Brian Wilson is urging fans to boycott a gig by hisformer band The Beach Boys, over trophy hunting fears. [...] Wilson tweeted that he andformer guitarist Al Jardine had nothing to do with the event. [emphasis added]
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Cox, Perry D. (2017). Price and Reference Guide for the Beach Boys American Records (By Perry Cox, Frank Daniels & Mark Galloway. Foreword byJeffrey Foskett). Perry Cox Ent.ISBN978-1532348570.
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