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The Beach Boys

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The Beach Boys were an enormously successful pop group of the 1960s whose popularity has lasted into the twenty-first century. They were formed in 1961 by brothers Carl, Dennis and Brian Wilson with cousin Mike Love and friend Al Jardine. The group's close vocal harmonies showed the influence of The Four Freshmen. David Marks appeared on their first five albums and was a member from 1962 to 1963.

At first their career was steered by the Wilsons' father Murry, who engineered their signing with Capitol Records. Their early material focused on the Californian youth lifestyle (e.g. "All Summer Long", "Fun, Fun, Fun"), cars ("Little Deuce Coupe") and, as often as not, Dennis' hobby of surfing (as heard on "Surfin'", "Surfin' Safari," and many others). As did their great rivals the Beatles, the Beach Boys showed very fast development during this period, drawing upon the innovations of songwriters and producers such as Burt Bacharach and Phil Spector. They produced the enduring classic "California Girls" in 1965, a banner year for popular music which also saw similarly advanced singles by the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, the Byrds and James Brown. But it was the Beach Boys' role to create a myth of American freedom and a dream of adolescence (and, increasingly, to articulate a dread of what lay after adolescence).

As the 1960s progressed Brian Wilson began to withdraw from touring, concentrating on producing studio recordings of ever-increasing complexity. It was at this time that Bruce Johnston joined the group as a touring replacement for Brian. He later became an integral member. Brian's mastery of the recording studio culminated with Pet Sounds (1966), and a sequence of tracks (including "God Only Knows" and "Wouldn't It Be Nice" on Pet Sounds, and "Good Vibrations," completed after Pet Sounds) whose meticulously layered and inventive instrumentation (provided by the cream of Los Angeles session musicians) set a new standard for popular music. Lyrically and musically the album is one of the most evocative of the decade, with a distinctive strain of melancholy and nostalgia for youth. The album is still widely regarded as a classic.

Seeking to improve upon Pet Sounds proved too much for Brian Wilson. A perfectionist in the studio, he suffered a nervous breakdown while working on Smile, not helped by his reliance on both prescription and illegal drugs. Some of the tracks were salvaged and re-recorded for Smiley Smile, but Smile itself, as a concept, would not surface until Wilson completed and rerecorded it as a solo project in 2004. The 1967 album Wild Honey is regarded by some critics and listeners as equal if not superior to Pet Sounds and features a prescient cover of Stevie Wonder's "I Was Made to Love Her." Wild Honey and its hit single "Darlin'" also marked the end of the Beach Boys as a major commercial entity, with subsequent releases faring far less well than those previous.

Despite Brian's deteriorating health, the band continued to work, recording Friends, 20/20, Sunflower and 1971's Surf's Up, the title track of which was an original work from a 1966 collaboration with songwriter Van Dyke Parks, who had started working with Brian Wilson during the Smile sessions. 1973's Holland received mixed reviews. "Sail on Sailor," one of the most emblematic of Beach Boys songs, hit the charts in both 1973 and 1975.

During the 1970s Brian abused drugs and gained an enormous amount of weight. In 1977 the Beach Boys released the LP Love You, a collection of songs that reflected both his retreat from the world ("Johnny Carson," "Solar System") and his continued genius as a musical thinker ("Airplane," "The Night Was So Young"). "If Mars had life on it/I might find my wife on it" from "Solar System" sums up the oddball preoccupations of Love You, which has since gained the status of a classic within the Beach Boys' oeuvre. Members of the band made appearances on sitcoms such as Full House (starring sometime drummer John Stamos) and Home Improvement in the 1990s.

Dennis Wilson drowned in 1983, and Carl Wilson died in 1998 from lung cancer.

Currently, the group touring under the Beach Boys name consists of Mike Love and Bruce Johnston and supporting performers (often jokingly called The Jukebox). Brian Wilson tours under his own name with The Wondermints as supporting band, and Al Jardine tours with the Alan Jardine Family & Friends Beach Band, featuring his sons Matt and Adam, Brian's daughters Carnie and Wendy, and Carl's brother-in-law Billy Hinsche, among others. Due to a series of legal tussles in the mid-90s over the ownership of the Beach Boys name, and Brian's career as a solo touring artist, the original group no longer exists as a recording or touring unit.

The group was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1988 and into the Vocal Group Hall of Fame in 1998.

Primary Album Discography

Album Availability

With the exception of Pet Sounds,The Beach Boys' Christmas Album and the three albums since 1989, all the Beach Boys albums are available in a two LP on one CD format. These releases also include bonus tracks for the 60s albums.

Pet Sounds is available on both CD and DVD-Audio. A four disc box set including numerous outtakes and alternate versions is also available.

The Beach Boys' Christmas Album is available both on its own and as part of the Ultimate Christmas album which includes tracks from an aborted 1978 christmas album.

Still Cruisin`, Summer in Paradise and Stars and Stripes Vol. 1 can also be found on CD.

The 1993 box set Good Vibrations - Thirty Years of the Beach Boys presents a comprehensive review of the groups career plus a number of rare tracks including some from the legendary Smile sessions.

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