The Beach Boys

The Beach Boys are one of the world's most successful pop and rock bands of the 1960s and early 1970s. They were formed in 1961 by brothers Brian, Dennis and Carl Wilson, their cousin Mike Love and school friend Alan Jardine in Hawthorne, California. Until the mid-1960s, the band recorded numerous chart successes with surf music, and then, guided by Brian Wilson, initially turned to more complex compositions and arrangements.

With their experimental album Pet Sounds, which according to trade journals such as Mojo and Rolling Stone is one of the most important albums in the history of rock music, and the work on the album Smile, they partially renewed the structures of rock and pop music at the time and expanded their musical expression. Special features of their music are catchy melodies and a differentiated, often four-part choral writing using sometimes unusual harmonic sequences. Their lyrics initially mostly evoked teenage longings for a hedonistically oriented and carefree life, but later also addressed serious and problematic issues.

While their success in the USA slowly dwindled from 1967 onwards, the Beach Boys were able to celebrate their greatest successes in Europe until they became more successful again in their homeland in 1974 with the compilation album Endless Summer. In 1988, they added another number one success with Kokomo. The group was represented in the Top 40 of the American Billboard charts for a total of over 50 years.

Dennis Wilson died in 1983 and Carl Wilson in 1998. The three remaining founding members subsequently toured separately with different backing bands. In 2012 they reunited, released a new studio album and embarked on a world tour.

Discography

The Beach Boys released a total of 29 studio albums from 1962 to 2015, as well as three live albums in 1964, 1970, and 1973. Beach Boys Concert is their only regular album to top the Billboard charts.

The band released a total of 75 singles from 1961 to 1996, 58 of which reached the American Billboard charts. Their first listing was the track Surfin, which reached number 75 in November 1961, and their last chart placing was Fun, Fun, Fun (a re-recording together with Status Quo) on February 1, 1996 at number 24 in England. A total of four singles reached number one in the US, and nine worldwide. By their last album That's why god made the Radio, which reached #3 on the Billboard charts in 2012, This was notable - historically - in that it extended the span between a band's first and last top 10 album, to 49 years and 1 week. The Beatles' previous record was 47 years.

In 1966, their record label Capitol Records began releasing best-of collections of the Beach Boys. Three of these compilations reached number one on the charts. In addition, the Beach Boys recorded a dozen albums over the years that were not released. Some songs from these albums appeared on various Beach Boys samplers over the years.

Texts

The band's first albums were about carefree life in California and teenage interests like surfing, girls and fast cars (hot rods). The latter include the Model B Ford that gave the album Little Deuce Coupe its name, as well as the Ford Thunderbird that the protagonist drives in Fun Fun Fun from the follow-up album Shut Down Vol. 2. Brian Wilson put it this way:

In My Room was the first example of a more personal content. Later, the lyrics dealt with other topics and became more personal and complex. On Pet Sounds, which included partly autobiographical lyrics about love, loss of innocence, childhood and growing up, Brian Wilson was assisted by Tony Asher as lyricist. On the Smile album, which was initially unfinished, Wilson moved away from themes of love and romance. His thoughts on the American Dream and transcendentalism were condensed by Van Dyke Parks into surreal and associatively pictorial lyrics, particularly present on Surf's Up! and Heroes & Villains. With these themes, Wilson's music and its arrangements changed.

In the second half of the 1960s, however, the subject matter changed greatly once again. In addition to their experience with Transcendental Meditation, Brian Wilson in particular wrote about everyday experiences, which usually took place in his house - this could be a jar of honey or the anticipation of impending fatherhood. Likewise, Wilson wrote about his personal problems, which manifested itself in the songs Time to Get Alone, Busy Doin' Nothing, and Til I Die.

At the beginning of the 1970s, the themes became more serious again. Besides the reference to problems of capitalism, war, and environmental destruction (example: Don't Go Near the Water from 1971), their love for California was thematized. After the successes of their hit compilations, Mike Love set on the nostalgia wave and tried again increasingly to focus on themes such as surfing, sun, girls and the earlier better times.

Ford Model B Deuce Coupe Hot Rod