Beach Boys bask in history for first book
Given the iconic stature of The Beach Boys, you may assume the band committed their history to book form long ago.
But the surf-rock heroes behind “California Girls,” “I Get Around,” “Good Vibrations” and a seeming million other everlasting hits never told their official story. Until their new anthology.
“The Beach Boys” by The Beach Boys (Genesis Publications, available now) is the first time in the band’s history that the words of Brian Wilson, Mike Love, Al Jardine, Bruce Johnston and Dennis Wilson and Carl Wilson (who died in 1983 and 1998, respectively) have been compiled to explain and expound on The Beach Boys’ multilayered history.
The 400 pages of letters, lyrics, anecdotes and photos bound in a hefty hardcover is a trove of musical milestones. There are hundreds of richly detailed stories about the creation of songs, the struggles, tragedies and triumphs (or maybe the “Heroes and Villains?”). Here are five highlights from the book.
The Beach Boys’ iconic Washington, D.C., concert
It was Mike Love’s idea to play the National Mall on the Fourth of July in 1980. Nearly half a million people turned out for what Brian Wilson said was “a highlight of my career.”
“Because of what we sang, we became America’s band,” Love recalls in the book.
But while Wilson dubbed the experience “fun,” Al Jardine found it “terrifying” to play in front of a “sea of humanity.”
Johnston shares how he joined The Beach Boys
After filling in with the band for a couple of shows in 1965, Johnston thought he would be “a Beach Boy for the weekend” who borrowed his white pants and striped shirt from Jardine. But the band was immediately impressed with the 22-year-old producer and keyboardist (who would also go on to write Barry Manilow’s “I Write the Songs”) and after returning to his L.A. home, Johnston received a call from Carl Wilson asking him to continue to tour with the band.
Johnston’s falsetto – and his ability to learn bass, which The Beach Boys needed at the time – was another key addition to the band, as Love notes that Johnston was the only member who could hit the high notes at the end of “Fun Fun Fun.”
Brian Wilson stops touring with The Beach Boys
While working on “The Beach Boys Today” album, Brian Wilson informed the band that he could no longer balance recording and performing. While he was confident in the future of the group, Wilson felt continued success could only be attained “if they did their job and I did mine.”
While the band was, in Wilson’s description, “shaken” at his decision, Jardine understood his reasoning.
“His job was to produce and ours was to tour and be ambassadors to the world,” Jardine said.
Carl Wilson, whom Brian praises as “the greatest stabilizing influence in the group,” stepped into the leadership role and kept The Beach Boys on the road, mostly because, Carl said, “it was too much fun to stop.”
Mike Love goes to India with the Beatles
The Beatles’ involvement with Indian guru Maharishi Mahesh Yogi is well-established as an influence on the band’s mental state and musical approach in the late ‘60s. But the Maharishi wanted The Beach Boys to understand and preach his teachings as well, so when the band played Paris in 1967, the Beatles were in the front row to later talk with The Beach Boys about their spiritual leader.
A few months later in February 1968, Love visited India with the Beatles to spend time with the Maharishi. Love remembers McCartney playing him “Back in the U.S.S.R.” before the song had its bridge and suggested he add lyrics about “all of the girls around Russia.” McCartney accepted Love’s idea (“And Moscow girls make me sing and shout/That Georgia's always on my mind”) and crafted the bridge to the song that became the opening track on “The White Album.”
The lore of The Beach Boys’ ‘God Only Knows’
One of the most exquisite compositions in music history was written by Brian Wilson in seven minutes. Carl Wilson said Brian wanted him to sing lead vocals on the ballad because “it fit my beautiful spirit," Carl Wilson recalled in the book.
Johnston remembers recording the vocals for the song, paring down the harmonies to just Carl and Brian Wilson and himself. Brian Wilson, ever the perfectionist, then doubled each vocal. The result, Johnston said, was like, “one of those sweet Crosby, Stills & Nash recordings that was yet to come.”