timeline

The Beach Boys

Three brothers, a cousin and a friend from Hawthorne, California, whose harmonies, and Brian Wilson's studio work, took them from surf songs to Pet Sounds and Good Vibrations.

Origin
Hawthorne, California, United States
Years active
1961-present
Genres
rock, pop, surf music, psychedelic pop
Labels
Candix, Capitol, Brother, Reprise, CBS

Hawthorne

On his sixteenth birthday in June 1958 Brian Wilson shared a bedroom in Hawthorne with his brothers Dennis and Carl. He had listened closely to vocal groups such as the Four Freshmen, and that year he got a reel-to-reel tape recorder and taught himself to overdub. His cousin Mike Love and his school friend Al Jardine joined the family group. Dennis, the only keen surfer among them, suggested songs about the sport. Brian finished Surfin' and wrote Surfin' Safari with Love, who also supplied the first name, the Pendletones. When the single Surfin' came out on Candix on 27 November 1961 the band found they had been renamed the Beach Boys. It reached number 75 on the Hot 100.

Their father Murry managed them. After Dot and Liberty turned them down they signed to Capitol, and Surfin' Safari reached number 14. Surfin' U.S.A. followed in March 1963 and reached number 2. During those sessions Brian began double tracking the group's vocals. The band dismissed Murry as manager in April 1964, while recording I Get Around, which went to number 1 in the US and Canada that summer.

The studio years

In December 1964 Brian had a panic attack on a flight from Los Angeles to Houston, and in January 1965 he announced that he would stop touring to concentrate on songwriting and production. Glen Campbell stood in, and Bruce Johnston became a full-time member in April 1965. The Beach Boys Today! arrived in March 1965 with orchestral arrangements, no songs about cars or surfing, and a ballad side that later writers heard as a step toward what came next.

That was Pet Sounds, released on 16 May 1966. Brian wrote it with the lyricist Tony Asher and recorded the backing tracks with the studio players later known as the Wrecking Crew. It reached number 10 in the US and number 2 in Britain, where the band's publicist Derek Taylor is credited with helping it succeed. It held Wouldn't It Be Nice and God Only Knows. In October came the single Good Vibrations, built from sections recorded in four Hollywood studios between February and September 1966. It went to number 1 in the US and Britain. Brian then started the album Smile with Van Dyke Parks, but it was shelved in 1967, and Smiley Smile, which peaked at number 41 in the US, took its place.

Reprise and after

Van Dyke Parks brokered a deal with Reprise in 1970. Sunflower was praised in the US and Britain but became the worst-selling album in the group's history. The new manager Jack Rieley pushed the band toward topical lyrics, and in 1971 Brian let Carl and Rieley finish an old Smile song for Surf's Up. That album reached number 29 in the US, their best placing for a record of new songs since 1967. Blondie Chaplin and Ricky Fataar joined in 1972. The compilation Endless Summer became a number 1 US album in October 1974, and at the end of that year Rolling Stone named them Band of the Year for their live shows.

By the late 1980s Brian was largely estranged from the band. Dennis drowned in December 1983, and in 1988 Kokomo gave them their first US number 1 single in 22 years. The original five members entered the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame that year.

Since 1998

Carl died on 6 February 1998, aged 51, and Jardine left the band. Love, with Johnston and Marks, toured as the Beach Boys from 4 July 1998 under a licence, and a legal dispute with Jardine was later settled out of court. The Smile Sessions appeared in October 2011 and won a Grammy for Best Historical Album. Wilson, Love, Jardine, Johnston and Marks reunited for the album That's Why God Made the Radio and a tour in 2012. Brian Wilson died on 11 June 2025, aged 82, and Johnston announced in March 2026 that he was leaving the band.

The group has sold more than 100 million records and has had 37 songs in the US top 40, the most by an American band. Rolling Stone ranked them number 12 among the greatest artists in 2004. In 2004 the Library of Congress added Pet Sounds to the National Recording Registry. There are 7,603 logged setlists.

Members

Records

Songs

The Beatles, Phil Spector, The Four Freshmen, Van Dyke Parks

Where to go next

Official

Reference

  • The Beach Boys A long history of the band, its lineups and its legacy.
  • Pet Sounds A detailed account of the writing, recording and reception of the 1966 album.
  • The Smile Sessions How the 2011 box set reconstructed the unfinished album.

Discography and data

Writing and criticism

Sources

  1. The Beach Boys, Wikipedia
  2. Pet Sounds, Wikipedia
  3. The Beach Boys Today!, Wikipedia
  4. Surf's Up (album), Wikipedia
  5. The Beach Boys: Pet Sounds, 40th anniversary, Pitchfork
  6. The Beach Boys: The Smile Sessions, Pitchfork
  7. The Beach Boys, MusicBrainz