THE BEACH BOYS: Number 3 of TRILOGY

 

THEY’LL BE DANCING ON BANDSTAND.. PHILADELPHIA PA.

 

The screen flashes. Les Elgart’s “Bandstand Boogie” can be heard. Dick Clark comes from behind the curtain. The youth start dancin’ Clark introduces the #1 rock band in the nation. It’s the Beach Boys. They lip synch “Don’t worry baby.” The crowd roars. It’s an American Dream based on reality in the fall of 1963. JFK is in the White House. This part of the 60’s was according to U.S. News and World Report, the “surfboard craze.”

 

Other than their first album, all albums go gold or top 10 in the 60’s in US and/orUK. By 65’ an estimated 15 million singles have been sold. The group hails from greater L.A. and the Wilson brothers attended Hawthorne High. Cousin Mike Love was a Dosey High Don, and Bruce Johnston went to prestigious University High with Nancy Sinatra, Dean Torrance, and James Brolin.

 

When you go to Google and look up Hawthorne High, they give you the jargon of the time. Much of it went into the Wilson-Love songs in a Wilson-Specter wall of sound.

The Beach Boys are boss.

 

After the band retires from the set, Clark asks a teen if the Beach Boys will last. He says

"no." Forty years later, they are still performing and are known by 90% of the households in the USA.

 

THE GOLD ERA

 

As an early 60’s band, their optimistic music became soiled by the Vietnam War in only the United States. Nearly all the albums went to the top ten in UK and the band spent years over seas playing to capacity crowds. In the states, teens were buying compilations, overseas the consumer wanted the new material. By the end of the 60’s, their last album with EMI went to # 3 in England and stayed on the charts in what seemed like forever.

 

TEEN SCRAPBOOK, February of 65’ proclaimed that the Beachboys (yes that’s how they spelled it) had a gift for each reader. It was a chance to win a surfboard. It was a great deal because as each member stated, they all surfed. (Really?) Al (tenor/baritone/falsetto/ rhythm guitar) taught his girl friend how to surf. Carl (tenor/falsetto/lead guitar) surfed after school, because the ocean was near his home. (Okay.) Dennis (tenor/baritone/percussion) liked to surf in Hawaii. (Well, that one is true.) Brian(alto/falsetto, keyboards/bass) used to surf, but had to give it up because he was busy writing songs. (Wow!) Mike (baritone/bass/saxophone/therim) liked to surf but had trouble on the board.(Who knows?)

 

Now how is that for creative journalism? None of them surfed, save Dennis, but for this teen mag, they all could hang- ten.

 

HIT PRADER, September of 65’ was a little more accurate. They appeared to actually interview the band. Brian said that he wanted his records to be both commercial and critical hits. They all had short hair except Dennis( sex roles were rigid in those days.)

(Long hair meant that you were gay or a traitor. Brits could wear long hair, because to Americans at the time, most Brits were gay.)

 

 

THE ALBUMS

 

By the 70’s, the group moved into one of it’s most creative era with albums celebrating the environment, religion, mysticism, and sea faring. In the midst of that, a number of albums went to the top. Randall Cross of EMI chose a selection of previously recorded hits and excellent album cuts. With the help of Mike Love, ENDLESS SUMMER( a movie of 64’ had the same title) went to #1, SPIRIT OF AMERICA to #8, and 15 BIG ONES to #8. Along with CONCERT, and GOOD VIBRATIONS-BEST OF, 20 GOLDEN GREATS, LIVE IN LONDON, all went gold and 4 previously released albums of the 60’s charted. The decade ended with an extremely enchanting and reflective LA LIGHT.

 

The size of the crowds was huge. When they jammed with Chicago and Elton John, security worried that the bleachers would collapse. Yanks wanted the band, because they wanted to go back to a time that was described as “innocent.” In the mean time, numerous other groups made knock off, cloned Beach boys’ sounds, but the band garnered every honor including the cover of ROLLING STONE and PEOPLE magazine.

 

THE SINGLES

 

Throughout the 80’s numerous singles began to chart. This included the #1 Kokomo, as well as chart toppers like “Come Go With Me” “Beach Boys Medley” “ Wipe Out” “Getcha Back” and “California Dreamin’” “Keepin’ the Summer Alive” “Goin’ On”

"What You Do To Me" "It's Getting Late" "Good Music" and "Still Cruisin'"

 

By now, each member had his own solo album(s.) Brian’s first album nearly went gold with sales of 450,000. Dennis got a quarter of a million consumers, and Mike produced a 4 star Allmusic.com praise. Carl had two very good albums. Bruce scored a big one with “I write the songs” which sold 20 million copies and garnered a Grammy. Al produced the M.I.U. album, and his Beach Band recorded an excellent “Live from Las Vegas.”

 

The 80’s again attracted millions of people. On one Fourth of July, they played 2 concerts to 1.5 million in Philly and Washington DC. Every president from Jimmy Carter onward has had the group to the White house.

 

DIVERSITY

 

The early 90’s produced a gold album in STILL CRISIN’ and their box set went gold. NEWSWEEK proclaimed that the Beach Boys had creatively caught up with Beatles.

By this time, tribute bands as well as the Beach Boys moved into country, jazz, classical, and other genre. At the end of the 90’s they had 22 albums that hit the top ten, and 35 top 40’s (US and/or UK) and over 90 hits (240 hits world wide.) MOJO placed “Good Vibrations” as the #1 song of the century and now platinum honored “Pet Sounds” got the #1 album of the rock era spanning from the 50’s onward.

 

THE 21ST CENTURY/BRIAN IS BACK.

 

With the death of Carl and Dennis, the Beach boys divided into 3 groups because they had creative differences. Brian and the Wondermints play to smaller venues, but also were invited by Sir Paul McCartney to be the only American Rock band to perform in the QUEEN’S JUBLILEE. Brian also opened for Paul Simon. Brian and Sir Paul also traded songs on stage for the fight against land mines. Brian and his band have received excellent reviews.

 

Al’s Beach Band could be called the next generation. At any one time, he has many of the old Endless Summer back up musicians, his two sons, and Brian’s two daughters. Again, they play to smaller venues but also incorporate more album cuts.

 

The big money maker that brings the crowds is the touring BEACH BOYS. It includes

Mike and Bruce along with a rotation of other musicians and vocalists. This is the Beach Boys that causal fans know and they play what the public wants to hear. Indoors, they have more harmony oriented songs and outside more up-tempo numbers.

 

ENDLESS SUMMERS

 

Dick Clark noted that the Beach Boys started with surf craze, moved to cars, and then became a trend unto themselves. Even today, the band endures and survives in dashboard dreams. They rank right up there with the Beatles and the Stones with album and singles at about 100 million. Further, one or all three of the Beach Boys bands may be playing somewhere in the world on any given evening. One night, they did not have a capacity crowd in North Platte, Nebraska. It made the news. North Platte is a wonderful place that I went to as a kid, but it is in the middle of nowhere and the Wednesday night Bruce and Mike played, it was outside and the weather was in the high 90’s in both temperature and humidity. In my hometown, the touring Beach Boys gave a concert sponsored by a local bank. 65,000 showed up.

 

They’re America’s band that has endured every hardship, but finally came into their own place in the cosmos. They have an excellent story to tell with all the drama of an exciting movie. Is it horizon? Or is it sunset? Will there be another new album, will they ever unite for just one concert, how long can they last? Mike Love* is in his 60’s, but has the body of 30 year old. Originally, he and Al representing the Beach Boys, along with Mick Jagger of the Stones, and all the Beatles communed with the Mahirishi. T.M. has kept Love in good shape. He and Bruce do about 200 gigs a year. Thus, they out perform McCartney and the Stones. If it is hotdogs and the 4th of July, think Beach Boys.

 

How long can they last?

 

Time will tell. Surf’s up.

 

(Sorry! The Internet says that the Beach Boys are part of the Illuminati conspiracy. I doubt it. They do say that EMI Capitol sees them and the Beatles as cash cows. Hundreds of compilations have surfaced from the band and with each there is a REALLY nice mark up. The latest cost of a CD is 13 cents. The band members get a little and the rest goes to those nice folks in the recording industry. There are really only 5 recording companies left.) (Allmusic.com sees the band as positive, energetic, psychedelic pop, summery, sophisticated, quirky, and soothing.) (If you want to know anything and everything about the band, there is only one. It’s Andrew Doe. Go to Google and key in Andrew Doe…..Beach Boys. Also want to thank Val Johnson-Howe of Beach Boys Britain and Patricia Ferelli of Mike Love Fan Club.) (I drew many of my statistics from earlier Billboards. It is unfair to judge the group sales today versus some new groups. If you compare the Beach Boys to the Backstreet Boys,the second group has sizable sales because gold and platinum albums are not adjusted for inflated populations. When the Beach Boys first surfaced, there were about 100 million LESS people in the USA. Additionally, in those days, an album was introduced to the public one country at a time. Today, much of the world has the same promotion at the same time. There is also heavy promotion and rotation on MTV and Spanish stations. In the last 20 years, the Hispanic population has more than doubled. Thus, there are changes. The population of the world has doubled since the Beach Boys were born.)

 

(*Happy Birthday, Michael Love. Every March 15th, he gets up and puts on “Spiritual Regeneration” a song written and performed by Lennon and McCartney. If you listen closely, it is a birthday song to Michael.)