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The Beach Boys
From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist
The Beach Boys is an American band from Hawthorne in California, founded in 1961 by the brothers Brian, Dennis and Carl Wilson, their cousin Mike Love and their friend Al Jardine. As a teenager Brian learned to pick apart the harmonies of groups such as The Four Freshmen and taught his family the backing parts. Dennis was the only real surfer and suggested singing about surfing. That is how Surfin', the first single, came about, on which, to their own surprise, the band turned out to be called The Beach Boys.
Music and breakthrough
At Capitol, from 1962 one hit followed another, with songs about surfing, cars and girls: Surfin' Safari, Surfin' U.S.A. (1963), Fun, Fun, Fun and I Get Around, their first number 1. At the end of 1964 Brian stopped touring to concentrate on writing and producing. With studio musicians from Los Angeles he made ever richer arrangements, with influences from classical music and jazz. That led to Pet Sounds and the single Good Vibrations (1966). The planned album Smile was never completed, and after that Carl Wilson increasingly took over the leadership.
Influence
The Beach Boys set themselves apart from other surf bands, which mainly made instrumental music with a lot of reverb, through their five-part harmonies. Brian combined rock 'n' roll, rhythm and blues and the harmonies of older vocal groups. Pet Sounds was an inspiration to The Beatles for Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, and the band helped to get pop music taken seriously as an art form.
Listening
Surfin' U.S.A. · The Beach Boys, 1963Apple Music ↗
Discography
Studio albums
- 1962Surfin’ Safari
- 1963Little Deuce Coupe
- 1963Surfer Girl
- 1963Surfin’ USA
- 1964All Summer Long
- 1964Shut Down, Volume 2
- 1964The Beach Boys’ Christmas Album
- 1965Beach Boys’ Party!
- 1965Summer Days (and Summer Nights!!)
- 1965The Beach Boys Today!
- 1966Pet Sounds
- 1967Smiley Smile
- 1967Wild Honey
- 1968Friends
- 196920/20
- 1970Sunflower
- 1971Surf's Up
- 1972Carl and the Passions: “So Tough”
- 1973Holland
- 197615 Big Ones
- 1977Love You
- 1978M.I.U. Album
- 1979L.A. (Light Album)
- 1980Keepin’ the Summer Alive
- 1985The Beach Boys’ Christmas Album
- 1989Still Cruisin’
- 1992Summer in Paradise
- 1996Stars & Stripes, Volume 1
- 1997GOOD VIBRATIONS
- 1998Endless Harmony (soundtrack)
- 2012That’s Why God Made the Radio
In School of Rock
The chapters, maps and magazine stories of School of Rock are currently available in Dutch only.
- Mixtape 3: The BeatlesNL Reader
Mentioned in other articles
- Surf rock Genre
The Beach Boys turned it into vocal music, with multi-part harmonies; Brian Wilson later developed from this the studio records with which he challenged The Beatles.
- The studio as instrument Technology
In Los Angeles, Brian Wilson of The Beach Boys built Pet Sounds with studio musicians.