10 Songs That Define The Beach Boys’ Career – ryan

The Beach Boys were one of the earliest rock bands and pioneers of surf rock, dominating the 1960s with their upbeat summer hits and melodic vocal harmonies. The band’s lyrics and melodies have graced boomboxes, radios, cassette players, CD players, and streaming services from coast to coast in the summer months for over six decades now. The band was initially formed by brothers Brian, Carl, and Dennis Wilson, along with their cousin, Mike Love, and friend, Al Jardine.

This week has been tough for the music world—after the death of Sly Stone, Brian Wilson, the Beach Boys’ beating heart and primary songwriter, also passed away this week at the age of 82. With countless bands covering their music, numerous films and TV shows featuring their songs, and their seemingly endless contributions to popular culture over the years, The Beach Boys have certainly withstood the test of time. In the wake of Wilson’s death, here are the ten songs that defined The Beach Boy’s truly legendary career.

10

Surfin’ U.S.A.

Surfin’ U.S.A. (1963)

“Surfin’ U.S.A.” was really The Beach Boys’ first big hit. They were coming off the heels of their debut album, Surfin’ Safari, the title track of which was their first top 20 hit on the Billboard Hot 100, but as the lead single and title track of their sophomore album, “Surfin’ U.S.A.” peaked at number three on the Billboard Hot 100, and effectively launched The Beach Boys into a whole new level of stardom.

“Surfin’ U.S.A.” was a collaboration with the father of rock ‘n’ roll, Chuck Berry, with Brian Wilson’s lyrics set to a reworked version of Berry’s “Sweet Little Sixteen.” It was also the first of many odes that the band wrote for the California coast. The lyrics discuss an idyllic world where, “If everybody had an ocean / Across the U.S.A. / Then everybody’d be surfin’ / Like Californ-i-a.” Mike Love’s lead vocals on the track, complimented by the Wilson brothers’ harmonies, were the perfect way to introduce The Beach Boys to those who weren’t yet familiar with them.

9

Fun, Fun, Fun

Shut Down Volume 2 (1964)

“Fun, Fun, Fun” was the lead single from The Beach Boys’ fifth studio album, and it peaked at number five on the Billboard Hot 100. If you close your eyes while this song is playing, you are immediately transported to a beachside highway, top down in the car, speeding along with the wind in your hair. The way Mike Love sings the first line, “Well, she got her daddy’s car / And she cruised through the hamburger stand, now,” just oozes summertime nostalgia.

This song is also a quintessential teen track, the chorus boasting “And she’ll have fun, fun, fun till her daddy takes the T-bird away.” On top of the summer nostalgia, the song brings about feelings of rebelling as a teenager, and having as much fun as you can before your parents stop you. It’s also worth noting that the introductory guitar riff is among the most famous not only in The Beach Boys’ discography, but of the 20th century.

8

I Get Around

All Summer Long (1964)

The lead single from their album, All Summer Long, “I Get Around” was The Beach Boys’ first number one hit. The introduction starts with two distinct guitar strums, which stop abruptly before the five members launch into a roughly six-second acappella sequence. Despite it only being six seconds long, that sequence captures your attention in a snap, and at that point, you’re completely locked in for the rest of the song.

The instruments start to fade in, one by one for the first 20 seconds of the song, before the tone shifts and the first verse begins. The introduction makes a few more appearances throughout the song as the chorus, and Mike Love’s lead vocals are more and more hypnotic each time, especially with the rest of the band harmonizing. As it goes on, the fact that this song made it to the number one spot on the charts becomes clear as day.

7

Help Me, Rhonda

Summer Days (And Summer Nights!!) (1965)

“Help Me, Rhonda” was The Beach Boys’ second number one hit, and was released on their ninth studio album, Summer Days (And Summer Nights!!) ​​​​​. The guitar riff between the lyrics has a traditional quality, reminiscent of the easy-listening music of the ’50s, possibly even ’40s. The overall sound produced by both the guitar and the vocal harmonies sounds like a mixture of jazz and doo-wop, and almost makes the song sound like it was released much earlier than it was.

The chorus sounds like it was pulled straight out of an oldies bar in the early 20th century, with Al Jardine singing lead vocals for a change, and Mike Love and the Wilson brothers harmonizing in the background. As Jardine sang “Help me Rhonda, help, help me, Rhonda,” the backing vocals included a repeated, deep and upbeat, “Womp, womp, womp,” line sort of in place of a bass, which really brought out the doo-wop qualities of the song.

6

California Girls

Summer Days (And Summer Nights!!) (1965)

Following the success of “Help Me, Rhonda,” The Beach Boys released “California Girls” as the second single from the same album. Though it didn’t quite make it to number one, the song peaked at number three on the Billboard Hot 100, making it the ninth top ten hit for the band. Stylistically, it contrasted well with “Help Me, Rhonda” as it returned the band to their typical Bohemian sound, while still retaining some bluesy undertones.

Brian Wilson’s lyrics detail his appreciation for the girls in different parts of the country, the first verse of the song specifically detailing women in different regions of the US:

Well, East Coast girls are hip

I really dig those styles they wear

And the Southern girls with the way they talk

They knock me out when I’m down there

The Midwest farmer’s daughters really make you feel alright

And the Northern girls with the way they kiss

They keep their boyfriends warm at night

In the chorus, Mike Love sings Wilson’s lyrics, simply explaining that he wishes all the women from each region could just be California girls. The song is a classic Beach Boys hit, for many reasons, but perhaps the most obvious being their love for the state of California.

5

Barbara Ann

Beach Boys’ Party! (1965)

Similar to “I Get Around,” “Barbara Ann” starts with a sort of acappella harmony in which Brian Wilson, along with guest vocalist Dean Torrence of Jack and Dean, sing, “Ah, bar, bar, bar, bar, Barbara Ann,” before the rest of the Beach Boys jump in to harmonize in the background. A little-known fact about this song is that it was actually a cover, and the song was originally written for The Regents, a doo-wop vocal group from New York who recorded the song in the early ’60s.

Though it wasn’t written by The Beach Boys, they did make “Barbara Ann” famous, and their recording has become a cultural staple in nearly every aspect of American society. Though it never reached the number one spot, The Beach Boys’ version of the song peaked at number two on the Billboard Hot 100, and has been featured in a handful of films and TV episodes.

4

Wouldn’t It Be Nice

Pet Sounds (1966)

The Beach Boys’ platinum record, Pet Sounds, is regarded by many as their greatest album, and it opens with one of their most widely known and beloved songs, “Wouldn’t It Be Nice.” The track opens with an instantly recognizable, dream-like tropical sequence on a 12-string guitar, before Brian Wilson launches into some of the most famous lyrics of their nearly 30 album discography.

The lyrics are relatively somber, detailing a young couple and what would be their perfect existence once they were married, dreaming of what life has to offer them down the line. In an interview for the Pet Sounds booklet, Wilson said of the song, “It expresses the frustration of youth, what you can’t have, what you really want, and you have to wait for it.” (AlbumLinerNotes.com) The song resonated with many of The Beach Boys’ young fans, and having peaked at number eight on the Billboard Hot 100, it was solidified as one of the band’s greatest hits.

3

God Only Knows

Pet Sounds (1966)

Perhaps the most beautiful love song in The Beach Boys’ entire body of work is “God Only Knows,” which was actually the b-side to “Wouldn’t It Be Nice.” The song opens with a classical-sounding symphony of at least a half-dozen instruments, including sleigh bells which kept the steady beat of the introduction. When Carl Wilson begins singing the first verse, it feels as though the world stops turning for just a moment, and his melodic, dream-like vocals occupy the listener’s complete focus.

The musical composition of the song is unconventional, as even someone without any knowledge of music theory can pretty clearly tell in the verses especially, but instead of distracting the listener, the oddness of the track contributes even more to its overall greatness. The lines of the refrain are enough to take your breath away as Wilson sings, “God only knows what I’d be without you,” characterizing this track as one of the most gorgeous ballads of all time.

2

Good Vibrations

Smiley Smile (1966)

“Good Vibrations,” as a song and as a general concept and staple of popular culture, is among The Beach Boys’ best contributions to society at large. It was the band’s third single to reach the number one spot on the Billboard Hot 100, and it also reached the number one spot in Australia and the UK. The song was a joint effort, with the music being written by Brian Wilson and the lyrics written by Mike Love.

The song has an episodic sort of composition as it ebbs and flows between the verses and the chorus, and the vocal harmonies remain a driving force on this track, especially as Love, Brian, and Carl Wilson trade off lead vocals. This song also has a much more psychedelic sound than many of their previous hits; where the psychedelic aspect has been present most of the time throughout their music, it really takes center stage on “Good Vibrations.”

1

Kokomo

Still Cruisin’ (1988)

“Kokomo” was effectively The Beach Boys’ resurgence. It wasn’t that they stopped making music in the ’70s and ’80s, but there was a notable dip in production quality from that of the ’60s, when The Beach Boys seemed to have at least two or three hits per year. “Kokomo” was not only their first original song since 1966 to reach platinum sales, it was also their fourth and final song to reach the number one spot in the Billboard Hot 100.

The song has a wildly different sound than any of their 1960s hits. It still has a beach-like Bohemian sort of sound, but it is much more laid back than their previous hits, and notably absent from the recording is Brian Wilson, who was working on his first solo album at the time. The song is heavy on percussion, and sounds more like a summer night than most of The Beach Boys’ hits, which had a strong summer afternoon feel. As their final megahit of the century, that shift in sound is certainly fitting.