Artist · EveryDisc catalogue

The Beach Boys

An American rock band. The core of the ensemble during their years of creative activity consisted of the Wilson brothers—Brian (bass guitar, vocals), Dennis (drums), and Carl (lead guitar, vocals), their cousin Mike Love (vocals), and their common friend Alan Jardine (rhythm guitar, vocals); later Bruce Johnston joined the band. Early rock and roll and vocal groups of the 1950s influenced the development of the band's musical style. The group's success was brought by harmonic songs in the surf rock genre, describing the sea, sunny beaches, and sports cars ("Surfin’ U.S.A.," "Surfer Girl," "Little Deuce Coupe"); the peak of The Beach Boys' popularity in America came in the mid-1960s, when such hits as "Fun, Fun, Fun," "I Get Around," "Help Me, Rhonda," and "California Girls," which told about the life of California youth, were released. In the conditions of the "British invasion," the group's leader Brian Wilson began to change the sound and themes of the songs; the culmination of this development was one of the very first concept albums—"Pet Sounds" (1966), which had a transformative significance in the rock music of that time. The next project—the album "Smile" (1967)—turned out to be unfinished; the only released song from it—"Good Vibrations" (1966)—became one of the group's biggest hits. The failure with "Smile," the refusal to perform at the Monterey Rock Festival (1967), and uncertainty about the further musical direction ultimately alienated the music press and were the cause of a sharp drop in the group's popularity in the US. Singles and albums of the late 1960s–early 1970s for the most part suffered a commercial fiasco. After Brian Wilson began to distance himself from the group's affairs after the failure with "Smile," the remaining members of the ensemble began to delve into the intricacies of studio work; by the beginning of the 1970s, Carl Wilson became the leader of the collective. Widespread popularity in America returned to The Beach Boys after the release of the collection "Endless Summer" (1974), and the group turned to its rock and roll roots, recording the album "15 Big Ones" (1976). Towards the end of the 1970s, the group's popularity fell again, and after the album "Keepin’ the Summer Alive" (1980), The Beach Boys stopped regularly recording studio albums. In 1983, Dennis Wilson died, and from the mid-1980s, Brian Wilson stopped participating in the group's activities, appearing in the studio and at concerts only in exceptional cases. In 1988, the collective was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame; that same year, "Kokomo" became the fourth single of the group to top the American charts. In 1998, Carl Wilson died of cancer. The remaining members of the group continue to give concerts—both under the name The Beach Boys and under other names.