The Beach Boys Overview
The Beach Boys Greatest Hits is a review of their singing career on the pop charts. The Beach Boys are an American rock band that was formed in Hawthorne, California in 1961. The group’s original lineup consisted of brother’s Brian, Dennis and Carl Wilson, their cousin Mike Love, and a friend Al Jardine. The Beach Boys were managed by Brian Wilson’s farther Murray. In 1962, they signed a contract with Capitol Records. To date, they have sold over 100 million records worldwide. This is their story…
Early Formation
At age 16, Brian Wilson shared a bedroom with his brothers, Dennis and Carl, in their family home in Hawthorne. He watched his father, Murry, play piano and listened intently to the harmonies of vocal groups like “The Four Freshmen”. One night he taught his brothers a song called “Ivory Tower” and how to sing the background harmonies. For his 16th birthday, Brian was given a reel-to-reel tape recorder. He learned how to overdub, using his vocals and those of Carl and their mother. Brian would play piano with Carl and David Marks (an eleven-year-old longtime neighbor) playing the guitars they got as Christmas presents.
Brian was avidly listening to Johnny Otis on his KFOX radio show, a favorite station of Carl’s. Inspired by the simple structure and vocals of the rhythm and blues songs he heard, he changed his piano-playing style and started writing songs. His enthusiasm interfered with his music studies at school.
Family gatherings brought the Wilsons in contact with cousin Mike Love. Brian taught Love’s Sister Maureen and a friend singing harmonies. Later, Brian, Mike Love and two friends performed at the Hawthorne High School. Brian also knew Al Jardine, a high school classmate who had already played guitar in a folk group called the “Islanders”.
Brian suggested to Jardine that they team up with his cousin and brother Carl. It was at these sessions, held in Brian’s bedroom, that “the Beach Boys sound” began to form. Brian says: “Everyone contributed something. Carl kept us hip to the latest tunes, Al taught us his repertoire of folk songs, and Dennis, though he didn’t [then] play anything, added a combustible spark just by his presence.” Love encouraged Brian to write songs and gave the fledgling band its name: “The Pendletones“, a combination of “Pendleton” a style of woolen shirt popular at the time and “tone” the musical term. In their earliest performances, the band wore the heavy wool jacket-like shirts, which were favored by surfers in the South Bay. Although surfing motifs were very prominent in their early songs, Dennis was the only avid surfer in the group.
Singing Career
The group performed a slower ballad, “Their Hearts Were Full of Spring” but failed to impress the Morgans. After an awkward pause, Dennis mentioned they had an original song, “Surfin‘”.
With help from Love, Brian finished the song and the group rented guitars, drums, amplifiers and microphones. They practiced for three days while the Wilsons’ parents were on a short vacation. In October, the Pendletones recorded twelve takes of “Surfin‘” in the Morgans’ cramped offices. David Marks was not present at the session as he was at school. A small number of singles were pressed. When the boys eagerly unpacked the first box of singles, on the Candix Records label, they were shocked to see their band name changed to “Beach Boys“. This is the group name that stuck with them for the rest of their career.
The single “Surfin” was released in late 1961 and sold 40,000 copies and made its debut on the Hot 100 chart on February 17, 1962, and peaking at #75. The group’s next release was a surfin single called “Surfin’ Safari” in August, 1962 and peaked at #14, which made the group’s first top 20 hit record. The song stayed on the charts for seventeen weeks.
Their first top ten hit was “Surfin’ U.S.A.” and peaked at #3 in March, 1963. In August, they released “Surfer Girl” and it peaked at #7, for their second top ten hit. The flip side of “Surfer Girl” was “Little Deuce Coope” and that song peaked at #15. In November of the same year, they released “Be True To Your School” and it peaked at #6. In February of 1964, they released a song called “Fun, Fun, Fun” which peaked at #5 for their fourth top 10 hit record. Then, in May of 1964, they hit gold with their first number one hit song “I Get Around” which stayed at the top of the charts for two weeks. In September, they had their sixth top ten hit song with “When I Grow Up (To Be a Man)” and it peaked at #9.
In November of 1964, they released “Dance, Dance, Dance” which became their seventh top 10 hit at #8. In April, 1965, they released “Help Me, Rhonda” which became their second #1 hit and stayed at #1 for two weeks. They followed that song with “California Girls” and it peaked at #3 in July. In January, 1966, they released “Barbara Ann” which peaked at #2 for one week. In April, 1966, they released “Sloop John B” and peaked at #3, for their eleventh top 10 hit record.
In July of 1966, they released “Wouldn’t It Be Nice” and peaked at #8. Then in October, they released “Good Vibrations” which became the group’s third #1 hit. It stayed at #1 for one week. The song is listed as the #6 song by Rolling Stones list of the top 500 songs of all-time. Then for the next ten years they had no additional top ten hit songs. They only had three top 20 hits. In June of 1976, they released “Rock And Roll Music” and it peaked at #5 on the Hot 100 chart. This song became their 14th top ten hit. Their last top ten hit and last number one song was “Kokomo” in 1988. It stayed at #1 for one week. The group’s last charted single on the Hot 100 chart was “Still Cruisin’” at #93 in August, 1989.
Music Career
All told, The Beach Boys had 4 #1’s, 15 Top 10, 25 Top 20, 36 Top 40 hit songs. They also had 13 top ten albums. They had a total of 63 singles to chart on the Hot 100 with six of them bubbling under the top 100. The Beach Boys are ranked by Billboard as the #7 artist from 1960-1969, and the #19 artist of all-time from 1955-2010. They only had four top ten hits on the Adult Contemporary charts.
Awards
The Beach Boys have a star on the Hollywood Walk Of Fame. They were inducted into the Rock N Roll Hall of Fame in 1988.
Top Ten’s & #1 Songs
Below are all of the Beach Boys top ten and number one songs listed in chronological order. The list will have the title, date, peak position #, and the number of weeks song held the #1 or #2 position in (). The #1 song titles will be in bold.
Hot 100 Hits
- Surfin’ U.S.A. – March 23, 1963 #3
- Surfer Girl – August 3, 1963 #7
- Be True To Your School – November 2, 1963 #6
- Fun, Fun, Fun – February 15, 1964 # 5
- I Get Around – July 4, 1964 #1 (2)
- When I Grow Up (To Be A Man) – September 5, 1964 #9
- Dance, Dance, Dance – November 7, 1964 #8
- Help Me, Rhonda – May 29, 1965 #1 (2)
- California Girls – July 24, 1965 #3
- Barbara Ann – January 1, 1966 #2 (2)
- Sloop John B – April 2, 1966 #3
- Wouldn’t It Be Nice – July 30, 1966 #8
- Good Vibrations – December 10, 1966 #1 (1)
- Rock And Roll Music – June 5, 1976 #5
- Kokomo – November 5, 1988 #1 (1)
Adult Contemporary Hits
- Getcha Back – May 25, 1985 #2 (1)
- California Dreamin’ – September 27, 1986 #8
- Kokomo – July 23, 1988 #5
- Still Cruisin’ – August 19, 1989 #9
If you are an avid fan of The Beach Boys the album below has all of their #1 hits and most of their top tens Beach Boys – 20 Good Vibrations, The Greatest Hits (Volume 1). This album is also MP3 downloadable.
I Get Around #1 For Two Weeks 1964
Good Vibrations #1 in 1966 #6 All-Time
Shop The Beach Boys Greatest Hits
If you are an avid fan of The Beach Boys the album below has all of their #1 hits and most of their top tens Beach Boys – 20 Good Vibrations, The Greatest Hits (Volume 1). This album is also MP3 downloadable.
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