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You can capsulize most
pop music acts by reciting how many hits they’ve had and how many
millions of albums they’ve sold. But these conventional measurements
fall short when you’re assessing the impact of The Beach Boys.
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Left to Right: Bruce Johnston and Mike Love
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To be
sure, this band has birthed a torrent of hit singles and sold albums by
the tens of millions. But its greater significance lies in the fact
that it changed the musical landscape so profoundly that every pop act
since has been in its debt.
Happily
for us all, The Beach Boys continue to create and perform with the same
bold imagination and style that marked their explosive debut 40 years
ago.
Even
more than the Beatles, The Beach Boys found through their music the key
to unfading youth—and they made copies for everyone. To these guys, the
beach isn’t just a place where the surf comes to play—it’s where life
is renewed and made whole again.
Captained by Mike Love, The Beach Boys play an astoundingly busy
schedule of concerts, averaging 150 shows a year, ranging from their
triumphal February appearance at the Winter Olympics to gala New Year’s
celebrations and special events worldwide. In 1974 Mike Love’s concept
album Endless Summer ignited a second generation of Beach
Boys fans and stirred a tempest that rocked the music world.
Grammy-winning songwriter Bruce Johnston, [Barry Manilow’s “I Write The
Songs”], joined The Beach Boys in 1965, replacing Glenn Campbell, who
filled-in for Brian Wilson, on vocals/bass, when he retired from
touring. Highly regarded as a singer-singer, Johnston’s vocal work with
such legendary artists as Elton John and Pink Floyd firmly established
him among rock’s elite artists.
Had
this remarkable band been less committed to its art and its fans, it
could have retired from the field with honor at dozens of points along
the way, confident that it had made a lasting contribution to world
culture. It could have rested on the success of the epoch-shifting Pet
Sounds masterpiece in 1966 . . . or after recording Love’s
co-written Golden Globe nominated “Kokomo” in 1988 and seeing it become
its best selling single ever . . . or after being inducted that same
year into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame . . . or after watching its
worldwide album sales blow past l00 million . . . or after winning the
NARAS Lifetime Achievement Award in 2001 [along with The Who, Bob
Marley, Tony Bennett, Sammy Davis Jr. and Les Paul]. And still, The
Beach Boys continue to have fun, fun, fun, with no end in sight.
Few,
if any, acts can match The Beach Boys’ concert presence, spirit and
performance. They were center-stage at Live Aid, multiple Farm Aids,
the Statue of Liberty’s 100th Anniversary Salute, the Super Bowl and
the White House.
On one day alone—July 4, 1985—they played to nearly 2 million
enthusiasts at shows in Philadelphia and Washington, D. C.
Love’s role as the band’s frontman sometimes overshadows his stature as
one of rock’s foremost songwriters. “Surfin’,” The Beach Boys’ first
hit came from his pen. With his cousin, Brian Wilson, Love wrote the
classics “Fun, Fun, Fun,” “I Get Around,” “Help Me Rhonda,” “California
Girls” and the Grammy nominated “Good Vibrations.” Years later, he
showed he still had the lyrical chops by co-writing the irresistible
and chart-topping “Kokomo.”
On
The Beach Boys’ near horizon is another national/world tour and
continued charity activities through Mike Love’s Love Foundation,
which supports national environmental and educational initiatives.
In
addition to founding Beach Boy Mike Love (lead vocals) and Beach
Boy-vet Bruce Johnston (vocals/keyboards)-- Mike Kowalski (drums),
Randell Kirsch (guitar/vocals), Chris Farmer (bass/vocals), Tim
Bonhomme (keyboards/vocals), John Cowsill of The Cowsills
(keyboards/vocals/percussion) and Scott Totten (guitar/vocals) round
out the band.
