The Beach Boys like never before: Band's first official book is a trove of rare artifacts
Given the iconic stature of The Beach Boys, you may assume the band committed their history to book form long ago.(USA Today)
But the surf-rock heroes behind “California Girls,” “I Get Around,” “Good Vibrations” and a seeming million other everlasting hits never told their official story.
“The Beach Boys” by The Beach Boys (Genesis Publications, available now) is the first time in the band’s history that the words of Brian Wilson, Mike Love, Al Jardine, Bruce Johnston and Dennis Wilson and Carl Wilson (who died in 1983 and 1998, respectively) have been compiled to explain and expound on The Beach Boys’ multilayered history.
The 400 pages of letters, lyrics, anecdotes and photos bound in a hefty hardcover is a trove of musical milestones.
There are hundreds of richly detailed stories about the creation of songs, the struggles, tragedies and triumphs (or maybe the “Heroes and Villains?”). Here are some highlights from the book.
The Beach Boys’ iconic Washington, D.C., concert
It was Mike Love’s idea to play the National Mall on the Fourth of July in 1980. Nearly half a million people turned out for what Brian Wilson said was “a highlight of my career.”
“Because of what we sang, we became America’s band,” Love recalls in the book.
But while Wilson dubbed the experience “fun,” Al Jardine found it “terrifying” to play in front of a “sea of humanity.”
Mike Love goes to India with the Beatles
The Beatles’ involvement with Indian guru Maharishi Mahesh Yogi is well-established as an influence on the band’s mental state and musical approach in the late ‘60s. But the Maharishi wanted The Beach Boys to understand and preach his teachings as well, so when the band played Paris in 1967, the Beatles were in the front row to later talk with The Beach Boys about their spiritual leader.
A few months later in February 1968, Love visited India with the Beatles to spend time with the Maharishi. Love remembers McCartney playing him “Back in the U.S.S.R.” before the song had its bridge and suggested he add lyrics about “all of the girls around Russia.” McCartney accepted Love’s idea (“And Moscow girls make me sing and shout/That Georgia's always on my mind”) and crafted the bridge to the song that became the opening track on “The White Album.”
