The Beach Boys

The Beach Boys were the only American band that managed to survive the invasion of The Beatles and all the other British groups in the 1960s.

The band that formed in the early sixties was a true family affair. The Beach Boys were formed by brothers Brian, Carl, and Dennis Wilson, along with cousin Mike Love and school friend Al Jardine. Their father, Murry Wilson, was their manager in the early years. As the titles indicated, the first albums focused primarily on all the beauty that beach life under the Californian sun had to offer: Surfin' Safari (1962), Surfin' USA (1963), Surfer Girl (1963), Little Deuce Coupe (1963), Shut Down Volume 2 (1964), and All Summer Long (1964).

Brian Wilson quickly emerged as the band's genius, gifted with a gift for composing, arranging, and producing. He enriched even the simplest songs with sophisticated, often complex choral parts—one of The Beach Boys' trademarks. In 1966, he delivered a flawless album with Pet Sounds, a record on which his talent had fully blossomed. It still ranks high on lists of the best albums of all time. In the mid-1960s, The Beach Boys were the only band that could counterbalance the dominance of British pop music in America.

Attempts to surpass Pet Sounds with the album "Smile" failed, however, because Brian Wilson succumbed to the artistic pressure. The most famous unreleased album of all time wouldn't be released until 2011; Brian Wilson had already made his own solo version of it in 2004. While the bandleader's role gradually diminished, the band still delivered a series of excellent albums with "Smiley Smile" (1967), "Wild Honey" (1967), "Friends" (1968), and "20/20" (1969). In the early 1970s, The Beach Boys emigrated to the Netherlands, which resulted in the album "Holland" in 1973, which was widely regarded as an artistic revival.

In the years that followed, the band continued to release new albums and perform regularly, while periodically changing its lineup. In 1988, "Kokomo," a contribution to the soundtrack of the film Cocktail, became a surprise worldwide hit. That same year, Brian Wilson's self-titled solo debut was released, which proved to be both an artistic and commercial success. It launched his career under his own name. New albums followed, as did world tours that regularly brought him to the Netherlands.

The Beach Boys, in various incarnations, were a band that relied primarily on nostalgic shows. It was therefore a great surprise when all the surviving members – Brian Wilson, Mike Love, David Marks, Al Jardine, Bruce Johnston – recorded the new Beach Boys album, "That's Why God Made The Radio," in 2012 and supported this surprisingly good album with a world tour. The band disbanded shortly thereafter, after which Brian Wilson, as usual, focused on his own work, and Mike Love, with his version of The Beach Boys, returned to the lucrative concert circuit. Of the many Beach Boys compilations released, "Endless Summer" (1974), "Spirit Of America" (1975), "The Capitol Years" (1999), and "Made In California" (2013) are, for various reasons, the most representative.

At Platenzaak.nl we have a huge selection of CDs and LPs from The Beach Boys, including exclusive versions.