The Beach Boys live performances

Mike Love (far left) and Bruce Johnston (far right) performing as the Beach Boys in 2014

The Beach Boys are an American rock band formed in Hawthorne, California, in 1961. Since then, the band has undergone many variations in composition, with representation by fill-ins onstage. As of 2017, the only principal members included in the Beach Boys' touring band are co-founder Mike Love and 1965 addition Bruce Johnston.

In 1998, Love and Johnston sought authorization through the Beach Boys' corporation, Brother Records Inc. (BRI) to tour as "The Beach Boys" and secured the necessary license. Even though Brian Wilson and Al Jardine have not performed with Love and Johnston's band since their one-off 2012 reunion tour, they remain a part of BRI.

1961–64: Early years

The Beach Boys' original line-up performing in 1964

The group's instrumental combo initially involved Brian Wilson on bass guitar and keyboards, Carl Wilson on guitar, and Dennis Wilson on drums.[1] Nine months after forming a proper group with their cousin Mike Love and friend Al Jardine, the Beach Boys acquired national success, and demand for their personal appearance skyrocketed. Biographer James Murphy said, "By most contemporary accounts, they were not a very good live band when they started. ... The Beach Boys learned to play as a band in front of live audiences", but noted that they eventually became "one of the best and enduring live bands".[2] 1964's Beach Boys Concert was their first live album, their only number one album in the US, and the first live album that ever topped pop music record charts,[3] maintaining its position for four weeks during a sixty-two-week chart stay, and becoming a gold seller.

1965–98: Carl Wilson era

From 1965 to 1998, Carl Wilson was the live band's musical director

By the end of 1964, the stress of road travel, composing, producing and maintaining a high level of creativity became too much for Brian. On December 23, while on a flight from Los Angeles to Houston, he suffered a panic attack only hours after performing with the Beach Boys on the musical variety series Shindig!.[4] In January 1965, he announced his withdrawal from touring to concentrate entirely on songwriting and record production. For the rest of 1964 and into 1965, Glen Campbell served as Wilson's temporary replacement in concert, until his own career success pulled him from the group in April 1965.[5] Bruce Johnston was asked to locate a replacement for Campbell; having failed to find one, Johnston himself became a full-time member of the band on May 19, 1965, first replacing Brian on the road and later contributing in the studio, beginning with the vocal sessions for "California Girls" on June 4, 1965.[6][7]

Carl subsequently became the musical director of the band onstage; contracts at that time stipulated that promoters hire "Carl Wilson plus four other musicians".[8] Throughout 1965, Brian still performed live with the Beach Boys, but only on justified occasions.[7] Shortly after completing the recording of the imminent Smiley Smile (1967), the band scheduled two performances in Hawaii for a prospective live album, Lei'd in Hawaii, that would be released on their new record label, Brother Records. Difficulties arose around this time. Johnston refused to travel for the reason that "it had all got too weird."[9] To alleviate this, Brian was persuaded into making the trip. Ultimately, the band performed too poorly for the material to be released, and the recording allegedly suffered technical problems that could not be fixed in the studio.[10] Brian would not go on another tour with the group until 1976, as part of the "Brian's Back!" campaign.

In 1981, Carl quit the live group because of unhappiness with the band's nostalgia format and lackluster live performances, subsequently pursuing a solo career.[11] He returned in May 1982 – after approximately 14 months of being away – on the condition that the group reconsider their rehearsal and touring policies and refrain from "Las Vegas-type" engagements.[12]

1998–present: Post-band split

After Carl died in 1998, the remaining members splintered. Love and Johnston, occasionally with David Marks, continued to tour together, initially as "America's Band", but following several cancelled bookings under that name, they sought authorization through Brother Records Inc. (BRI) to tour as "The Beach Boys" and secured the necessary license. Since 1999, Love is obligated to continue touring in order to maintain revenue flow to BRI. At the time, Jardine and Wilson were also offered the license, but declined.[13]

Members

The following only pertains to the Beach Boys' touring band.

Current

Past

Timeline

Discography

Live albums

References

Citations

  1. ↑ Zager 2011, pp. 215–216.
  2. ↑ Sharp, Ken (November 6, 2015). "Catch A Wave: A Chat with Beach Boys Author James B. Murphy". Rock Cellar Magazine.
  3. ↑ Moskowitz 2015, p. 42.
  4. ↑ Sanchez 2014, pp. 63–64.
  5. ↑ Glen Campbell at AllMusic. Retrieved April 23, 2011.
  6. ↑ Bruce Johnston at AllMusic. Retrieved April 23, 2011.
  7. 1 2 "GIGS65". Esquarterly.com. Retrieved May 22, 2013.
  8. ↑ Jarnow, Jesse (October 12, 2015). "Carl Only Knows: A New Biography of the Man Legally Known as the Beach Boys". Pitchfork.
  9. ↑ Doe, Andrew Grayham. "Unreleased Albums". Bellagio 10452. Endless Summer Quarterly. Retrieved July 13, 2014.
  10. ↑ Jarnow, Jesse (July 1, 2017). "1967 - Sunshine Tomorrow". Pitchfork.
  11. ↑ Schinder 2007, p. 124.
  12. ↑ Badman 2004, p. 373.
  13. ↑ Love 2016, pp. 391, 403, 416.

Bibliography

Further reading

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