Ep. 130: The Beach Boys – Original Band Members

March 24, 2024 Peter Jans

Intro

Hello and Welcome to this episode of the podcast, "The Mnemonic Tree", where we add a single mnemonic leaf to our Tree of Knowledge.

I’m Jans your Mnemonic Man and today's episode will be on that iconic beach sound of the 60s and 70s from one of the biggest bands in history, The Beach Boys.

Now one of my first memories of The Beach Boys was when I was very young and some groundbreaking technology had just dawned upon us where we could record our own voices onto a tape cassette. The song we chose at the time was “Hawaii” by The Beach Boys, whose falsetto tones we screeched through the house again and again and again. much to our parents’ delight.

The Beach Boys were formed in Hawthorne California, and formed the soundtrack to the burgeoning Californian surf culture at the time. As they evolved so did their music with a more sophisticated bent, with Albums such as "Pet Sounds" and “Surf’s Up”.

With this evolution unfortunately came the alcohol and the many drugs, which have splintered the band at many points and led to other associated problems. One of these was when Brian Wilson suffered a nervous breakdown during a tour, and he had to be replaced. For this, they chose one of (what I think) the best voices in history, Glen Campbell, who had played on several of their recordings and could play bass and sing Brian Wilson’s hallmark falsetto.

Currently, The Beach Boys are still active and touring; at the moment through the US. However, Mike Love is the only remaining original Beach Boys member, with Brian Wilson and Al Jardine still band members but not performing.

Today’s mnemonic will be on The Beach Boys original band members.

So, with that being said, we will begin with a summary from Wikipedia.

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_Beach_Boys_1963_Billboard_2.png

Wikipedia Summary

The Beach Boys are an American rock band formed in Hawthorne, California, in 1961. The group's original lineup consisted of brothers Brian, Dennis, and Carl Wilson, their cousin Mike Love, and friend Al Jardine. Distinguished by their vocal harmonies, adolescent-oriented lyrics, and musical ingenuity, they are one of the most influential acts of the rock era. They drew on the music of older pop vocal groups, 1950s rock and roll, and black R&B to create their unique sound. Under Brian's direction, they often incorporated classical or jazz elements and unconventional recording techniques in innovative ways.

The Beach Boys formed as a garage band centered on Brian's songwriting and managed by the Wilsons' father, Murry. In 1963, the band enjoyed their first national hit with "Surfin' U.S.A.", beginning a string of top-ten singles that reflected a southern California youth culture of surfing, cars, and romance, dubbed the "California sound". They were one of the few American rock bands to sustain their commercial standing during the British Invasion. Starting with 1965's The Beach Boys Today!, they abandoned beachgoing themes for more personal lyrics and ambitious orchestrations. In 1966, the Pet Sounds album and "Good Vibrations" single raised the group's prestige as rock innovators; both are now widely considered to be among the greatest and most influential works in popular music history. After scrapping the Smile album in 1967, Brian gradually ceded control of the group to his bandmates.

In the late 1960s, the group's commercial momentum faltered in the U.S., and they were widely dismissed by the early rock music press before rebranding themselves in the early 1970s. Carl took over as de facto leader until the mid-1970s, when the band responded to the growing success of their live shows and greatest hits compilations by transitioning into an oldies act. Dennis drowned in 1983 and Brian soon became estranged from the group. Following Carl's death from lung cancer in 1998, the band granted Love legal rights to tour under the group's name. In the early 2010s, the original members briefly reunited for the band's 50th anniversary tour. As of 2024, Brian and Jardine do not perform with Love's edition of the Beach Boys, but remain official members of the band.

The Beach Boys are one of the most critically acclaimed and commercially successful bands of all time, selling over 100 million records worldwide. They helped legitimize popular music as a recognized art form and influenced the development of music genres and movements such as psychedelia, power pop, progressive rock, punk, alternative, and lo-fi. Between the 1960s and 2020s, the group had 37 songs reach the US Top 40 (the most by an American band), with four topping the Billboard Hot 100. In 2004, they were ranked number 12 on Rolling Stone's list of the greatest artists of all time. Many critics' polls have ranked Today!, Pet Sounds, Smiley Smile (1967), Sunflower (1970), and Surf's Up (1971) among the finest albums in history. The founding members were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1988. Other members during the band's history have been David Marks, Bruce Johnston, Blondie Chaplin, and Ricky Fataar.

Extracted from: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Beach_Boys]

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_Beach_Boys_1968.jpg

Mnemonic

The Beach Boys – Original Band Members Mnemonic – ABCD Melody

(Picture The Beach Boys on the beach singing a series of melodies in alphabetical order)

1. Al Jardine

2. Brian Wilson

3. Carl Wilson

4. Dennis Wilson

5. Mike Love

Five Fun Facts

1. Before The Beach Boys were known as The Beach Boys they were called The Pendletones, which Mike Love came up with which was a pun on the word “Pendleton” which was a popular style of woollen shirt at the time. They hoped that the shirt company would sponsor the group and give them some free shirts.

2. The name The Beach Boys came about when their record label wanted to rename the band “The Surfers”. It just so happened that this name was already taken so music executive Russ Regan then suggested “The Beach Boys” which he believed was a perfect combo of beach bums and beautiful boys.

3. Though The Beach Boys name suggests a seaside, beachy vibe, only one of the five original members knew how to surf. That was Dennis Wilson who managed to get married a total of five times and who tragically and ironically died of drowning at Marina Del Rey in California in 1983 after a big day of drinking. He was just 39 and was survived by his four children.

4. The musical genius of Brian Wilson helped shape The Beach Boys iconic sound with innovative arrangements and intricate harmonies. Unfortunately, Brian struggled with mental health issues which he believes was mainly attributed to his drug use, notably LSD.

5. There was a rivalry between The Beach Boys and The Beatles in the 1960s. However, there was no animus but rather a friendly rivalry of respect and appreciation for each other’s music. One that pushed both bands to experiment and explore with new sound and cutting-edge recording techniques.

6. Dennis Wilson and Charlie Manson were once friends! It was a quid pro quo relationship where Charlie was hoping to use Dennis to help him break into the music industry along with Dennis getting a healthy supply of Charlie’s girls. The relationship ended in flames with Dennis moving out of his own house and letting the lease expire just to get Manson out. Dennis did exact a small amount of revenge though, when he recrafted one of Manson’s songs called “Cease to Exist” and renamed it “Never Learn Not to Love” and released it as his own.

One extra fact I just couldn’t leave out. Brian Wilson had two daughters, Wendy and Carnie Wilson.

In 1989, Wendy and Carnie teamed up with Chynna Phillips to form the group Wilson Phillips in the early 1990’s.

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sullivan_Beach_Boys_(cropped).jpg

Three Question Quiz

Q.1. What year were the Beach Boys inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame?

Q.2. Which band member from the original lineup was no relation to the other members? And which Beach Boy was he originally friends with?

Q.3. The Beach Boys last number-one single on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 was recorded for a movie soundtrack. What was that movie?

Bonus Q. Which music legend threatened a lawsuit against The Beach Boys for them borrowing the hook and melody to their first hit “Surfin’ USA”? Options are Little Richard, Chuck Berry, or Smokey Robinson

Mnemonic Recap

The Beach Boys – Original Band Members Mnemonic – ABCD Melody

(Picture The Beach Boys on the beach singing a series of melodies in alphabetical order)

1. Al Jardine

2. Brian Wilson

3. Carl Wilson

4. Dennis Wilson

5. Mike Love

Three Question Quiz Answers

Q.1. What year were the Beach Boys inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame?

A. 1988

Now on this very same year ironically, there was a young couple who were celebrating their anniversary. Anyway, the girl wanted to do something very special for her man and she knew that he was a massive fan of The Beach Boys.

So, she goes to her local tattoo parlour and asks how much will it be, for a tattoo of a verse from her boyfriend's favourite Beach Boys song?

The tattoo artist tells her the price, but it is unfortunately out of her price range.

She then asks how much will it cost for a tattoo of the Beach Boys logo.

The tattoo artist tells her a price, but unfortunately, again its more than she can afford.

Anyway, disappointed, she is about to leave when the tattoo artist tells her, that he can tattoo a 'B' on each bottom cheek, for the price range she is looking for.

So, the girl agrees and gets the tattoo.
On their anniversary, the couple goes out for dinner and later that night comes back home, where the girl tells her boyfriend that she knows how much he likes the Beach Boys and goes on to tell him, that she got a very special tattoo just for him.

So, all excited she pulls down her pants, bends over, and shows her boyfriend. The boyfriend takes a look, pauses then says "Who the hell is BoB?"

Q.2. Which band member from the original lineup was no relation to the other members? And which Beach Boy was he originally friends with?

A. Al Jardine. Brian Wilson, Carl Wilson, and Dennis Wilson were all brothers and Mike Love was their cousin. Al Jardine was a school friend of Brian

Q.3. The Beach Boys last number-one single on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 was recorded for a movie soundtrack. What was that movie?

A. Cocktail in 1988

A. Chuck Berry. His song was “Sweet Little Sixteen” and “Surfin’ USA” was actually released when Chuck Berry was in jail. When he got out, he took up the case and, in the end, would receive would receive the whole box and dice; the credit for writing the lyrics and music to the song, as well as receiving all past, present, and future royalties for the hit. Now some may wonder why he received so much? Just google Chuck Berry’s original song “Sweet Little Sixteen” and you’ll find The Beach Boys basically just changed the lyrics!

Word of the Week

persnickety

[ per-snik-i-tee ]

adjective

overparticular; fussy.

Example

Brian Wilson’s persnickety attention to detail resulted in the album “Pet Sounds” which is hailed by many as one of the best albums of all time.

Extracted from: [https://www.dictionary.com/]

https://www.themnemonictreepodcast.com/

https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/trivia-the-mnemonic-tree-podcast/id1591795132

https://open.spotify.com/show/3T0LdIJ9PBQMXM3cdKd42Q?si=fqmaN2TNS8qqc7jOEVa-Cw

References