History Music / TheBeachBoys

They got their actual start basically out of the Wilson family house, over Labor Day weekend in 1961; Murry and his wife Audree went on a trip to Mexico, and while they were gone, the band recorded their first song, "Surfin'" (included on the album ''Music/SurfinSafari'' in 1962), in the music room (converted from the garage). After that hit the local radio and was a small national hit, they signed to Creator/CapitolRecords in 1962 and quickly climbed the charts as the premier SurfRock band in the nation, playing a big role in popularizing the Southern California culture throughout the country. The band's well-honed harmonies made them stand out musically, while Brian established himself as a songwriter who specialized in memorable, imaginative melodies, and Murry, a tenacious man with a knack for promotion, [[StageDad acted as their manager]].

However, by the end of 1964 the stress of composing, producing, ''and'' performing, as well as the competition from Music/TheBeatles, led Brian to suffer a nervous breakdown and retire from touring. At around the same time, Murry's domineering personality and questionable business sense started to get out of control, so the band (i.e. ''his own sons'') fired him. While the rest of the group toured (with first Glen Campbell and then Bruce Johnston taking Brian's place), Brian stayed at home writing music and utilizing the studio talents of The Wrecking Crew, leading to more advanced-sounding albums such as ''Music/TheBeachBoysToday'' and ''Music/SummerDaysAndSummerNights''.

From there, however, the story becomes a long, tragic string of misfortunes. After ''Pet Sounds'' was released, Brian Wilson intended to top it with a revolutionary new album called ''Music/{{SMiLE|The Beach Boys}}''. However, a series of increasingly destructive circumstances[[note]]pressure from Capitol to actually deliver the album, Brian's ailing psyche and his escalating drug abuse, a royalty lawsuit, Brian's confidence being destroyed by the relative commercial failure of "Heroes and Villains", and him becoming convinced that the Beach Boys could never top the Beatles after listening to ''Music/SgtPeppersLonelyHeartsClubBand''[[/note]] led to the album's cancellation in 1967. The band instead released ''Music/SmileySmile'', which combined what the rest of the band felt were the stronger ''Smile'' tracks with some new, supposedly more commercial material (as opposed to the "weirder" ''Smile'' songs). That album was, as Carl Wilson later described it, "a bunt instead of a grand slam", and the band's popularity plummeted in the US (although they remained huge elsewhere, especially Europe).

During this time, Brian receded into the background, pushing the other members to begin composing songs in his absence. It was at this point that the band began to splinter into two different creative camps, with Carl and Dennis on one side, advocating more experimental music, and Mike and Al on the other, preferring to stick with the formula. Brian was the swing vote. Things eventually would come to a head when Mike obtained Brian's proxy vote, allowing him to outvote Carl and Dennis in all band-related matters. Meanwhile, in 1969 Murry Wilson, without the band's authorization, sold their entire song catalogue for the paltry, extremely undervalued sum of $750,000;[[note]]almost $5.2 million in 2018 money for a catalogue which is estimated to be worth at least $75 million today[[/note]] Brian has since suggested that Murry forged his signature on the sales documents. Despite a run of artistically brilliant albums right up to their 1973 album ''Music/{{Holland|1973}}'', and line-up changes (Bruce Johnston leaving in 1972, with Blondie Chaplin and Ricky Fataar of the Flames joining for a few years), they were considered passé in their home country. Brian was still in rough mental shape, and Murry's death from a heart attack at age 55 in 1973 was another blow to the group's morale.

* BassoProfundo: Mike Love has one of the most vibrant bass voices you'll ever hear in your life.

* DarkReprise: The versions of "Wonderful" and "Wind Chimes" on ''[=SMILE=]'' have upbeat lush arrangements whereas the ones on ''Smiley Smile'' are slowed down, minimalist and extremely creepy.

* DarkReprise: The versions of "Wonderful" and "Wind Chimes" on ''SMILE'' have upbeat lush arrangements whereas the ones on ''Smiley Smile'' are slowed down, minimalist and extremely creepy.

* ReReleaseTheSong: While Brian had a meltdown and couldn't finish ''SMiLE'' in 1967, Capitol Records re-released "Good Vibrations" in an attempt to keep the hype fresh.

* BaroquePop: Among one of the [[TropeCodifier trope codifiers]]. Particularly during the ''Music/PetSounds'' and ''Music/SMiLE'' era.

** ''Music/SMiLE'' was meant to be a concept album based around a number of ideas, including Americana, progression of maturity, and the Earthly elements. Brian's 2004 remake and the band's 2011 release of it both neatly divide these ideas into three clear 'movements.'

** After the ''Music/SMiLE'' sessions ground to a halt, Brian Wilson's role in the band diminished significantly, though he did manage to pitch in a few great songs on each album (many of them leftover ''[=SMiLE=]'' songs, in fact). His mental illness certainly didn't help.

* EarnYourHappyEnding: ''Music/SMiLE'' finally becoming a reality as a Brian Wilson solo album in 2004, and then being released as a Beach Boys album in 2011.
* EpicRocking: While ''Music/SMiLE'' has song divisions, they're more or less arbitrary; it's essentially comprised of three movements that run for anywhere from ten to twenty minutes each. "Good Vibrations" is sometimes considered separate from the three aforementioned movements, since the music ''almost'' but ''not quite'' fades out before it starts; if that's the case, then the longest movement on the album is sixteen minutes instead.

* FadingIntoTheNextSong: Very nearly every transition on ''Music/SMiLE''. There are really only two gaps on the album (between "Cabin Essence" and "Wonderful" and then between "Surf's Up" and "I'm in Great Shape" or "I Wanna Be Around", depending on the version), with "In Blue Hawaii"/"Love to Say Dada" ''almost'' fading out before "Good Vibrations" starts.

* GenreBusting: ''Music/SMiLE'' defies pigeon-holing. Not only does the whole thing sound nothing like any music that came before or after, each individual song sounds wildly different from the one that came before it.
** Just to give an idea of this variety, the first three subsections (talking about songs in Music/SMiLE doesn't really demonstrate its cyclical and interconnected nature) of its first movement (and that comprise only the first seven minutes of the album) are:

* IAmTheBand: Brian was this until the ''Music/SMiLE'' era, while Mike Love has had this role since roughly 1978.

*** The intended followup album, Music/{{SMiLE}}, was this trope to an even greater extent than Pet Sounds. Outside of vocals, there was virtually ''no'' involvement from the other Beach Boys, except for Mike Love writing the lyrics to "Good Vibrations".

** Music/VanDykeParks was quite the disruptive element when it comes to the political lyricism on ''Music/SMiLE''. Whether it is about the abstract criticism of the American myth or Van Dyke belonging to the hippie counterculture, his short tenure as Music/BrianWilson's songwriting buddy left a mark (and the same could be said about his disagreement with Mike Love over the lyrics of "Cabinessence").

** "Roll Plymouth Rock", from the ''Music/SMiLE'' project. Its original working title ("Do You Dig Worms?") may be an even better example.

** The fact that Music/PaulMcCartney himself walked in on a ''Music/SMiLE'' session and contributed the sound of him chomping on celery.

* ThreeChordsAndTheTruth: ''Music/WildHoney'' reflected a back-to-basics approach after the downfall of ''Music/SMiLE''. It's been said that ''Music/WildHoney'' was [[TropeCodifier one of the first deliberate invocations of this trope by a major band]], before ''Music/LetItBe'' or ''Music/BeggarsBanquet''.

* VaporWare: ''Music/SMiLE'', one of the earliest examples. Which Brian Wilson re-recorded and released it in 2004, it became one of the most critically-acclaimed albums of that decade.

** Music/VanDykeParks, on the ''Music/SMiLE'' album. At one point, Mike Love asked him what the line "columnated ruins domino" meant, and Parks got annoyed at having to repeatedly explain things.