Alan Charles Jardine (born September 3rd 1942) is an American singer/songwriter/guitarist who is mostly known as a founding member of The Beach Boys.
Growing up in Hawthorne, California, Al had an interest in folk and country music. He formed three bands called The Highlanders, The Tikis and Kenny & The Cadets (the latter including Brian Wilson who met Al during a football match). Thanks to his friendship with Brian, Al took part in the recording of "Surfin'" and thus he was a founding member of the band along with Wilson brothers Carl and Dennis as well as cousin Mike Love. However he decided to leave the band in order to focus on dentistry studies (leaving David Marks take his place on rhythm guitar duties). He came back in 1963 after David was fired from the band and would remain a Beach Boy since.
Early in The Beach Boys' career, Al did rare contributions aside from playing rhythm guitar and singing (One of his first major lead vocals, "Help Me Rhonda", would turn out to be a number-one hit for the band). It's only during the early seventies that he would have more presence on albums such as Sunflower and Surf's Up (Mike Love would recall it as a democratic era for the whole band). Al would actually team up with Mike in what was seen as a contrast between their creative output compared to the Wilson Brothers' work. It's in the late seventies that Mike and Al woud get more influence on the band's discography thanks to the M.I.U. Album which was co-produced by him. That collaboration would later fall down, especially in the early nineties where Al was temporiraly suspended from the band during the recording of Summer in Paradise.
The death of Carl Wilson marked a near-definitive split in the band, with Mike Love and Bruce Johnston keeping the Beach Boys name for touring while Al and Brian went separate ways. Al would tour under the "Al Jardine & Friends" moniker while also joining Brian on stage. It's only after 49 years in his career that he released his debut solo album: A Postcard From California.
Discography
- 2001 - Live In Las Vegas note
- 2010 - A Postcard From California
His work provides examples of:
- Bad Impressionists: A clichéd impression of Arnold Schwarzenegger can be heard on "California Recall Blues" (this is due to the fact that the song is about California's electricity crisis and its handling by politicians, including Arnold who was formerly a governor of the state).Throw the switch on Davis. noteThrow the switch!(Electricity noise)Game Over.
- Band of Relatives: His live band often features his son Matt who was a falsetto singer for The Beach Boys since the nineties.
- The Big Guy: Inverted, Al is the shortest Beach Boy.
- However, in constrast to what his stature could make you believe, he was a jock and a fullback football player during his high-school years. note
- Car Song: "P.T. Cruiser".
- Catchphrase: "Keep it clean with Al Jardine!"
- "Be veg, go green, save the planet" as he repeated on SupremeMasterTV.
- Children's Literature: He wrote a children's book based on "Sloop John B".
- Christmas Songs: His first lead vocal as a Beach Boy was on "Christmas Day" from The Beach Boys' Christmas Album. He also released "Hurry Up, Hurry Up, Santa Claus" and "Sunshine To Snowflakes" in the 2010s.
- Green Aesop: His song "Don't Fight The Sea" is a call to ecology and saving the sea environment.
- Mundane Made Awesome: Some of the songs he wrote deal with ordinary subjects such as foot care, having a pet cow, welfare or the price of electricity bills.
- Real Life Writes the Plot: His song "California Recall Blues" was written in responses to the rise of electricity bills in California.
- Rearrange the Song: After writing the song "Lady Lynda" for his wife on the Beach Boys' L.A. (Light Album), the couple divorced. Later, on the Statue of Liberty's bicentenary, he rerecorded the song with different lyrics and retitled it "Lady Liberty".
- Record Producer: He co-produced the Beach Boys' M.I.U. Album as well as his sole debut album.
- Stock Sound Effects: Electricity noise can be heard on "California Recall Blues".
- This Song Goes Out to TV Tropes: Before a TV performance of "Lady Lynda", he dedicated the song to his then-wife Lynda Jardine.
- Virtuous Vegetarianism: Al is known for his lead vocals on the Beach Boys song "Vegetables" which promotes a vegeterian lifestyle. He also promoted going green on SupremeMasterTV, a channel related to vietnamese spiritual leader Ching Hai.
- Vocal Evolution: Out of all the Beach Boys, Al is easily the one member whose voice downgraded the least after 60 years in their career.
- Vocal Range Exceeded: While Brian didn't want to join the Beach Boys on stage in order to focus on songwriting, Al would sing on falsetto parts which were originally sung by Brian (for example, "Don't Worry Baby" where he's straining on the higher notes).
- He also has some difficulty hitting the high notes on "Crack At Your Love" from The Beach Boys (1985 Album).
