How Brian Wilson Crafted The Beach Boys' Early Sound

Pardon the non-oceanic metaphor, but imagine the Beach Boys’ original sound as a pot of stew. There’s a mess of various ingredients, but the taste is unified and comforting. Generally speaking, you don’t enjoy this dish — or this band’s early hits — on an analytical, academic level; both simply provide a wave of sensation and association. Both just feel good. Likewise, America’s Band’s early sound was singular, a blast of pure feeling. But the veneer of simplicity belies that they drew it from a dizzying number of directions — long before they reached their innovative peak with Pet Sounds and its never-finished follow-up, Smile.

Just unpack “Surfin’ USA,” generally thought of as simple, straightforward fun: it’s a Chuck Berry melody and riff, a surfing lyric and theme, the gleaming harmonies from the Four Freshmen and any number of doo-wop greats. They were all in the public consciousness, but nobody had synthesized them in this particular way until Brian Wilson came along. To bring up Pet Sounds and Smile again: there’s no dearth of reportage, nor musings, on how the Mozart of pop/rock worked his spellbinding magic. But how Wilson managed to craft the Beach Boys’ early sound is just as flabbergasting… read more >