While growing up in the 1960s in Hawaii, I recall hearing the Beach Boys for the first time. I felt that their music about surfing was a Hollywood version of what surfing actually was. Neither I nor my surfing buddies really listened to the Beach Boys all that much. We used to joke that California had the girls and the music and the bleached blond hair and the surfing music. The one thing it lacked were the waves. That said, the Beach Boys were writing widely popular songs about surfing. Even the landlocked areas of the country lived vicariously through their music. And so surfing became a nationwide craze, especially among non-surfers.
I clearly remember when I heard their hit "Catch a wave and you're sitting on top of the world" for the first time. It seemed to describe perfectly what we island boys were thinking and feeling about our sport.
When I moved to California in 1971 to attend college at the age of 19, of course I took my board with me. By that time surfing music had all but crested. And I could never get really excited about the waves at Huntington Beach. Still, I came to love the music of the Beach Boys. The quality of their music was second to none. Only the Beatles wrote harmonies that could compete with those of Brian Wilson. When you think that he also sat in the producer's chair, that was a formidable achievement musically.
Kids nowadays can't relate to how we grew up in the 60s. There were only three TV stations. There were no video games, no internet, but we had lots of great music on the AM radio. My mother thought I'd lose my hearing to rock music. What great music we listened to every day. Brian Wilson changed popular music for good. Surf music is such a happy and feel good style of rock. It's hard to dislike. I love the Beach Boys. I loved the 60s. I loved surfing every day. The "surf era" years were some of my happiest. I taught myself all of their songs on the piano and guitar.
Your memories of the Beach Boys?
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| 1971. A freshman at Biola. |