The past week and a half has been quite the exciting week for Beatles fans. We’ve gotten a brand new single for the first time since 1995, a tear-jerking music video and a remaster of two compilations. I’ve had to listen to a lot of music from those Liverpool lads in the past week, so this week I’d like to focus on a band across the pond.
The Beach Boys were arguably just as successful here in the United States in the 1960s, however nowadays they don’t seem to hold a candle to the popularity of the Beatles. While that may be for several reasons, it’s still undeniable that they released music that was just as influential as anything their British counterparts recorded.
Ironically, this story actually starts with the Beatles, in an ever changing musical landscape, the two bands found themselves exploring new sounds. The Beach Boys had abandoned their tried and true surf-rock sound for baroque pop; releasing “Pet Sounds” in 1966. Frontman Brian Wilson had been inspired by the Beatles’ “Rubber Soul” and “Revolver” to lean more into an orchestral psychedelic sound. Every year the two acts tried to outdo each other, continuing to get more and more experimental with their sound.
Upon hearing “Pet Sounds,” John Lennon and Paul McCartney were inspired to go further out with their music, and experiment with more unconventional song structures and harmonic textures. After several arduous months in the studio, and thousands of hours spent perfecting their songs, “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” was released in May of 1967. Considered one of the best albums of all time, the record was an instant hit, and changed how many thought of music as an art form.
While the creation of “Sgt. Pepper’s” was underway, the Beach Boys were recording their own musical breakthrough, “Smile.” However, the recording process was plagued by issues in Wilson’s personal life, as well as rising tension between himself and his bandmates.
Wilson’s spiraling mental health was nothing new to his band mates. The singer was prone to nervous breakdowns on tour and had struggled with a myriad of drugs including marijuana, cocaine and amphetamines. “Smile” was planned to be an album of joy; songs filled with happiness and good vibrations. One of the first songs written for the album was “Good Vibrations,” which ended up being released on a later Beach Boys album, completed at Wilson’s home studio after a hiatus from music.
Most of what the group had written for Smile revolved around happiness in life, themes of the band members’ childhoods and the environment were key to their writing process. From listening to demos, the direction of the record is clear. “Smile” dove further into the baroque sound featured on “Pet Sounds,” however, it did so with a much heavier influence from psychedelic and folk music.
Further into the recording of the album, Wilson became a more unreliable band leader and producer. The songwriter would often cancel recording sessions on a whim, sometimes just hours before their scheduled time. His unfettered drug abuse was costing him thousands of dollars while continuously straining his personal relationships.
The album would be canceled by Wilson just days after the Beatles released “Sgt. Pepper’s.” After reconvening as a band, the Beach Boys headed into Wilson’s home studio in Bel Air to record “Smiley Smile,” a tongue-in-cheek rework of “Smile.” Not many songs ended up being reused, with the new record being considerably less ambitious and recorded in just a few weeks. It would go on to become one of their poorest selling albums — at least in the United States — spawning “Good Vibrations” as its sole hit single.
After the release of “Smiley Smile,” Wilson became increasingly reclusive, gradually becoming involved less and less with music, and suffering an overdose in 1982. After several years of help, Wilson was able to get sober and come back to music full-time. In 2004, he re-recorded several “Smile” songs, releasing them under the name “Brian Wilson Presents: Smile.” The original record sessions would be released in 2011, showcasing what could have been.