The founding members of The Beach Boys, one of the world’s most legendary bands in popular music history, have reunited for a global 50th Anniversary celebration, including a new album release, a major international tour, and commemorative catalogue releases.
Both entitled That’s Why God Made The Radio, the album is released on June 4th, and is preceded by a single on April 30th, both on EMI Records.
Beach Boys Brian Wilson, Mike Love, Al Jardine, Bruce Johnston, and David Marks recently completed their recording sessions at Los Angeles’ Ocean Way Studios for That’s Why God Made The Radio, the band’s 29th studio album (including 2011’s The SMiLE Sessions), the first in decades to feature all of the band’s surviving original members.
Produced by Brian Wilson and executive produced by Mike Love, the album’s eleven new songs illustrate The Beach Boys’ unique and evocative West Coast story with the band’s timeless signature sound. The album’s lead single, That’s Why God Made The Radio, showcases The Beach Boys’ soaring harmonies in an upbeat, beaming ode to music’s radio champions around the world.
"Radio was my whole education," says Brian Wilson. "Chuck Berry, Rosemary Clooney, The Four Freshmen, Phil Spector, Little Richard... To hear That’s Why God Made The Radio on the radio would be a thrill beyond belief, it really would."
"I got a lot of my appreciation for all of the creativity in the world, in terms of music, through the radio," says Mike Love. "For all of us who grew up in the ‘50s, ‘60s, ‘70s and beyond, the radio has played such a huge, important part in our lives. When we were kids, we’d sneak out of the house and go and sit in Brian’s car and listen to the local radio stations on his car radio."
The album’s other new songs include ‘Think About The Days’, Isn’t It Time,’ ‘Spring Vacation,’ ‘Private Life Of Bill And Sue,’ ‘Shelter’ ‘Daybreak Over The Ocean,’ ‘Beaches In Mind’, ‘Strange World,’ ‘My Life Suite’, and ‘Summer’s Gone.’
The Beach Boys’ collaborative approach to writing and recording their new music is evident throughout the album, with all of the band members participating to create its glorious harmonies, lyrics, and arrangements.
"We’ve come full circle," says Al Jardine. "Sharing our memories and our present in the studio has been really remarkable. I can especially feel it when we’re all singing around the mic together, because we all hear each other and we really lock in."
"We have reunited as a band, but we never ‘un-reunited’ as friends," says Bruce Johnston. "To be back in the studio with these guys is like a prayer that’s been answered and I am thrilled to be sharing it with everybody."
"This is more like a family reunion than anything," says David Marks."When we’re together, we get along great. The chemistry always works the same as the last time we were together, and the five of us become a single element."
The Beach Boys’ 50th Anniversary Tour, the band’s first major outing to include Brian Wilson in more than two decades, began this week in Tucson, Arizona, with other dates confirmed throughout Europe with more to be announced soon. All confirmed tour dates can be found on TheBeachBoys.com.
The Beach Boys and EMI have also partnered for 50th Anniversary commemorative releases celebrating the band’s entire catalogue, with a new hits collection and a career spanning box set planned for later this year.
For five decades, America’s first pop band to reach the 50 year milestone has recorded and performed the music that has become the world’s favorite soundtrack to summer. Founded in Hawthorne, California in 1961, The Beach Boys were originally comprised of the three teenaged Wilson brothers: Brian, Carl and Dennis, their cousin Mike Love, and school friend Al Jardine.
In 1962, neighbor David Marks joined the group for their first wave of hits with Capitol Records, leaving in late 1963, and in 1965, Bruce Johnston joined the band when Brian Wilson retired from touring to focus on writing and producing for the group.
The Beach Boys signed with Capitol Records in July 1962 and released their first album, Surfin’ Safari, that same year. The album spent 37 weeks on the Billboard chart, launching the young group known for its shimmering vocal harmonies and relaxed California style into international stardom.
The Wilson/Love collaboration resulted in many huge international chart hits, and under Brian Wilson’s musical leadership, the band’s initial surf-rock focus was soon broadened to include other themes, making The Beach Boys America’s preeminent band of the 1960s.
In 1966, The Beach Boys were one of the first bands to found its own record label with the launch of Brother Records, Inc. (BRI), with the band’s members as its shareholders and Capitol Records as its distribution partner.
Inducted into the US Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1988, and recipients of The Recording Academy’s Lifetime Achievement GRAMMY Award, The Beach Boys are an American institution that is iconic around the world.
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