The Beach Boys were, of course, an extremely successful musical group that blended rock and pop music with jazz and folk and included barbershop quartet concepts. But they might also be easily dismissed as pop artists from the 1960s who made fun songs. That would be far too simplistic of a view of who they were, though.
Led by Brian Wilson, the group could create some extremely complex music that did not sound that way. That was part of the brilliance. Their songs were easy to listen to but not easy to make.
What follows are five tracks that every music lover should have on their playlist. One can still like punk or metal more. But a real appreciation of music should also include the Beach Boys.
Five Beach Boys songs that need to be on every music lover's playlist
"Good Vibrations" (1966)
Without Brian Wilson, the Beach Boys just sound like an interesting experiment that might not have the lasting power that the group has had. The melodies might still be fine, though not as consistently great. The lyrics would likely be OK. But the secret ingredient to the best of the Beach Boys was Wilson's genius - true genius not some overused version of the term - for production. He can see concepts not only better than most musicians, but others never would have been able to see the same things.
With the brilliance that is "Good Vibrations," Wilson managed to mesh together recordings of the song completed at four different studios and turn them into a seamless pop song that sounds as if the group recording the track live. And "Good Vibrations" is not an easy song to form that way with its constantly shifting tones.
But besides how the sausage is made, the final product is ridiculously enjoyable and a staple of the seeming innocence of mid-'60s surf rock. This is a don't-try-this-at-home song because it is deceptively complex, just like much of Brian Wilson's music.
"Caroline, No" (1966)
Pet Sounds was such an incredible work of art that many of the songs from the album could have ended up on this list. The amount of sounds involved and the tempo they are set would have gone astray in lesser hands. But again, Wilson's talent for making complex concepts easy for the listener is nearly without peer and could transpose any type of music.
"Caroline, No" is here because of its aching reaction to lost innocence and how Brian Wilson is able to emote this. What other artist could churn out a song that is slow jazzy ballad with a harpsichord that ends with random city sounds and have it all make sense and with beauty? Probably only the collective excellence of Paul McCartney and John Lennon and the singular brilliance of Brian Wilson.
"Sloop John B." (1966)
The origin of this song is from the Bahamas in (likely) the 1800s. After being covered by lots of various artists, the Kingston Trio recorded a version in 1958 and changed the chord arrangement a bit. This directly inspired what the Beach Boys would do with the song. In essence, what was once a provisional tune was turned into a folk melody and the Beach Boys made the track into surf-folk.
Yet another track from Pet Sounds, the track has an irony that oozes. The words are about a boat wreck but the music is tongue-in-cheek. You might have been singing this song in assemblies in elementary school in the 1970s and unaware of the track's meaning. It's a fun song about a situation that is anything but.
"Wouldn't It Be Nice" (1966)
It was not my original intention to include in this article so many songs from Pet Sounds. But avoiding tracks simply because they were on one of the best albums ever created would have been unfair to the list, and reader, and dishonest. A bit like making a list of Leonard da Vinci's best works and leaving off the Mona Lisa. Except to say that Pet Sounds might be even more impressive than da Vinci's singular painting.
For example, Brian Wilson recorded the album in mono not only because that was how most albums were produced at the time but also because Wilson was deaf in one ear and wanted to be able to hear the fullness of the sound. "Wouldn't It Be Nice" has a wall-of-sound quality with lyrics about a longing that might never come true. Instead of making a toned-down version of melancholy, Wilson once again gets a juxtaposition between the music and words in a perfect way.
"God Only Knows" (1966)
This is arguably the greatest song ever created. Carl Wilson, Brian's brother, takes lead vocals on the song but the lead is not the most important part of the vocal track and far from it. Instead, there are three contrapuntal vocal parts that undercut the lead somewhat. Whether Brian Wilson meant to or not (and with Wilson, there was literally nothing the Beach Boys did during the 1960s that he did not conceive of prior to a song being recorded), this track might be as close to Wagner's idea of deconstructing a melody as any pop song ever.
The instruments used in the sound are not all normal ones. For instance, as part of the mix are plastic orange juice cups. The drums near the end are reminiscent of Wagner's use of strings on "Ride of the Valkyries." And somehow, the song is one of exquisite and unique beauty.