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On this Day:
On May 16, 1966 The Beach Boys released their groundbreaking album “Pet Sounds”, containing hit singles “Sloop John B” and “Wouldn’t It Be Nice”, and “God Only Knows”.
The Beach Boys are an American rock band that formed in Hawthorne, California, in 1961. The group’s original lineup consisted of brothers Brian, Dennis, and Carl Wilson, their cousin Mike Love, and friend Al Jardine. Distinguished for their vocal harmonies, adolescent-oriented themes, and musical ingenuity, they are one of the most influential acts of the rock era. They drew on the music of older pop vocal groups, 1950s rock and roll, and black R&B to create their unique sound, and under Brian’s direction, often incorporated classical or jazz elements and unconventional recording techniques in innovative ways.
The Beach Boys began as a garage band, managed by the Wilsons’ father Murry, and with Brian as composer, arranger, producer, and de facto leader. In 1963, they had their first national hit with “Surfin’ U.S.A.”, beginning a string of top-ten singles that reflected a southern California youth culture of surfing, cars, and romance, dubbed the “California sound”. They were one of the few American rock bands to sustain their commercial standing during the British Invasion. Starting with 1965’s The Beach Boys Today!, they abandoned beachgoing themes for more personal lyrics and ambitious orchestrations. In 1966, the Pet Sounds album and “Good Vibrations” single raised the group’s prestige as rock innovators. After scrapping the Smile album in 1967, Brian gradually ceded control of the group to his bandmates.
In the late 1960s, the group’s commercial momentum faltered in the US, and despite efforts to maintain an experimental sound, they were widely dismissed by the early rock music press. Carl took over as the band’s musical leader; records from this period later enjoyed a cult following among fans. In the mid-1970s, as their concerts drew larger audiences, the band transitioned into an oldies act. Dennis drowned in 1983 and Brian soon became estranged from the group. Following Carl’s death from lung cancer in 1998, the band granted Love legal rights to tour under the group’s name. In the early 2010s, the original members briefly reunited for the band’s 50th anniversary. As of 2022, Wilson and Jardine do not perform with Love’s edition of the Beach Boys, but remain official members of the band.
The Beach Boys are one of the most critically acclaimed and commercially successful bands of all time, selling over 100 million records worldwide. They helped legitimize popular music as a recognized art form and influenced the development of music genres and movements such as psychedelia, power pop, progressive rock, punk, alternative, and lo-fi. Between the 1960s and 2010s, the group had 36 songs reach the US Top 40 (the most by an American band), with four topping the Billboard Hot 100. In 2004, they were ranked number 12 on Rolling Stone’s list of the greatest artists of all time. The founding members were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1988 (per Wikipedia).
First, a Story:
The Beach Boys walk into a bar. The bartender asks Brian Wilson what they’d like, so he looks back to his friends…
“Get a round?” “Round?” “Round?” “I’ll get a round!”
Second, a Song:
“Sloop John B” (originally published as “The John B. Sails”) is a Bahamian folk song from Nassau. A transcription by Richard Le Gallienne was published in 1916, and a version was included in Carl Sandburg’s The American Songbag in 1927. Since the early 1950s there have been many recordings of the song with variant titles including “I Want to Go Home” and “Wreck of the John B”.
In 1966, the Beach Boys recorded a folk rock adaptation that was produced and arranged by their de facto leader, Brian Wilson. Released as the second single from their album Pet Sounds, the record peaked at number three in the U.S., number two in the UK, and topped the charts in several other countries. It was innovative for containing an elaborate a cappella vocal section not found in other pop music of the era, and it remains one of the group’s biggest hits.
In 2011, the Beach Boys’ version of “Sloop John B” was ranked No. 276 on Rolling Stone’s list of “The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time”.
Traderfiles writes on YouTube.com: “Sloop John B – The Beach Boys – Long version Fan Remix
Thought I’d make a better version than what I had before on this channel. I mixed different areas of this song into one and lengthened it with background vocals in certain areas. Carl’s version with Brian’s is at the beginning. Sounds good over the headphones.I highlighted parts of this song that I like. I hope it is well received.”
Here is Fan Remix of The Beach Boy’s Sloop John B. We hope you enjoy this!
(https://capture.dropbox.com/D1FjB7IddhHUevF6)
Thought for the Day:
“I have to tell you that J.S. Bach was easily the greatest musical innovator in the history of the world. He was so advanced for his time. There’s a spiritual depth to his music. You can listen to it and it’s like meditation.” – Brian Wilson
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Have a great day!
Dave & Colleen
© 2022 David J. Bilinsky and Colleen E. Bilinsky
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