The Beach Boys “Surfin’ USA” 1963. I can’t believe I’m doing a Beach Boys post but since Brian Wilson died this past week – and we have a number of their LP’s – I felt compelled. Unpopular opinion: I do not like The Beach Boys. I never have. My parents weren’t into them so it’s not like it was over-played at home when I was a kid (though most Beach Boys’ surf and car songs are somehow embedded in my DNA). I do not understand the cultural obsession with Pet Sounds. I’ve heard that Brian Wilson is considered a genius but I’ve also heard he was a raging asshole (yes, I know he struggled with mental health issues but I don’t know that gives anyone an excuse to be a shit). In high school (and beyond) their 1989 hit “Kokomo” made my ears bleed (yes, I also know that Brian Wilson was almost completely absent on the 1989 record Still Cruisin’ upon which the single appears, and Wilson had probably nothing to do with “Kokomo”).

Anyway, Surfin’ USA was The Beach Boys’ second album. It went to #2 on the US charts. The lead single and title track “Surfin’ USA” hit #3 in the US and has become “become emblematic of the California Sound, and the song’s depiction of California is emblematic of the genre. Professor Dale Carter notes that the Beach Boys’ lyrics depict them as “enjoying all the material benefits of the promised land (typified by southern California) … liberty and security are accommodated at drive-in and drag strip, on surf board and in T-Bird, from hamburger stand to beach party…'”(wiki). Writing credits go to Brian Wilson and Chuck Berry since it’s a reworking of Berry’s “Sweet Little Sixteen.” Both songs are recognized as some of the greatest singles of all-time. I feel like most of the rest of the tracks on the album are yet another reworking of that theme and sound. The only standouts for me are the instrumentals (without the sappy harmonies – I will admit their voices are flawless, but tracks like “Finders Keepers” are just cringey for me), in particular the banger “Surf Jam” (written by Carl Wilson) which has a touch of darkness. “Stoked” (written by Brian Wilson) is pretty groovy, too. The instrumental “Misirlou” is not a Beach Boys original – it’s a Middle East/Mediterranean folk song, with the earliest known recording from 1927, recorded most popularly by Dick Dale (1962) prior to The Beach Boys and then more recently by the Black Eyed Peas in 2006 (renamed with new lyrics “Pump It“).