Misplaced Pages

#521478

126-450: Its use in pop culture increased worldwide since 1966, when The Beach Boys used it for the cover artwork of their album Pet Sounds . It was then featured in the Doors’ L.A. Woman (1971) and David Bowie’s Ziggy Stardust (1972), and in the opening credits of The Bob Newhart Show , Dad's Army , Diff'rent Strokes , Garfield , M*A*S*H , Enos , The New Adventures of Winnie

252-453: A conscientious objector . The FBI arrested him in April, and it took several years for courts to resolve the matter. After months of recording and media hype, Smile was shelved for personal, technical, and legal reasons. A February 1967 lawsuit seeking $ 255,000 (equivalent to $ 2.33 million in 2023) was launched against Capitol Records over neglected royalty payments. Within the lawsuit

378-644: A lettering artist in Chicago and the Midwest of America in the 1920s. Cooper Black was advertised as being "for far-sighted printers with near-sighted customers", as well as "the Black Menace" by detractors. While very bold, Cooper Black is based on traditional "old-style" serif lettering, rather than the hard-edged "fat face" fonts popular in the nineteenth century, giving it a soft, 'muddy' appearance, with relatively low contrast between thick and thin strokes. Cooper Hilite

504-423: A "dramatic turning point" in recording history through its dedication to studio exploration over the "performability" of the songs, as this and subsequent Beatles albums reshaped listeners' preconceptions of a pop recording. According to Julien, the follow-up LP Sgt. Pepper represents the "epitome of the transformation of the recording studio into a compositional tool", marking the moment when "popular music entered

630-418: A Beach Boys LP for the 1965 Christmas season, Brian conceived Beach Boys' Party! , a live-in-the-studio album consisting mostly of acoustic covers of 1950s rock and R&B songs, in addition to covers of three Beatles songs, Bob Dylan 's " The Times They Are a-Changin' ", and idiosyncratic rerecordings of the group's earlier songs. The album was an early precursor of the " unplugged " trend. It also included

756-489: A British journalist: "Brian has been rethinking our recording program and in any case we all have a much greater say nowadays in what we turn out in the studio." The Beach Boys were at their lowest popularity in the late 1960s, and their cultural standing was especially worsened by their public image, which remained incongruous with their peers' "heavier" music. At the end of 1967, Rolling Stone co-founder and editor Jann Wenner printed an influential article that denounced

882-455: A balancing engineer for the BBC , however, her tape experiments were mostly unheard at the time. The BBC Radiophonic Workshop was one of the first to use the recording studio as a creative tool, often overlooked as was producing music for TV (and the prominent people were women) Daphne Oram, and Delia Derbyshire, who were early innovators. English producer Joe Meek around the same time exploited

1008-450: A brief return to live performance, as Bruce Johnston chose to take a temporary break from the band during the summer of 1967, feeling that the atmosphere within the band "had all got too weird". The performances were filmed and recorded with the intention of releasing a live album, Lei'd in Hawaii , which was also left unfinished and unreleased. The general record-buying public came to view

1134-586: A cappella rendition of the scriptural song " The Lord's Prayer ". The A-side peaked at number 3 on the US Billboard Christmas chart. By the end of the year David Marks had left the group and Al Jardine had returned. The surf music craze, along with the careers of nearly all surf acts, was slowly replaced by the British Invasion . Following a successful Australasian tour in January and February 1964,

1260-518: A conceptual shift in which an alternative approach that might make using the studio as an instrument cheaper, easier, more convenient, or more creative, was increasingly sought after. Compared to the 1960s, using the studio as an instrument became less about working the system as it were, and working the systems . Producer Conny Plank was cited as creating "a world in sound using the studio as an instrument" producing bands such as Can , Cluster , Neu! , Kraftwerk and Ultravox amongst many others,

1386-471: A concert film intended to bring together a wide range of musicians for a one-off performance. The result was released to movie theaters one month later. By the end of 1964, the stress of road travel, writing, and producing became too much for Brian. On December 23, while on a flight from Los Angeles to Houston, he suffered a panic attack . In January 1965, he announced his withdrawal from touring to concentrate entirely on songwriting and record production. For

SECTION 10

#1732887203522

1512-474: A cover of the Regents ' song " Barbara Ann ", which unexpectedly reached number 2 when released as a single several weeks later. In November, the group released another top-twenty single, " The Little Girl I Once Knew ". It was considered the band's most experimental statement thus far. The single continued Brian's ambitions for daring arrangements, featuring unexpected tempo changes and numerous false endings. With

1638-416: A deal was never made. In July 1968, the group released the single " Do It Again ", which lyrically harkened back to their earlier surf songs. Around this time, Brian admitted himself to a psychiatric hospital; his bandmates wrote and produced material in his absence. Released in January 1969, the album 20/20 mixed new material with outtakes and leftovers from recent albums; Brian produced virtually none of

1764-504: A full-time member of the band on May 19, 1965. With Johnston's arrival, Brian now had a sixth voice he could work with in the band's vocal arrangements, with the June 4 vocal sessions for " California Girls " being Johnston's first recording session with the Beach Boys. "California Girls" was included on the band's next album Summer Days (And Summer Nights!!) and eventually charted at number 3 in

1890-605: A group by that name. He suggested calling them the Beach Boys. "Surfin ' " was a regional success for the West Coast, and reached number 75 on the national Billboard Hot 100 chart. By this time the de facto manager of the Beach Boys, Murry landed the group's first paying gig (for which they earned $ 300) on New Year's Eve, 1961, at the Ritchie Valens Memorial Dance in Long Beach . In their early public appearances,

2016-410: A lack of know-how might even be advantageous to creativity", and that "such an approach was typified" by Kraftwerk , whose members proclaimed "we play the studio". He goes on to say: While those of the ilk of Brian Wilson used the studio as an instrument by orchestrating everyone that worked within it, the turn to technology in the cases of Sly Stone , Stevie Wonder , Prince , and Brian Eno signify

2142-468: A live album recorded in December 1968, was released in several countries in 1970 to fulfil the contract, although it would not see US release until 1976. After the contract was completed Capitol deleted the Beach Boys' catalog from print, effectively cutting off their royalty flow. The lawsuit was later settled in their favor and they acquired the rights to their post-1965 catalog. In August, Sea of Tunes ,

2268-530: A live album, Beach Boys Concert , was released in October to a four-week chart stay at number 1, containing a set list of previously recorded songs and covers that they had not yet recorded. In June 1964, Brian recorded the bulk of The Beach Boys' Christmas Album with a forty-one-piece studio orchestra in collaboration with Four Freshmen arranger Dick Reynolds . The album was a response to Phil Spector's A Christmas Gift for You (1963). Released in December,

2394-438: A musical and lyrical sophistication that contrasted their work from before and after. This divide was further solidified by the difference in sound between their albums and their stage performances. This resulted in a split fanbase corresponding to two distinct musical markets. One group enjoys the band's early work as a wholesome representation of American popular culture from before the political and social movements brought on in

2520-421: A politically unconscious youth culture. Although Smile had been cancelled, the Beach Boys were still under pressure and a contractual obligation to record and present an album to Capitol. Carl remembered: "Brian just said, 'I can't do this. We're going to make a homespun version of [ Smile ] instead. We're just going to take it easy. I'll get in the pool and sing. Or let's go in the gym and do our parts.' That

2646-537: A producer and songwriter. Musically, he said he began to "take the things I learned from Phil Spector and use more instruments whenever I could. I doubled up on basses and tripled up on keyboards, which made everything sound bigger and deeper." We needed to grow. Up to this point we had milked every idea dry [and did] every possible angle about surfing and [cars]. But we needed to grow artistically. — Brian Wilson Released in March 1965, The Beach Boys Today! marked

SECTION 20

#1732887203522

2772-487: A real-life performance. Following the advent of three-track tape recorders in the mid-1950s, recording spaces became more accustomed for in-studio composition. By the late 1960s, in-studio composition had become standard practice, and has remained as such into the 21st century. Despite the widespread changes that have led to more compact recording set-ups, individual components such as digital audio workstations (DAW) are still colloquially referred to as "the studio". There

2898-471: 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 2020s, the group had 37 songs reach the U.S. Top 40 of the Billboard Hot 100 (the most by an American band), with four topping the chart. In 2004, the group was ranked number 12 on Rolling Stone ' s list of

3024-438: A record rather than just a song." Surfer Girl marked the first time the group used outside musicians on a substantial portion of an LP. Many of them were the musicians Spector used for his Wall of Sound productions. Only a month after Surfer Girl' s release the group's fourth album Little Deuce Coupe was issued. To close 1963, the band released a standalone Christmas-themed single " Little Saint Nick ", backed with an

3150-424: A surprise for the label. The Beach Boys' first album, Surfin' Safari , was released in October 1962. It was different from other rock albums of the time in that it consisted almost entirely of original songs, primarily written by Brian with Mike Love and friend Gary Usher . Another unusual feature of the Beach Boys was that, although they were marketed as "surf music", their repertoire bore little resemblance to

3276-537: A transitional phase in an effort to win the pop terrain that had been thrown up for grabs". Wilson collaborated with jingle writer Tony Asher for several of the songs on the album Pet Sounds , a refinement of the themes and ideas that were introduced in Today! . In some ways, the music was a jarring departure from their earlier style. Jardine explained that "it took us quite a while to adjust to [the new material] because it wasn't music you could necessarily dance to—it

3402-441: A unified whole. Despite the widespread changes that have led to more compact recording set-ups, individual components such as DAWs are still referred to as "the studio". Composers have exploited the potential of recording technology since it was first made available to them. Before the late 1940s, musical recordings were typically created with the idea of presenting a faithful rendition of a real-life performance. Writing in 1937,

3528-418: Is "widely accepted as shoegazing's genius", with "his astonishing wall of sound, use of the studio as instrument and dazzling reinvention of the guitar making him a sort of hydra-headed Spector- Hendrix -Eno figure". American psychedelic rock band The Flaming Lips earned comparisons by critics to Brian Wilson's work when discussing their albums Zaireeka (1997) and The Soft Bulletin (1999), which were

3654-869: Is a uni-case variant. A version from URW , which does not include an italic, is bundled with many Microsoft products. Cooper Old Style has been digitised by URW. Miles Newlyn designed the New Kansas typeface, based on the Cooper Black typeface. Owen Earl digitized the original Cooper family as Cooper*. The Beach Boys The Beach Boys are an American rock band 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 by its vocal harmonies , adolescent-oriented lyrics, and musical ingenuity,

3780-522: Is a version of Cooper Black originally designed by painting white relief impressions into a printed proof of Cooper Black. It has been digitized by ParaType and Wordshape. Cooper Black was immediately popular and spawned imitations, including Goudy Heavy Face from Frederic Goudy , Ludlow Black and Pabst Extra Bold. Cooper Black remains popular: the editors of the typography discussion website Fonts in Use report more submissions of its use than any other face that

3906-555: Is no single instance in which the studio suddenly became recognized as an instrument, and even at present [2018] it may not have wide recognition as such. Nevertheless, there is a historical precedent of the studio—broadly defined—consciously being used to perform music. —Adam Bell, Dawn of the DAW: The Studio As Musical Instrument "Playing the studio" is equivalent to 'in-studio composition', meaning writing and production occur concurrently. Definitions of

Cooper Black - Misplaced Pages Continue

4032-550: Is not a sans-serif , although outnumbered by Times New Roman once its many variants are added up. Many unusual versions of Cooper were created in the phototypesetting period of the 1960s and 1970s, a period of explosion in the production of display faces. These included "Ziptop Cooper Black" from Photo Lettering Inc. , a version with the top bolder than the bottom, and other distorted variants. Many digitisations of Cooper Black exist from companies including Bitstream, Adobe and others. Soap, designed by Ray Larabie of Typodermic,

4158-450: Is that Jardine left to focus on dental school . In reality, Jardine did not even apply to dental school until 1964, and the reason he left in February 1962 was due to creative differences and his belief that the newly-formed group would not be a commercial success. After being turned down by Dot and Liberty , the Beach Boys signed a seven-year contract with Capitol Records . This was at

4284-623: Is thought that [their] non-appearance was what really turned the 'underground' tide against them." Fan magazines speculated that the group was on the verge of breaking up. Detractors called the band the "Bleach Boys" and "the California Hypes" as media focus shifted from Los Angeles to the happenings in San Francisco. As authenticity became a higher concern among critics, the group's legitimacy in rock music became an oft-repeated criticism, especially since their early songs appeared to celebrate

4410-515: The Tate–LaBianca murders . According to Jon Parks, the band's tour manager, it was widely suspected in the Hollywood community that Manson was responsible for the murders, and it had been known that Manson had been involved with the Beach Boys, causing the band to be viewed as pariahs for a time. In November, police apprehended Manson, and his connection with the Beach Boys received media attention. He

4536-631: The Transcendental Meditation the Maharishi taught. In support of Friends , Love arranged for the Beach Boys to tour with the Maharishi in the US . Starting on May 3, 1968, the tour lasted five shows and was canceled when the Maharishi withdrew to fulfill film contracts. Because of disappointing audience numbers and the Maharishi's withdrawal, 24 tour dates were canceled at a cost estimated at $ 250,000. Friends , released on June 24, peaked at number 126 in

4662-503: The greatest artists of all time . Many critics' polls have ranked Today! (1965), Pet Sounds (1966), Smiley Smile (1967), Sunflower (1970), Surf's Up (1971), and The Smile Sessions (2011) among the finest albums in history. The founding members were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1988. Other members during the band's history have been David Marks , Bruce Johnston , Blondie Chaplin , and Ricky Fataar . At

4788-502: The 1980s, musicians associated with the genres dream pop and shoegazing made innovative use of effects pedals and recording techniques to create ethereal, "dreamy" musical atmospheres. The English-Irish shoegazing band My Bloody Valentine , helmed by guitarist-producer Kevin Shields , are often celebrated for their studio albums Isn't Anything (1988) and Loveless (1991). Writing for The Sunday Times , Paul Lester said Shields

4914-444: The 2010s. During the 1970s, the "studio as instrument" concept shifted from the studio's recording space to the studio's control room, where electronic instruments could be plugged directly into the mixing console. As of the 2010s, the "studio as instrument" idea remains ubiquitous in genres such as pop , hip-hop , and electronic music. Pioneers from the 1940s include Bill Putnam , Les Paul , and Tom Dowd , who each contributed to

5040-423: The 64th-greatest album of all time. When we did Wild Honey , Brian asked me to get more involved in the recording end. He wanted a break [because he] had been doing it all too long. —Carl Wilson The Beach Boys immediately recorded a new album, Wild Honey , an excursion into soul music , and a self-conscious attempt to "regroup" themselves as a rock band in opposition to their more orchestral affairs of

5166-547: The American composer John Cage called for the development of "centers of experimental music" places where "the new materials, oscillators, turntables, generators, means for amplifying small sounds, film phonographs, etc." would allow composers to "work using twentieth-century means for making music." In the early 1950s, electronic equipment was expensive to own, and for most people, was only accessible through large organizations or institutions. However, virtually every young composer

Cooper Black - Misplaced Pages Continue

5292-488: The Beach Boys as "just one prominent example of a group that has gotten hung up on trying to catch The Beatles. It's a pointless pursuit." The article had the effect of excluding the group among serious rock fans and such controversy followed them into the next year. Capitol continued to bill them as "America's Top Surfin' Group!" and expected Brian to write more beachgoing songs for the yearly summer markets. From 1968 onward, his songwriting output declined substantially, but

5418-509: The Beach Boys had built their commercial standing. Within two months, the label capitulated by releasing the group's first greatest hits compilation album, Best of the Beach Boys , which was quickly certified gold by the RIAA . By contrast, Pet Sounds met a highly favorable critical response in Britain, where it reached number 2 and remained among the top-ten positions for six months. Responding to

5544-454: The Beach Boys returned home to face their new competition, the Beatles . Both groups shared the same record label in the US, and Capitol's support for the Beach Boys immediately began waning. Although it generated a top-five single in " Fun Fun Fun ", the group's fifth album, Shut Down Volume 2 , became their first since Surfin' Safari not to reach the US top-ten. This caused Murry to fight for

5670-468: The Beach Boys' album was divided between five new, original Christmas-themed songs, and seven reinterpretations of traditional Christmas songs. It would be regarded as one of the finest holiday albums of the rock era. One single from the album, " The Man with All the Toys ", was released, peaking at number 6 on the US Billboard Christmas chart. On October 29, the Beach Boys performed for The T.A.M.I. Show ,

5796-530: The Beach Boys' catalog, was sold to Irving Almo Music for $ 700,000 (equivalent to $ 5.82 million in 2023). According to his wife, Marilyn Wilson , Brian was devastated by the sale. Over the years, the catalog generated more than $ 100 million in publishing royalties, none of which Murry or the band members ever received. That same month, Carl, Dennis, Love, and Jardine sought a permanent replacement for Johnston, with Johnston unaware of this search. They approached Carl's brother-in-law Billy Hinsche , who declined

5922-460: The Beach Boys' vocal approach to the genre, not the original instrumental style pioneered by Dick Dale . Biographer Luis Sanchez highlights the "Surfin' U.S.A." single as a turning point for the band, "creat[ing] a direct passage to California life for a wide teenage audience ... [and] a distinct Southern California sensibility that exceeded its conception as such to advance right to the front of American consciousness". Throughout 1963, and for

6048-644: The Pooh , Everybody Hates Chris and other shows. The font is used for the Disney Sing-Along Songs from the intro. As a result, Cooper Black has become emblematic of late-1960s/early-1970s style. It is also known in railroading for its association with the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway "Yellowbonnet" paint scheme, also dating to the early 1960s, which had "Santa Fe" in large yellow letters on locomotive sides. Cooper Black followed on from Cooper's career as

6174-463: The Ronettes ' 1963 song " Be My Baby ", which was produced by Spector. The first time he heard the song was while driving, and was so overwhelmed that he had to pull over to the side of the road and analyze the chorus. Later, he reflected: "I was unable to really think as a producer up until the time where I really got familiar with Phil Spector's work. That was when I started to design the experience to be

6300-444: The US as the second single from the album, while the album itself went to number 2. The first single from Summer Days had been a reworked arrangement of " Help Me, Rhonda ", which became the band's second number 1 US single in the spring of 1965. For contractual reasons, owing to his previous deal with Columbia Records, Johnston was not able to be credited or pictured on Beach Boys records until 1967. To appease Capitol's demands for

6426-515: The US, but were stopped by the British musicians' union. The tour went on without the extra support, and critics described their performances as "amateurish" and "floundering". At the last minute, the Beach Boys declined to headline the Monterey Pop Festival , an event held in June. According to David Leaf, "Monterey was a gathering place for the 'far out' sounds of the 'new' rock ... and it

SECTION 50

#1732887203522

6552-519: The US. In August, Capitol issued an album of Beach Boys backing tracks, Stack-o-Tracks . It was the first Beach Boys LP that failed to chart in the US and UK. In June 1968, Dennis befriended Charles Manson , an aspiring singer-songwriter, and their relationship lasted for several months. Dennis bought him time at Brian's home studio, where recording sessions were attempted while Brian stayed in his room. Dennis then proposed that Manson be signed to Brother Records. Brian reportedly disliked Manson, and

6678-470: The Wilsons' father, Murry . In 1963, the band enjoyed its 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 ". It was one of the few American rock bands to sustain its commercial standing during the British Invasion . Starting with 1965's The Beach Boys Today! ,

6804-439: The autobiographical; journalist Nick Kent wrote that the subjects of Brian's songs "were suddenly no longer simple happy souls harmonizing their sun-kissed innocence and dying devotion to each other over a honey-coated backdrop of surf and sand. Instead, they'd become highly vulnerable, slightly neurotic and riddled with telling insecurities." In the book Yeah Yeah Yeah: The Story of Modern Pop , Bob Stanley remarked that "Brian

6930-428: The background harmonies. For his birthday that year, Brian received a reel-to-reel tape recorder . He learned how to overdub , using his vocals and those of Carl and their mother. Brian played piano, while Carl and David Marks , an eleven-year-old longtime neighbor, played guitars that each had received as Christmas presents. Soon Brian and Carl were avidly listening to Johnny Otis ' KFOX radio show. Inspired by

7056-564: The band 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; both are now widely considered to be among the greatest and most influential works in popular music history. After scrapping the Smile album in 1967, Brian gradually ceded control of the group to his bandmates, though he still continued to contribute. In

7182-437: The band at the label more than before, often visiting their offices without warning to "twist executive arms". Carl said that Phil Spector "was Brian's favorite kind of rock; he liked [him] better than the early Beatles stuff. He loved the Beatles' later music when they evolved and started making intelligent, masterful music, but before that Phil was it." According to Mike Love, Carl followed the Beatles closer than anyone else in

7308-421: The band is one of the most influential acts of the rock era. The group drew on the music of older pop vocal groups , 1950s rock and roll , and black R&B to create its unique sound. Under Brian's direction, it often incorporated classical or jazz elements and unconventional recording techniques in innovative ways. The Beach Boys formed as a garage band centered on Brian's songwriting and managed by

7434-503: The band wore heavy wool jacket-like shirts that local surfers favored before switching to their trademark striped shirts and white pants (a look that was taken directly from the Kingston Trio ). All five members sang, with Brian playing bass, Dennis playing drums, Carl playing lead guitar and Al Jardine playing rhythm guitar, while Mike Love was the main singer and occasionally played saxophone. In early 1962, Morgan requested that some of

7560-462: The band's sixth album All Summer Long , released in July 1964 and reaching number 4 in the US. All Summer Long introduced exotic textures to the Beach Boys' sound exemplified by the piccolos and xylophones of its title track . The album was a swan-song to the surf and car music the Beach Boys built their commercial standing upon. Later albums took a different stylistic and lyrical path. Before this,

7686-403: The band, while Brian was the most "rattled" by the Beatles and felt tremendous pressure to "keep pace" with them. For Brian, the Beatles ultimately "eclipsed a lot [of what] we'd worked for ... [they] eclipsed the whole music world". Brian wrote his last surf song for nearly four years, " Don't Back Down ", in April 1964. That month, during recording of the single " I Get Around ", Murry

SECTION 60

#1732887203522

7812-506: The development of common recording practices like reverb, tape delay , and overdubbing . Putnam was one of the first to recognize echo and reverb as elements to enhance a recording, rather than as natural byproducts of the recording space. He engineered the Harmonicats ' 1947 novelty song " Peg o' My Heart ", which was a significant chart hit and became the first popular recording to use artificial reverb for artistic effect. Although Les Paul

7938-490: The early 1960s, it was common for producers, songwriters, and engineers to freely experiment with musical form , orchestration , unnatural reverb , and other sound effects. Some of the best known examples are Phil Spector 's Wall of Sound and Joe Meek 's use of homemade electronic sound effects for acts like the Tornados . In-studio composition became standard practice by the late 1960s and early 1970s, and remained so into

8064-491: The era of phonographic composition." Composer and musicologist Michael Hannan attributes the album's impact to Martin and his engineers, in response to the Beatles' demands, making increasingly creative use of studio equipment and originating new processes. Like Revolver , " Good Vibrations ", which Wilson produced for the Beach Boys in 1966, was a prime proponent in revolutionizing rock from live concert performances into studio productions that could only exist on record. For

8190-472: The exception of their 1963 and 1964 Christmas singles ("Little Saint Nick" and "The Man with All the Toys") it was the group's lowest charting single on the Billboard Hot 100 since " Ten Little Indians " in 1962, peaking at number 20. According to Luis Sanchez, in 1965, Bob Dylan was "rewriting the rules for pop success" with his music and image, and it was at this juncture that Wilson "led The Beach Boys into

8316-530: The first records to flaunt studio production as a quality in its own right, rather than as a means of presenting a performance", while rock critic Gene Sculatti called it the "ultimate in-studio production trip", adding that its influence was apparent in songs such as " A Day in the Life " from Sgt. Pepper . Adam Bell credits Brian Eno with popularizing the concept of the studio as instrument, particularly that it "did not require previous experience, and in some ways,

8442-423: The first refrain on a take was good and the second one lousy, we'd tape another recording of the first one and stick it in place of the second one." Phil Spector , sometimes regarded as Joe Meek's American counterpart, is also considered "important as the first star producer of popular music and its first 'auteur' ... Spector changed pop music from a performing art ... to an art which could sometimes exist only in

8568-460: The first time in three years American artists broke the chart dominance of British acts. In 1971, Cue magazine wrote that, from mid-1966 to late-1967, the Beach Boys "were among the vanguard in practically every aspect of the counter culture". Released on October 10, 1966, "Good Vibrations" was the Beach Boys' third US number 1 single, reaching the top of the Billboard Hot 100 in December, and became their first number 1 in Britain. That month,

8694-406: The first time the group experimented with the "album-as-art" form. The tracks on side one feature an uptempo sound that contrasts side two, which consists mostly of emotional ballads. Music writer Scott Schinder referenced its " suite-like structure " as an early example of the rock album format being used to make a cohesive artistic statement. Brian also established his new lyrical approach toward

8820-451: The first time, Wilson limited himself to recording short interchangeable fragments (or "modules") rather than a complete song. Through the method of tape splicing , each fragment could then be assembled into a linear sequence – as Wilson explored on subsequent recordings from this period – allowing any number of larger structures and divergent moods to be produced at a later time. Musicologist Charlie Gillett called "Good Vibrations" "one of

8946-481: The fledgling band its name: "The Pendletones", a pun on " Pendleton ", a brand of woollen shirt popular at the time. Dennis was the only avid surfer in the group, and he suggested that the group write songs that celebrated the sport and the lifestyle that it had inspired in Southern California . Brian finished the song, titled " Surfin ' ", and with Mike Love, wrote " Surfin' Safari ". Murry Wilson, who

9072-546: 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 tour . As of 2024 , Brian and Al 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

9198-587: The hype, Melody Maker ran a feature in which many pop musicians were asked whether they believed that the album was truly revolutionary and progressive , or "as sickly as peanut butter". The author concluded that "the record's impact on artists and the men behind the artists has been considerable". Throughout the summer of 1966, Brian concentrated on finishing the group's next single, " Good Vibrations ". Instead of working on whole songs with clear large-scale syntactical structures, he limited himself to recording short interchangeable fragments (or "modules"). Through

9324-451: The idea of the studio as an instrument used for in-studio composition, and music producers after the mid 1960s increasingly drew from their work. Although Martin was nominally the Beatles' producer, from 1964 he ceded control to the band, allowing them to use the studio as a workshop for their ideas and later as a sound laboratory. Musicologist Olivier Julien writes that the Beatles' "gradual integration of arranging and recording into one and

9450-430: The impression that it had no filler tracks , a feature that was mostly unheard of at a time when 45 rpm singles were considered more noteworthy than full-length LPs. He later said: "It didn't make me want to copy them but to be as good as them. I didn't want to do the same kind of music, but on the same level." Thanks to mutual connections, Brian was introduced to the Beatles' former press officer Derek Taylor , who

9576-421: The incorporation of non-musical sounds , overdubbing , tape edits, sound synthesis , audio signal processing , and combining segmented performances ( takes ) into a unified whole. Composers have exploited the potential of multitrack recording from the time the technology was first introduced. Before the late 1940s, musical recordings were typically created with the idea of presenting a faithful rendition of

9702-444: The label. Throughout 1966, EMI flooded the UK market with Beach Boys albums not yet released there, including Beach Boys' Party! , The Beach Boys Today! and Summer Days (and Summer Nights!!) , while Best of the Beach Boys was number 2 there for several weeks at the end of the year. Over the final quarter of 1966, the Beach Boys were the highest-selling album act in the UK, where for

9828-416: The last few days of 1964 and into early 1965, session musician and up-and-coming solo artist Glen Campbell agreed to temporarily serve as Brian's replacement in concert. Carl took over as the band's musical director onstage. Now a full-time studio artist, Brian wanted to move the Beach Boys beyond their surf aesthetic, believing that their image was antiquated and distracting the public from his talents as

9954-437: The late 1960s, the group's commercial momentum faltered in the U.S., and it was widely dismissed by the early rock music press before undergoing a rebranding in the early 1970s. Carl took over as de facto leader until the mid-1970s, when the band responded to the growing success of its live shows and greatest hits compilations by transitioning into an oldies act. Dennis drowned in 1983, and Brian soon became estranged from

10080-462: The late 1970s onward, hip hop production has been strongly linked to the lineage and technique of earlier artists who used the studio as an instrument. Jazz critic Francis Davis identified early hip-hop DJs , including Afrika Bambaataa and Grandmaster Flash , as "grassroots successors to Phil Spector, Brian Wilson, and George Martin, the 1960s producers who pioneered the use of the recording studio as an instrument in its own right." Beginning in

10206-643: The main songs linked together by small vocal pieces and instrumental segments that elaborated on the major songs' musical themes. It was explicitly American in style and subject, a conscious reaction to the overwhelming British dominance of popular music at the time. Some of the music incorporated chanting, cowboy songs, explorations in Indian and Hawaiian music, jazz, classical tone poems , cartoon sound effects, musique concrète , and yodeling. Saturday Evening Post writer Jules Siegel recalled that, on one October evening, Brian announced to his wife and friends that he

10332-456: The members add vocals to a couple of instrumental tracks that he had recorded with other musicians. This led to the creation of the short-lived group Kenny & the Cadets, which Brian led under the pseudonym "Kenny". The other members were Carl, Jardine, and the Wilsons' mother Audree. In February, Jardine left the Beach Boys and was replaced by David Marks on rhythm guitar. A common misconception

10458-420: The method of tape splicing , each fragment could then be assembled into a linear sequence, allowing any number of larger structures and divergent moods to be produced at a later time. Coming at a time when pop singles were usually recorded in under two hours, it was one of the most complex pop productions ever undertaken, with sessions for the song stretching over several months in four major Hollywood studios. It

10584-408: The mid-1960s. The other group also appreciates the early songs for their energy and complexity, but not as much as the band's ambitious work that was created during the formative psychedelic era . At the time, rock music journalists typically valued the Beach Boys' early records over their experimental work. In May 1967, the Beach Boys attempted to tour Europe with four extra musicians brought from

10710-485: The music made after this time as the point marking the band's artistic decline. Smiley Smile was released on September 18, 1967, and peaked at number 41 in the US, making it their worst-selling album to that date. Critics and fans were generally underwhelmed by the album. According to Scott Schinder, the album was released to "general incomprehension. While Smile may have divided the Beach Boys' fans had it been released, Smiley Smile merely baffled them." The group

10836-434: The music of other surf bands, which was mainly instrumental and incorporated heavy use of spring reverb . For this reason, some of the Beach Boys' early local performances had young audience members throwing vegetables at the band, believing that the group were poseurs. In January 1963, the Beach Boys recorded their first top-ten single, " Surfin' U.S.A. ", which began their long run of highly successful recording efforts. It

10962-464: The newer recordings. The Beach Boys recorded one song by Manson without his involvement: "Cease to Exist", rewritten as " Never Learn Not to Love ", which was included on 20/20 . As his cult of followers took over Dennis's home, Dennis gradually distanced himself from Manson. According to Leaf, "The entire Wilson family reportedly feared for their lives." In August, the Manson Family committed

11088-642: The next few years, Brian produced a variety of singles for outside artists. Among these were the Honeys , a surfer trio that comprised sisters Diane and Marilyn Rovell with cousin Ginger Blake. Brian was convinced that they could be a successful female counterpart to the Beach Boys, and he produced a number of singles for them, although they could not replicate the Beach Boys' popularity. He also attended some of Phil Spector 's sessions at Gold Star Studios . His creative and songwriting interests were revamped upon hearing

11214-494: The offer to focus on his college studies. Recording studio as an instrument In music production , the recording studio is often treated as a musical instrument when it plays a significant role in the composition of music . Sometimes called "playing the studio", the approach is typically embodied by artists or producers who favor the creative use of studio technology in record production, as opposed to simply documenting live performances in studio. Techniques include

11340-401: The orchestrations, at times, echo the quirkiness of ' exotica ' bandleader Les Baxter , or the 'cool' of Burt Bacharach , more so than Spector's teen fanfares". For Pet Sounds , Brian desired to make "a complete statement", similar to what he believed the Beatles had done with their newest album Rubber Soul , released in December 1965. Brian was immediately enamored with the album, given

11466-403: The past. Its music differs in many ways from previous Beach Boys records: it contains very little group singing compared to previous albums, and mainly features Brian singing at his piano. Again, the Beach Boys recorded mostly at his home studio. Love reflected that Wild Honey was "completely out of the mainstream for what was going on at that time ... and that was the idea". Wild Honey

11592-399: The period in which they sought a fuller sound through excessive instrumentation. Spector's 1963 production of " Be My Baby ", according to Rolling Stone magazine, was a " Rosetta stone for studio pioneers such as the Beatles and Brian Wilson ". The Beatles' producer George Martin and the Beach Boys ' producer-songwriter Brian Wilson are generally credited with helping to popularize

11718-594: The public narrative of "Brian as leader" continued. The group also stopped wearing their longtime striped-shirt stage uniforms in favor of matching white, polyester suits that resembled a Las Vegas show band's. After meeting Maharishi Mahesh Yogi at a UNICEF Variety Gala in Paris, Love and other high-profile celebrities such as the Beatles and Donovan traveled to Rishikesh , India, in February–March 1968. The following Beach Boys album, Friends , had songs influenced by

11844-623: The record was their first single certified gold by the RIAA . It came to be widely acclaimed as one of the greatest masterpieces of rock music. In December 1966, the Beach Boys were voted the top band in the world in the NME ' s annual readers' poll, ahead of the Beatles, the Walker Brothers , the Rolling Stones , and the Four Tops . Throughout the first half of 1967, the album's release date

11970-399: The recording studio". His original production formula (dubbed the " Wall of Sound ") called for large ensembles (including some instruments not generally used for ensemble playing, such as electric and acoustic guitars ), with multiple instruments doubling and even tripling many of the parts to create a fuller, richer sound. It evolved from his mid-1950s work with Leiber and Stoller during

12096-402: The same process" began as early as 1963, but developed in earnest during the sessions for Rubber Soul (1965) and Revolver (1966) and "ultimately blossomed" during the sessions for Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967). Wilson, who was mentored by Spector, was another early auteur of popular music. Authors Jim Cogan and William Clark credit him as the first rock producer to use

12222-492: The simple structure and vocals of the rhythm and blues songs he heard, Brian changed his piano-playing style and started writing songs. Family gatherings brought the Wilsons in contact with cousin Mike Love . Brian taught Love's sister Maureen and a friend harmonies. Later, Brian, Love and two friends performed at Hawthorne High School . Brian also knew Al Jardine , a high school classmate. Brian suggested to Jardine that they team up with his cousin and brother Carl. Love gave

12348-452: The specific criterion of a "musical instrument" vary, and it is unclear whether the "studio as instrument" concept extends to using multi-track recording simply to facilitate the basic music writing process. According to academic Adam Bell, some proposed definitions may be consistent with music produced in a recording studio, but not with music that relies heavily on digital audio workstations (DAW). Various music educators alluded to "using

12474-498: The studio as a discrete instrument. According to author David Howard, Martin's work on the Beatles' " Tomorrow Never Knows ", from Revolver , and Spector's production of " River Deep – Mountain High " from the same year were the two recordings that ensured that the studio "was now its own instrument". Citing composer and producer Virgil Moorefield 's book The Producer as Composer , author Jay Hodgson highlights Revolver as representing

12600-491: The studio as a musical instrument" in books published as early as the late 1960s. Rock historian Doyle Greene defines "studio as compositional tool" as a process in which music is produced around studio constructions rather than the more traditional method of capturing a live performance as is. Techniques include the incorporation of non-musical sounds , overdubbing , tape edits, sound synthesis , audio signal processing , and combining segmented performances ( takes ) into

12726-446: The studio was seen as an integral part of the music. Jamaican producer Lee "Scratch" Perry was noted for his 70s reggae and dub productions, recorded at his Black Ark studio. David Toop commented that "at its heights, Perry's genius has transformed the recording studio" into "virtual space, an imaginary chamber over which presided the electronic wizard, evangelist, gossip columnist and Dr. Frankenstein that he became." From

12852-496: The studio-as-instrument philosophy years before The Beatles or The Beach Boys ". Discussing Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller , Adam Bell describes the songwriting duo's productions for the Coasters as "an excellent example of their pioneering practices in the emerging field of production", citing an account from Stoller in which he recalls "cutting esses off words, sticking the tape back together so you didn't notice. And sometimes if

12978-424: The subject of intense speculation and mystique and the most legendary unreleased album in pop music history. Many of the album's advocates believe that had it been released, it would have altered the group's direction and cemented them at the vanguard of rock innovators. In 2011, Uncut magazine staff voted Smile the "greatest bootleg recording of all time". From 1965 to 1967, the Beach Boys had developed

13104-493: The time of his 16th birthday on June 20, 1958, Brian Wilson shared a bedroom with his brothers, Dennis and Carl —aged 13 and 11, respectively—in their family home in Hawthorne . He had watched his father Murry Wilson play piano, and had listened intently to the harmonies of vocal groups such as the Four Freshmen . After dissecting songs such as " Ivory Tower " and " Good News ", Brian would teach family members how to sing

13230-531: The urging of Capitol executive and staff producer Nick Venet who signed the group, seeing them as the "teenage gold" he had been scouting for. On June 4, 1962, the Beach Boys debuted on Capitol with their second single, "Surfin' Safari" backed with "409". The release prompted national coverage in the June 9 issue of Billboard , which praised Love's lead vocal and said the song had potential. "Surfin' Safari" rose to number 14 and found airplay in New York and Phoenix,

13356-593: The use of recording studios as instruments, and one of the first producers to assert an individual identity as an artist . He began production work in 1955 at IBC Studios in London. One of Meek's signature techniques was to overload a signal with dynamic range compression , which was unorthodox at the time. He was antagonized by his employers for his "radical" techniques. Some of these methods, such as close-miking instruments, later became part of normal recording practice. Music journalist Mark Beaumont writes that Meek "realised

13482-547: The year, which Disc & Music Echo called "stunning news" and a "tremendous shock on the American pop scene". Brian hoped that the success of a forthcoming single, " Break Away ", would mend the financial issues. The song, written and produced by Brian and Murry, reached number 63 in the US and number 6 in the UK, and Brian's remarks to the press ultimately thwarted long-simmering contract negotiations with Deutsche Grammophon . The group's Capitol contract expired two weeks later with one more album still due. Live in London ,

13608-423: Was Smiley Smile ." Sessions for the new album lasted from June to July 1967 at Brian's new makeshift home studio . Most of the album featured the Beach Boys playing their own instruments, rather than the session musicians employed in much of their previous work. It was the first album for which production was credited to the entire group instead of Brian alone. In July 1967, lead single " Heroes and Villains "

13734-565: Was "writing a teenage symphony to God". Recording for Smile lasted about a year, from mid-1966 to mid-1967, and followed the same modular production approach as "Good Vibrations". Concurrently, Wilson planned many different multimedia side projects, such as a sound effects collage, a comedy album, and a "health food" album. Capitol did not support all these ideas, which led to the Beach Boys' desire to form their own label, Brother Records . According to biographer Steven Gaines , Wilson employed his newfound "best friend" David Anderle as head of

13860-413: Was aiming for Johnny Mercer but coming up proto-indie ." In 2012, the album was voted 271 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time . In April 1965, Campbell's own career success pulled him from touring with the group. Columbia Records staff producer Bruce Johnston was asked to locate a replacement for Campbell; having failed to find one, Johnston himself became

13986-457: Was also the most expensive single ever recorded to that point, with production costs estimated to be in the tens of thousands. In the midst of "Good Vibrations" sessions, Wilson invited session musician and songwriter Van Dyke Parks to collaborate as lyricist for the Beach Boys' next album project, soon titled Smile . Parks agreed. Wilson and Parks intended Smile to be a continuous suite of songs linked both thematically and musically, with

14112-447: Was an attempt to terminate the band's contract with Capitol before its November 1969 expiry. Many of Wilson's associates, including Parks and Anderle, disassociated themselves from the group by April 1967. Brian later said: "Time can be spent in the studio to the point where you get so next to it, you don't know where you are with it—you decide to just chuck it for a while." In the decades following Smile ' s non-release, it became

14238-553: Was an occasional songwriter, arranged for the Pendletones to meet his publisher Hite Morgan. He said: "Finally, [Hite] agreed to hear it, and Mrs. Morgan said 'Drop everything, we're going to record your song. I think it's good.' And she's the one responsible." On September 15, 1961, the band recorded a demo of "Surfin ' " with the Morgans. A more professional recording was made on October 3, at World Pacific Studio in Hollywood. David Marks

14364-469: Was during the sessions for this single that Brian made the production decision from that point on to use double tracking on the group's vocals, resulting in a deeper and more resonant sound. The album of the same name followed in March and reached number 2 on the Billboard charts. Its success propelled the group into a nationwide spotlight, and was vital to launching surf music as a national craze, albeit

14490-425: Was interested in the potential of tape-based recording. According to Brian Eno , "the move to tape was very important", because unlike gramophone records , tape was "malleable and mutable and cuttable and reversible in ways that discs aren't. It's very hard to do anything interesting with a disc". In the mid 1950s, popular recording conventions changed profoundly with the advent of three-track tape recorders, and by

14616-451: Was issued, arriving after months of public anticipation, and reached number 12 in US. It was met with general confusion and underwhelming reviews, and in the NME , Jimi Hendrix famously dismissed it as a "psychedelic barbershop quartet". By then, the group's lawsuit with Capitol was resolved, and it was agreed that Smile would not be the band's next album. In August, the group embarked on a two-date tour of Hawaii. The shows saw Brian make

14742-405: Was later convicted for several counts of murder and conspiracy to murder. In April 1969, the band revisited its 1967 lawsuit against Capitol after it alleged an audit revealed the band was owed over $ 2 million for unpaid royalties and production duties. In May, Brian told the music press that the group's funds were depleted to the point that it was considering filing for bankruptcy at the end of

14868-471: Was more like music you could make love to". In The Journal on the Art of Record Production , Marshall Heiser writes that Pet Sounds "diverges from previous Beach Boys' efforts in several ways: its sound field has a greater sense of depth and 'warmth;' the songs employ even more inventive use of harmony and chord voicings; the prominent use of percussion is a key feature (as opposed to driving drum backbeats); whilst

14994-478: Was not present at the session as he was in school that day. Murry brought the demos to Herb Newman, owner of Candix Records and Era Records , and he signed the group on December 8. When the single was released a few weeks later, the band found that they had been renamed "the Beach Boys". Candix wanted to name the group the Surfers until Russ Regan , a young promoter with Era Records, noted that there already existed

15120-471: Was not the first to use overdubs, he popularized the technique in the 1950s. Around the same time, French composers Pierre Schaeffer and Pierre Henry were developing musique concrete , a method of composition in which pieces of tape are rearranged and spliced together, and thus originated sampling . Meanwhile, in England, Daphne Oram experimented heavily with electronic instruments during her tenure as

15246-465: Was released on December 18, 1967, in competition with the Beatles' Magical Mystery Tour and the Rolling Stones' Their Satanic Majesties Request . It had a higher chart placing than Smiley Smile , but still failed to make the top-twenty and remained on the charts for only 15 weeks. As with Smiley Smile , contemporary critics viewed it as inconsequential, and it alienated fans whose expectations had been raised by Smile . That month, Mike Love told

15372-589: Was relieved of his duties as manager. He remained in close contact with the group and attempted to continue advising on their career decisions. When "I Get Around" was released in May, it would climb to number 1 in the US and Canada, their first single to do so (also reaching the top-ten in Sweden and the UK), proving that the Beach Boys could compete with contemporary British pop groups. "I Get Around" and "Don't Back Down" both appeared on

15498-453: Was repeatedly postponed as Brian tinkered with the recordings, experimenting with different takes and mixes, unable or unwilling to supply a final version. Meanwhile, he suffered from delusions and paranoia, believing on one occasion that the would-be album track " Fire " caused a building to burn down. On January 3, 1967, Carl Wilson refused to be drafted for military service, leading to indictment and criminal prosecution, which he challenged as

15624-451: Was subsequently employed as the Beach Boys' publicist. Responding to Brian's request to reinvent the band's image, Taylor devised a promotion campaign with the tagline " Brian Wilson is a genius ", a belief Taylor sincerely held. Taylor's prestige was crucial in offering a credible perspective to those on the outside, and his efforts are widely recognized as instrumental in the album's success in Britain. Released on May 16, 1966, Pet Sounds

15750-460: Was virtually blacklisted by the music press, to the extent that reviews of the group's records were either withheld from publication or published long after the release dates. When released in the UK in November, it performed better, reaching number 9. Over the years, the album gathered a reputation as one of the best " chill-out " albums to listen to during an LSD comedown . In 1974, NME voted it

15876-428: Was widely influential and raised the band's prestige as an innovative rock group. Early reviews for the album in the US ranged from negative to tentatively positive, and its sales numbered approximately 500,000 units, a drop-off from the run of albums that immediately preceded it. It was assumed that Capitol considered Pet Sounds a risk, appealing more to an older demographic than the younger, female audience upon which

#521478