2009/09/16

10 FACTS ABOUT BEACH BOYS

1. Their “Pet Sounds” album ranked #2 on Rolling Stone magazine’s “500 Greatest Albums of All Time” after the Beatles’ “Sgt. Pepper,” which Paul McCartney said was influenced by “Pet Sounds.”
2. Mike Love studied transcendental meditation with Maharishi Mahesh Yogi in India in 1967 and was soon followed by members of the Beatles. Love says he’s meditated every day since and that meditation helps sustain him through the rigors of touring.
3. On July 4, 1985, the Beach Boys played concerts in Philadelphia and Washington, D.C., serenading almost 2 million fans on that single day.
4. The Beach Boys were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1988.
5. The band’s first song was recorded under the name of the Pendletones. The name was changed to the Beach Boys without the band’s knowledge by a young record-label publicist. When band members got the first pressing of the record they were furious, but the tight budget made reprinting the labels impossible, so they adopted the name.
6. Dennis Wilson was the only member of the Beach Boys who surfed; he asked his brother Brian Wilson to compose songs about the relaxed lifestyle of surf culture.
7. Love and the Wilson brothers listened to Johnny Otis’ R&B radio show when they were teens. Otis later moved to Sonoma County and hosted a show on KPFA.
8. The Beach Boys’ first performance was New Year’s Eve, 1961, at a concert with Ike and Tina Turner in Long Beach. The band members earned $50 each.
9. Love’s first recollection of hearing his cousin Brian Wilson sing was when Brian was 7 or 8 and sang “Danny Boy” on their grandmother’s lap.
10.. The Beach Boys mark their 50th anniversary in 2011. They’re scheduled to play at an event honoring Ronald Reagan’s 100th birthday in February 2011.

Monday, September 14, 2009 MICHAEL SHAPIRO
http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20090914/ENTERTAINMENT/909149961?Title=Surf-s-still-up-for-reconstituted-Beach-Boys

+ http://www.jayjonesmusic.com/clients/beachboys/factfile_07.pdf