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The act first gained popularity as the musical spokesmen for surfing, girls, and cars, but their chief composer Brian Wilson's growing creative ambitions transformed them into a more artistically innovative combo. The primary group comprised singer-musician-composer Brian Wilson; his brothers, Carl and Dennis; their cousin Mike Love, and friend Alan Jardine. This core quintet, along with David Marks and Bruce Johnston, were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1988. Many changes in both musical style and personnel have occurred during their sometimes stormy career, notably Brian Wilson's mental illness, drug addiction, and eventual withdrawal from the group; the deaths of Dennis Wilson in 1983 and Carl Wilson in 1998; and continuing legal battles among surviving members of the group. After Carl Wilson's death, founding member Al Jardine was fired by Mike Love. However, Mike Love and Bruce Johnston leased the rights to the name from Brother Records and continue to officially tour as The Beach Boys. History
Early yearsThe group was formed in Hawthorne, California in 1960. The early inspirations of the group were the Wilsons' musician father, Murry and the close vocal harmonies of groups such as The Four Freshmen. From the beginning, the group relied on Brian Wilson; brother Dennis was later quoted as saying "Brian is the Beach Boys, and we are his messengers." The group performed initially as The Pendletones, after the Pendleton woolen shirts popular then. In their earliest performances, the band wore the heavy wool jacket-like shirts, which were favored by surfers in the South. In 1962, The Beach Boys began wearing white pants and candy-striped button-down shirts as their touring uniforms. The shirts had blue/gray and white stripes, a button-down collar, short sleeves, and a front patch pocket on the left. The shirts also had a vertical front opening with buttons on the right side and buttonholes on the left. This was the band's signature look through 1966. Although surfing motifs were very prominent in their early songs, Dennis was the sole actual surfer in the group. He suggested to his brothers that they do some songs celebrating his hobby and the lifestyle which had developed around it in Southern California. In the fall of 1961, Brian, Carl, and Dennis Wilson, along with Al Jardine and Mike Love, recorded the song "Surfin'" on Candix Records. It was a hit on the west coast, and peaked at #75 on the national pop charts. At first, Murry Wilson, by many accounts a hard-driving man, steered The Beach Boys' career, engineering their signing with Capitol Records in 1962. In 1964 Brian Wilson fired his father after a violent confrontation in the studio. Over the next few years, they became increasingly estranged; when Murry died some years later, Brian and Dennis did not attend the funeral. There have been numerous stories about the father being physically abusive to the boys as they were growing up.
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