“It didn’t sell at all”: why Brian Wilson believes The Beach Boys album ‘Love You’ was overlooked
Much of The Beach Boys’ discography is treated as something of a gold standard within rock and pop music, and it is easy to see why. After all, Brian Wilson’s outfit typified the sound of American rock during the 1960s, going from their surf rock origins to the defiant inventiveness of albums like Pet Sounds, which completely reinvented perceptions both of the band and of rock itself. However, as the years went by, the band’s output was not treated with the same reverence it once had been.
When the Wilson brothers first started out as a band back in 1961, their music was largely derivative of their adolescent listening habits. On more than one occasion during those early years, the band was accused of plagiarising a plethora of Chuck Berry anthems. Nevertheless, The Beach Boys quickly found an audience for their endearing, harmonious and youthful optimism, and as Brian Wilson progressed as a songwriter, they would go on to offer something much more profound in 1966’s Pet Sounds.
Blazing a trail for all future concept albums, Pet Sounds was an endlessly influential album that represented Wilson at the peak of his songwriting career. Arguably, it was that album that cemented The Beach Boys’ place among the most important American artists of the 20th century. Inevitably, though, when an album is that successful, following up on its success becomes almost impossible.
So, although The Beach Boys continued to release records on a consistent basis following Pet Sounds, these subsequent efforts never afforded the same acclaim or influence as their 1966 album. Over the years, Wilson himself has readily admitted that multiple of these albums were plagued by production problems or record label pressure which damaged their final result. However, one album in particular stands out as a disappointment to the songwriter.
Released in 1977, The Beach Boys Love You was a revolutionary record for the band, seeing them embrace influences of synth and even elements of punk and new wave – a far cry from their surf rock beginnings. In fact, when speaking to Uncut in 2006, Wilson called Love You “My favourite album we ever did.” Eclipsing even Pet Sounds, it would appear.
Explaining his take on the 1977 album, he continued, It’s funny because now people are beginning to see it as a classic. It was quite revolutionary in its use of synthesisers. It’s got so much good stuff on it – ‘Ding Dang’, ‘Let Us Go On This Way’ and ‘The Night Was So Young’. I think it’s overlooked. Everything’s going on in there.”
When, then, is the record disappointing for Wilson? “CBS didn’t promote that album very well. They just let it go, and it didn’t sell at all,” he said. As a result, the album failed to live up to the commercial successes of the group’s earlier material. Dividing audiences, some long-term fans of the band felt as though this new direction in sound abandoned the history and origins of the band, while others welcomed its inventiveness and ability to move with the times.
Of course, in the nearly five decades since its initial release, the album has since been reappraised by music fans across the globe. As Wilson states, Love You is now considered a “classic” by many, and rightfully so. Not many popular groups of the 1960s could boast the same ability to move with the times and incorporate new influences into their sound while retaining their core structure. The album’s inventiveness speaks to the enduring quality of Wilson as a songwriter so, in that way, it doesn’t really matter that the record didn’t sell well.
