Brian Wilson’s 20 favourite songs by The Beach Boys
When The Beach Boys formed in 1961, the band became known for their fun, summer-themed tracks, honing a surf rock style which took inspiration from classic rock and roll, jazz, and rhythm and blues. During this early period, the band wholeheartedly embraced a Californian theme with songs such as ‘Surfin USA’, ‘Surfin Safari’ and ‘Surfer Girl’.
While The Beach Boys maintained a quintessentially west coast appeal, by 1966, the band’s main maestro, Brian Wilson, proved the group to be so much more with Pet Sounds. The album was considerably more ambitious than anything they’d done before, with Wilson taking control of nearly every aspect of the record’s creation, from production to arrangement. At its core, Pet Sounds is a pop record, yet it draws from an incredibly expansive selection of influences, from avant-garde to classical composition.
Wilson experimented with unusual recording techniques, with complex structures meaning that the album couldn’t be reproduced accurately in a live setting. No longer were The Beach Boys a group of young men simply singing about surfing; now, they were the creators of one of the most influential records in music history.
Upon its release, Pet Sounds was lauded as revolutionary, and The Beach Boys have since become one of the most popular bands of all time, with a discography consisting of 29 studio albums. Naturally, many compilation LPs have been produced over the years, although, in 2002, the band released Classics Selected by Brian Wilson, which included 20 songs the frontman considered his favourites.
Despite the band continuing their oeuvre well beyond the 1960s, most of Wilson’s picks were from the band’s formative decade, with several songs reflecting his development as a songwriter. For example, Wilson chose 1963’s ‘Surfer Girl’ as one of his favourites, stating: “The first song I ever wrote. I started humming it in my car, then finished it when I got home. It’s a very spiritual song.”
Naturally, Wilson included the band’s most acclaimed song, ‘God Only Knows’, yet he revealed that it was written incredibly quickly, in “probably in less than an hour”.
He explained: “It’s an honor to have written this one. It was also a pretty controversial record in that, as far as I know, it was the first rock song to have ‘God’ in the title. It’s a love song, but not a love song to a person.”
The Beach Boys’ first number one, ‘I Get Around’, is also one of Wilson’s favourites, with the singer highlighting that “it has a special social lyric” and “a dynamic arrangement”. Additionally, he included the track’s B-side, ‘Don’t Worry, Baby’, which he called “a special, sweet song. My voice sounded very young on that one”.
The final song on the record is ‘California Feelin’, which was recorded by Wilson and his backing band in 2002. Wilson said: “‘California Feelin” is a special song written in the early ’70s, originally for the Beach Boys; although never officially recorded or released by the Boys, it has always been a favourite of mine.”
Discover Wilson’s favourite songs by The Beach Boys below.
Brian Wilson’s favourite Beach Boys songs:
- ‘Surfer Girl’
- ‘The Warmth of the Sun’
- ‘I Get Around’
- ‘Don’t Worry, Baby’
- ‘In My Room’
- ‘California Girls’
- ‘God Only Knows’
- ‘Caroline, No’
- ‘Good Vibrations’
- ‘Wonderful’
- ‘Heroes and Villians’
- ‘Surf’s Up’
- ‘Busy Doin’ Nothin”
- ‘We’re Together Again’
- ‘Time to Get Alone’
- ‘This Whole World’
- ‘Marcella’
- ‘Sail On, Sailor’
- ”Til I Die’
- ‘California Feelin”
