Description
NBC aired the special “The Beach Boys: It's O.K.” to mark the group's 15th anniversary. The program featured interviews, comedy sketches and concert footage, with appearances by John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd.
Related events
- Their cover of Chuck Berry's “Rock And Roll Music” reached number 5 on the Billboard Hot 100 and became their first Top Ten hit since “Good Vibrations” in 1966.
- The Beach Boys became the first rock group to appear on the cover of People magazine. The photograph showed the five original members with beards and was accompanied by the headline “Still Riding The Crest, 15 Hairy Years Later.” Solo artists had appeared on the magazine's cover before.
- The Beach Boys released their 17th studio album “Surf’s Up” through Brother/Reprise Records. The album reached No. 29 in the US and No. 15 in the UK and became their highest-charting album of new material in the US since 1967. Daryl Dragon can be heard on the album playing Moog synthesizer, organ, piano, electric guitar, bass guitar and vibraphone.
- The Beach Boys released their sixteenth studio album, "Sunflower", through Reprise Records. The album reached No. 151 on the U.S. Billboard 200 and No. 29 in the United Kingdom. It included the singles "Add Some Music to Your Life" and "Cool, Cool Water", originally recorded for the album "Smiley Smile".
- The Beach Boys reached No. 1 on the UK album chart with the compilation album “The Very Best of the Beach Boys.”
- Capitol Records released The Beach Boys’ album “Stack-o-Tracks”, assembled from the instrumental backing tracks of 15 songs from the group’s career to date. During one of their commercially weakest periods in the US, it became the first Beach Boys album not to chart in either the US or the UK. It was subsequently withdrawn from sale and remained unavailable for about two decades. Capitol reissued it on CD in 1990 and again in 2001; both editions were released without the original booklet that accompanied the vinyl version.
- The Beach Boys scored their second No. 1 single in the UK with “Do It Again”, which became their second and final UK chart-topper. In the US, the song reached No. 20.
- “God Only Knows” by The Beach Boys reached No. 2 on the UK singles chart. The song was among the first commercial recordings to feature the word “God” in the title and was groundbreaking in many ways. Capitol Records feared a reaction from US radio programmers, so in the USA it placed the song on the B-side of the single “Wouldn't It Be Nice”, while in the UK it was accepted as the A-side. Brian Wilson used a range of unusual instruments during the recording, including French horns.
- The Beach Boys’ album “Today!” was released in the United Kingdom.
- “California Girls” reached No. 3 on the US singles chart and later reached No. 26 in the UK. The music for the song was written during Brian Wilson’s first experience with LSD. Wilson recorded the vocals using Columbia’s new eight-track recorder, which allowed Mike Love’s lead vocal to be triple-tracked. “California Girls” was also the first Beach Boys recording to feature Bruce Johnston’s vocals.
- The Beach Boys recorded “When I Grow Up (To Be a Man)” at United Western Studios in Hollywood. The song later reached No. 9 on the Billboard Hot 100, No. 7 on the Cashbox chart and No. 1 on the Canadian singles chart.
- The Beach Boys released “Surfer Girl,” written and produced by Brian Wilson, who regarded it as his first original composition.