Fans of the Beach Boys are about to get the inside track with their first official, self-titled book. Simply titled The Beach Boys by The Beach Boys, the project will feature exclusive interviews with members of the band —Brian Wilson, Mike Love, Al Jardine, and Bruce Johnston.
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The two deceased members of the band, Carl and Dennis Wilson, will be represented in the autobiography by a collection of archival writing. The book will begin with the band’s origins and wrap up around 1980, a few years before Brian Wilson was fired from the band for a spell.
“It captures the group’s astounding rise from Hawthorne garage band to internationally renowned act, covering the release of their first single, “Surfin’,’ up to their 1980 Independence Day concert at the National Mall in Washington D.C., for an audience of over half a million people,” a description of the book reads.
“Through their unique sound, incredibly complex harmonies, and use of innovative recording techniques, The Beach Boys continue to inspire musicians,” the description continues. “What’s more, they’ve become woven into the cultural fabric of America. This edition documents how it happened.”
Like any good career-retrospective autobiography, the book will also include collectible pieces from the Beach Boys’ archive, including lyric sheets, chord sheets, and more.
“One of the most critically acclaimed, commercially successful, and influential bands of all time, the band is embedded within the cultural landscape of America and loved throughout the world,” a statement on the band’s website reads. “The Beach Boys spearheaded numerous genres, helped to legitimize popular music, and have had the most Billboard Top 40 hits from any US band (thirty-seven), and today their music continues to be revisited, reassessed, and reimagined.”
In addition to the Beach Boys themselves, the book will feature a number of their fellow musicians including Peter Blake, Lindsey Buckingham, Eric Clapton, Elvis Costello, Ray Davies, Bob Dylan, Def Leppard, the Flaming Lips, Bobby Gillespie, David Lee Roth, The Jesus and Mary Chain, Jim Kerr, Roger McGuinn, Graham Nash, Jimmy Page, Carly Simon, Pete Townshend, Rufus Wainwright, Thom Yorke, and many more soon to be announced.
The book will be released in a limited format encompassing only 500 deluxe copies worldwide this December. A wider release will follow in 2024. You can pre-order the autobiography, HERE.
Photo by Gijsbert Hanekroot/Redferns
