The Beach Boys: Top 100 Songs

The Beach Boys Top 100 Songs

Pop/rock vocal harmony group (and initiators of surf-rock) formed in Hawthorne, California. 1961-. Known in high school as Kenny & the Cadets, Carl & the Passions, then The Pendletones. Brothers Brian Wilson (leader/composer/producer/b/k: 61-85,96,12), Carl Wilson (g; died in 1998), and Dennis Wilson (g: 61-83; drowned in 1983) with cousin Mike Love (v/sax: 61-), Al Jardine (g: 61-) Jardine was briefly replaced by David Marks (g: 62-63). Brian quit touring in December 1964 to focus on developing music in the studio. He was replaced on tour by Glen Campbell (k: 64-65) and then Bruce Johnston (k: 65-). Campbell and Johnston were also members of Sagittarius. After Carl’s death in 1998, Mike Love continued to helm a touring group billed as the Beach Boys. In 2012, Love reunited with Brian and Jardine for an album and tour. For a complete list of this act’s DMDB honors, check out the DMDB Music Maker Encyclopedia entry. Click here to see other acts’ best-of lists.

Awards:

Top 100 Songs Dave’s Music Database lists are determined by song’s appearances on best-of lists, appearances on compilations and live albums by the featured act, and songs’ chart success, sales, radio airplay, streaming, and awards. Songs which hit #1 on various charts are noted. (Click for codes to singles charts.) DMDB Top 1%: 1. Good Vibrations (1966) #1 US,CB 2. God Only Knows (1966) 3. California Girls (1965) DMDB Top 5%: 4. I Get Around (1964) #1 US,CB,CN 5. Surfin’ U.S.A. (1963) #1 CB 6. Kokomo (1988) #1 US,CB,AU 7. Wouldn’t It Be Nice (1966) 8. Don’t Worry Baby (1964) 9. Sloop John B (1966) 10. Help Me Rhonda (1965) #1 US,CB,CN 11. Fun, Fun, Fun (1964) DMDB Top 10%: 12. Barbara Ann (1965) #1 CB 13. In My Room (1963) 14. Surfer Girl (1963) 15. Little Deuce Coupe (1963) 16. Surfin’ Safari (1962) DMDB Top 20%: 17. Heroes and Villains (1967) 18. Dance, Dance, Dance (1964) 19. Do It Again (1968) #1 UK,AU 20. Rock and Roll Music (1976) 21. When I Grow Up to Be a Man (1964) #1 CN 22. The Beach Boys Medley (1981) 23. Be True to Your School (1963) 24. I Can Hear Music (1969) 25. Come Go with Me (1978) 26. Getcha Back (1985) 27. Wild Honey (1967) 28. Wipe Out (with the Fat Boys, 1987) 29. California Dreamin’’ (1986) Not in DMDB Top 20%: 30. Good Timin’ (1979) 31. Peggy Sue (1978) 32. It’s O.K. (1976) 33. Darlin’ (1967) 34. Break Away (1969) 35. Caroline, No (1966) 36. Do You Wanna Dance? (1965) 37. Surf’s Up (1971) 38. Ten Little Indians (1962) 39. Friends (1968) 40. Bluebirds Over the Mountain (1968) 41. Shut Down (1963) 42. Don’t Worry Baby (w/ the Everly Brothers, 1988) 43. Here Comes the Night (1967) 44. Catch a Wave (1963) 45. Sail on Sailor (1973) 46. Don’t Worry Baby (w/ Lorrie Morgan, 1996) 47. 409 (1962) 48. California Saga (On My Way to Sunny Californ-i-a (1973) 49. Why Do Fools Fall in Love? (1964) 50. The Warmth of the Sun (1964) 51. Long Promised Road (1971) 52. Add Some Music to Your Day (1970) 53. The Little Girl I Once Knew (1965) 54. Wendy (1964) 55. Cotton Fields (1969) #1 AU 56. Fun, Fun, Fun (w/ Status Quo, 1996) 57. Lady Lynda (1979) 58. Please Let Me Wonder (1965) 59. Hot Fun in the Summertime (1992) 60. Still Cruisin’ (1989) 61. That’s Why God Made the Radio (2012) 62. Then I Kissed Her (1965) 63. Rock and Roll to the Rescue (1986) 64. It’s Gettin’ Late (1985) 65. Little Honda (1964) 66. Surfin’ (1962) 67. I Just Wasn’t Made for These Times (1966) 68. Kiss Me Baby (1965) 69. Goin’ On (1980) 70. Little Saint Nick (1963) 71. You’re So Good to Me (1965) 72. I Can Hear Music (w/ Kathy Troccoli, 1996) 73. She Knows Me Too Well (1964) 74. Marcella (1972) 75. She Believes in Love (1985) 76. Problem Child (1990) 77. Crocodile Rock (1991) 78. Sumahama (1979) 79. Happy Endings (w/ Little Richard, 1987) 80. Let Him Run Wild (1965) 81. Cool, Cool Water (1970) 82. All Summer Long (1964) 83. Little Deuce Coupe (w/ James House, 1996) 84. Long Tall Texan (with Doug Supernaw, 1996) 85. Girl Don’t Tell Me (1965) 86. This Whole World (1970) 87. Disney Girls (1957) (1971) 88. ‘Til I Die (1971) 89. The Trader (1973) 90. It’s a Beautiful Day (1979) 91. San Miguel (1970) 92. Hang on to Your Ego (1966) 93. Frosty the Snowman (1964) 94. Girls on the Beach (1964) 95. Long Tall Texan (1964) 96. Louie, Louie (1964) 97. Spirit of American (1963) 98. Pet Sounds (1966) 99. From There to Back Again (2012) 100. You Still Believe in Me (1966) Resources and Related Links: DMDB Encyclopedia entry for The Beach Boys Dave’s Music Database: “Acts’ Profile Pages and Best-of Lists” Last updated 6/5/2022.

Today in Music (1966): The Beach Boys hit #1 with "Good Vibrations"

Good Vibrations The Beach Boys

Writer(s):Mike Love, Brian Wilson (see lyrics here) Released: October 10, 1966 First Charted: October 21, 1966 Peak: 11 US, 11 CB, 11 GR, 12 UK, 2 CN, 11 AU, 1 DF (Click for codes to charts.) Sales (in millions): 1.0 US, 0.6 UK Airplay/Streaming (in millions): 3.0 radio, 45.3 video, 377.54 streaming

Awards: Click on award for more details.

About the Song: “In the early sixties, the Beach Boys were a shimmering vision of American prosperity: five bright, handsome, presentable young men singing in pinched, nasal harmony about sun and surf and cars and girls.” BR They “presented an overwhelmingly white version of rock ‘n’ roll” BR modeling their “glee-club harmonies” BR after the vocal group the Four Freshmen. With the arrival of the Beatles in American in February 1964, the Beach Boys saw them as a threat and composer Brian Wilson stopped writing songs about surfing. BR He became enamored with the kinds of studio techniques producer Phil Spector employed in his famous “Wall of Sound” approach to recording. In his obsession to outdo the Beatles artistically, Brian Wilson threw everything into the Beach Boys’ 1966 album Pet Sounds, which would see the Beach Boys begin “ to throw off their striped shirt surfer image.” LW Wilson became especially intent on making the song “Good Vibrations” into a “masterpiece, greater than anything he’d done before.” LW He was so determined “to make it perfect” SS that he pushed back against his bandmates and the record company who wanted it finished for inclusion on the album. After suffering from nervous breakdowns, Wilson opted to stay home while the rest of the band toured. This allowed him “to pour all his creative energies into this one song.” SS He went wild in the studio using “an array of exotic instruments including sleigh bells, Jews harp, wind chimes, harpsichord, flutes, organ and a theremin.” LW The latter is a keyboard instrument best known for its use in soundtracks to horror films. HL Mike Love wrote the lyrics, Carl Wilson provides the “warm, tremulous lead vocal,” BR and the rest of the Beach Boys served up backing vocals, but none of them actually played on the song. KL At the time of its release, “Good Vibrations” was the most expensive single ever released FB with one claim putting the total recording cost as high as a million dollars. DJ It was pieced together from hundreds of recording sessions NPR and more than seventy hours of tape TC generated in four studios over seventh months time. RS500 The result was “one of the most universally acknowledged classic pop records of the 1960s.” SS The “symphony in miniature” SS is the “crowning achievement” RS500 for Brian Wilson, who has been called “rock and roll’s finest composer ever.” PW As for the term “good vibrations,” Wilson said, “my mother used to tell me about vibrations. I didn’t really understand too much of what she meant when I was a boy. It scared me…to think that invisible feelings existed.” DT He told Rolling Stone that his mother had explained how dogs barked at some people, but not at others. “A dog would pick up vibrations from some people that you can’t see, but you can feel. And the same thing happened with people.” FB Wilson was convinced of the song’s good vibe, saying it would be better than the Righteous Brothers‘ “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin.’” RS500 Beach Boy Bruce Johnston was a little more nervous, saying, “’we’re either going to have the biggest hit in the world – or the Beach Boys’ career is over.’” HL It turned out the public appreciated the song‘s vibe as well; it met with instant success, selling 400,000 in four days SJ and becoming the group’s first million-seller TB and third #1. Resources: BR Tom Breihan (2022). The Number Ones. Hachete Books: New York, NY. Pages 83-97. FB Fred Bronson (2003). The Billboard Book of Number One Hits (5th edition). Billboard Books: New York, NY. Page 215. TC Toby Creswell (2005). 1001 Songs: The Great Songs of All Time. Page 779. HL Michael Heatley and Spencer Leigh (1998). Behind the Song: The Stories of 100 Great Pop & Rock Classics. Blandford Books: London, UK. Page 24. DJ David Jasen (2002). A Century of American Popular Music: 2000 Best-Loved and Remembered Songs (1899-1999). Routledge: Taylor & Francis, Inc. Page 66. KL Jon Kutner and Spencer Leigh (2005). 1000 UK Number One Hits: The Stories Behind Every Number One Single Since 1952. London, Great Britain: Omnibus Press. Page 127. LW Alan Lewens (2001). Popular Song – Soundtrack of the Century. Billboard Books: New York, NY. Page 127. NPR National Public Radio (1999). “The Most Important American Musical Works of the 20th Century” RS500 Rolling Stone’s “The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time” (12/04). SJ Bob Shannon and John Javna (1986). Behind the Hits: Inside Stories of Classic Pop and Rock and Roll. Warner Books, Inc.: New York, NY. Page 193. SS Steve Sullivan (2013). Encyclopedia of Great Popular Song Recordings (Volumes I & II). Scarecrow Press: Lanham, Maryland. Pages 226-7. DT Dave Thompson (2011). 1000 Songs That Rock Your World. Krause Publications: Iola, WI. Pag 69. TB Thunder Bay Press (2006). Singles: Six Decades of Hot Hits & Classic Cuts. Outline Press Ltd.: San Diego, CA. Page 83. PW Paul Williams (1993). Rock and Roll: The Best 100 Singles. Carroll & Graf Publishers, Inc.: New York, NY. Page 105. Related Links: First posted 10/22/2011; last updated 9/16/2023.