The Beach Boys

The past few years have been remarkable for The Beach Boys in many ways. Lead singer Brian Wilson finally saw his long-gestating opus Smilefinished and released in 2004, some 37 years after it was begun, and in 2006 the surviving members of the splintered band came together to commemorate the 40th anniversary of their landmark album Pet Sounds. Rumblings of a full-scale reunion followed, but it took until the 2012 Grammys for the group to really get back in the swing of things and announce a tour. Of course, the whole thing looks and seems incredibly awkward, with Wilson barely containing his personal shame and seething contempt for Mike Love and the rest of the gang, but that won’t keep audiences from coming out to hear “Wouldn’t It Be Nice” one more time. 

Updated 05/10/2012