Formative years

In the beginning, the group relied on Brian Wilson; brother Dennis would later say: Brian is the Beach Boys, and we are his friends

At the age of sixteen, Brian shared a bedroom with his two brothers, Dennis and Carl. He watched his father, Murry Wilson, play piano and listened intently to the harmonies of vocal groups like The Four Freshmen. One night he taught his brothers a song called Ivory Tower and how to sing the background harmonies. We practiced night after night, singing softly, hoping we wouldn't wake our Dad. For his sixteenth birthday, Brian received a reel-to-reel tape recorder. He learned how to overdub, using his vocals and those of Carl and his mother. He would play piano and later added Carl playing the Rickenbacker guitar he got as a Christmas present.

Soon Brian was avidly listening to Johnny Otis on his KFOX radio show, a favorite station of Carl's. Inspired by the simple structure and vocals of the rhythm and blues songs he heard, he changed his piano-playing style and started writing songs. His enthusiasm interfered with his music studies at school. He failed to complete a twelfth-grade piano sonata, but did submit an original composition, called Surfin'.

Family gatherings brought the Wilsons in contact with cousin Mike Love. With his sister and a friend, Brian taught them harmonies. Later, Brian, Mike and two friends performed at Hawthorne High School (Hawthorne, California), drawing tremendous applause for their version of The Olympics' (doo-wop group) Hully Gully. Brian also knew Al Jardine, a high school classmate, who had already played guitar in a folk group called The Islanders. One day, on the spur of the moment, they asked a couple of football players in the school training room to learn harmony parts, but it wasn't a success - the bass singer was flat.

Brian suggested to Jardine that they team up with his cousin and brother Carl. It was at these sessions, held in Brian's bedroom, that The Beach Boys sound began to form. Brian says: Everyone contributed something. Carl kept us hip to the latest tunes, Al taught us his repertoire of folk songs, and Dennis, though he didn't [at the time] play anything, added a combustible spark just by his presence. It was Love who encouraged Brian to write songs and he also gave the fledgling band its first name: The Pendletones.

Although surfing motifs were very prominent in their early songs, Dennis was the only member of the group who surfed. He suggested that his brothers compose some songs celebrating his hobby and the lifestyle which had developed around it in Southern California.

Jardine and a singer friend, Gary Winfrey, went to Brian's to see if he could help out with a version of a folk song they wanted to record - Sloop John B. In Brian's absence, the two spoke with his father, Murry Wilson, a music industry veteran of modest success. In September 1961, Murry arranged for The Pendletones to meet publishers Hite and Dorinda Morgan at Stereo Masters in Hollywood. The group performed a straight forward rendition of Sloop John B., but failed to impress them. After an awkward pause, Dennis mentioned they had an original song, called Surfin'. Brian was taken aback - he had not finished writing the song - but Hite Morgan was interested and asked them to call back when the song was complete. With help from Mike, Brian finished the song and the group rented guitars, drums, amps and microphones. They practiced for three days while the Wilsons' parents were on a short vacation. A few days later they auditioned for the Morgans again and Hite Morgan declared: That's a smash!

On October 3, 1961, The Pendletones recorded twelve takes of Surfin' in the Morgans' cramped offices (Dennis was deemed not yet good enough to play drums, much to his chagrin). A small quantity of singles was pressed. When the boys eagerly unpacked the first box of singles, on the X Records label, they were surprised and angered to see their band name had been changed to Beach Boys. Murry Wilson, now intimately involved with the band's fortunes, called the Morgans. Apparently a young promotion worker, Russ Regan, had decided on the change to more obviously tie the group in with other surf bands of the time. The limited budget meant the labels could not be reprinted.

Released December 8, 1961, Surfin' was soon aired on KFWB and KDAY, two of Los Angeles' most influential radio stations. It was a hit on the west coast, and peaked at #75 on the national pop charts.