Get ready for an endless summer of fun, fun, fun with The Beach Boys, the all-new documentary streaming exclusively on Disney+ beginning May 24, 2024. I was given the exciting opportunity to speak to Beach Boys legends Mike Love and Al Jardine to talk about the upcoming documentary about their iconic band.
The Beach Boys is a celebration of the legendary band that revolutionized pop music, and the iconic, harmonious sound they created that personified the California dream, captivating fans for generations and generations to come. The documentary traces the band from humble family beginnings and features never-before-seen footage and all-new interviews with The Beach Boys’ Brian Wilson, Mike Love, Al Jardine, David Marks, Bruce Johnston, plus other luminaries in the music business, including Lindsey Buckingham, Janelle Monáe, Ryan Tedder, and Don Was. Viewers will also hear from the group’s Carl and Dennis Wilson in their own words, plus view a new interview with Blondie Chaplin and hear audio from Ricky Fataar.
“I’m super happy with the way the documentary turned out, they did an amazing job,” says Brian Wilson. “It really brought me back to those days with the boys, the fun and the music. And of course those incredible harmonies.”
The Nerds of Color: How did being part of the Beach Boys contribute to who you are today?
Mike Love: Well, who I am, as I’m a relatively shy, introverted Pisces, and being on the Beach Boys, made me come out of my shyness then my introversion because I figured it’d be pretty boring of somebody just to be looking down at their shoes while they’re singing and our songs are so pictorial meaning you know, “let’s go surf now, Surfing USA.” You know, I get around all these kinds of things. So I started to pantomime a little… “I’m picking up Good Vibrations. She’s given me the excitations,” you know. So yeah, I mean, it’s just it’s made me develop more aspects of my personality. Let’s put it that way. But also, I was the most well read kid in my school. Grade school, junior high, and high school and I love literature. I love harmony. I love the music, but I love the the lyrics and poetry. I actually read poetry, you know, that kind of thing. So that was part of my nature too. I used to chase butterflies, my best friend — who became a double PhD and lepidopterologist, which is the study of butterflies — he went on to Stanford. I went on to the Beach Boys. I mean, it’s just a fulfillment, I guess. Music was a family hobby. But because of what my cousin Brian and I were able to do together it became more of a profession.
Being part of such an iconic band, what lessons do you always bring with you?
Love: Humility and gratitude. Yeah, because I’ve seen people get caught up in their egos. And, you know, I don’t know. I think we’re given gifts and if we’re blessed enough to be able to enjoy a life and take advantage of… we didn’t invent this creation. And I think humility and gratitude are really important parts of life.
Performing on The Red Skelton Hour was The Beach Boys’ first television appearance. Do you remember how it felt knowing how much you accomplished to get to that point?
Love: Well, we were nervous about that. You know, there was another time we did a Jack Benny special with Bob Hope and Jack Benny. Holy crap! I mean, how much bigger in comedy do you get? You don’t. So I remember we were doing something they were doing. They were all dressed up in jams and looking like they’re going to the beach right? We would respond and Bob Hope actually kind of yelled at us or yelled at me… It was about 1965 I think, and we aren’t used to being on TV. We’re used to doing our music. But we learn real fast though when Bob yelled at us, we raised our voices and so that was it. It was a fascinating learning experience. But come on we’re nervous on TV…
Al Jardine: Well, that was probably the structure days. And of course it was! We had our structures and anytime you get an opportunity to go on a national stage, it’s really important. When we go to the UK, we do we did the same thing. We did those big TV shows over there. In 1964 it was ready, steady, go!
You had the role of both singer and songwriter, which is a big thing to take on. Did you ever feel like that took a toll on you? Or was there pressure in that, and was there one that you preferred versus the other?
Love: I love literature and all the poems and stuff, like making up these little poems. Like “all of the colorful clothes she wears and the way the sunlight plays upon her hair.” I love “the sound of gentle word on the wind that lifts the perfume through the air,” I wanted to say in sounds, but I thought it might be too much for parents. Anyway, so you know that was natural for me to do poetry because I really love words and origins of words and language and culture and all that. Talking about math, you know, addition, division, and subtraction. Anything over that? Leave me out. I like to sing lead… The only thing that was a challenge is my uncle didn’t put my name on “California Girls” and “Help Me Rhonda,” “Be True” to “Little Saint Nick,” a bunch of songs, you know, like a lot of songs and was basically cheated. How about that for a term? You know, and your uncle doing that. You don’t anticipate your uncle doing that and my cousin Brian couldn’t handle him. Because he was going through his own issues. So it was that part was rough. Not the actual doing it. That was always fun. Yeah.
Making this documentary, how was it revisiting all those years of your career and was there a moment that you felt like you wanted to revisit, that was part of your amazing career?
Love: Yeah, what I wanted to revisit was being with my cousin Brian, just he and I, no distractions, no crap around, and getting together and because we were like hand in glove I mean, it’s like we’re so compatible and so perfect together. In terms, his strengths are musical. My strengths are lyrical and conceptual. And so it was a true great partnership, but it never got displayed properly because I was cheated with and that was hard to deal with. But that’s in the past. That’s been pretty much rectified, not 100%, but there’s so much more positivity due to be thankful for them to negativity to dwell on.
Jardine: Yeah, learning The Four Freshman songs around the piano. That was my favorite part of the career. Learning the four part harmonies, enjoying just relaxing around the piano, not having to record and go into the studio as soon as we got an idea. But the idea of just relaxing singing songs that you enjoy singing, and the one I liked the most is “Their Hearts Were Full of Spring” and “Graduation Day,” songs of that ilk, you know that style. And then also growing maybe some of the show the shows that we performed overseas. I enjoyed the show that we did in Paris for the United Nations. In the mid ‘60s, where the Beatles an the Maharishi came to the performance that year and taught us Transcendental Meditation. That was pretty cool. I have to admit that it would be cool to do it again. Or similarly. I’m sure the United Nation still does things like that. There was actually the United Nations Children’s Fund, UNICEF, International Children’s Fund, and was the first international broadcast televised to the world and that was one to remember.
What song is still one of your favorites to this day?
Love: “Kokomo” was number one, and that was number one for eight weeks [here and] in Australia. It was just, the record company didn’t believe in it, but we did and we promoted it and it went to number one. It was a fantastic feeling 22 years after “Good Vibrations” went to number one. But I think “Good Vibrations” is the piece de resistance. It’s the avant garde song. It’s our psychedelic anthem of the 1960s. But it’s 100% positive, no negativity whatsoever. It’s all about peace and love. And flower power and a girl was full of love for everyone.
Jardine: You know what? I just performed “Surfing USA” for a charity to benefit Maui. By golly that song has so much happiness and was so much fun singing it! I don’t know why I picked “Surfing USA” but the event was really important. I did four songs and I thought, why don’t we do “Surfing USA?” It just felt like a great closer and everybody really loves it. It’s a very happy and uplifting song. I can probably tell you “California Girls” tomorrow or “Help Me Rhonda” the day after, but right now I like “Surfing USA!”
How did it feel having your mother be the start of everything by giving you money for renting equipment? If that didn’t happen, do think you guys would have got to where you were?
Jardine: Wow, I’ve never had that question before. We were very, very thrilled. We were very anxious to record our very first song. And so we had to audition. We actually had to audition for her. So we all went over to her home. Our home in Torrance, California, next to the college where Brian and I were going to school. And we thought to ourselves, we better better get this right because you know we have to have this musical equivalent, otherwise, we can’t play our song or record the song. So we sat around on the floor in a circle, believe it or not, because she didn’t have enough chairs for everybody, and she served hot tea to make us comfortable, and we decided we would sing our very, very best song that we ever learned called “Their Hearts Were Full of Spring.” After we did that, we sang the song that we wanted her to like most. At the end of that performance, we gave it our best shot and she said boys I love your song, and I will give you the money to have your equipment. Of course we’re very grateful. So that and Dennis Wilson was very happy too, because he said Mrs. Jardine, this is the best cup of tea I’ve ever had! We’re all grateful.
Did you regret leaving the band to finish your education and going back?
Jardine: No not at the time I didn’t. I was just getting ready to finish. I never finished it because Brian Wilson called me in a panic and asked me to please come back into the band because he wasn’t able to do it anymore, and to go out and perform. He asked can you get on and be down at the airport tomorrow? And I said well, I guess I could probably do this for a couple of months or something I don’t know, whatever I agreed to. But it turned out to be a career. I resumed exactly where I left off because I already knew all the parts. I’d already rehearsed all the songs before I left. So it was a pretty natural evolution to help him out in a time of need. The only problem is he didn’t tell his dad. His father wasn’t aware of it and his father was our road manager and our manager overall as well, but he didn’t tell his dad I was coming, so it caused some confusion as you can imagine, at the airport, but we all made the best of it. And that’s the story.
A Kennedy/Marshall and White Horse Pictures Production, The Beach Boys is directed by Frank Marshall and Thom Zimny and written by Mark Monroe. The film is produced by Frank Marshall, Irving Azoff, Nicholas Ferrall, Jeanne Elfant Festa, Aly Parker, with Nigel Sinclair, Mark Monroe, Tony Rosenthal, Cassidy Hartmann, Glen Zipper, Thom Zimny, Beth Collins, Jimmy Edwards, Susan Genco, Marc Cimino, Jody Gerson, Bruce Resnikoff, and Ben J. Murphy serving as executive producers.
The Beach Boys will begin streaming on Disney+ this Friday, May 24. Check out the official trailer below:
