I don’t know what it is about musical documentaries these days, but no sooner did I finish Soulsville, that another documentary blew my mind. The Beach Boys, on Disney Plus, is an incredible story, extremely well told, of what is arguably one of the great iconic musical groups of all time. In the rock music world, it’s not unreasonable to divide contemporary pop music as pre-June 1, 1967 and post June 1, 1967. That was the day Sgt. Pepper was released in the US and with it, the music work changed forever. Although there was a major and significant British music scene in the 60’s from the likes of the Beatles, Stones, Pink Floyd, and the Who, etc, in the US, the most influential music was folk-rock (Dylan, Simon and Garfunkel) as the post Elvis era wound down and the Black music R&B/soul era was revving up (i.e. the Soulsville Stax story) along with the psychedelic era (Dead, Doors, Airplane, etc). But it can be argued nothing had the cultural significance or gravitas in the pre Sgt Pepper era more than the Beach Boys and the surf rock genre they largely invented
The documentary is mesmerizing and tells the story of what was basically a family band led by the eclectic musical genius Brian Wilson in a way that frankly, I never appreciated until watching it now, decades after I fell in love with their music. It is no wonder that the Paul McCartney and John Lennon called Pet Sounds the greatest album of all-time. The Beach Boys story is wonderful to watch and re-live again.
The documentary is mesmerizing and tells the story of what was basically a family band led by the eclectic musical genius Brian Wilson in a way that frankly, I never appreciated until watching it now, decades after I fell in love with their music. It is no wonder that the Paul McCartney and John Lennon called Pet Sounds the greatest album of all-time. The Beach Boys story is wonderful to watch and re-live again.
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