The Best Beach Boys Song Isn’t by The Beach Boys
The Beach Boys‘ songs were great, but they didn’t have a tremendous amount of influence on mainstream music like The Beatles had. Very few mainstream groups could be classified as Beach Boys wannabes. Despite this, one band crafted a hit Beach Boys homage so good that it’s easy to mistake it for the real thing.
The Beach Boys clearly inspired a 1970s song
The Beach Boys ruled the 1960s but the 1970s were much harder on them. Aside from a bad cover of Chuck Berry’s “Rock and Roll Music,” they didn’t have much of a commercial impact. Some fans say that’s because the quality of popular music took a radical downward shift in the 1970s, so much so that the radio had no room for new Beach Boys songs. Others would say The Beach Boys’ 1970s output wasn’t good or commercial enough for the pop charts.
Regardless, some listeners clearly wanted new Beach Boys music. A little tune called “Beach Baby” by The First Class became a hit in 1974. In addition to its beachy subject matter, the song evokes Brian Wilson and company in other ways. For starters, it is built around the male vocal harmonies that made The Beach Boys famous. It also references California. Thanks to their song “California Girls,” The Beach Boys will always be associated with the Golden State.
Why ‘Beach Baby’ packs more punch than Beach Boys tunes
For a bubblegum pop song, “Beach Baby” packs an emotional wallop. Our culture often celebrates nostalgia. However, nostalgia is a double-edged sword. It can also be a bittersweet reminder of time lost, regrets, and roads not taken.
“Beach Baby” is partly about recognizing that the carefree days of youth are limited. In that way, it’s like a more upbeat version of Don Henley’s “The Boys of Summer.” “Beach Baby” isn’t as musically innovative as much of The Beach Boys’ output, but its nostalgic tone gives it more melancholy weight than Beach Boys classics such as “Good Vibrations” or “Wouldn’t It Be Nice.”
What the singer behind ‘Beach Baby’ said about the song
During a 1999 interview with Pop Entertainment, Tony Burrows from The First Class was asked if he intentionally made such American-sounding music even though he was British. “No, I don’t think it was a conscious decision,” he said. “I grew up with American pop music. That’s what I remembered. That’s what I listened to. That’s what I enjoyed. I think that just rubbed off more than anything else. I think that probably applies to a lot of people in those early ’70s.”
Burrows was asked why 1970s music isn’t as respected as the music of other eras. “I don’t know that it was a bum rap,” he replied. “I think it was a very successful period in music history. Basically, because I think the songs were good. I think nowadays far too much is produced in the studio. I think recording techniques have advanced so far that music has become sort of robotically produced now. I don’t think there’s enough emotion and heart goes into recordings anymore. They certainly used to in our day. I think that’s a bit of a shame. But that’s probably the old man in me speaking.”
