The Beach Boys is one of the most successful bands of all time. Mike Love, cofounder and coauthor of more than a dozen of their hit singles along with his cousin Brian Wilson, brings the “Endless Summer Gold” tour to Jones Beach on Aug. 8, a perfect venue for their surfing beach-loving fans.
Love collaborated on some of the greatest pop hits of all time including “Good Vibrations,” “Fun, Fun, Fun,” “I Get Around,” “Surfin’ Safari,” “Help Me, Rhonda,” “Do It Again,” “Kokomo” and “California Girls.” Between the 1960s and 2020s, the group had 37 songs reach the U.S. Top 40, with four topping the Billboard Hot 100 and were inducted in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1988.
The band continues to cement their legacy with the celebrated documentary released May 2024 on Disney+ and the first official book by the band titled The Beach Boys by The Beach Boys published by Genesis in February 2024.
Before Love and the Beach Boys hit the sand at Jones Beach, he stopped for a chat.
Have you spent much time on Long Island over the years?
Yes, I once gave a transcendental meditation lecture at one of the colleges on the island. We love Jones Beach; that’s been a tradition with us. Jones Beach is always special because it’s right on the water. The Beach Boys and the water go hand in hand.
How have your audiences changed through the years?
It’s a joy to perform our music now to multiple generations. We have original fans who are in their 70s and 80s and their children and grandchildren. Sometimes we have four generations come out and going to Jones Beach is a family experience. It’s a wonderful place to go for music and the beach as well. It’s special for us to come to the East Coast and Jones Beach.
What is one major takeaway that you want people to get from the Beach Boys documentary?
The documentary shows the origins of the group and the family connections. There wasn’t a time in my life without music. My mother was Emily Lee Wilson and her brother was Murray Gage Wilson. So, Brian, Dennis and Carl Wilson and I are first cousins. Every birthday, holiday and special vacation was filled with music and the central part was everybody harmonizing together and harmonies are what make the Beach Boys music distinctive. We applied those sophisticated four-part harmonies to rock music.
How did the Beach Boys come up with their distinctive sound?
The sound we came up with was my cousin Brian singing the high falsetto part, I would sing the bass part of the background but since he and I wrote one of the songs together in the ‘60s I sang the lead because we would be at the piano writing the songs and he would pick out the chords and the melody in my vocal range and then I would help him come up with the concepts, the lyrics and the hooks. I came up with “I’m picking up good vibrations you give me the excitations,” “let’s go surfing now everybody’s learning how.” My forte was the lyrics and the concepts. I was totally into literature and poetry back in my school days. Brian was more gifted in the musical area, playing the piano. But he learned to play the bass when we formed the group. Brian decided to leave the touring group in late 1964. It was hard to see him go, but Bruce Johnston filled in for him after Glenn Campbell filled in for a few months. The first song Bruce Johnston did with us was “California Girls” in 1965 and then at the end of the year we did “The Beach Boys’ Party!” album because we needed more time to do the Pet Sounds album which came out in mid-1966 with “God Only Knows” and “Wouldn’t It Be Nice” and we still sing those songs to this day. Then that November “Good Vibrations” went to No. 2 and in England we were voted the top group in Great Britain, No. 1 being The Beatles. 1966 was an incredible year.
Weren’t you friends with The Beatles?
People have asked what we talked about with The Beatles. We talked about girls and cars. George Harrison was into racing cars and Carl Wilson, my cousin and our lead guitar player, had an Aston Martin. I remember John Lennon saying, “Well, my voice is out so when we get to this part of the song, let’s shake our heads and the girls will scream and nobody will care that I can’t hit the note.” The most interesting part was when we learned transcendental meditation in December of 1967 in Paris being there for the UNICEF show and Maharishi, George Harrison and John Lennon were in the first row. I was invited by Maharishi to go to India and The Beatles were all there. We had a fascinating time there with Maharishi lecturing and The Beatles wrote a lot of music. In fact, Paul McCartney played “Back in the U.S.S.R.” for me at the breakfast table with his acoustic guitar when he just made it up. It was a special time and I still meditate every day which gives me the energy, positivity and clarity to be able to keep doing what we’re doing.
Is it true that you didn’t write one of your big hits, “Barbara Ann”?
Yes, it was written by Fred Fassert and recorded by the Regents in 1961. We did a cover of it in 1965 for the album Beach Boys’ Party! It’s a song we do every night. Sometimes we have people join us onstage, dance around and sing it with us.
You are also an entrepreneur. Didn’t you launch Club Kokomo Spirits?
Yes, we have ready-to-drink cocktails that are wonderful. We became partners with a master distiller from San Diego, Geoff Longenecker. We’ve been doing it a couple of years, but we’ve already won gold medals at a prestigious worldwide competition.
What would you like to tell people about the book The Beach Boys by The Beach Boys?
This is a Genesis book and they have made fabulous books through the years. They got the families of each of us to contribute. Dennis passed away in 1983, Carl left us because of lung cancer about 25 years ago. But their families gave Genesis all kinds of photographs and movies. They made a fantastic book. There are two versions of it and they’re just top of the line. It’s an honor to have something that special documenting your life.
Looking back at your amazing career, how would you like to sum it up?
I think The Beach Boys literally gave the world “good vibrations” and some “fun, fun, fun” along the way. Even if the times are not completely positive, the music can be positive. We can celebrate that together and have a time of unity and harmony. It’s a wonderful thing to have that as your legacy, to know that you have given people some hope, harmony, love and positivity in their lives.
