When I Grow Up: The Development of the Beach Boys’ Sound (1962-1966) Author O'Regan, Jade Simone Published 2014 Thesis Type Thesis (PhD Doctorate) School Queensland Conservatorium DOI https://doi.org/10.25904/1912/2556 Copyright Statement The author owns the copyright in this thesis, unless stated otherwise. Downloaded from http://hdl.handle.net/10072/367243 Griffith Research Online https://research-repository.griffith.edu.au When I Grow Up: The Development of the Beach Boys’ Sound (1962-1966) Volume One Jade Simone O’Regan B.PopMus (Hons) Queensland Conservatorium of Music Griffith University Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy December, 2013 2 Abstract The Beach Boys are an American rock group whose career has spanned over fifty years. However, it was between 1962 and 1966 that the group had most of their chart success and that their unique ‘sound’ was crystallised. This study takes a broad, big- picture overview of the Beach Boy’s repertoire from this period and charts the development of their sound through the apprentice-craft-art (ACA) framework. The concept of a ‘sound’ is able to draw together the musical, technological, sociological and historical elements that, when combined, create the sound of the Beach Boys during the 1962-1966 period. The flexibility of this concept means that areas often overlooked in popular music studies and in studies on the Beach Boys in general (particularly the roles of production and instrument types), are able to be woven into analyses of more traditional musical elements (such as song structure or chord progressions). To investigate their sound, this study analyses song structure, rhythmic feels, instrumentation, chord progressions, lyrical themes and vocals from 101 songs that the Beach Boys released on nine studio albums from the 1962-1966 period. The aim of these analyses is to give a detailed understanding of how the Beach Boys’ sound developed over time. Included in these musical analyses is a discussion of instrument types and production styles, which also have an impact on the Beach Boys’ sound. Musical findings are contextualised with important socio-cultural considerations that also contribute to the Beach Boys’ sound, such as their home in Southern California, their complicated personal histories, their relationship to surf music, and the construction of their “California myth”. The combination of the musical, the social and the historical gives a cohesive understanding of the way they constructed their sound. In his study of the Beatles’ song structures, Covach (2006) used a ‘craft to art’ model to chart how their use of song structures changed over time. The Beach Boys, as musical contemporaries of the Beatles, also show a similar progression in their music. However, they also experienced an earlier ‘apprentice’ phase when the group was still figuring out their instruments, finding their voices and solidifying their own sound. The three-part movement from apprentices, to craftsmen, to artists (ACA) best suits the way the Beach Boys’ music grew and changed between 1962 and 1966; almost all of the elements that make up their music – song structure, rhythmic feels, instrumentation, 3 chord progressions, lyrical themes, and vocals - clearly follow these three distinct periods of musical and personal growth. One of the advantages of a large-scale study of the Beach Boys’ music is that there is enough scope to use varied methodological approaches to analyse and represent musical findings. A combination of empirical methods (statistics, tables and spreadsheets), colour coding (graphs and charts), traditional notation, and socio- cultural considerations have been used to show large-scale trends over time, musical correlations, and to make analysis findings as accessible as possible. The use of visual methods in this study is a contribution to a wider trend in popular music research, which has accepted the role of traditional musical analysis, but also sought ways to augment it with methods that best represent the way popular music sounds. When the Beach Boys sang “Will I dig the same things that turned me on as a kid? Will I look back and say that I wish I hadn’t done what I did?” on “When I Grow Up (To Be a Man)”, we hear the tension between being a boy while also wanting to be man . When we listen to the early albums of the Beach Boys, we also hear that development from boy to man; this study charts the progression, the changes, and the development of the Beach Boys’ unique sound during the early to mid-1960s. 4 Statement of Originality This work has not previously been submitted for a degree or diploma in any university. To the best of my knowledge and belief, the thesis contains no material previously published or written by another person except where due reference is made in the thesis itself. (Signed) _____________________________ Jade ORegan 5 Table of Contents Abstract ................................................................................................................................................................. 2 Statement of Originality ................................................................................................................................. 4 Table of Figures ................................................................................................................................................. 8 List of Tables .................................................................................................................................................... 11 Acknowledgements ....................................................................................................................................... 13 Introduction ..................................................................................................................................................... 16 What is a “Sound”?.................................................................................................................................... 17 Thesis Question ......................................................................................................................................... 19 Methods Used in this Study .................................................................................................................. 20 The Apprentice-Craft-Art Model......................................................................................................... 21 Scope and Limitations ............................................................................................................................. 26 Chapter Summary and Appendices ................................................................................................... 26 Conclusion ................................................................................................................................................... 28 Chapter 1: Literature Survey .................................................................................................................... 29 Beach Boys Literature ............................................................................................................................. 29 Biographical History ................................................................................................................................ 37 Conclusion ................................................................................................................................................... 48 Chapter 2: Methodology.............................................................................................................................. 49 Popular Music Literature and “New Musicology” ....................................................................... 49 Visual Musicology ..................................................................................................................................... 54 An Overview of the Albums in this Study ....................................................................................... 57 Limitations of this Study ........................................................................................................................ 64 Extra Audio and Textual Resources .................................................................................................. 67 Methods Used in the Study ................................................................................................................... 71 Statistical and Empirical Methods ..................................................................................................... 71 Colour Coding, Charts and Diagrams ................................................................................................ 82 6 Traditional and Sociological Methods .............................................................................................. 91 Conclusion ................................................................................................................................................... 93 Chapter 3: Song Structures ........................................................................................................................ 94 The Influence of Tin Pan Alley and Brill Building Songwriting Styles. ............................... 95 An Overview of Beach Boys’ Song Structures ............................................................................... 98 Conclusion ................................................................................................................................................