California sound

The California sound is a popular music aesthetic that originates with American pop and rock recording artists from Southern California in the early 1960s. At first, it was conflated with the California myth, an idyllic setting inspired by the state's beach culture that commonly appeared in the lyrics of commercial pop songs. Later, the sound was expanded outside its initial geography and subject matter and was developed to be more sophisticated, often featuring studio experimentation.

The sound was originally identified for harnessing a wide-eyed, sunny optimism attributed to Southern California teenage life in the 1960s. Its imagery is primarily represented by Brian Wilson and the Beach Boys, who are credited for the sound's instigation via their debut single "Surfin'" in 1961. Along with Jan and Dean, the Beach Boys encapsulated surfing, hot rod culture, and youthful innocence within music which transformed a local lifestyle into American mythology. Other proponents included songwriters and/or record producers Gary Usher, Curt Boettcher, Bruce Johnston, Terry Melcher, and Roger Christian.

The California sound gradually evolved to reflect a more musically ambitious and mature worldview, becoming less to do with surfing and cars and more about social consciousness and political awareness. Between 1964 and 1969, it fueled innovation and transition, inspiring artists to tackle largely unmentioned themes such as sexual freedom, black pride, drugs, oppositional politics, other countercultural motifs, and war. It helped launch the 1960s folk-rock scene, represented by groups such as the Byrds, the Mamas and the Papas, Buffalo Springfield, and Crosby, Stills, & Nash, who became associated with the Los Angeles neighborhood of Laurel Canyon. The California sound eventually saw its commercial peak in the 1970s hits of the Eagles. A derivative form of the California sound was later classified as sunshine pop.

The genesis of the California sound is said to be the Beach Boys' debut single "Surfin'" in 1961. While the band's leader Brian Wilson then collaborated with Jan Berry for several hit singles written and produced for other artists, they recorded what would later be regarded as the California sound. University of Southern California history professor Kevin Starr has stated that the band was historically important for embodying the era of the Silent Generation, which he described as unpolitical. He explained that the group "could not help but mythologize a landscape and way of life that was already so surreal, so proto-mythic, in its setting. Cars and the beach, surfing, the California Girl, all this fused in the alembic of youth: Here was a way of life, an iconography, already half-released into the chords and multiple tracks of a new sound." The California sound was thus a musical translation of the California myth. In the book Pioneers of Rock and Roll: 100 Artists Who Changed the Face of Rock, Harry Sumrall summarized:

[The Beach Boys] virtually defined the image of surfers, hot rods, sun, beaches, girls, and fun, fun, fun that became the California myth. The titles of their songs said it as well as anything: "Surfin' U.S.A.," "Little Deuce Coupe," "Surfer Girl," "Fun, Fun, Fun," "Dance, Dance, Dance," and "California Girls". With these hits and others, the group's bassist and songwriter, Brian Wilson, created a new sound in rock and roll. It was called the "surf sound", but in fact it was a combination of older rock verities set in entirely new lyrical and musical contexts.

The Beach Boys' surf music was not entirely of their own invention, being preceded by artists such as Dick Dale. However, previous surf musicians did not project a worldview as the Beach Boys did. Wilson once said of its myth: "It's not just the surfing; it's the outdoors and cars and sunshine; it's the society of California; it's the way of California." Al Jardine of the Beach Boys argued that "It's not entirely a myth. There are still some elements that are certainly true, especially for a first-time observer. But to be able to come here and to drive that coast on Route 1 ... you experience the water and the animals and the sea life, the whole thing. It's really magical. It really is." Capitol Records staff producer Nick Venet, who worked with the group early on, believed that most of the group's lyrical inspiration was drawn from Hollywood films.

AllMusic's review of the group's "All Summer Long" calls it a "potent example" of the California myth's "idyllic dream world of sun, surf, and fun" while containing qualities of sunshine pop. Author Luis Sanchez believes that the entirety of the album All Summer Long (1964) was "the nearest the Beach Boys ever got to a perfect version of the California myth." David Howard wrote that "Don't Worry Baby" was a "subtle harbinger for the growing dichotomy within the California sound. While 'I Get Around' symbolized the sunshine ideal in all its carefree splendor, 'Don't Worry Baby' suggested something entirely more pensive and even slightly dark underneath its pristine facade."

The Beach Boys continued expanding their version of the California myth until it could no longer be confined to pop music terrain, transcending the limits of genre, commercial expectations, and geography. Aiding this was Wilson's successes with collaborator Gary Usher. The duo helped create a major new market revolving around the California sound, allowing musicians Bruce Johnston (who would later join the Beach Boys) and Terry Melcher to turn their attention to the Rip Chords, a group who then had hits with the hot-rod themed "Hey Little Cobra" and pseudo-surf "Summer Means Fun". Historian Matthew Allan Ides wrote: