Brian’s Back!
50 years ago, during the fever pitch of America’s Bicentennial summer, The Beach Boys were front and center with the long-awaited return of their producer and leader Brian Wilson. Wilson spearheaded 15 Big Ones — the band’s first original Top 10 album in a decade, which also included The Beach Boys’ comeback hit, a cover of Chuck Berry’s “Rock And Roll Music.” The track soared into the Top Five, marking their highest charting single since “Good Vibrations” in 1966.
On August 5th, 1976, the band’s first-ever prime time special, The Beach Boys: It’s O.K. premiered on NBC. The program, which was helmed by Saturday Night Live’s executive producer Lorne Michaels and directed by SNL filmmaker Gary Weis, was based around The Beach Boys’ 15th anniversary celebrations and group’s multimedia “Brian’s Back!” publicity campaign. The title of the show was chosen to tie-in with the group’s then-current single, the Brian Wilson / Mike Love co-write, “It’s O.K.”
The Beach Boys’ comeback had been several years in the making, building on the back-to-back reissues of their legendary ’60s material — 1974’s chart-topping Endless Summer and the following year’s Top 10 smash, Spirit Of America. The pair of double-disc hit collections seduced an entirely new generation with the group’s ageless and unmatched harmonies and productions.
Co-founder Al Jardine explained that 1976 felt like a culmination of all the pieces falling into place for the group: “We had a resurgence, Capitol released the Endless Summer package, double album. Sold platinum. It was huge and that gave us, basically, a new audience that discovered The Beach Boys. After that, we were out there with a new energy.”
Lead singer Mike Love shed light on how by the time of the NBC special, The Beach Boys felt comfortable embracing all the industry machinations in order to reach the masses: “We were more collaborative at that point in time, that’s how I recall it. We did engage publicists Rogers & Cowan, we did get the cover of People magazine — so from that standpoint I don’t think the promotion was bad for us, I think it was good for us.”
The Beach Boys: It’s O.K. provided not only an endearing snapshot of the era, but a unique glimpse into the band itself. Interspersed between concert sequences, there was footage of Brian Wilson chatting in bed; brothers Dennis and Carl being interviewed at Brother Studios; Mike Love riding in a two-seater airplane; and Al Jardine enjoying his home in the scenic enclave of Big Sur. Also featured was a return to Hawthorne High School, the band performing with The Double Rock Baptist Choir, a look at skateboarding in the ’70s — along with Carl Wilson being filmed shopping for a vintage car, Dennis judging a local beauty contest, and an equal parts surreal and hysterical run-through of the Wilson’s brothers tackling The Beach Boys’ 1965 deep cut, “I’m Bugged At My Old Man.” It’s O.K. also featured footage shot at Brian Wilson’s 34th birthday party (June 20th, 1976) held at brother Carl’s Malibu home, with Paul and Linda McCartney and their kids all helping to present Wilson with his birthday cake.
The show’s most memorable moment was a sketch in which John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd pose as California Highway Patrolmen and force the reclusive Brian out of bed to hit the waves after issuing him a citation for failing to surf. It has gone on to be one of rock n’ roll’s greatest comedic occasions with photographer Annie Leibovitz shooting a photo of the bathrobed Brian holding a surfboard on the Malibu beach for an iconic cover of Rolling Stone.
“They played cops who came and got me out of my room and made me go outside and surf. It was kind of a kick.” — Brian Wilson
Brian Wilson, although never overtly comfortable in showbiz situations, eventually had to admit the NBC special held a few highlights for him: “When 15 Big Ones came out, the record company made a big deal that I was on it. They had a big campaign with the ‘Brian’s Back!’ slogan, and they had a TV special for us where we sang ‘That Same Song’ with a gospel choir and did a comedy sketch with The Blues Brothers. Well, they weren’t The Blues Brothers in that sketch; John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd — funny guys — they played cops who came and got me out of my room and made me go outside and surf. It was kind of a kick.”
For fans, the unquestionable highlight of the It’s O.K. special showcased live performances filmed on July 3rd, 1976 at California’s Anaheim Stadium in front of 55,000 fans, including the group’s classic lineup, Mike Love, Dennis Wilson, Carl Wilson, and Al Jardine, with Brian Wilson behind the keyboards, playing his first full concert in over six years.
Despite his reservations, making the move back into a concert performer seemed to be far less stressful than Brian anticipated: “Rehearsals went real good. I got some of the old fire back and I feel more positive. I feel good about myself, and once you feel good about yourself you can touch other people. I wanted to be a full bandmember again… The period of adjustment wasn’t as traumatic as some people think.”
Back in 1976, Dennis Wilson explained to Britain’s Melody Maker that celebrating The Beach Boys’ past every night on the road was hardly a cross to bear: “There will always be people wanting to hear the older tunes. I don’t get bored with them, They’re fun. Many of them are timeless to me. As a musician you can let go with them instead of making them sound contrived. You can play them in a new way each time and bring in little variations. I’m sure a lot of people had never heard the group until (Endless Summer and Spirit Of America) came out. I see 14-year-olds at the shows who were not even born when we started.”
“It was real clear that we had a new audience. We just surrendered to it.” — Carl Wilson
Carl Wilson recalled that by the time 1976 hit, The Beach Boys were cognizant that on any given night they were performing for up to three generations of fans: “The audience had become much wider in terms of their age. When we started playing, it was mostly high school students and then through the years it evolved into college students and families, even. The audience ranged from little babies and children to middle-aged people. It was real clear that we had a new audience. We just surrendered to it. We’d gone through so many changes over the idea of oldies over the years, but it became obvious what people wanted us to play.”
Longtime Beach Boys percussionist and sideman Bobby Figueroa has nothing but great memories of the band’s famed 1976 Anaheim gig: “It was a good show, very energetic. Chevy Chase was there and Rod Stewart, too. I was on my home turf. There were people out there that I went to high school with. It felt like, ‘Yeah, this is home, man. I’m playing the big ‘A!’ It was still within the confines of, ‘You better play well because Carl will look at you funny.’ (Laughs) He had a way of knowing if you messed up. Even though the risers were bouncing up and down and freaking everybody out; you could see that even the stage was being lifted off the ground — but Carl was looking at everybody like, ‘I heard that!’ He had a way of grounding you to those things. But it was a fantastic show, no doubt. I had ball! One of the highlights of my career with them was playing both those times we played at Anaheim Stadium.”
“It was like a low-level rumbling earthquake without the actual earthquake.” — Mike Love
A decade ago, Mike Love recalled in his memoir, Good Vibrations: My Life As A Beach Boy, that the band almost literally brought the house down in Anaheim: “During ‘I Get Around,’ I looked up and I saw the upper deck swaying and the banks of lights moving. It was like a low-level rumbling earthquake without the actual earthquake. One fan later swore that the stands were swaying to the beat of the music. We had to halt the concert for a P.A. announcement asking the people in the upper deck to stop jumping up and down because chunks of concrete were breaking off under the grandstands.”
Among the many Beach Boys classics featured during the concert sequences captured live at Anaheim were “Fun, Fun, Fun,” “Be True To Your School,” “God Only Knows,” “Good Vibrations,” “Sloop John B.,” “I Get Around,” “Surfin’ U.S.A.,” “California Girls,” “Help Me, Rhonda,” “It’s O.K.,” “Rock And Roll Music,” and “Wouldn’t It Be Nice.”
Lifelong Beach Boys fan Brad Rosenberger went on to have a long and illustrious career in the music business — but back in ’76, he was just one of the many diehards that camped out the night before in Anaheim to secure a prized spot on the field for the next day’s concert: “I felt like they were ‘America’s Band.’ They were on a par with The Beatles. And if you remember that summer in particular, The Beach Boys released a new album. They’re back on the charts, back in the Top 10, and The Beatles released Rock ‘N’ Roll Music, and they’re back in the Top 10. Paul McCartney’s on the road with the ‘Wings Over America’ tour. I went to two of the three McCartney shows at The Forum and a few weeks later, I’m seeing The Beach Boys in Anaheim Stadium again. So, it felt very nostalgic, but I felt excited because 15 Big Ones was a new record and they were back and the band sounded great — no question about that. And in the It’s O.K. special, there’s a shot from the stage into the audience where somebody’s holding up a big, ‘Welcome Back Brian’ sign. I very much remember Brian being there. I mean, Al Jardine’s wearing that the Uncle Sam hat, he’s got the red Strat; they looked cool.”
During the Anaheim show, Dennis Wilson performed his version of the recent Joe Cocker standard “You Are So Beautiful.” In his memoir, Mike Love shed light on his cousin’s nightly star turn: “Each concert featured Dennis singing ‘You Are So Beautiful,’ written by Billy Preston and Bruce Fisher — although Dennis was an uncredited contributor. It became, for many fans, Dennis’s signature song, one that he would perform solo at concerts. He would take the mic, his dark hair falling to his shoulders, his beard closely cropped, his presence still riveting, and the girls would scream.”
“That song is just pure Dennis Wilson, but he didn’t get credit for it.” — Al Jardine
For Al Jardine, “You Are So Beautiful” always embodied the true spirit of Dennis: “That song is just pure Dennis Wilson, but he didn’t get credit for it. Without saying a word he’d stand up and the audience would release an incredible amount of energy.”
At the time, Record World reported The Beach Boys: It’s O.K. scored a respectable 10.5/22 rating and was watched by 7.5 million U.S. households. For fans, like Brad Rosenberger, The Beach Boys’ first primetime special checked all the boxes for success: “When The Beach Boys’ It’s O.K. special happened, I was super pumped. I think they were on the cover of People magazine that week. I remember that my cousin had a reel-to-reel video recorder. I said, ‘Dude, you’ve got to tape this thing for me.’ I loved it. God, there were so many things to love about it.”
The special was recently re-released on DVD under the title The Beach Boys: Good Vibrations Tour.
CHECK IT OUT So many things to love about it.