By Howie Edelson
Every global artist has the one performance that remains lodged in the hearts and imaginations of the public. Footage that instantly springs to mind when their sound appears -- or simply when you hear their name. For The Beach Boys, those images come from October 29th, 1964, when Hawthorne, California’s favorite sons filmed their unforgettable appearance at The T.A.M.I. Show -- captured live at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium in Los Angeles, in front of 3,000 joyous, screaming fans.
In addition to spotlighting the most iconic early footage of Brian Wilson with The Beach Boys, 1964’s The T.A.M.I. Show featured jaw-dropping performances by The Rolling Stones, Chuck Berry, The Supremes, James Brown and The Fabulous Flames, Smokey Robinson and The Miracles, Jan & Dean, Billy J. Kramer and The Dakotas, Leslie Gore, The Headhunters, Gerry & The Pacemakers, and the great Marvin Gaye. The landmark film was the first theatrically released rock n' roll concert movie and stands as one of the shining testaments to the power and promise of early-‘60s rock.
With the band’s classic lineup of Brian Wilson on bass, Mike Love on lead vocals, Dennis Wilson on drums, and Carl Wilson and Al Jardine on guitars, The Beach Boys performed an Olympic four-song set, tearing into three of their biggest hits: the previous year’s Top Three smash “Surfin’ U.S.A.,” their recent chart-topper “I Get Around,” a solo spot for Brian Wilson on the group’s then-best known ballad “Surfer Girl,” and “Dance, Dance, Dance” – the latest Wilson / Love instant classic and soon-to-be Top 10 hit – which, amazingly, was only released three days prior to their legendary L.A. concert performance.
As far as lasting images, the sight of Brian and Mike standing as co-leaders on the stage spotlighted not only the creative power of The Beach Boys, but along with the athleticism and charisma of Dennis, exuded the band’s definitive early visual. Confident and intelligent harmonies along with powerful guitar lines by Carl and Al delivered proof positive that America’s greatest artform was safe and sound in the hands of the three brothers, their cousin, and friend.
Mike Love still counts the group’s performance as an early concert highlight:
“The T.A.M.I. Show was another one that was really cool. Of course, we were friends with Jan & Dean -- and we weren't friends with The Rolling Stones! I think there's a little bit of ego involved there. They made the same mistake of following James Brown. Keith Richards said that was the biggest mistake they ever made in their career. I remember the rehearsal being pretty far out. I became friends with Marvin Gaye, for instance. On The T.A.M.I. Show, I think we were all pretty fresh, and pretty new. I personally loved all the Motown stuff, when you’ve got Smokey Robinson and Marvin Gaye on the same show that’s pretty serious business.”
Fast forward to 2006, when the United States Library of Congress selected The T.A.M.I. Show for preservation in the National Film Registry, saluting the classic concert time capsule for its cultural, historical, and aesthetic importance.
The fall of ’64 will forever be remembered by the brilliant single “Dance, Dance, Dance” – driven by Carl Wilson’s exuberant and forward-thinking opening riff -- it peaked at Number Eight on the Billboard Hot 100 and secured The Beach Boys their fourth Top 10 hit of the year. The song’s success only cemented the band’s place alongside their chief chart competitors from Detroit, Michigan and Liverpool, England.
October 1964 also saw the release of The Beach Boys’ only chart-topping album of the 1960’s, the groundbreaking Beach Boys Concert. Among its many highlights was Mike Love & the gang’s notable take on Bobby “Boris” Pickett and The Crypt-Kickers’ Halloween “fright night” gem -- “Monster Mash.” Fans nationwide got to see Mike Love’s most ghoulish antics when the band performed the tune on ABC’s Shindig!, which was taped on December 14th and aired nine days later.
Back in 1962, “Monster Mash” enjoyed a two-week run at Number One for Pickett and immediately became a Halloween perennial, hitting the charts a total of three times – and even reaching Number 10 in 1973.
But The Beach Boys’ spooky salutations didn’t end in 1964. On all hallow’s eve 1970, Brian Wilson led the band through the long-unreleased original Halloween track, “My Solution.” The Surf’s Up-era outtake finally saw release in 2021 on the acclaimed box set Feel Flows: The Sunflower & Surf's Up Sessions 1969–1971.
Al Jardine explained that recording at Brian’s home studio in Bel Air was tantamount to the band expressing their creativity any time inspiration came knocking:
“Our engineer Stephen Desper was great. He was on call 24 hours a day. Desper was the rock. He engineered a concept of owning our own studio component. We had a 16-track machine and we didn’t have to worry about union engineers telling us not to touch the board. We had the run of the shop. It was nice having control.”
In 1976, nearly six years after the “My Solution” session, Brian Wilson first hipped fans to the infamous track during an appearance on Britain’s The Old Grey Whistle Test, revealing,
“We have a song called 'My Solution,' which is a very odd song that has strange chords, not regular triad chords. The notes are bunched up, and it tells the story about how a guy found an old damsel outside his castle and decided to make her part of an experiment. Anyway, he goes on to say, 'What have I done with my solution, my instant aid to evolution?' It's about a guy who found his solution, y'know? It's a very odd, Boris Karloff eerie-type of thing, so it's one of our more far out, left-field things that we've done.”
Taken by Bob Jenkins on Halloween of 1970 during a recording session at Brian Wilson’s home studio. The Beach Boys were working on a Halloween-themed track here called My Solution.
It won’t be long before fall breaks (and back to winter): Remember there are fascinating moments and incredible sounds to be explored in every day, month, season, and year in The Beach Boys world.
Whether you “do ‘The Mash’” or find YOUR solution...
Have a safe and Happy Halloween!