3. I GET AROUND
How the Boys Sold the Beach
“They take up the mantle of being ‘America’s band’ while writing albums overseas, and secure that reputation by becoming peak boomer nostalgia music for an era where gas was cheap, roads were wide open, and the ocean was a playground if you had the privilege of rebellion.”
Don’t touch that dial! We’re about to put you onto some hot rod music. The Beach Boys hit it big by riding the wave — pun fully intended — of California culture spreading across the country. But were they really surfers? Or just total posers? Rosie tells Krista about the 60s car culture craze and special guest Rayanne Piaña joins in to teach us the not-so-secret history of surfing. Rosie reveals the sheer number of Beach Party movies she watched as “research” and Krista shares her favorite section of Mandy Moore’s classic bop “Candy.” Both hosts think they could’ve easily written the Beach Boys’ first single “Surfin.’”
IN THIS EPISODE…
POCKET SYMPHONY RADIO
“I Get Around” by the Beach Boys (1964)
LOVE & MERCY
Where to stream/rent the movie
[6:06] — [12:33]
SCENE FOCUS: Brian buys a car
DISCUSSION TOPICS
- The rise of American hot rod culture in the early 1950s and how the Beach Boys broke big by writing “car songs”
- Beach Boy beginnings: how they got their oh-so creative band name and the overwhelming influence of California surf culture on their early hits
- The formation of the “teenager” and the “California Dream” in American consumer culture: teen tragedy songs, Gidget and Beach Party films
- The not-so hidden history of surfing: its origins in indigenous Hawaiian society and how five white Californian dudes rode the wave of the trend to commercial success… when only one of them actually surfed
THE FANTASY ALBUM DRAFT
CATEGORY: California Era (1962–3) song
- Krista: “Lonely Sea” from Surfin’ USA (1963)
- Rosie: “The Surfer Moon” from Surfer Girl (1963)
MUSIC
Listen to the playlist on Spotify.
- “I Get Around” by the Beach Boys
- “400 Lux” by Lorde
- “Teenage Dream” by Katy Perry
- “Little Deuce Coupe” by the Beach Boys
- “Surfin’ USA” by the Beach Boys
- “Surfin’” by the Beach Boys
- “Teen Angel” by Mark Dinning
- “Surfer Girl’” by the Beach Boys
- “Gidget” by James Darren
- “Surf Crazy” by Spencer Lee, Keely Hawkes, Teen Beach Movie cast
- “Catch a Wave” by the Beach Boys
- “Lonely Sea” by the Beach Boys
- “The Surfer Moon” by the Beach Boys
EPISODE CREDITS
WRITTEN AND HOSTED BY
Rosie Alejandrino and Krista Kurisaki
EDITED BY
INTERVIEW
ADDITIONAL VOICE WORK
- Kyle Kizu as Brian Wilson (and additional voices)
EPISODE SOURCES
READING
- Good Vibrations: My Life as a Beach Boy by Mike Love, James S. Hirsch
- I Am Brian Wilson: A Memoir by Brian Wilson, Ben Greenman
- “Screen: Sun and Surf; ‘ Gidget,’ the Story of a Teen-Age Girl, Opens” by Howard Thompson, The New York Times, 23 Apr. 1959
- “Hawai’ian Surfers Have Been Riding Waves Since the 17th Century” by Becky Little, History, 15 Aug. 2018
AUDIO
- Love & Mercy (2014), dir. Bill Pohlad
- The Beach Boys: Endless Harmony (1998), dir. Alan Boyd
- The Beach Boys: An American Family (2000), dir. Jeff Bleckner
- Gidget (1959), dir. Paul Wendkos
- Beach Party Official Trailer
- Beach Party (1963), dir. William Asher
- Pajama Party (1964), dir. Don Weis
- Ski Party (1965), dir. Alan Rafkin
- Teen Beach Movie (2013), dir. Jeffrey Hornaday
BACKGROUND MUSIC
- Burnt to a Crisp or Bloody as Hell — Classic 60s Rock — Royalty Free Music
- Lime Light — smooth jazz ballad Kenny G style
- (FREE) Rex Orange County ft. Brakence Type Beat “feel good” [indie]
- Twisted Boogie royalty free background music
- Rock Around The Block no copyright 50s Rock n Roll, royalty free vintage music
- Surf Shimmy Free-To-Use NO COPYRIGHT Music
- Hawaiian Lullaby — royalty free hawaiian music
