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East Coast girls may be hip, yeah, but the Beach Boys will soon learn how cool south Louisiana folks are.
The band rolls into Charenton May 24 for an appearance at Cypress Bayou Casino.
Just over 50 years ago – April 21, 1965, to be exact – the Beach Boys were introduced to America. The venue was ABC’s “Shindig!” which was in its 32nd season. Also on the TV show were The Shangri-Las, Ian Whitcomb, The Ikettes, Wayne Fontana and the Mindbenders, Cilla Black, Rita Pavone, Dick and Dee Dee, Joey Cooper, The Shindogs, Shindigs dancer Carol Shelyne, The Wellingtons and Joe and Eddie.
For the pink pie in Trivial Pursuit, what did they sing?
The five-piece band opened with “Do You Wanna Dance,” followed by “Fun, Fun, Fun,” “Long Tall Texan,” “Please Let Me Wonder,” “Help Me, Rhonda” and “Their Hearts Were Full of Spring.”
In no time, America dubbed the surf rock the California sound.
Others would follow, but the Beach Boys launched the movement. Their matching striped Oxford shirts, tanned boyish good looks and catchy melodies captured hearts and cemented the Beach Boys’ place in musical history.
The brothers Wilson – Brian, Carl and Dennis – along with cousin Mike Love and friend Al Jardine comprised the original band. But powerhouse releases, including their inaugural “Pet Sounds,” which still holds a spot among rock music’s top 100 albums, weren’t enough to stave off problems.
Fighting mental illness and substance abuse, Brian Wilson took a backseat to the music. His travails are the subject of “Love & Mercy,” a movie starring John Cusack, Elizabeth Banks, Paul Dano and Paul Giamatti due in theatres June 5.
Dennis drowned in 1983, and brother Carl died in 1998 of lung cancer.
Bruce Johnston and David Lee Marks later joined the group, and the Beach Boys have had several famous stand-ins: Daryl Dragon of Captain and Tennille fame, Glen Campbell and John Stamos among them.
The Beach Boys’ original five were inducted into the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame in 1988. They have 44 albums to their credit, including “The Beach Boys Live: The 50th Anniversary Tour.” They’ve sold more than 100 million records worldwide, earning the number 12 spot on Rolling Stone magazine’s 2004 list of the “100 Greatest Artists of All Time.”
Mike Love, 74, is the last original Beach Boy still performing with the band. Bruce Johnston, 72, will also take the Cypress Bayou stage as the longest-tenured non-original member.
The Cypress Bayou appearance is the band’s final U.S. stop before heading to the United Kingdom for the summer leg of their anniversary tour. Tickets are $67.50 to $82.90, and are available through Ticketmaster. The show begins at 8 p.m. •
