RIP Brian Wilson and the Beach Boys

When the song “Surfin’” was recorded in mid-September 1961, the band was the Pendletones after the brand of Pendleton shirt favored by teens at the time. The song’s writer, 19-year-old Brian Wilson, who recently passed away from unknown causes on June 11 in Beverly Hills, had joined his brothers Carl, and Dennis Wilson from Hawthorne, cousin Mike Love and neighborhood friend Al Jardine as the Beach Boys.

About the name change, Bruce Morgan, son of song publishers Hite and Dorita Morgan, who first recorded the band recalled, “the whole concept behind the Beach Boys was my parents’ idea.” Label owner and Capitol executive Russ Regan also took credit for the name change.

For years, the boys’ father Murry Wilson visited the Morgans to pitch his songs. “My mom was tired of listening to Murry’s songs. He was in our living room all the time with ‘moon June spoon’ songs. My mom said ‘let’s shift the focus to the boys.’

“Dennis was a surfer. She asked Dennis to make a list of surfing terms to learn something about surfing, so she sat down with Dennis, coaxing him to writing surf themes to music. At that time Brian wasn’t interested, so mom asked him, ‘what kind of music do you like?’ His favorite was ‘Duke Of Earl,’ and that was the genesis of the Beach Boys.”

Morgan continued, “Murry didn’t want any association with the Beach Boys because he thought their music was terrible. So he said, ‘don’t tell anybody about that group.’ He was a real asshole, the way he talked about his own kids. I used to hide when he visited.

“There was a lot of controversy at the time, lot of argument because they wanted to be called the Pendletones. That argument went on until my dad said, ‘you’re gonna be the Beach Boys.’ The groups back then had uniforms and they bought these Pendleton jackets, so that was their Beach Boys’ uniform.”

“They had one session. Hite Morgan, who was a friend of mine, came out with this thing in the front room, where they had the mastering studio,” said producer and label owner Tony Hilder. The session paid a total cost of $267.50 for the performers. The record “Surfin’” on the Candix label nibbled at the charts at the end of 1961 before it hit in L.A. and nationally in February 1962. Father Murry Wilson apparently pressed copies on the X label to sell at Venice beach.

On Dec. 23, 1961, they debuted in-person at the Rendezvous Ballroom on Balboa Island supporting Dick Dale & The Del-Tones. As surfer dancers demanded instrumental bands, urban legend purports the vocalizing by the Beach Boys got them booed off the stage.

A week later, on Dec. 31, 1961, almost three years after Ritchie Valens’ only Long Beach date, the Ritchie Valens Memorial Concert at the Long Beach Municipal Auditorium featured the Rivingtons promoting their new hit, “Papa Oom Mow Mow,” the Beach Boys plugging “Surfin’,” Ike & Tina Turner and the Wilmington-based Carlos Brothers who Valens discovered in El Monte. While “Surfin’” was hot, on Feb. 3, 1962, the third anniversary of Valens’ death, the Beach Boys returned to the the Long Beach Municipal Auditorium, with a second auditorium show on Feb. 10.

The first known mention of the Beach Boys in the press was in the Feb. 1, 1962, Press-Telegram Teen Tempo column, “Surfin’” by the Beach Boys and ‘Surfer Stomp’ by the Mar-kets are both in the local top ten. The latter is even making headway where surfing is a distant dream.”

In Feb. 8, 1962, Jaguars member Val Poliuto of the City of Commerce filled in for tenor Mike Love when they recorded “Karote” (sic), “Surfin’ Safari,” “Surfin’,” “Little Surfer Girl,” “Luau” and “Judy” for the Morgan’s Deck Records at Keene Studios, 8715 W. Third St Los Angeles, songs never released as singles.

“Hite had this acapella tape with them doing ‘Surfin’,” said producer Tony Hilder. “Dorinda did ‘Little Surfer Girl’. Capitol screwed over Hite; I went to court on that. Capitol was trying to say it was a different version.” The Beach Boys never again recorded for Candix – Deck or X - but they were soon very, very big indeed on Capitol.

The Beach Boys appeared with a showing of the Don Brown movie “Surf’s Up” at Millikan High School on March 2, 1962, a show remembered by several Millikan grads. On December 6, 1962, the Beach Boys opened the Cinnamon Cinder at the Traffic Circle supporting Jan and Dean. In May 1963, Brian Wilson harmonized the high falsetto over Jan & Dean’s vocals on their #1 hit, “Surf City” while the second Beach Boys single “Surfin’ Safari” was climbing the charts.

The companion piece to “Surfin’,” “Barbi” by Kenny & the Cadets were Beach Boys members Brian and Carl Wilson and Al Jardine as a tribute to the Mattel doll, but likely was never released In the 1970s, these mint original singles were located by record collector, who sold black vinyl examples for about $15 and colored vinyl 45s for about $75, now valued in three figures.