The Beach Boys are an American rock band formed in Hawthorne, California in 1961. The group's original lineup consisted of brothers Brian, Dennis, and Carl Wilson, their cousin Mike Love, and their friend Al Jardine. Distinguished by their vocal harmonies and early surf songs, they are one of the most influential acts of the rock era.

The Beach Boys began as a garage band led by Brian and managed by the Wilsons' father Murry. In 1963, the band gained national prominence with a string of top-ten singles reflecting a southern California youth culture of surfing, cars, and romance, dubbed the "California sound". From 1965, they abandoned beachgoing themes for more personal lyrics and ambitious orchestrations. In 1966, the Pet Sounds album and "Good Vibrations" single raised the group's prestige as rock innovators and established the band as symbols of the nascent counterculture era. After scrapping the unfinished album Smile in 1967, Brian's contributions diminished due to his mental health issues. The group's commercial momentum faltered, and despite efforts to maintain an experimental sound, they were effectively blacklisted by the early rock music press...