A Taylor-Made Life: Revisiting The Beach Boys ‘All Summer Long’

This past week, the world lost a musical icon in the form of Brian Wilson. Best known for his founding of The Beach Boys, Wilson was instrumental in the story of American music.

On that day, I – as I would imagine many others – listened to a handful of Beach Boys’ songs to reminisce. It’s music I’d been hearing my whole life – on the radio, in my parents’ cars, in movies and, of course, on the episode of “Full House” when the whole family got to play a gig with the Boys.

Their music has been so commonplace in my life that I never really took the time to appreciate it. Their songs are in films I’ve seen dozens of times – with Clark Griswold (incorrectly) singing along to “Good Vibrations” at the beginning of “Vegas Vacation,” with “God Only Knows,” “Don’t Worry Baby” and “Feel Flows” playing at the ends of “Boogie Nights” and “Love Actually,” “Never Been Kissed,” and “Almost Famous,” respectively.

The music was always there, so I’d always taken it for granted.

It wasn’t until a trip to Niagara Falls the summer after graduating high school that I started to actually seek out their music. Watching TV in the hotel room every night before bed, this commercial kept playing, featuring the song “All Summer Long.”

I obtained the album of the same name and began to understand how many Beach Boys songs I knew and how I enjoyed all of them. A few summers later, I’d see the band live (as they, funnily enough, performed on a beach) and I’ve been a conscious fan ever since.

Driving home from our anniversary dinner last Wednesday, Keegan and I listened to about 10 Beach Boys songs. Each was hauntingly beautiful in its own way, and each conjured a feeling of love. That was probably partially the anniversary, but I’d argue that The Beach Boys’ music is the closest to sounding like what love feels like.

For eliciting that feeling through art – and for setting the tone for my favorite genre of yacht rock – I thank Brian Wilson and The Beach Boys for sharing their talents with the world. God only knows what music would be without you.