Flashback: Beach Boys record Surfin' USA

It was on this date 43 years ago (January 31st), that the Beach Boys completed recording their first Top Ten hit, "Surfin' U.S.A." The group's Brian Wilson lifted the tune from Chuck Berry's "Sweet Little Sixteen," and once again was inspired by his younger brother Dennis' "live every moment as though it's your last" persona. Brian, who vicariously used many of Dennis' life experiences to help craft the Beach Boys sound, wrote the words around Southern California's hippest pastime.

Wilson recalled after the single's release that, "My brother Dennis came home from school one day and said, 'Listen you guys, it looks like surfing's gonna be the next big craze.' He said that I should write a song about it. So I wrote a song just due to Dennis' suggestion." The song was polished off on January 31st, 1963 between 8:00 and 11:00 p.m. at Hollywood's Western Recorders. The track features the searing guitar work by Carl Wilson and David Marks, Brian Wilson on bass, piano and organ, Mike Love on lead vocals and despite speculation that he didn't actually play on the track -- Dennis Wilson on drums. All five are featured on the song's trademarked "Inside/Outside/U.S.A." backing vocals.

Beach Boys historian Jon Stebbins, who's currently finishing up his latest book on the group's co-founder, guitarist David Marks, titled The Lost Beach Boy, told us that it was15 year-old Carl Wilson who pushed the band into becoming a tight, professional unit:
[ click here to listen if you have a Backstage Pass] "Carl was really a pro. Out of all of them, as young as he was, Carl was the one who first got it. This was a 'hail Mary' pass (that) had been caught by the Beach Boys getting signed and becoming a hit act. And Carl was more about rehearsal, and getting everything right out there. Because he knew that this was something that could go away really easily."

"Surfin' U.S.A" was released on March 2nd, 1963 and peaked at Number Three on the Billboard Hot 100. Throughout the years, the song has been a mainstay of the group's shows, usually appearing at the end of the concert or during one of the group's show-stopping encores.
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