Sixty years ago this month, The Beach Boys Today! appeared in record stores across the country. The Beach Boys were, in 1965, one of the very few American rock acts to stand up to the British Invasion; they were not only pumping out top ten hits but innovating on the plane of the Beatles or even, arguably, beyond them. John Lennon and Paul McCartney were slightly in awe of All Summer Long, which had appeared a year earlier, and while millions knew the Beach Boys for their cheery odes to surfing and hot rods, musicians understood there were other forces at play: this was an auteur’s band, and the meticulously layered sound—with its ingenuous harmonies, unexpected jazz chords, and startling array of classical instruments—was not quite like any that had been heard in popular music before.
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