454 PART 4 | SINCE WORLD WAR II
in its heavier beat, more adventurous form and content, and
tone of worldly experience. (In 2004 Rolling Stone magazine
placed it at the top of its list of the fi ve hundred greatest rock
songs.) “Like a Rolling Stone” lasts six minutes, unusually
long for a pop single. The subject is also unusual: an over-
protected person being forced out into a cruel world. But
even as his lyrics lay out a scenario of existential loneliness,
Dylan’s music offers a counter- narrative in sound, which can
be heard either as gleeful, almost cruel gloating, or simply as
the undisguised camaraderie of musicians who are having a
wonderful time playing together.
Another model for the Beatles was the Beach Boys, a
group led by the singer and songwriter Brian Wilson. The
Beach Boys, like the Beatles, began with lighthearted teen
fare and developed into a group with more serious artis-
tic aspirations. Wilson and his band members hailed from
southern California, and their early songs celebrate the inter-
ests of many teenage boys in that sunny climate: girls, cars,
and surfboards, best summed up in the title of their 1964 hit
“Fun, Fun, Fun.” And like the Beatles, Wilson took his song-
writing inspiration from 1950s rock-and-rollers, sometimes
too much so: the Beach Boys’ fi rst Top Ten hit, “Surfi n’ USA”
(1963), leans heavily on Chuck Berry’s 1958 “Sweet Little Six-
teen,” as Berry’s law yers were quick to point out.
Emulating Phil Spector, and using members of the Wreck-
ing Crew for the Beach Boys’ recording sessions, Brian Wilson
combined his skills as a songwriter with a keen attention to
the possibilities of the recording studio. Like those of the
Beatles, the Beach Boys’ records of the mid- to late 1960s trace the group’s rapid
development. Spurred on by the Beatles’ innovative 1965 album Rubber Soul, Wil-
son threw his talents into the creation of a concept album in which each song
would build on its predecessors to achieve an integrated artistic whole, a song
cycle of symphonic breadth. Pet Sounds, released in 1966, greatly infl uenced the
Beatles’ similar effort of 1967, Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.
The opening track on Pet Sounds, “Wouldn’t It Be Nice” (LG 18.3), features
thick instrumental textures that resemble Phil Spector’s Wall of Sound. The
conventional aaba song form is expanded by giving each a section two distinct
subsections, the fi rst eight bars long and the second varying in length at each
recurrence. At the bridge, a sudden contrast of timbre underlines the jump to
a distant key, an example of Wilson’s harmonic sophistication and studio sav v y.
The lyrics, oriented toward teenagers, take seriously a young person’s yearning
for maturity. With the artistic achievements of Bob Dylan, the Beatles, and the
Beach Boys, rock by the mid-1960s had reached its own maturity.PSYCHEDELIC MUSIC
Although Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band emulated many aspects of Pet
Sounds, it differed by placing much greater emphasis on studio sound effects as
a simulation of drug experiences. In that way, the Beatles’ concept album high-
lighted the psychedelic movement of late-1960s rock. Beginning as early as 1965Surf Music
Surf music was a regional style that emerged
in southern California around 1960 and
enjoyed widespread popularity in the fi rst half
of the 1960s. A pioneer performer was Dick
Dale, a guitarist of mixed Lebanese heritage
who adapted playing techniques from the
oud, a Middle Eastern instrument played by
his uncle. Along with Middle Eastern scales
and borrowings from Mexican mariachi, key
elements in the surf sound include solid-body
electric guitars, such as the Fender Stratocaster,
played with extreme amplifi cation and
drenched in reverb, rapid tremolo picking, and
use of the whammy bar, a device that alters
string tension to produce bent pitches and
exaggerated vibrato. Dale’s 1962 recording of
“Miserlou,” a Greek song known throughout the
Middle East (the title means “Egyptian Girl”),
is a classic example of instrumental surf music,
along with the Ventures’ “Walk, Don’t Run”
(1960) and the Chantays’ “Pipeline” (1963).A CLOSER LOOK
LG 18.3172028_18_440-467_r3_sd.indd 454 23/01/13 11:02 AM