"The Beach Boys Medley" is a single containing a medley of popular

Beach Boys A beach is a landform alongside a body of water which consists of loose particles. The particles composing a beach are typically made from rock, such as sand, gravel, shingle, pebbles, etc., or biological sources, such as mollusc shell ...

songs from the 1960s, edited by

John Palladino John Palladino (March 29, 1920 – December 20, 2014) was a Capitol Records producer and A&R executive. His most notable recordings were with Nat King Cole and Frank Sinatra, but he also edited records by Paul McCartney and Pink Floyd, and as a ...

. Released in mid-1981, it capitalized on a medley craze begun by the

Stars on 45 Stars on 45 was a Dutch novelty pop act that was successful in Europe, the United States, and Australia in the early 1980s. The group later shortened its name to Stars On in the U.S., while in the UK and Ireland it was known as Starsound (aka S ...

medleys. "The Beach Boys Medley" reached number 12 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100, becoming the band's highest-charting hit in the United States in over five years. The single peaked at number 8 on the Cash Box sales chart. It also reached number 4 in New Zealand.NZ Top 40 Singles Chart, 25 October 1981
/ref> "The Beach Boys Medley" was first released on an album a year later in 1982 on '' Sunshine Dream''.

Earlier medley

A Beach Boys medley entitled "Surf's Up", produced by South Florida musicians and engineer Chuck Kirkpatrick, was created months before the Palladino-produced medley and was actually submitted to Rupert Perry, head of A & R at Capitol (Kirkpatrick had been a Capitol artist himself in the late 70's). Perry's response was, "If we wanted to release a Beach Boys medley, we would simply use the original masters which we own". Kirkpatrick's medley began receiving heavy airplay on a Miami FM station, "Love 94", and that led to local and national TV coverage by "PM Magazine". Taking notice, Capitol quickly produced their own medley and launched a heavy promotional campaign entitled "Nothing is Better Than The Real Thing - The Beach Boys Medley on Capitol Records", effectively tanking Kirkpatrick's. The difference and uniqueness was that Kirkpatrick played every instrument and sang every vocal part himself, while Capitol's medley was simply tape edits of previous Beach Boys' studio masters. The similarity was in the sequencing of the songs in the two medleys - Capitol using very much the same as Kirkpatrick's.

Songs

In order, the songs in the medley are: #"

Good Vibrations "Good Vibrations" is a song by the American rock band the Beach Boys that was composed by Brian Wilson with lyrics by Mike Love. It was released as a single on October 10, 1966 and was an immediate critical and commercial hit, topping record ...

" #" Help Me, Rhonda" #" I Get Around" #" Shut Down" #" Surfin' Safari" #"

Barbara Ann "Barbara Ann" is a song written by Fred Fassert that was first recorded by the Regents as "Barbara-Ann". Their version was released in 1961 and reached number 13 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart. The more famous version was recorded by the ...

" #" Surfin' U.S.A." #" Fun, Fun, Fun"

Chart history

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

References

External links

* 1981 singles The Beach Boys songs Songs written by Brian Wilson Songs written by Mike Love Music medleys Capitol Records singles Songs written by Chuck Berry Songs written by Roger Christian (songwriter) {{1980s-pop-song-stub