DEC4 Podcast (New Episode) - The Beach Boys: An American Band

Our leading contributor Gary Wells (soulrideblog.com) joins us to explore two tumultuous decades in the lives of the Beach Boys, through the lens of Malcolm Leo’s 1985 BAFTA nominated biographical documentary, The Beach Boys: An American Band.

We learn about some of the key people on both sides of the camera, and of Malcolm Leo’s established method of sourcing a wide variety of music and interview clips (long before the easy accessibility of digital archives) to create an intimate, first-person narrative.

The Beach Boys: An American Band is a fan’s movie; if you already love the Beach Boys, you’ll love them even more after immersing yourself in this documentary. (Spoiler – we love it!). If you’re just starting out on a journey of discovery learning about the Beach Boys and their impact on 20th century music and culture, this is a wholly enjoyable place to begin. But, it’s worth noting that it was far from the complete story even then, and there have been 40 more years of eventful Beach Boys history since.

Malcolm Leo with Brian Wilson, Carl Wilson, Bruce Johnston and Al Jardine.

The Beach Boys: An American Band is a BAFTA-nominated documentary film which was written, produced and directed by established music documentarian, Malcolm Leo. Cinematography was by John Toll, who went on to win consecutive Academy Awards in 1994 and 1995, for Legends of the Fall and Braveheart.

Tom Hulett and Jerry Schilling are credited as technical advisors. These will be names familiar to students of Elvis history; Tom Hulett was a co-founder of Concerts West, pioneering arena tour promoters in the 1970s, co-managing Elvis’ touring operations, while Jerry Schilling maintained a diverse and successful career in his own right while part of the Memphis Mafia; he worked with Malcolm Leo on the partially dramatised documentary, This is Elvis (1981), and managed both Carl Wilson personally and the Beach Boys. Tom Hulett also became a talent manager (Tom Hulett and Associates) and worked with a number of major acts including the Beach Boys.

Myrna Smith worked with Elvis as part of backing vocal group the Sweet Inspirations and was married to Jerry Schilling (1982-87). She collaborated vocally and in terms of songwriting with Carl Wilson on his two solo albums, Carl Wilson (1981) and Youngblood (1983). Myrna Smith passed away in 2010, aged 69.

Find the complete background to this episode at our podcast website.

The Reagans welcomed the Beach Boys to the White House following a controversy involving Secretary of the Interior, James Watt, who caused an uproar by suggesting that a ‘hard rock’ band like the Beach Boys would attract the ‘wrong element’ to Washington for July Fourth celebrations.

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Listen to the complete episode on YouTube:

Sample short: Brian goes back to school;

Sample Short: The Beach Boys at the White House;

Very special thanks to all our readers and listeners, Gary Wells, to Detlef Wolff and Gainesville, and to Steve Collins.

(Post edit: we note with sadness the passing of Brian Wilson, (announced) June 11, 2025, aged 82.)