Music Trivia: Beach Boys Connect-the-Dots

My regular readers know of my long-standing love of the Beach Boys. While I am not (contrary to popular belief) old enough to have been a fan all the way back in their earliest days, their music has been a part of my life for a very long time. From hours spent listening to various albums to seeing them in concert with artists like Billy Joel and Chicago to singing their songs when no one is around to hear, I love me some Beach Boys!  And their music has been very influential in the lives of other artists as well. So today we are going to play a little trivia game I am calling Connect-the-Dots. Here's how it going to work. You will see a list of 7 artists and songs, all of which have some direction connection to the Beach Boys. Your task is to identify the connection. For example, if the list reads Jan & Dean- Surf City, then the connection is that Beach Boy head honcho Brian Wilson co-wrote the song. See how it works? Just to make it more of challenge, you will not know if it is the artist or the specific song that connects it to the Boys. This is not going to be easy, but it should be fun! Take your best guesses, and then after another picture you will find the answers. Enjoy, and let me know how you do. Steve Semmler, if you don't get 100% you should turn in your fan club badge!!!  :) OK- let's do this!

1. Barry Manilow - I Write the Songs
2. Wilson Phillips- The Dream Is Still Alive
3. Chicago- Wishing You Were Here
4. Glen Campbell- The Wichita Lineman
5. The Beatles - Back in the USSR
6. Jesse and the Rippers - Forever
7. The Captain & Tennille - Love Will Keep Us Together

Think you have some of the connections figured out? Let's take a look at the answers and see how you did!

1. The huge Barry Manilow hit was, ironically, not written by Manilow but rather by longtime Beach Boy Bruce Johnston! It seems that Bruce writes the songs that makes the whole world sing!
2. There were 3 Wilson brothers in the Beach Boys- Brian, Carl and Dennis. Carl and Dennis have passed away, but Brian is still going strong. The "Wilson" part of the 90s pop trio Wilson Phillips were 2 of Brian's daughters- Carnie & Wendy. For a little pop music bonus, the "Phillips" was Chynna, who was the daughter of John and Michelle Phillips of The Mamas & the Papas. Pretty cool, huh?
3. The Boys did a couple of tours with Chicago over the years, and seeing them close a concert with all of both bands on stage was truly something to behold. On the Chicago hit Wishing You Were Here the Beach Boys provided the background vocals. And they are amazing...
4. Around 1964 the band was constantly on tour, and an inner ear problem made the noise and the travel unbearable for Brian Wilson. He stopped touring and dedicated himself to songwriting and studio work. Brain had been the band's bass player, and he was replaced for a while on tour by an unknown studio musician named Glen Campbell. Things that make you go hmmm!
5. The Beatles and the Beach Boys were rivals in many ways in the early 60s, but later on became friends and were often inspired by each other. Paul McCartney has stated that Sgt. Pepper was pushed to new levels in the studio because they were so amazed by Pet Sounds. Back in the USSR was written as a California Girls style tribute to Brian Wilson and his musical genius.
6. Uncle Jesse (a character played on Full House by John Stamos, who has sat in with the Beach Boys on numerous occasions over the years ) was in a band called Jesse and the Rippers. They struggled to get a break for quite a while before the Beach Boys appeared on the show and gave them a song called Forever. The song was one of the few BB tunes written and sung by Dennis Wilson, who died in 1983. The song became a hit again after being on the show, and the Rippers reunited on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon in 2013 to sing it again as part of a Full House medley!
7. When Love Will Keep Us Together became the #1 song of 1975, Daryl (the Captain) Dragon and Toni Tennille were unknown artists. But not to Beach Boys fans. Daryl had spent several years as keyboardist for the group on tours, and on his recommendation Toni was added as an additionally keyboard player for a year. That stint was enough to qualify her as the band's one and only "Beach Girl."

It's difficult to find musicians who were not influenced in some way by Brian Wilson and the Beach Boys. I hope you have fun playing along with me today, and that you have enjoyed the good vibrations. Wouldn't it be nice to listen to some Beach Boys today, and the get together and do it again?  Have a blessed day!