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ABSTRACT
For more than fifty years the Beach Boys have been synonymous with the United States. Addressing such associations in musical, thematic, social, cultural, political, and ideological terms, this article argues that the group’s Americanisms have changed over time, as have the forms they have taken and the contexts within which they have gained and lost traction. While professional ambition, corporate interest, public belief, and established myth have all helped underwrite their Americanist associations, the Beach Boys have retained an enduring national interest in part by accommodating the paradoxes and tensions that have marked both the group and their homeland.
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Acknowledgments
The author would like to thank Erica K. Argyropoulos of Northeastern State University, Tahlequah, OK, for her suggestions for additions to the text. He is also grateful to the anonymous readers of the original version of this article, a number of whose comments were also beneficial.
Disclosure Statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Dale Carter
Dale Carter is Associate Professor of American Studies and Director of the American Studies Center, Aarhus University, Denmark. He is the author of Reading Smile: History, Myth and American Identity in Brian Wilson and Van Dyke Parks’ Long-Lost Album (Routledge, 2021) and has published a variety of scholarly articles and book chapters on Brian Wilson, Van Dyke Parks, and the Beach Boys. He is also the author and editor of a number of other books on aspects of American history, society, politics, and culture.