2021/09/02 by Dale Carter · 1 citation
Arts and Humanities · Social Sciences · #Music History and Culture #Race, History, and American Society #Theater, Performance, and Music History
paper · doi:10.1080/19401159.2021.1983985
openalex publication_date 2021/09/02 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/02
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.