What came first, the chicken or the egg? That’s how it feels when it comes to discussing The Beatles and The Beach Boys, two bands that rose to success in near parallel timing and then seemed to evolve at hyperspeed, side by side. But unlike out poultry paradox, there was a first moment between these two pop music giants.
The chicken and egg debate has no end, but there are some clear lines to be drawn here. The Beatles were a band first. They officially formed in 1960 and were busy playing gigs since then. The Beach Boys didn’t get started until 1961 after Brian Wilson’s high school graduation, when they began turning their attention to rehearsing in their garage, taking them even longer to spread their wings beyond home.
However, when it comes to the music industry, recorded singles and chart spots, The Beach Boys came first. They were signed quickly in 1961 and put out their first single, ‘Surfin’, that year too, before they’d ever played live. The Beatles lagged slightly, focusing more on playing shows and then waiting for Brian Epstein to figure out how to get a deal on the table. Their debut single didn’t land until 1962 when ‘Love Me Do’ was released through EMI.
So technically, the Beach Boys came first. Even their second single, ‘Surfin’ Safari’, beat the Beatles, meaning that the band were already a name to note, or a name being obsessed over, before the Fab Four hit America. But that didn’t stop the former from being knowledgeable about their emerging rivals.
Obviously, when ‘Love Me Do’ landed in the US as a huge hit, sparking Beatlemania, the band wouldn’t have been able to escape it. Brian Wilson undeniably will have heard that song, along with the Fab Four’s early hits.
Paul McCartney – Brian Wilson – 2025
Paul McCartney and Brian Wilson. (Credits: Paul McCartney)
It wasn’t until later down the line that the artist truly felt like he’d heard The Beatles, though. While before they’d simply been another big band around at the time, their musical worlds didn’t seem to cross over much. The Beach Boys were surf rockers soaked in California sun. The Beatles were still distinctly British. But as both evolved, the lines blurred, and suddenly, they were kin.
“It must have been in November of 1965. I was living in this house in the Hollywood Hills then, way up on Laurel Way, and I remember sitting in the living room one night talking with some friends, when another friend came in with a copy of The Beatles’ new one, Rubber Soul. I don’t know if it had even come out yet,” Wilson said of the moment it all properly hit him, “But he had it, and so we put it on the record player and, wow. As soon as I started hearing it, I loved it. I mean, LOVED it!”
To him, this was the moment when he first started truly hearing and paying attention to the band. He added, “It had such a cool vibe, and I wanted to do something similar to it, and that’s how I came up with Pet Sounds.”
From then on, the chicken and the egg back and forth began: Wilson was inspired by The Beatles, who were inspired by The Beach Boys. As they both evolved into more psychedelic directions, it was a spiralling loop of influence with no clear beginning.
“I was into chords, harmonies and stuff at that time, and we ended up with this kind of rivalry. We put a song out, Brian would hear it, and he’d do one,” McCartney recalled of that period, but without any malice or issue with it, stating, “Brian Wilson proved himself to be a really amazing composer.”
