"The Beach Boys Medley" is a single containing a medley of popular Beach Boys songs from the 1960s, edited by John Palladino. Released in mid-1981, it capitalized on a medley craze begun by the Stars on 45 medleys. "The Beach Boys Medley" reached number 12 on the Billboard Hot 100,[1] becoming the band's highest-charting hit in the United States in over five years. The single peaked at number 8 on the Cash Box sales chart. It also reached number 4 in New Zealand.[2] "The Beach Boys Medley" was first released on an album a year later in 1982 on Sunshine Dream.

"The Beach Boys Medley"
Single by The Beach Boys
B-side"God Only Knows"
ReleasedJuly 1981
Length4:05
LabelCapitol
Songwriter(s)
The Beach Boys singles chronology
"Livin' with a Heartache"
(1980)
"The Beach Boys Medley"
(1981)
"Come Go with Me"
(1981)

Earlier medley

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A Beach Boys medley entitled "Surf's Up", produced by South Florida musicians and engineer Chuck Kirkpatrick, was created months before the Palladino-produced medley and was actually submitted to Rupert Perry, head of A & R at Capitol (Kirkpatrick had been a Capitol artist himself in the late 70's). Perry's response was, "If we wanted to release a Beach Boys medley, we would simply use the original masters which we own". Kirkpatrick's medley began receiving heavy airplay on a Miami FM station, "Love 94", and that led to local and national TV coverage by "PM Magazine". Taking notice, Capitol quickly produced their own medley and launched a heavy promotional campaign entitled "Nothing is Better Than The Real Thing - The Beach Boys Medley on Capitol Records", effectively tanking Kirkpatrick's. The difference and uniqueness was that Kirkpatrick played every instrument and sang every vocal part himself, while Capitol's medley was simply tape edits of previous Beach Boys' studio masters. The similarity was in the sequencing of the songs in the two medleys - Capitol using very much the same as Kirkpatrick's.

Songs

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In order, the songs in the medley are:

  1. "Good Vibrations"
  2. "Help Me, Rhonda"
  3. "I Get Around"
  4. "Shut Down"
  5. "Surfin' Safari"
  6. "Barbara Ann"
  7. "Surfin' U.S.A."
  8. "Fun, Fun, Fun"

Chart history

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References

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  1. ^ Joel Whitburn's Top Pop Singles 1955-1990 - ISBN 0-89820-089-X
  2. ^ NZ Top 40 Singles Chart, 25 October 1981
  3. ^ a b "National Top 100 Singles for 1981". Kent Music Report. 4 January 1982. p. 7. Retrieved January 11, 2022 – via Imgur.
  4. ^ a b "Item Display - RPM - Library and Archives Canada". Collectionscanada.gc.ca. 1981-10-24. Retrieved 2017-12-01.
  5. ^ "NZ Top 40 Singles Chart | The Official New Zealand Music Chart". Nztop40.co.nz. 1981-10-25. Retrieved 2017-12-01.
  6. ^ Joel Whitburn's Top Pop Singles 1955-1990 - ISBN 0-89820-089-X
  7. ^ Whitburn, Joel (1993). Top Adult Contemporary: 1961–1993. Record Research. p. 25.
  8. ^ "Cash Box Top 100 Singles, September 26, 1981". Archived from the original on December 1, 2017. Retrieved November 30, 2017.
  9. ^ "Record World Singles Chart: September 26, 1981" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on March 1, 2023. Retrieved August 26, 2023.
  10. ^ The 1981 Top 100 Singles chart is identified by the RPM Year-End article "Top 100 Singles (1981)". RPM. Retrieved 2016-04-12.
  11. ^ "End of Year Charts 1979". Recorded Music NZ. Retrieved December 1, 2017.
  12. ^ Musicoutfitters.com
  13. ^ "Cash Box Year-End Charts: Top 100 Pop Singles, December 26, 1981". Archived from the original on October 22, 2016. Retrieved November 30, 2017.
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