Mike Love

By Jen Banowetz
August 2026 View more Spotlight

This Beach Boy is still sharing the good vibrations

Almost anyone can name at least one Beach Boys song.

“Surfin’ U.S.A.,” “Wouldn’t It Be Nice,” “God Only Knows,” “California Girls,” “Kokomo,” “Surfin’ Safari,” and, of course, “Good Vibrations.”

A relatively easy feat, considering the iconic American rock band has been around for 65 years—and is one of the most commercially successful bands of all time—selling more than 100 million records worldwide, with 37 songs reaching the top 40 on the Billboard charts (the most by any American rock band).

The genius of the band—founded in 1961 by brothers Brian, Carl, and Dennis Wilson, their cousin Mike Love, and friend Al Jardine—seems relatively simple: Southern California vibes with complex harmonies. Love and Brian Wilson penned The Beach Boys’ first song, “Surfin’,” which eventually led to a record deal with Capitol Records. They wrote several tracks together, including 11 top 10 singles in the band’s first five years.

Fittingly, to celebrate America’s 250th birthday and saluting 60 years of Pet Sounds (the band’s groundbreaking 1966 album), The Beach Boys will perform 7:30 p.m. Aug. 14 at RiverEdge Park in Aurora, fronted by Love (one of the group’s only surviving members). He shared some thoughts with us about his long ride in the music business.

Q: Were you always musical?
A: I grew up in a home with a grand piano, an organ, and a harp. My mom was obsessed with opera music. She sang light opera in high school. So, there’s never a time in my life when there wasn’t music because I grew up in a musical atmosphere…It was always about music, all kinds of music. That was a really a big blessing that we could do music all our lives.

Q: What makes The Beach Boys so all-around American?
A: Well, you know, we sang about things that appealed to us growing up in Southern California. Our beach life. We sang about cars, and we sang about racing and girls and the beach and getting together—all positive things, you know? I think those things still resonate and mean something to people.

Q: Why do think the band became so popular?
A: The positivity and the harmonies—that lasts for a lot longer than negativity and dissonance. So I think that I’ve always chose to write [to] accentuate the positive in our lyrics. And of course, the harmonies—the harmonies in our music are very appealing too.

Q: Why has The Beach Boys’ music endured?
A: Because life can be so challenging. The world is full of conflict and so on, and so it’s nice to just be able to listen to music that evokes good feelings. I think that’s a huge part of it.

Q: Is there any anything else you would like people to know about The Beach Boys?
A: Well, one of the things is lifestyle choices are hugely important. If you do drugs or alcohol and negative things, that leads to negative outcomes. In fact, my cousin Dennis got involved and couldn’t get off of drugs and alcohol, and he left us in 1983. And unfortunately, my cousin Carl—who sang, “God Only Knows” on our Pet Sounds album—he contracted lung cancer, but he started smoking when he was 12 or 13.

So it’s lifestyle choices that are very important if you want to live a healthy life. I’ve been meditating, doing transcendental meditation since December of 1967, when I learned it from Maharishi [Mahesh Yogi] in Paris. And so that’s been a really big help as far as keeping me [centered].

Photo: Udo Spreitzenbarth