The Beach Boys was a band.
The Beach Boys . The Beach Boys began as a garage band managed by the Wilsons ' father Murry , with Brian 's increasingly sophisticated songwriting and recording abilities dominating their creative direction . In 1966 , the Pet Sounds album and `` Good Vibrations '' single vaulted the group to the top level of rock innovators and established the band as symbols of the nascent counterculture era . Following the dissolution of the group 's Smile project in 1967 , Brian gradually ceded production and songwriting duties to the rest of the band , reducing his input because of mental health and substance abuse issues . The Beach Boys are one of the most critically acclaimed , commercially successful , and widely influential bands of all time .