The Best Band on Earth, 1962

It begins in 1962 as this was the birth of the "band" era.  Before that, in rock at least, it was all about singular performers and perhaps some acknowledgement of their side men.  This concept is based on the idea of cohesion, energy, and unity.  No bands repeat, so I guess it's not totally accurate.  It has very little to do with records and some bands will be number one when they did not release anything or maybe even released a weak album.  So, with that, the best band of 1962, The Beach Boys.

So, obviously I am not trying to say that the Beach Boys did their best work in 1962, but merely that they were the best band in the world at the time.  In a lot of ways, they were the best band they ever were at this point.  As the music got better they became more a project of Brian Wilson making use of five other vocalists and one other guitarist.  Then really just six solo projects that would share LPs.

1962, though the quintet of Brian, Carl, and Dennis Wilson with Mike Love and David Marks were the tightest and liveliest band so far.  Brian's songs were getting better and better by the day as he expanded beyond surfing and car songs into the likes of "Farmer's Daughter" and "Lonely Sea."  Though a weaker record, their debut Surfin' Safari showed how much potential the soon-to-be legendary band had and considering the hypnotic harmonies on "Ten Little Indians" were recorded live they may have already been there.

There is still a lot of controversy surrounding rhythm guitarist David Marks, but the extraordinarily young guitarist contributed much to the band being so cohesive.  The 1962 lineup was essentially a power trio of brothers plus one cousin and Marks.  Growing up in the same neighborhood as the Wilsons he was Dennis' young sidekick and even learned how to play guitar side by side with Carl.  These familiar bonds gave this era a rhythmic lock never head before that even a mature musician like Al Jardine just could not outdo.

The mostly teenage band did a lot of touring already and maintained a live schedule far more demanding than most bands since the 80s and their playing was improving as rapidly as the songwriting.  Sure, it may pale in comparison to Pet Sounds, but the 1962 Beach Boys were a live musical force far beyond many of over 50  the groups that will follow.  Plus, consider that the average age of its members was only 17!