Surf's Up: Brian Wilson and The Beach Boys

by Peter Doggett

“Particularly poignant ... tasteful and compassionate” Shindig

Capturing all the pain and glory of this incredible family saga, Surf’s Up is the definitive tribute to a remarkable band - and the genius who made it all possible.

If any man in pop history deserved the tag of genius, it was Brian Wilson. As leader, producer and chief composer of the Beach Boys, he displayed an instinctive command of melody, harmony and arranging skills. The result was a run of hits that included many of the most sparkling and creative records of the 1960s.

But there was a dark side to this seemingly effortless success, rooted in his tortured family background. No sooner had Brian masterminded such gems as the Pet Sounds album and Good Vibrations than his psychological demons began to derail his life.

The Beach Boys were left struggling for survival, grasping for salvation from such bizarre figures as TM guru the Maharishi and cult leader Charles Manson. Their story could have ended there, but somehow the band survived. Ahead lay decades of trauma, triumph and tragedy, as the band members all developed as songwriters but also found themselves increasingly at odds with each other. Through it all the music survived, as Brian’s younger brother Dennis Wilson emerged as an equally creative but troubled presence.

Surf’s Up sees lifelong Beach Boys fan Peter Doggett capture all the glory and pain of this complex family saga. He celebrates the band’s array of musical gems, and also explores many of their passionate obsessions , from surfing and cars to politics and food.

Filled with drama and pathos, Surf’s Up is the ultimate tribute to a remarkable band - and the genius who made it all possible.

Genres: Music, Nonfiction

448 pages, Kindle Edition

Published November 6, 2025

About the author

Peter Doggett has been writing about popular music, the entertainment industry and social and cultural history since 1980. A regular contributor to Mojo, Q and GQ, his books include The Art and Music of John Lennon, a volume detailing the creation of the Beatles’ Let It Be and Abbey Road albums; the pioneering study of the collision between rock and country music, Are You Ready for the Country? and, most recently, There’s a Riot Going On: Revolutionaries, Rock Stars and the Rise and Fall of 60s Counter-culture.

Reviews

[Nigeyb · Rating 5 out of 5]

Surf's Up: Brian Wilson and The Beach Boys is objective, comprehensive, & authoritative, and will surely come to be regarded as the definitive biography of The Beach Boys. Unless, that is, you want a book that focuses purely on session dates and technical recording data. Conversely, if you want to understand the humanity, the family dynamics, and the cultural impact of the Beach Boys beyond the "sun and surf" myth then look no further.

Peter Doggett, a lifelong fan, keeps it fresh and interesting throughout and this superb history works as well for a superfan as someone who knows little or nothing about the group.

5/5

[Ward Whipple · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is not your standard biography, but it is thoroughly researched. The band's story from beginning to Brian Wilson's death is told in unflinching detail, and it is unsettling yet engrossing. Another amazing work by Peter Doggett.

[D Lyons · Rating 4 out of 5]

The final word on the best band ever

[William Vaudin · Rating 2 out of 5]

I bout this book for one reason: I wanted to learn more about Brian Wilson. Pet Sound is still one of my favourite albums of all time, and Brian is by far the most tragic figure in music history. It sounds to me like he might have been autistic, and as a fellow autistic myself, I can sympathise with him. He made some of the best music of the 20th century, some of which you would never guess was made in the 1960s; he was just so imaginative and ambitious, and that was part of his downfall. As the man himself would put it, “I guess I just wasn’t made for these times”

But if you want to know who he is, then this book won’t really give you that. This book feels like Peter Doggett took all his notes on the Beach Boys, threw them up in the air, and just arranged them in whatever order they landed in, like a Dada poem. This book doesn’t really give you a linear telling of the band’s life, rather it just goes through a bunch of random facts about the band in no particular order, which just made everything feel cluttered and unfocused to me. I learnt more about the Beach Boys from a random documentary I found on YouTube than I did from most of this book. I did learn some interesting facts about the Beach Boys, like the culture they spawned from, how Murry Wilson had a lot of the same problems his sons had and about Mike Love, but overall, it just felt like an overzealous Beach Boys fan bragging about all the trivia they know about the band.

I think the overall problem with this book is that it relies too much on the prior knowledge from the reader to make its case. It assumes that you already know about the band before you even read this, and while I did know a lot about the band from the internet, I go to books to get a more intimate relationship with the subject. I wanted to feel like I knew the band personally, and this just didn’t do it. I was so sick of this book that I only made it to page 59 before giving up. I was just so bored with this book's constant rambling, and I wish he had just talked about Brian Wilson's life and creative process, rather than all this pointless trivia.

This is the first biography I read, but I wish I had started with something more formal and less rambling. I do have another book on the Beach Boys called Heroes and Villains, and I really want Brian Wilson’s Memoirs, but for now, I don’t think I’m going to get by with just “this”. If you’re a really fanatical Beach Boys expert and have already pored over every book of the band you can find, then you might find something to like here, he if your only just getting into the band and want to find something that will give you a really good sense of who the Beach Boys were, then there are way better places to start.