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The Beach Boys comprised the brothers, Brian (born 1942,) Dennis (born 1944,) and Carl (born 1946.) Father Murry Wilson was a musician and so encouraged his boys to get interested in music. They say that Brian could sing on key when he was three years old. Later when they started putting the group together, they were joined by the son of Murry’s sister. His name was Mike Love. Mike was about six months older than Brian. To complete the group, Brian was friends with a kid in high school named Al Jardine (also born in 1942) and the five of them became, after a couple of name changes, The Beach Boys.

Prior to February of 1964, the Beach Boys were probably the biggest band in the United States. They had had two good years and were charting very well. They had four Top 10 songs before “I Get Around,” the most recent being “Fun, Fun, Fun” (#5.) Then the Beatles came to America and things began to change overnight.

Brian was amazed at the popularity of the Beatles and the numerous other groups and individuals who invaded America. But he was not discouraged, he just worked harder. He felt he was competing with the Beatles and losing. But, in 1966, he got his revenge. The Beach Boys were voted the number one group in the world by the U.K. Press pushing the Beatles down to number two. And this was at the height of the Beatles’ popularity. Brian was very pleased.

Shut Down Volume 2 contained two hits of note, “Fun, Fun, Fun” and “Don’t Worry Baby” (#26) which was released later as the flip side of “I Get Around” which was on the second album released in 1964. The album also featured a picture of the corvette stingray which Dennis owned. Look at the album cover. Look at Dennis. He is cool, and he knows it.

All Summer Long was released in July of 1964 and peaked at number four on the album charts. It also hit the top 10 in the U.K. “I Get Around” was released as a single two months earlier and became their first number one hit. Like most Beach Boys song, it was written by Brian Wilson.

It was during the recording of All Summer Long that a most significant thing happened. Father Murry Wilson had always been a domineering sort. He was very demanding and wanted things done his way or not at all. It was during the recording of “I Get Around,” the boys had had enough. They finally fired him as their manager.

In 2007, “I Get Around” was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.

“I Get Around” entered the pop charts on June 6, 1964 and spent two weeks at number one.