A Postmodern SMiLE

The Beach Boys' unreleased album, SMiLE, was intended by songwriter Brian Wilson as a pinnacle of rock music and a "teenage symphony to god." Situated against the backdrop of Los Angeles' 1960s modernism, the songs associated with SMiLE marked a shift into postmodernist aesthetics in Los Angeles' popular music output. Envisioned as the follow-up to their acclaimed album Pet Sounds, the songs composed for SMiLE challenged the limits of pop music as an art form and moved away from the commercialized style associated with the music of Los Angeles in the 1960s. However, the album's troubled history, from being shelved to the release of the uncompleted album Smiley Smile, mirrors Brian Wilson's deteriorating mental health and cultural isolationism.

This research explores SMiLE in the context of the postmodernist styles of quotation, collage, meta-narrative exploration, cultural and americana aesthetics, and irony. This study explores SMiLE's departure from Los Angeles' modernist musical influences through historical context, as well as lyrical and musical analysis of songs from the 2011 Smile Sessions album, designed as a hypothetically completed SMiLE, including "My Only Sunshine," "The Elements: Fire (Mrs. O'Leary's Cow)," "Our Prayer," "Cabin Essence," "Heroes and Villains," and "Vega-Tables." It also investigates the impact of Wilson's deteriorating mental health on the project and subsequent isolation.

The interplay between postmodernist ideals and the artistic journey of SMiLE reveals its lasting influence on the music and cultural landscape. The research illustrates how these musical factors shaped subsequent popular music in Los Angeles-based bands, reflecting the social and cultural landscape of the 1960s countercultural movement.