John Legend, Brandi Carlile, Fall Out Boy, More Lead Grammy Tribute To Beach Boys Airing This Sunday On CBS

How do you follow one of the best Grammy weeks ever? By celebrating one of the most beloved bands of all time with a massive three-hour show. Three days after the February 5 ceremony, the Grammys recorded a massive tribute to the Beach Boys, to air this Sunday, April 9, on CBS.

During the February 8 recording at Hollywood’s Dolby Theater, a wide range of artists — from Fall Out Boy and Weezer to Brandi Carlile, Little Big Town and Pentatonix — gave their own renditions of Beach Boys classics.

The diversity of the artists, who came from country, rock, pop, folk, R&B and more, is testament to both the timeless and universal appeal of the Beach Boys and how influential these songs are in the annals of music.

How prolific and inspiring is the Beach Boys catalog? Let’s put it this way, when I interviewed the band’s Brian Wilson and Al Jardine last year for my Anthems We Love book, they could not even agree on what the biggest Beach Boys anthem is.

Wilson agreed with “God Only Knows,” while Jardine cast his vote for “Good Vibrations.” While I personally select “God Only Knows” as the greatest pop song of all time, and it was feted as such at the Dolby tribute (more on that in a second), you could easily argue “Good Vibrations,” done brilliantly on this night by Beck and My Morning Jacket frontman Jim James, as the more important song.

But then that is the depth of the Beach Boys catalog as we saw on this night. Whether it was Charlie Puth’s awesome “Wouldn’t It Be Nice,” Norah Jones’ absolutely dazzling “The Warmth Of The Sun” — a lesser-known but superb track — John Legend’s sing-along on “Sail On Sailor,” Fall Out Boy’s raucous “Do You Wanna Dance,” Beck’s solo turn on “Sloop John B,” the Struts’ Luke Spiller and Pretty Reckless’ Taylor Momsen high-octane medley of “Surfin’ USA” and “Fun Fun Fun,” or Lady A’s gorgeous “Surfer Girl,” every song delivered nostalgic twinges of joy, sun, surf, driving, of simpler times.

That remains the beauty of the Beach Boys. Arguably no band, except maybe the Beatles in their first few years, brought as much joy and warmth to the world as the Beach Boys. And arguably no song does that more than the magnificent “God Only Knows.” The night fittingly ended with Legend and Carlile, two of the preeminent vocalists of this generation, singing the song before an audience on their feet singing every word with the bliss and love that the Beach Boys’ music has represented for six decades.