The Beach Boys' THAT’S WHY GOD MADE THE RADIO Debuts at #3 on the Billboard Album Chart

By: Jun. 13, 2012
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The Beach Boys' 50th Anniversary reunion celebration is well underway with a major international tour, and the iconic band has another big reason to celebrate this week with their highest-ever Billboard albums chart debut. Their 29th studio album, That's Why God Made The Radio, debuts today at number 3 on Billboard's Top 200 Albums chart. The acclaimed new album, released June 5th by Capitol/BRI, sold 61,000 copies in the U.S. during its first week.

While The Beach Boys have achieved Top 10 chart success with several albums, they have never had an album debut in Billboard's Top 10 until now. The band's last new studio album to peak in Billboard's Top 5 was 1965's Summer Days (And Summer Nights!!!), which climbed to number two after its release, and their most recent Top 5 Billboard Albums chart hit was in 1974 for their Endless Summer hits compilation, which topped the chart at number one.

Beach Boys BrIan Wilson, Mike Love, Al Jardine, Bruce Johnston, and David Marks came together earlier this year to record That's Why God Made The Radio, the first studio album of new, original Beach Boys songs to feature all of the band's surviving original members since 1989's Still Cruisin'. Produced by BrIan Wilson and executive produced by Mike Love, the album's 12 new songs illustrate The Beach Boys' unique and evocative West Coast story with the band's timeless Signature Sound. The Beach Boys' collaborative approach to writing and recording their new music is evidenced throughout the album, with all of the band members participating to create its glorious harmonies, lyrics, and arrangements.

The new music video for the album's lead single, "That's Why God Made The Radio," debuts today on VEVO.

That's Why God Made The Radio has been received with great excitement and praise from the world's leading media outlets and fans old and new. In recent reviews, Rolling Stone magazine hails the album as "a breezy nostalgia trip" and "deeply touching work," the New York Times describes it as "a reflection on aging and memory, on longing and mortality," and the Associated Press says, "The songs harken back to a simpler time when people wore Huarache sandals, polished their surfboards, and raced their hot rods." The Guardian says the album is "easily the best thing BrIan Wilson has put his name to in the last 30 years," People magazine says, "The Kings Of California cool are celebrating their landmark year by delivering plenty of new, bright pop-rock tunes," and praises the album's "intricately layered, swoon-worthy harmonies," and Time magazine calls the album "immensely satisfying," affirming that "That's Why God Made The Radio proves harmony never gets old."



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