that also remain in rotation today. 1986. I’m ten and still listening to my parents’ music. In that same veneer stereo cabinet, I found a compilation of all the best Beach Boys songs on cassette, one of the worst formats ever created. The Beach Boys went in a lot of music directions and suffered with addiction, mental illness, cults (including getting mixed up with Charles Manson), a drowning of one of their founding members (the only one who actually surfed) and all sorts of financial problems after their father sold the rights to all of Brian Wilson’s incredible compositions for a song. (Get it, a song?) In all their wanderings, they have produced interesting music, but I will always be fondest of their early rock numbers like “409,” “I Get Around,” and “Surfin’ USA,” a song they stole from Chuck Berry’s “Sweet Little Sixteen” (by making it a lot less rapey). Whether I’m on a surf safari or not, The Beach Boys are always queued up for my next road trip. I nominate the amazing Daryl Davis, who played piano with Chuck Berry, because he told me about their little legerdemain and because I’d love to hear what music influenced him.

@Daryl Davis