Sunshine pop
Sunshine pop is a loosely defined form of pop music that was first associated with early soft rock producers and songwriters based in Los Angeles, California, during the mid- to late 1960s. Its studio-centric sound was primarily rooted in folk rock and easy listening, typically featuring rich harmony vocals and progressive elements, while lyrics combined idyllic imagery with a subtle awareness of societal change, melancholic undertones, and countercultural themes. It was among the dominating music styles heard in television, film, and commercials of the era.
Branching from the nascent California sound, the movement initially straddled multiple styles among many groups who existed briefly while adapting to evolving music trends, resulting in much crossover with bubblegum, folk-pop, garage rock, baroque pop, and psychedelia. Most groups were less successful sound-alikes of acts such as the Mamas & the Papas, led by John Phillips, and the 5th Dimension, whose songs were initially helmed by Jimmy Webb. Curt Boettcher produced numerous key records for the Association, Eternity's Children, his band the Millennium, and with collaborator Gary Usher. Though the Beach Boys rarely approached the style, Brian Wilson's production of their 1966 album Pet Sounds was a foundational influence on this milieu, as were the arrangements of Burt Bacharach.
By the late 1960s, the sound had regional variants ranging from the Free Design in New York to Pic-Nic in Spain, although most acts largely struggled to sustain commercial success amid shifting popular music trends. In the 1970s, new waves of soft rock were heralded by acts such as the Carpenters and Fleetwood Mac, whose successes eclipsed that of many earlier groups. Renewed interest in sunshine pop, initially led by Japanese fans, developed in the 1990s among record collectors and musicians, especially those associated with Tokyo's Shibuya-kei scene, where the work of Roger Nichols was a central influence. Many sunshine pop records were subsequently anthologized and reissued by labels including Rhino, Collector's Choice, and Sundazed, in addition to indie rock music circles reviving the genre's prominence.
Origins and definition
Sunshine pop originated from California-based pop songwriters and producers. The West Coast music scene of the mid- to late 1960s had provided a fertile environment for studio-oriented pop musicians experimenting with rock, folk, and psychedelic influences. Within this milieu were numerous artists who contributed to the development of sunshine pop, including Brian Wilson, leader of the Beach Boys, and John Phillips, leader of the Mamas & the Papas, who combined idealistic themes with undercurrents of melancholy, along with lesser-known acts that achieved fleeting commercial success. A.V. Club contributor Noel Murray argued in 2011 that records by Phillips and Wilson had attained a cultural stature so large "that it's hard to hear them as part of any kind of trend", in direct contrast to the less successful contemporaneous work of producer-songwriter-performer Curt Boettcher.File:THE YELLOW BALLOON.png|thumb|left|"Sunshine pop" was coined in the 1990s for a strain of 1960s pop acts, many with names referencing fruits, colors, or "cosmic" concepts, such as the Yellow Balloon and the 5th Dimension
Sunshine pop music—originally categorized as soft rock and soft pop—mainly encompasses sound-alikes of the Beach Boys, the Mamas & the Papas, and the 5th Dimension. The term was coined retrospectively—akin to other genre labels such as freakbeat, northern soul, and garage punk—in reference to the regularly sundrenched climate of California and gained traction among music historians and collectors long after the 1960s. Author Kingsley Abbott credited Record Collector editor Peter Doggett with originating the term in a September 1997 article feature, though the phrase "LA-style sunshine pop" had previously appeared in Vernon Joynson's 1993 book Fuzz, Acid and Flowers.
The genre's boundaries remain loosely defined partly due to the absence of contemporary self-identification by artists as "sunshine pop" practitioners. Many of the groups straddled multiple styles, including folk rock, bubblegum pop, garage rock, and psychedelia. In addition to receiving limited critical attention during their initial activity, many acts had existed briefly while adapting to evolving musical trends. Other rock and pop bands not normally associated with the genre occasionally produced singles or albums that integrated its sound. Among interpretations of the genre's criteria, AllMusic's entry for sunshine pop describes it as a "mainstream pop style" characterized by "rich harmony vocals", "lush orchestrations", and an optimistic ethos. Music critic Richie Unterberger defined the genre as "the most ridiculously optimistic, commercial outgrowth of folk-rock that could be imagined", adding that the style "was not so much folk-influenced rock as folk-rock-influenced pop, sometimes very much in an easy listening, Mamas-&-the-Papas mold, such as Spanky & Our Gang". Author David Howard characterizes "soft pop" as a "harmonic, slightly psychedelic vocal music genre" that modernized "traditional pop vocals hip lyrics, breezy harmonies, and an effervescent production style".
Associated acts usually drew elements from easy-listening, commercial jingles, and countercultural themes, often juxtaposing idyllic imagery with a subtle awareness of societal change, and bore names referencing fruits, colors, or "cosmic concepts". While occasionally incorporating elements of psychedelia, they generally avoided overt drug-related imagery, instead drawing from what AllMusic termed the "whimsical" and "warm" aspects of psychedelic pop. Stylistically, sunshine pop also intersected with baroque pop, folk-pop, and Brill Building pop. Author and musician Bob Stanley, who identifies sunshine pop as an early soft rock variant, frames the genre as developing upon the progressive "instrumentation", "musical complexity", and subversion of rock traditions exemplified by the Beach Boys' Pet Sounds and the Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. Stanley additionally traces the genre's preoccupation with exotic arrangements and unorthodox combinations of instruments to the work of Burt Bacharach and Hal David.
File:Carl Brian Al.jpg|thumb|The Beach Boys recording Pet Sounds in early 1966. While Brian Wilson's production techniques were a pivotal influence on sunshine pop producers, the group's sound was largely distanced from the genre.
According to AllMusic, the "star" sunshine pop acts included the Beach Boys circa Pet Sounds, the Association, and the Mamas & the Papas, among others, with later reappraisals bringing renewed attention to lesser-known groups like Sagittarius, the Yellow Balloon, and the Millennium. While Wilson's production techniques substantially influenced subsequent sunshine pop developments, the Beach Boys' output largely diverged from the genre's core characteristics. Murray states that Phillips, to a clearer extent than Wilson, "practically created the blueprint for sunshine pop, with little of Wilson's uncommercial weirdness." Howard traces the genre to Boettcher and his collaborations with Gary Usher—especially Boettcher's reconfigurations of the "California sunshine sound" originally formulated by Wilson and Terry Melcher.
Compilation albums and retrospectives have since anthologized works from the genre, though some recordings appear interchangeably across "bubblegum pop" collections. Murray felt that while sharing superficial similarities with bubblegum, the latter's repetitive structures and superficial themes contrast with the "emotional richness" of the "best" examples of sunshine pop. In Bubblegum Music Is the Naked Truth, contributor Chris Davidson writes that the "most blinding matches bubblegum's oomph", although "where bubblegum says, 'I got love in my tummy,' s-pop exclaims: 'I love the flower girl.'"
Formative acts and commercial breakthrough
The Mamas and the Papas, formed in New York's Greenwich Village, broke through in early 1966 with "California Dreamin'". The group achieved three transatlantic hits that year: "California Dreamin", "Monday, Monday", and "I Saw Her Again". Their debut album If You Can Believe Your Eyes and Ears, produced by Lou Adler, incorporated choral musical traditions with contemporary countercultural sensibilities. Stanley identified the group as "torchbearers for soft rock" with a "hugely influential" music style later reconfigured by sunshine pop acts such as the 5th Dimension, the Millennium, and the Free Design.File:The Association 1966.png|thumb|The Association were one of several sunshine pop acts produced by Curt Boettcher. Their sound combined folk and progressive jazz influences.
Curt Boettcher, originally from Minnesota, relocated to Los Angeles in the mid-1960s with a background in traditional folk music. According to Howard, he was a "crucial figure in the further maturation of the California Sound" from which sunshine pop originated. Boettcher became a sought-after producer for acts including the Association, for whom he produced the 1966 singles "Along Comes Mary" and "Cherish", the latter topping the Billboard Hot 100 for three weeks in September. Author Domenic Priore cites "Along Comes Mary" and "Cherish" as "the defining influence on sunshine pop" through the group's blending of Stan Kenton's progressive jazz, the Byrds' reconfiguration of traditional folk, and the Beach Boys' jazz-influenced vocal arrangements. According to Howard, the success of these singles cemented the Association "as one of the main purveyors of dubbed 'soft pop'", a sound that "quickly became a staple of AM radio and a decided antidote to the hard and heavy direction rock was taking on FM." Howard additionally credits Boettcher with redirecting the development of the California sound into a "sunshine pop direction".
Van Dyke Parks' debut single "Come to the Sunshine", recorded in early 1966 and released that September, preceded the trend of sunlit-themed records like Donovan's "Sunshine Superman" and the Beatles’ "Good Day Sunshine". Stanley references Boettcher and Parks, alongside Randy Newman, as further examples of formative soft rock writers who "had a strong sense of the Great American Songbook and, quite often, sharp humor". Many preeminent Los Angeles-based producers had emulated the Beach Boys' orchestrations following their May 1966 release Pet Sounds, though the group's continued association with sunshine pop through singles such as "Good Vibrations" and "Heroes and Villains" were limited to "the spirit of the sound", according to Murray.