Sunshine Pop of the Sixties

It would be difficult to argue that the ultimate sunshine pop band was not The Association – and they’re still around!  Like the Beach Boys, they were a product of Southern California, and the group enjoyed much commercial success in the late 1960s, with several hits on the Billboard charts.  Their first smash single was “Along Comes Mary”, a swinging baroque pop song that preceded their debut album, And Then … Along Comes the Association, released in the summer of 1966. The album was produced by Mr. Sunshine Pop himself, Curt Boettcher, a highly influential singer-songwriter and musician.  Boettcher would also work with, you guessed it, The Beach Boys.  The Association’s first number-one hit, “Cherish”, flooded the airwaves in September 1966.  (You’ll be reading more about “Cherish”, a sunshine pop masterpiece, in future posts!)  The following year, they took the stage as the opening act for the Monterey Pop Festival, and throughout the Summer of Love, the band was riding high on the success of their second number-one hit, “Windy.”  “Never My Love” reached the number-two spot as the band continued to define — and dominate — the sunshine pop genre.  After 1968, the Association did not manage to get into the Top 40, but they have endured as a group (with personnel changes) for more than four decades.  Today, the group still retains one of its founding members, Russ Giguere.

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