TheWrecking Crew! is a labor of love for director Denny Tedesco, the guitarist’sson. He included video of conversations between his father and surviving Crewmembers, unearthed archival stills and footage and conducted interviews withGlen Campbell and Leon Russell (who went on to careers under their own names)as well as some of the artists who benefited from their talents.
The“Wrecking Crew” moniker was derived from the dismissive remarks of older LAsession players who groused that the younger generation was wrecking the musicbusiness. Some of the Crew grew up on rock and roll while others learned on thejob, working behind Ricky Nelson on the “The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet”television show. Their importance rose as LA began to rival New York as a musicindustry center in the 1960s. The 20 or so musicians were heard on most albumsrecorded in LA from 1960 through the middle of the decade, although their nameswere seldom credited.
Asearly as the first Beach Boys album, the “Regulars,” as Brian Wilson calledthem, were employed to play the instruments, leaving the Boys to sing. Whileworking for Sonny and Cher and Jan and Dean, The Wrecking Crew often shaped therecordings by contributing their own ideas. At the Beach Boys’ sessions,however, they were more like an orchestra with Wilson conducting. Wilson wrotethe charts and sometimes sang them to the musicians until they understood hisconcepts. The Wrecking Crew took part in one of the era’s groundbreakingalbums, The Beach Boys’ Pet Sounds (1966).
