Beach Boys – "That's Why God Made the Radio" (2012)

Cruisin’ at seven, pushbutton heaven

Capturing memories from afar, in my car

That’s why God made the radio!

This year, the 2 OR 3 LINES “GOLDEN DECADE” HIT SINGLES HALL OF FAME is going back to basics.

Our 2022 class consists entirely of great hit records that I remember listening to on AM radio when I was a teenager.

I’m not going to get all cutesy with this year’s group of inductees.  Every one of them is a fastball that’s coming in waist high and right down the middle of the plate – no slow curves or dancing knuckleballs that look hittable but dive out of the strike zone at the last second.

The 1962 Chevy Belair wagon
I drove to school my senior year

I’m not serving you any fancy nouvelle cuisine this year – just big plates of old-fashioned home cooking that’s tasty and satisfying.  You’re not going to go home hungry after listening to the new members of our hit singles hall of fame.

We won’t be riding to the induction ceremony in some exotic foreign sports coupe or a new-fangled, high-tech electric car that practically drives itself.  Instead we’ll be cruising in an old-school four-door sedan with a big-ass V-8 that takes us where we want to go at 80 miles an hour without even trying – and has a ride so smooth that you’ll think you’re sitting in front of the TV in your La-Z-Boy.

I could keep cranking out the metaphors until the cows come home, but I won’t.  I think you’ve surely caught my drift by now.

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I guarantee that you’ll going to know each and every one of the 2022 inductees into the 2 OR 3 LINES “GOLDEN DECADE” HIT SINGLES HALL OF FAME.  All eleven members of this year’s class were top ten hits – and most of them made it all the way to #1, #2, or #3 ( and deservedly so).

So get ready for a heapin’ helpin’ of great sixties music.  I recommend listening to them while you’re cruising to the nearest Dairy Queen on a warm summer night.  

But if you can’t afford to waste that $5-a-gallon Democrat gas you filled your tank with a few days ago, just listen while you’re sitting in your car in the driveway.

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“That’s Why God Made the Radio” is  the title track of the Beach Boys’ 29th studio album, which was released in 2012 (which was some 18 years after the release of the group’s 28th studio album).

The album was produced by Brian Wilson, who wrote (or co-wrote) most of the songs on the album.

Jim Peterik

Jim Peterik – who fronted the Ides of March and penned that group’s biggest hit, “Vehicle” – was one of the co-writers of “That’s Why God Made the Radio.”  Peterik later told an interviewer about the conversation that gave Wilson the inspiration for today’s featured song:

[Brian Wilson and I] were at an Italian restaurant and we were talking about radio and how great songs used to sound through the AM radio [and the] oval speaker on your Plymouth Valiant.  And I said, “Man, that was the best sound of all,” and Brian said, “Yeah, that’s why God made the radio.”  Of course, I wrote that down.  He didn’t realize how brilliant it was, or maybe he did, but that’s when we wrote that song.

Click here to listen to “That’s Why God Made the Radio.”

Click on the link below to buy that record from Amazon: