That's Why God Made the Radio

Jim Peterik has said that the album's title came from a comment made by Brian in response to Peterik's description of an AM radio broadcast filtering through a car's oval speaker.[5]

According to record producer Joe Thomas, Brian Wilson circa 2008 or 2010 inquired to him about demo tapes recorded during the sessions for Wilson's 1998 solo album Imagination which Thomas co-produced: "He called up and said I've got some ideas for some new Beach Boys songs, and I said, That’s great, and I pointed out to him that when we worked together several years ago he had the genesis of some other Beach Boys songs that he had never really wanted to put on any of his solo records. That he had isolated specifically for the Beach Boys. So he asked me to compile those and it was more than a few."[6] The two proceeded to meet with Mike Love in Palm Springs, who then agreed to a collaboration.[6]

In the late 2000s, reports began to circulate that the surviving members of the Beach Boys would reunite for a 50th Anniversary tour and album. Despite some uncertainty[7] and initial denials,[8] on December 16, 2011 it was announced that Brian Wilson, Mike Love, Al Jardine, Bruce Johnston and David Marks would reunite for a new album and The Beach Boys 50th Anniversary Reunion Tour.[9] The studio reunion was kicked off by a remake of the band's 1968 single, "Do It Again", recorded earlier that May. The next day, the group recorded the album's opening track, "Think About the Days".[10]

Wilson and Love discussed the upcoming album and tour in an interview on February 16, 2012. The duo said the album was halfway done with Wilson doing most of the writing and stating that all of the songs will flow into each other. Wilson considers the title track, "That's Why God Made the Radio", to be one of the group's best.[11] The album ends with a Pet Sounds- and Smile-inspired suite. The suite, originally six tracks and dubbed the "Life Suite", ended up to be the final four tracks on the album: "Strange World", "From There to Back Again", "Pacific Coast Highway", and "Summer's Gone."[12] One song, "I'd Go Anywhere", was left off as it was unfinished, along with a couple of other tracks.[12] Thomas described the making:

He really wanted to do like a kind of reflection of California from the standpoint of a, you know, a guy who’s almost 70 years old. So it’s driving down Pacific Coast Highway and thinking about his life in retrospect. So this suite was a series of maybe one or two minute vignettes that he had like 15 of them that he would start and never finish. When I put them together on ProTools, it was eerie to me that they all fit together. It was like, wow. This song was written a year before the song that followed it, but yet they fit completely perfectly: modulation, key move, the whole thing. Then Brian started assembling these little bits and I kind of dreamed… I was 10 years old when Smile was recorded, but I kind of dreamed that was how that happened. I have no special authority to tell you that’s how it did. It just seemed like all these little pieces became like this theme, and instead of being Americana or whatever Smile was, it was his drive down Pacific Coast Highway.[6]

Many of the songs were written in collaboration with Thomas, whose input sometimes included entire chord progressions.[6] Classified as baroque pop,[13] many of the songs have a considerable history: "That's Why God Made the Radio" was written by Brian Wilson, Jim Peterik, Joe Thomas and Larry Millas back in the late 1990s,[12] and that "about 80 hours worth" of demo tapes were sourced from that period.[14] "Spring Vacation" originated during Your Imagination and contained new lyrics by Love written reportedly in five minutes.[6] The track "Summer's Gone" was originally meant to be the final song on the final Beach Boys album, and according to Thomas, the album's original title was Summer's Gone with the intention that it would be the final Beach Boys album. It was changed when Wilson decided he would like to record a follow-up.[6] The song was written in reflection of his mother's death and the end of Carl's life, who died two months after their mother.[12] Whereas songs like "From There to Back Again", "Isn't It Time", "Beaches in Mind", "Shelter" and "The Private Life of Bill and Sue" were written for the new album.[6] During the band's June 15, 2012 show, a slight revision of "Isn't It Time" was performed, with some lyrics altered and a different vocal arrangement for the song's bridge. These revisions later appeared on the song's single release.[14] The song "Daybreak Over the Ocean" was originally recorded in 1978 by Mike Love for his first, as yet unreleased solo album, First Love (and also re-recorded for his equally unreleased solo album of a few years ago, Mike Love Not War a.k.a. Unleash The Love: this is the version — with additional Beach Boys vocals — that appears on the album).

Thomas describes the two sides of the album as the "dark side" and the "sunny side", and also believed that it was important for a Beach Boys album to have a sunny side, catering to both "hardcore Brian Wilson fans" and "Beach Boys fans".[6] For the album, Wilson is credited as the sole producer, a first for the group since 1977's Love You, while Love is credited as executive producer, and Thomas for "recording". Thomas explains his and Wilson's roles in production:

Brian is still, as you would imagine, the taskmaster in terms of what people play. He’s in charge of those sessions. ... He arranges all the vocals and produces the record. I record it because I think he really likes the fact that technically… you gotta kind of keep up on all the techniques that are available to us right now and that’s kind of what my role is. He’s not going to tell me to use an SM-58 microphone instead of a U-67. He trusts me in that way. But he’s the producer in absolutely every way. I couldn’t even begin to think than anybody could produce Brian Wilson. It would be like how can anybody direct Richard Burton, you know?[6]

28 songs were written and recorded for the album.[15] Al Jardine stated that Carl Wilson's voice would be featured on the new album. Jardine said he found a song Carl had sung on and recorded and it will be used on the new song, "Waves of Love".[16] Jardine said he only wished there was a way to include Dennis Wilson as well.[12] However, while pre-recorded segments from both Carl and Dennis Wilson are featured during concerts on the band's 50th Anniversary Tour, neither "Waves of Love" nor any vocals from Carl or Dennis are featured in the final version of the new album. Johnston contributed one song titled, "She Believes in Love Again", a song he wrote in 1985 (and that was recorded by the band on that year's The Beach Boys); however, the song was not included on the final version of the new album. According to Johnston before its release, the album's track listing was determined by Capitol.[17]

According to AllMusic and Craig Slowinski.[24][48]