“Virtually everyone buying those records looked at those photos and did so believing they were hearing th actual Beach Boys playing and singing “
Well, it mostly was them *singing* (though you occasionally had guest vocals from the likes of Jan & Dean, Brian’s wife Marilyn or other friends of the group). As far thinking that the Beach Boys played the instruments on their records, that’s certainly an understandable misunderstanding on the early surf-guitar-bass-drums songs. But once Brian started throwing in French horn on songs like God Only Knows or the cello on Good Vibrations, it would have been ridiculously naive to think that Beach Boys had proficiency in all those instrument.
“Virtually everyone buying those records looked at those photos and did so believing they were hearing th actual Beach Boys playing and singing “
That’s the music industry.
For the most part.