What Year Should The Beach Boys Have “Called It A Day”?

I voted "Never," even though they've been broken up -- from my personal perspective, of course -- since 1998, with that miraculous 2012 reunion and unfortunate second breakup.

Again, I am firmly of the opinion that we fans don't have the right to tell artists when to quit. It's not our choice to make. Also I feel that the strategy of "going out on top" is rarely successful, and mostly bs.

When not a single Wilson brother was on stage. It’s not The Beach Boys, by any stretch of the imagination. It’s a tribute band.

Never, but with a  gun to my head, I'd say 74 - but there's many a gem and many a great live show after that, so...

Obviously way back in ‘61  .

I say 1976 - With Carl & The Passions and Holland a bust due to Brian racing away on somewhat of a tangent and the Endless Summer conundrum accelerating the full emergence of the band’s multiple personality disorder, an orderly exit would have been a smart move.

LOL, Ah well, maybe we would have gotten the excellent Love You, but perhaps as Brian Loves You in debut solo album format produced by Carl, who knows?  And maybe Adult Child, too!

I definitely agree that every BB or solo offering (bar the mighty POB) from C&P contains some gold tracks or even a turn of phrase or chord progression of note; the returns rapidly diminished to decidedly meagre post LA and until the temporarily triumphant returnish to form of That's Why God Made The Radio despite it's dubious production and subsequent political fallout/s - but I'm glad to have most of what we got. Although a world without Happy Endings could be a promised land.

Joni Mitchell is going to make a special Grammy appearance.  By all accounts she was not going to perform again. All that is very fluid and a dumb proposition.  

So is this, notwithstanding big and almost unsurmountable personal losses.  After Carl's death, what was left? The music.  That's the point.  The music continued, in whatever format it took shape.  People got creative and kept it going.  We don't get to tell an artist when it is over.  

And this could fall under that same category of when to quit anything. Melinda is a huge loss, particularly for those kids, and especially so, because as adoptees, they already lost a biological mom and because Melinda was always clear that they were "chosen" and undoubtedly saved from a less advantaged family situation. There are great and very caring people in their orbit and even older half siblings such as Wendy and Carnie. That is what matters.

Melinda was quoted by one of the kids, as saying something about "finding beauty in the darkest places." When you lose someone big in your life, there is little to do, but stay with those people, who are also big in your life for support, to keep going, in a healthy way, and siblings do draw great strength from one another.   
That won't stop Brian from sitting at a piano to channel what might be going through his head. It's what he does.