In 1971, Nolan authored a Rolling Stone magazine article about the Beach Boys titled "The Beach Boys: A California Saga". It was unusual in that the story devoted minimal attention to the group's music, and instead focused on the band's internal dynamics and history, particularly around the period when they fell out of step with the 1960s counterculture. According to journalist David Hepworth, the style was unprecedented in the field of music writing, and the "story within was destined to become a classic piece from that brief interlude when pop writing collided with New Journalism ... It combined admiration for the group's achievements with distaste for their strange, inner world in a way that hadn't been done before". A quote from the article, "Don't fuck with the formula", is often attributed to member Mike Love, although Love denied ever saying it.
