Atypical roads that lead to Beach Boys fandom

[GroovinGarrett]

Besides the few hits on oldies radio, and "Kokomo" being a current hit during my childhood, my mom's beat-up old copies of Best of The Beach Boys, Vol. 2 (in glorious Duophonic), Fun, Fun, Fun/Dance, Dance, Dance  and  Wow! Great Concert were the first Beach Boys sounds I heard.

Enter 1993. My 15th birthday, gift money in hand at the local record store. I spot the new Beach Boys set among the box sets on the wall. It's a lot of money, and a lot of songs I've never heard of, but I put down the fifty or so dollars for it and add it to my growing collection.

Instant gratification. The five discs are in constant rotation for weeks. To paraphrase a line from Brian's pseudobiography, "one thought raced through my mind. More. I had to get more" Beach Boys.

I found a royalty check in my bathrobe.....right....My next purchase was Pet Sounds. And then the 1990's 2-fers. A few of the Caribou CD's when I could find them second-hand. Some of those pricey Ocean of Songs discs. And most everything else since then.

[ghost]

So no one else has timed their masturbation to California Girls? Guess I truly AM alone in this world!

[Alex]

This is my umpteenth time saying/writing this since I joined this board, but here goes....

First heard the Beach Boys when I was 6 or 7 (circa 1992) thru my mom's copy of Endless Summer. First song I heard was California Girls. The BBs hovered in the outer reaches of my musical radar right on through my teenage years...I remember seeing the Brian Wilson Imagination concert on TV. I could've sworn at the time that it was Al Jardine and Glenn Frey on stage with Brian (turns out it was Bruce Johnston and Tim Schmidt). Kept on reading/seeing/hearing about how great Pet Sounds was. Got a copy of Sounds of Summer when I was 18...wanted to hear more...read several articles/reviews about BWPS...fall of '05 I finally get Pet Sounds, love it. Then got into BWPS and 66-67 SMiLE recordings...awsomeness...then onto the rest of the catalog...

[monicker]

My brother bought me a BB greatest hits comp as a joke for my birthday. At the time I wouldn't listen to anything without distorted guitars and screaming, so I thought it was funny but a waste of money. Later I discovered Faith No More, which lead me to Ween, and then to Mr. Bungle. I loved Air-Conditioned Nightmare and that inspired me to give that BB album a spin. It was pretty cool but still seemed like a novelty to me, the only exception being Heroes and Villains. I wondered if they had more songs like that, and that's when I discovered Smiley Smile and they became my favorite band.

I'm curious how FNM lead you to Ween. Please, do tell. Also, i never have the chance to talk to people about this because, for some weird reason, not a lot of people are into both Ween and the Beach Boys, but i've always been so intrigued by some of the stylistic similarities. Once the boys moved into the home studio and started making the smaller production records (SS, WH, Friends, as well as some stuff on Sunflower and Surf's Up) there was a certain sound that has a total Ween quality. Aren't You Glad, Be Here In The Morning, Wake The World, Our Sweet Love, At My Window, Take A Load Off Your Feet and much more. And even though i knew that the Gene Ween Band has covered Girl Don't Tell Me, it was really great to have recently read in the 33 1/3 Chocolate and Cheese book, Gener citing the Beach Boys as an influence!

[bossaroo]

forgot to mention how freaked out I was by the weird hairy dudes on the cover of Endless Summer as I rocked out to 'Surfin USA' and 'Fun Fun Fun' at age 8.

[bossaroo]

nice to see the brothers Ween getting some mention on this board!
haven't read the C&C book yet... need to pick it up.

Gene's been covering "Girl Don't Tell Me" for quite some time. I'd love to hear him try another BBs song or 3.

Other similarities include an obsession with water and the ocean. 'The Mollusk' is Ween's ocean-themed album, and the one they seem proudest of.

I'd say the "brownest" Beach Boys tune is Fall Breaks. wonder if Brian ever huffed Scotchgard?

[buddhahat]

I don't see any of these as atypical. 

I was skydiving and was given headphones and a microphone so that I might connect with the head skydive trainer (Mitch) who was probably still on the plane just in case there were any problems. I was in mid-dive, enjoying the scenery, taking some dives through clouds, doing the pretend swim, and the rest of my usual repertoire, when I realized it was time to flate up the old 'chute (we divers just call them 'chutes). But, as luck would have it, I pulled the string and nothing happened. I snapped into action and immediately called Mitch. I said "come in Mitch, over." Mitch said, "receiving call, do you copy?" I said, "copy that received call, Mitch." And Mitch said, "10-4. All ready to prepare for your message." And I said, "Copy that." And he said, "OK, ready for your message now." And that's when I told Mitch that my 'chute wouldn't open. He started to give me 'structions but the radio abruptly cut out and suddenly I started receiving the transmission from a local radio station that was playing what I now know was "I Get Around". I was first impressed by the remarkable background instrumentation, but what really caught my attention was Brian's high falsetto on the chorus and the way it blended with the other voices. I thought, sure, the song is really just about cars and girls, but it speaks to what was in the 1960s a major cultural trend and more over, the chord structure was pretty advanced. Yep, you sure could say that I was a fan all right. Then I died.

ace post

[smile-holland]

It geban in 1989 with Kokomo on a compilation cassette while driving to our holiday destination. Got me interested. My father then responded with "that can't be the same group I know from the 60s". So he gave me a few cassettes with some greatest hits, two Dutch comps, that pretty much covered all hits. Liked it a lot.

I decided to look for more music of them, so I started to look in my dads vinyl collection: found Superstars of the 70ies and another comp, that had (respectively) Surf's Up and The Trader on it. Had high hopes for the first one ("yes, another surf song!!"), but after hearing them all that was left was confusion.

Then I found the BB85 album in a local library... got me even more confused!

Then borrowed a old LP 2fer the Milestones releases of Sunflower/Surf's Up... and by then I didn't understand at all that this was the very same group of which I liked the hits so much!

But apparently I didn't give up: I had read about their masterpiece Pet Sounds, and found a copy in a local CD-shop.... and finally I was hooked ! Also bought the Smiley Smile / Wild Honey 2fer, and strangely enough, I was still hooked. From then the music and collecting addiction started...

[monicker]

nice to see the brothers Ween getting some mention on this board!
haven't read the C&C book yet... need to pick it up.

Gene's been covering "Girl Don't Tell Me" for quite some time. I'd love to hear him try another BBs song or 3.

Other similarities include an obsession with water and the ocean. 'The Mollusk' is Ween's ocean-themed album, and the one they seem proudest of.

I'd say the "brownest" Beach Boys tune is Fall Breaks. wonder if Brian ever huffed Scotchgard?

Yeah, when talking about Freedom of '76--it being really the first time he attempted harmony vocals--and any harmony stuff that he's done since, he said he'd have the Beach Boys and Beatles in mind. The book is a must read simply because it's the only published account that exists of anything Ween related, but really, it's not a well written book at all. Just so you know.

Good call on the water/ocean obsession. Mickey's always going on about the beach.

I think Bruce definitely did some Scotchguard with Mean at the pod. No doubt.

[bossaroo]

hilarious.

Gener really is a falsetto king... Freedom of 76, Happy Colored Marbles, Don't Laugh... i know there's lots more.

it's funny how Claude sings a lot of Gener's harmony parts on stage. those two have an eerie blend. hmmm... maybe THEY'RE the ones who are actually related. 

[monicker]

Yeah, very true about Claude.

On the subject of Gener...i find it funny how all these hip bands today, and from the last decade, who are taken so "seriously" as artists, they can't sing for sh*t. Aaron Freeman: best pop singer of the last 15+ years. Seriously, which contemporary singer comes close to him? Versatility, range, technicality, inventiveness (how many different voices has he come up with in the last 21 years?). 

[bossaroo]

yeah i totally agree. some people just can't get into him though. he's kind of theatrical in that way. like he's doing different characters, channeling multiple personalities... a kind-of vocal schizophrenia?

Roger Daltrey would do this with a lot of Pete's tunes, adapting different voices for various "roles".

but i prefer the genester.

[monicker]

Well, live, which is a totally different entity from the studio incarnation, he gets pretty ridiculous. But on record, there's a lot of subtlety and nuance. In fact, that applies to the entire production and arrangement of all their music. I don't like them at all live. I think they're all about the album, that's where the magic and details come through and shine. Live, they're just a band rockin' out, stripped of all the details and subtlety. Which is cool if that's someone's thing, but i have never liked that. I'm not a "live music" person if you can't tell. These differences in approach to singing live versus the record, now that i think about it, are very similar to Tom Waits. He just growls and barks live, the very same songs which in the studio he delivers with subtlety and variation. But anyway, when Gener is singing "straight" (Joppa Road, What Deaner Was Talkin' About, I Don't Wanna Leave You On The Farm, You Were The Fool, It's Gonna Be Alright, and countless others) even if you just took those, i think what i said in my previous post still applies.   

[Heysaboda]

I must be horribly old and out of it -- I've never heard of  Ween or Mr. Bungle. Are you serious?  Is thre really a group named Mr. Bungle?!?  Also, "Air-Conditioned Nightmare" is a book by Henry Miller, not a band.  WHAT ARE YOU KIDS TALKING ABOUT?

I was led to the Beach Boys by.... wait for it...... .......

Brian Wilson, solo artist.

My wife bought a copy of Imagination when it came out in 1996, and I asked her to tell me who Brian Wilson was.

My whole life I'd been (still am) a fan of The Beatles, Dylan, Neil Young, the Byrds, Flying Burrito Brothers, John Hartford, Biff Rose, Joni Mitchell, The Doors, Mike Nesmith, James Taylor, Judy Collins, Captain Beefheart.  OBVIOUSLY I knew who the Beach Boys were, but I didn't have time for their "cornball surf songs", and had never heard Pet Sounds.

That all changed when I heard some pretty magical and amazing things in Imagination: beautiful back up vocals, lovely wind arrangements, strings, and just some really NICE songs, WOW, I was hooked, this is MUSIC and within a year I'd heard and read everything I could about Brian Wilson and his Beach Boys.  Saw Brian Wilson live at the Wilshire on his first tour.  Saw his SmiLe Tour in 2004.

[GuyOnTheBeach]

I was sending some unreleased George Harrison tracks to a friend in the states, one song was in really lame sound quality, so I said something along the lines of "sorry for the sh*tty quality on this one" to which he replied that the sound quality on some of Brian's unreleased recordings made these seem like digital masters. I asked about this Brian guy, I ended up with Sweet Insanity (always have been fascinated by unreleased music, don't know why) and thinking that it was pretty cool, I went out and brought; BWPS, PoB, IJWMFTT, SS/WH, 15BO/LY and SF/SS, these albums are my summer of 2008, I shut myself away from the end of July to when I had to go back to college (Sept, the day TLOS came out, I skipped the afternoon to go and buy it..), I have been hooked ever since.

[bossaroo]

I must be horribly old and out of it -- I've never heard of  Ween or Mr. Bungle.

you've very probably heard Ween's -->>'Ocean Man'<<-- as featured in Honda ads and the Spongebob movie.

but if you've never experienced -->>'Freedom of 76'<<-- you owe it to yourself right this very instant.
the video was directed by Spike Jonze

[theCOD]

I'm curious how FNM lead you to Ween. Please, do tell.

FNM were my gateway band for good music. They didn't directly lead me to Ween, but I became interested after hearing so much about them from other FNM fans, and a (possibly mislabeled) FNM cover of Goin' Gets Tough From The Getgo.

The Mollusk is my favorite, followed closely by everything else they've done.

I partially agree about their live act. I think it works best when they drastically change the song (Johnny on the Spot) or crank it up to 11 (Learnin' to Love).

I definitely hear the BB similarities. A lot of Ween songs are like Brian's "feels," especially in the 4-track days. Tastesssssssssss good on the bun!

[Loaf]

Terry Wogan seemed to play Heroes & Villains about once a month in the mid-90s. I only listened to about 20 minutes of the show a day on the way to school, but i heard it 3 times in three months. I was hooked.

[onkster]

SMiLE vinyl boot #2 was my gateway drug. Bought it to hear "Fire", then...I started listening to Cabinessence, which a friend had played for me once before. Then: Surf's Up (partial). Then: Wonderful. Then: Wind Chimes (though it was the Smiley version on this boot.)

The heavens opened. I spread out to Pet Sounds, then everything else. Limping across the finish line with KTSA and MIU, etc. And here I am.

[bossaroo]

Ween is one of the best live acts going, but it is a completely different animal than what they do in the studio.

Mickey just posted a bunch of "Caesar" demos, which was the working title for 'Quebec' apparently. killer stuff!!!

part 1: http://www.megaupload.com/?d=Z4WT180A
part 2: http://www.megaupload.com/?d=CISVHJPB

Disc 1 (51:49)
Chocolate Town
Pot Luck
Ooh Vah Lah
So Many People in the Neighborhood
Linda (the Sexy Dancer)
That Man (from the Flatland)
Happy Colored Marbles
Hey There Fancypants
If You Could Save Yourself (You'd Save Us All)
It's Gonna Be a Long Night
Oh My Little Country Cottage
Among His Tribe
Transdermal Celebration
Captain
Tried and True
I Fell in Love Today

Disc 2 (49:05)
I Don't Want It
Ambrosia Parsley
Zoloft
Love Come Down (9-11-01)
Alcan Road
Don't Let the Moon Catch You Cryin'
You Can Go sh*t in Your Hat (Matt)
Someday
She Caught My Fancy
Eulogy for David Anderson
Things You Already Know
Hello Johnny
I'm Wide Open

[Mooger Fooger]

I came on board in a round about way. In mid 1981 "Dead Man's Curve" was played on TV and I thought the music was outasight!. I even remember being at a teen disco and asking the DJ to play "Surf City" and was quite disappointed when he said he only had "Surfin' USA". Then the medley came out and I thought it was an amazing set of snippets - and I insited to Santa that for Xmas 1981 I got the "Beach Boys Greatist Hits" LP which included both the medley (in its extended format) and the ballads medley. Included in the LP was a printed sheet with all the re-issues along with label number. My first non-compilation LP was Summer Days/Party. The rest is history.

[Micha]

What i would give to be alive as a fan buying the LPs during the band's heyday ...

That would include having to wait 37 years for SMiLE.

Though I always liked the Beach Boys (I even requested I Get Around on a radio station during a vacation in LA back in 1989), what really got me deep into them was reading Brian's "autobiography", the German translation back in 1996. One of the most fascinating reads of my life.

Yeah, I know, Brian didn't write any of it, many "facts" are wrong, and lots of stuff is copied and pasted from old magazine articles, but there was no way of me knowing that at the time because it was all news to me, so it was just great. I bought all their LPs in the following months.

[Al Jardine: Pick Up Artist]

Finding your grandma's LP of Endless Summer as a kid ---> LSN on Xmas comp ---> Occasionally hearing the odd #1 hit on the radio ---> Reading about theremins ---> Reading about Good Vibrations ---> Buying Endless Summer with GV ---> Listening to GV on endless repeat for days ---> Learning about SMiLE ---> DL'ing Purple Chick's mix ---> The rest is history

I think I might be the first BB fan to ever listen to SMiLE in it's entirety before Pet Sounds.

[Rocky Raccoon]

I was in my sophomore year of high school and I was doing a project on Bob Dylan.  My English teacher was a big Dylan fan and I asked him if I can borrow some of his music for help because I only had a few Dylan albums.  He gave me his flash drive which had his entire music library on it, not just Dylan.  Through that, I was able to get all this music that I had always wanted to hear but didn't actually own.  One was Pet Sounds by the Beach Boys.  I knew how influential it was but I had never actually heard it, I was only familiar with a few of the songs (Sloop John B, God Only Knows, Wouldn't It Be Nice) and the only Beach Boys CDs my family owned were Endless Summer and Spirit of America.  I quickly became enamored with Pet Sounds and soon I bought Brian Wilson's Smile which I ended up loving even more.  Since then, I've never become tired with either one and have continued to dig deeper into the catalog and my love only continues to grow.

[thatjacob]

Mine isn't that atypical, but I grew up on oldies radio in the 90s (born in '87) and my first two cassettes by "real" bands were Elvis's Golden Records and The Beach Boys Concert Days. I enjoyed those but was just exposed to radio hits outside of that. I started listening to alternative rock around the age of 10 and metal around 14, then became obsessed with Sufjan Stevens' album Michigan my senior year of high school, which opened me up to listening to pop again. I'm not sure when, but I checked out Pet Sounds because I saw it make so many best-of the 60s lists. I wasn't overly impressed at first, but it planted the seed and my obsession grew as I slowly began working my way through their later era albums.

About a year ago I came home with a vinyl copy of Love You and my dad noticed and looked puzzled. I tried to justify my purchase, expecting him to harass me about buying a terrible album (by most non-fan standards), but he interrupted me and told me how he used to have that album when he was younger and used to love some songs off of it.