Least Essential Beach Boy?

[Pretty Funky]

Such a downer thread for a fantastic year........

[Amazing Larry]

Brian Wilson. f***in' fatty layabout birthday cake disposal coke fiend, abdicating his responsibileries within the band JUST when they needed him the most because he was "sad" or some shit. It's like... quit yer daydreamin', melonhead.

Have you seen that photo of him wearing a Mickey Mouse shirt? Can you believe he'd support such a company? Brian needs to learn more about the responsibileries within the consternation camps before he starts funding Nazis. More like Brian "I luv Nazis because I'm such a f***in' fatty layabout birthday cake disposal coke fiend, abdicating his responsibileries within the band JUST when they needed him the most because he was "sad" or some shit" Wilson IMFO.

Dig the Simpson reference.

[Jukka]

Keep in mind that Bruce did leave the band in the early 70's, and it didn't affect the band one bit (at least negatively), so I'd say he was the least essential one. Even though I love his 65-71 contributions.

Well, Passions kinda sucks in comparison to the one before it. But Ten Years' Harmony certainly wouldn't have made it a better album.

Granted, but blaming Passions' relative suckiness to Bruce would be giving him way too much credit.

[mabewa]

Difficult question.  If we set the parameters up to 1974, I'd say Ricky, not to say that he wasn't great and didn't contribute, but just relatively less than anyone else. 

But up to '71?  I'd have to say Dave...  mostly just because the BB's are a vocal group above all, and he didn't sing much in the studio.  Also, he did not contribute any songs.  He does deserve a lot of credit, with Carl, for helping develop the band's guitar sound, though, and did seem to have been a pretty important part of the band's live show when he was in it. 

Al is pretty essential because of his voice alone, plus he was important in the formation of the band, and he contributed a fair bit to the songwriting starting in about 1968.  His vocals on stuff like "Cotton Fields" and "Help Me Rhonda" are pretty essential BBs stuff, and he was extremely important as a lead singer live.  Bruce quickly became important to the band's vocal sound, and I can definitely hear the difference after he left.  And while he didn't write much, and sometimes what he did write wasn't very good, stuff like "Nearest Faraway Place" and "Disney Girls" is pretty important.   Still, I would put him as the second least essential after Dave.   

[runnersdialzero]

Also, he did not contribute any songs. 

He wasn't allowed to, it should be noted.

[MBE]

Bruce was the least artistically essential.

[♩♬🐸 Billy C ♯♫♩🐇]

They were ALL essential to the vocal blend. When Bruce joined, the vocals improved by leaps and bounds. Those 6 voices were a perfect blend. Otherwise, yeah, I'd go with Bruce.

[Johnston65]

What's up with all the Bruce hate? haha

My vote has to go to Al, I never really liked him and his presence, to me, is not very substantial. I always liked David Marks guitar work better too. 

[Magic Transistor Radio]

Since the Mike Love bashing is no longer cool I will go with his robe.

[FatherOfTheMan Sr101]

Up to '68, Dennis. After that, Ricky.

[Rocky Raccoon]

Definitely Zeppo.

[Mike's Beard]

This is like asking which body part would you miss the least.

[MBE]

What's up with all the Bruce hate? haha

My vote has to go to Al, I never really liked him and his presence, to me, is not very substantial. I always liked David Marks guitar work better too. 

No hate for Bruce, but he sang and wrote the least out of the group. Also they did a lot of great work before he joined and in the interm period of 1972-77.
Ricky and Blondie weren't around long but their work was (to me) a lot more interesting than his. David may not have sung much, but his sound left a huge mark (no pun intended) on the group. Al is just too good of a writer and singer for me to consider. Mike and the Wilson brothers are THE Beach Boys on so many levels that it would have been a vastly different group without all of their input.

[runnersdialzero]

This is like asking which body part would you miss the least.

This x 643891673. I realize it's a "But if you HAD to choose" sorta thing, but everyone was extremely vital to the band at one time or another. Some more than others, obviously, but yeah - way too hard for me to choose.

[Autotune]

Blondie and Ricky.

If you like their work, join The Flames' Fan Club. They're not even Beach Boys to me.

[oldsurferdude]

Blondie and Ricky.

If you like their work, join The Flames' Fan Club. They're not even Beach Boys to me.

+1

[Cabinessenceking]

tbh Zeppo never did much for the blend in my ears. He might as well never existed since he is close to inaudible on most records and too lazy to meet most photo-shoots. f*** him!

[Catbirdman]

tbh Zeppo never did much for the blend in my ears. He might as well never existed since he is close to inaudible on most records and too lazy to meet most photo-shoots. f*** him!

Yeah, plus everyone knows Carole Kaye played all his parts in the studio. Hell, I think she not only played bass, but even sang Zeppo's part on "Barbie."

Honestly, you could get a trained chimpanzee to fill in for Zeppo. Pathetic.

[Ron]

Obviously the subtraction of any member from that peak 1964-71 period would be a big loss, but which would be the least damaging to the group's abilities?

I hate to say it, and everybody can tell me I'm an idiot if they want, but Dennis.  Simply because he didn't sing as much.  His drums were awesome, he was awesome, love him to death, but if he dissapeared nobody woudl notice. 

*cue everybody telling me Dennis was more important than Brian

[runnersdialzero]

Obviously the subtraction of any member from that peak 1964-71 period would be a big loss, but which would be the least damaging to the group's abilities?

I hate to say it, and everybody can tell me I'm an idiot if they want, but Dennis.  Simply because he didn't sing as much.  His drums were awesome, he was awesome, love him to death, but if he dissapeared nobody woudl notice. 

*cue everybody telling me Dennis was more important than Brian

Only you, Ron. 

[Paulos]

Bruce.

If you like his work, join The Bruce Johnston Surfing Band Fan Club. He's not even a Beach Boy to me.


David.

If you like his work, join The Marksmen Fan Club. He's not even a Beach Boy to me.


Al.

If you like his work, join The Al Jardine Family And Friends Fan Club. He's not even a Beach Boy to me.


Mike.

If you like his work, join the Celebration Fan Club. He's not even a Beach Boy to me.


Brian.

If you like his work, join The Survivors Fan Club. He's not even a Beach Boy to me.


Dennis.

If you like his work, join The Dennis Wilson And Rumbo Fan Club. He's not even a Beach Boy to me.


Carl.

If you like his work, join the Beckley-Wilson-Lamm Fan Club. He's not even a Beach Boy to me.

[I. Spaceman]

Obviously the subtraction of any member from that peak 1964-71 period would be a big loss, but which would be the least damaging to the group's abilities?

I hate to say it, and everybody can tell me I'm an idiot if they want, but Dennis.  Simply because he didn't sing as much.  His drums were awesome, he was awesome, love him to death, but if he dissapeared nobody woudl notice. 

*cue everybody telling me Dennis was more important than Brian

Wow.

[BillA]

If we include only the core 5 it would be Dennis.  Vocally he just is not as important as the other 4 guys especially live where he rarely sang when drumming.

If we include all Beach Boys it would be David.  His guitar was easily replaced.  I would list him as less essential than Ricky because Blondie and Ricky are key elements of one of the more interestng periods in Beach Boy history and it probably would have been very different if they were not there.

[Jim V.]

Obviously the subtraction of any member from that peak 1964-71 period would be a big loss, but which would be the least damaging to the group's abilities?

I hate to say it, and everybody can tell me I'm an idiot if they want, but Dennis.  Simply because he didn't sing as much.  His drums were awesome, he was awesome, love him to death, but if he dissapeared nobody woudl notice. 

*cue everybody telling me Dennis was more important than Brian

Wow.

I think Ron is Mike Love.

[Autotune]

Obviously the subtraction of any member from that peak 1964-71 period would be a big loss, but which would be the least damaging to the group's abilities?

I hate to say it, and everybody can tell me I'm an idiot if they want, but Dennis.  Simply because he didn't sing as much.  His drums were awesome, he was awesome, love him to death, but if he dissapeared nobody woudl notice. 

*cue everybody telling me Dennis was more important than Brian

Wow.

I think Ron is Mike Love.

It's been already settled that he's John Stamos. Now that renders his opinion extremely shocking.