As far as I'm concerned the Beach Boys didn't "lose popularity" in the late 60s, it just "shifted" from the US to the UK. Pet Sounds, Smiley Smile, Wild Honey, Friends, 20/20, Sunflower, Surfs Up, and Holland ALL sold VERY WELL in the UK; who gives a sh*t if Americans had their head up their ass at that time; Vietnam and the hippies f***ed sh*t up.
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That is always interesting to me. At the time, the US was in a vortex of trouble. With the war in Vietnam, the assassinations of Martin Luther King, and Bobby Kennedy, on the heels of the murder of President John Kennedy, a purpose, apart from the artistic aspect of music of the time, was infused into the scene. Music of protest, such as Buffalo Springfield and others, (who toured with the Boys) and the whole Woodstock dynamic which gave credibility both to music and protest in the same setting. It was a first. Music went from an art-form to an "expression-form" and to such an extent that what the Boys were doing, and the leisure context from which it derived (only in part - since Today was release - showing a serious personal reflective context which was evolving as well.)
The importance of a highly dissed "Student Demonstration Time" on Surf's Up, will likely, from an historical standpoint, reveal that the Beach Boys were "connected" to what was going on in The States, while outside of the States, their popularity zoomed abroad, particularly in Europe. I always felt that it was their way of telling the fans that their "heads were not in the sand" (pun intended) as far as the issues of the day for young people were concerned and that they were listening, and listening hard to young people (students) concerns.
That is not a bad thing and they did sort of come "full circle" after the end of the war, during the bicentennial celebration, oddly enough, the independence from Britain, 200 years earlier.
It seems to be something that occurs in cycles with not one, but many factors in play. What the C50 tour showed was that they are definitely not an "all or nothing" phenomenon, but a stratified and very balanced body of work.
And, that is not to minimize being marginalized by our own vexatious music industry. Despite everything, what kept them relevant was not just the "oldies" context but trying out different venues, such as colleges in the 1970's, and even the country fairs, casinos and smaller theaters, as they were willing to take the music to other types of venues. They did not get so stuck in the whole "rock star" mode that they lost sight of getting music to human beings and were flexible enough to go-with -the-flow while this other dynamic with movie sound track opportunities and multi-generational dynamic emerged.
And, lots of those "war/political" protest bands, which edged out the Boys, while still somewhat popular, have never achieved the lasting and multi-generational appeal of The Boys. Always interesting topic and thanks for articulating it.
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