The very worst Beach Boys related 'song' ever released

[MBE]

Of the Beach Boys "bad" songs I really like SDT. It rocks and I like the way the vocal is recorded. The words aren't great but they were of the times.

[Dave in KC]

And just now I'm catching up on this thread and the last post is what I wanted to write about. Of course you are correct about the era from which SDT evolved but the song was quite instrumental in getting The Beach Boys back on the radio and I do mean FM radio. I was living in Cleveland in the Summer of 1971 and listening to one of the top FM stations in the country, WMMS, when this song came on. I was stunned and amazed! Was this my group? Sure sounds like them. Soon I had Surf's Up in my hands and by the time I got back to school in Saint Louis in September, KSHE, the best station UNDER Saint Louis, well they were playing alot of Beach Boys. So in summary, I believe SDT helped re-launch the Beach Boys career. And that's an easy statement to make from a 2009 perspective.

[punkinhead]

I think SDT should have been a promo single before the release of Surfs Up, then we wouldnt need SDT on the album 

[Jeff]

And just now I'm catching up on this thread and the last post is what I wanted to write about. Of course you are correct about the era from which SDT evolved but the song was quite instrumental in getting The Beach Boys back on the radio and I do mean FM radio. I was living in Cleveland in the Summer of 1971 and listening to one of the top FM stations in the country, WMMS, when this song came on. I was stunned and amazed! Was this my group? Sure sounds like them. Soon I had Surf's Up in my hands and by the time I got back to school in Saint Louis in September, KSHE, the best station UNDER Saint Louis, well they were playing alot of Beach Boys. So in summary, I believe SDT helped re-launch the Beach Boys career. And that's an easy statement to make from a 2009 perspective.

Wow, I had no idea anyone ever liked that song.  Hard to understand, but I know that was a different time.

[The infamous Baldwin Organ]

I still like Student Demonstration Time, and think it would be a great song to perform in concert, even now.

I understand that many of you don't feel that way, which is perfectly ok, but I do have a hard time considering that 'the very worst Beach Boys related song ever released'.

[MBE]

Like I said I really dig it. Dennis and Carl cook.

[Mr. Cohen]

Speaking of Mike Love, I just found a rare 45 he recorded as a single in late 70s with Celebration. Unfortunately it didn't get released, but I can post the lyrics without getting in any trouble:

(spoken in "beaks of eagles" voice)

it was the summer of mike love back in '67, when the whole world came together and had some fun, fun, fun, 'till Brian released "Heroes and Villains" and then realized what he had done, done. the acid suddenly turned brown and everybody lost their egos and went crazy. i had to put some love back in their hearts...

(sum, sum, sum) summer of looove
(sum, sum, sum) summer of looove
(sum, sum, sum) summer of looove


everyone was singin the lyrics to good vibrations, a magical elation
but then heroes and villains happened without my participation
for some strange reason brian wilson cut out all of my leads vocals
funny, it seems van dyke parks put brian in a creative chokehold


(sum, sum, sum) summer of looove
(sum, sum, sum) summer of looove
(sum, sum, sum) summer of looove


i was feelin' mad but then i met the maharishi and started meditatin'
things were lookin' kinda bad 'till me and brian started collaboratin'
we made wild honey and we went straight back to the top of the charts
i had to tell brian we can't cut without bass, it's the sound of our hearts

(bridge - soft singing)
sometimes in life your cousin goes musically astray
so you gotta sit him down at the piano and lead the way
just give him some simple chords and some fun lyrics
he'll add crazy bass chords and stuff when he hears it


(sum, sum, sum) summer of looove
(sum, sum, sum) summer of looove
(sum, sum, sum) summer of looove

[runnersdialzero]

Speaking of Mike Love, I just found a rare 45 he recorded as a single in late 70s with Celebration. Unfortunately it didn't get released, but I can post the lyrics without getting in any trouble:

(spoken in "beaks of eagles" voice)

it was the summer of mike love back in '67, when the whole world came together and had some fun, fun, fun, 'till Brian released "Heroes and Villains" and then realized what he had done, done. the acid suddenly turned brown and everybody lost their egos and went crazy. i had to put some love back in their hearts...

(sum, sum, sum) summer of looove
(sum, sum, sum) summer of looove
(sum, sum, sum) summer of looove


everyone was singin the lyrics to good vibrations, a magical elation
but then heroes and villains happened without my participation
for some strange reason brian wilson cut out all of my leads vocals
funny, it seems van dyke parks put brian in a creative chokehold


(sum, sum, sum) summer of looove
(sum, sum, sum) summer of looove
(sum, sum, sum) summer of looove


i was feelin' mad but then i met the maharishi and started meditatin'
things were lookin' kinda bad 'till me and brian started collaboratin'
we made wild honey and we went straight back to the top of the charts
i had to tell brian we can't cut without bass, it's the sound of our hearts

(bridge - soft singing)
sometimes in life your cousin goes musically astray
so you gotta sit him down at the piano and lead the way
just give him some simple chords and some fun lyrics
he'll add crazy bass chords and stuff when he hears it


(sum, sum, sum) summer of looove
(sum, sum, sum) summer of looove
(sum, sum, sum) summer of looove

This thread is about the worst Beach Boys songs. You have, however, posted lyrics to the best song ever written in the history of mankind. YOU GOT IT WRONG, CHARLIE.

[Alex]

Problem Child, Happy Endings, Crocodile Rock, Wipe Out, Rock and Roll to the Rescue, Summer of Love, are all pretty bad. When I've got more time I'll come up with a list of duds spanning the BBs entire career.

[melissalynn]

My dad heard SDT for the first time this past year and loves it. I think it's actually his favorite BB song now, oddly enough. Or at least in his top 10. I don't mind it, I think it rocks out.

[Roger Ryan]

My dad heard SDT for the first time this past year and loves it. I think it's actually his favorite BB song now, oddly enough. Or at least in his top 10. I don't mind it, I think it rocks out.

The production, the arrangement, the performance, even the idea of updating "Riot In Cell Block #9" to reflect civil unrest in '70/'71 is very, very cool...unfortunately, Mike's misguided lyrics derail the whole song. He seems intent on blaming the protesters for their own misfortune in the most unsympathetic manner possible ("four students earned a new degree...the bachelor of bullets" - yikes!). Clearly he's trying to model the song on the Beatles' "Revolution", but his lack of perspective stinks the whole thing up. Hell, even the Dead Kennedys ("Riot") managed to address this kind of social upheaval in a far less condesending manner.

It's still not the worst Beach Boys-related song, however. "Make It Big" might get my vote.

[MBE]

I don't know if I feel he was talking down to anyone, or not sympathising. I think it was simply a scare tactic to get his message about the inherent dangers of a Kent State situation. All in all it's just a product of its time. It's dated  but I ultimately like the song because of the musical and vocal performances.

[punkinhead]

Ahh, Make it Big, I refer to that as the last great Carl vocals

[smile-holland]

Problem Child, Happy Endings, Crocodile Rock, Wipe Out, Rock and Roll to the Rescue, Summer of Love, are all pretty bad. When I've got more time I'll come up with a list of duds spanning the BBs entire career.

I like R&RttR quite a bit. Love the Percadella mix especially. But the the videoclip is... ehm ... well, I've seen better ones...

[phirnis]

Problem Child, Happy Endings, Crocodile Rock, Wipe Out, Rock and Roll to the Rescue, Summer of Love, are all pretty bad. When I've got more time I'll come up with a list of duds spanning the BBs entire career.

I like R&RttR quite a bit. Love the Percadella mix especially. But the the videoclip is... ehm ... well, I've seen better ones...

I'd go one step further even and confess that Rock'n'Rol To The Rescue has to be one of my favorite BB songs from the eighties. Brian's voice is in full Ozzy mode already, yet to these ears his vocal contribution is still among his very best leads from that decade. It's a goofy song for sure but a great one at that.

[mtaber]

SDT is Mike's Pet Sounds... not saying much, but...

And I'm Bugged At My Old Man is a classic, especially the version from the TV Special - when Brian starts coughing in the middle of a line and his brothers crack up, that is priceless...

SDT is definitely a product of its time.  First time I heard it (on AM radio before the LP hit the stores) I flipped to hear the band ROCK...

[carlydenise]

I never cared for SDT or that disco version of Here Comes The Night...

[TimeToGetAlone]

Didn't Brian once contribute at least some background vocals for Tree on stage in the early seventies?

Great, great song.

For backing vocals I definitely hear him on the finished track.  He does all those "doodoo doo doo"s on the coda.  Unless you mean lead vocals?

[Dr. Tim]

I can vouch for SDT helping the Beach Boys get back on FM radio.  College radio too.  I'm dating myself here, but I first  heard it on WNEW-FM and then the local college station DJs were playing it too.  Like some of the other recent posters, I am a tepid defender of it.  I love the sound of the track and Mike's bullhorn vocal, but agree the words are at best a cop-out news report.  They should have just kept the original words and fuzzed it up like they did, I bet they would have still gotten the airplay because the sound of that track was so unique. 

I still posit the theory that 10cc (or at least Eric Stewart) heard Desper's plugged-in-the-sound-board fuzz-boxes and based their whole "Rubber Bullets" guitar sound on SDT.

That said, according to the SF/SU CD booklet, Brian STILL dislikes this track.

[KokoMoses]

Sumahama...Want to get a terrorist to confess?  Make a tape loop of this song and play it to death!

I think this is one of Mike's few good songs.

One of Mike's few good songs???

What about:

Good Vibrations
Fun Fun Fun
Warmth Of The Sun
I'm Waiting For The Day
She Knows Me Too Well
California Girls
Big Sur
All I wanna Do
Cool Cool Water
Do it Again

....... to name a few "decent"with Mike lyrics/input

Face it: Brian seems to get sole possessory credit by fans for any and every song he co-wrote with someone else. Who will argue that the lyrics are not roughly half of a song. Royalty-wise/Legally it's that way (mostly).... No one wants to take credit away from Bernie Taupin, so why Mike?

[the captain]

I'll vehemently argue that lyrics aren't necessarily "roughly half" of a song: it's all dependent on the song in question and the particular mindset of the listener. For some lyric-leaning artists, lyrics may be far more than half a song. (Lou Reed keeps using the same three chords ... it isn't those that make him a genius.) And I have friends who hate the Beach Boys, and the reason isn't that they deny the great melodies or harmonies: they can't stand the lyrics.

Nothing is ever so easy as fifty-fifty.

[KokoMoses]

Absolutely right on! (with Lou especially) And I didn't mean to simplify things. I just happen to think Mike wrote some pretty damm great lyrics in the 60s!!! So did Gary Usher, Roger Christian, Tony Asher, Van Dyke Parks, and Brian. In fact, I think the lyrics to the early Beach Boys ARE just as important as the music. They gave the musical innovation a wonderful bed of imagery and culture shifting sensibility, however naive and nerdy at times it might have been, to co-exist in. Thus making the music more touching and groundbreaking than it would have been all on it's own.

Peter Ames Carlin touches on a lot of this in his book.

[the captain]

Oh, and my vote for worst Beach Boys song: a tie of everything done after KTSA (which, while pretty bad itself, is Pet Sounds compared to what came after).

[KokoMoses]

Problem Child gets my vote!

It's not even a catchy song in any way and it's embarassing to watch that video where Carl actually looks like he thinks it's cool. I'd expect as much from Mike, but not him.

I can defend even Summer in Paradise as listenable for having catchy songs Beach Boys harmonies, no matter how bad the production is, but Problem Child is just vomit inducing in the worst way.

[Sheriff John Stone]

From the period of 1961-1980, it's hard for me to single out a "worst" song ever, because I BASICALLY like everything they did. Everything. Oh, some more than others, obviously, but I felt that I "got" what the guys were trying to say in all of their albums. And I could enjoy them.

But, something happened to The Beach Boys records when Dennis died and Brian re-joined Landy in 1982. I had to "work" at liking the songs, finding it harder to listen to albums in completion, not feeling the music. I don't like cliches, but the heart and soul appeared to go out of the music. Whatever it was that Brian put into his music, that special something that only a Beach Boys' fan could know, was fleeting fast.  I didn't get that Beach Boys' feeling that I was used to, and that feeling WAS still present as late as Keeping The Summer Alive.

I guess production is partly to blame. Starting with Bruce Johnston in the late 70's and continuing to 1992, I don't think they made good choices for producers. Anyway, my choice a few pages/months ago remains the same, "Summer Of Love". It has no redeeming qualities.