The very worst Beach Boys related 'song' ever released

[KokoMoses]

agreed...

I can single out Problem Child as being the worst thing they ever did, but keep in mind, I pretty much like EVERYTHING ELSE they did.

For my money The Beach Boys 1963-1980 was/is the greatest run by any "rock" band of all-time!

[MBE]

I guess I would narrow it down to 61-74 in the studio and 61-75 on stage as times where I basically enjoy everything. There were some really good songs and good shows through 1980 but I feel the consistancy wasn't there the last half of the seventies. Still with the exception of Somewhere Near Japan, Soul Searchin, Still A Mystery and maybe Getcha Back nothing they dd past 1980 comes close to to the old standard.

[mikeyj]

I guess I would narrow it down to 61-74 in the studio and 61-75 on stage as times where I basically enjoy everything. There were some really good songs and good shows through 1980 but I feel the consistancy wasn't there the last half of the seventies. Still with the exception of Somewhere Near Japan, Soul Searchin, Still A Mystery and maybe Getcha Back nothing they dd past 1980 comes close to to the old standard.

I would narrow it down just a little more from Surfer Girl through to Holland. Not saying Surfin' Safari/Surfin' USA don't have their moments, but Surfer Girl (to me anyway) is the first good album.

[mikeyj]

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).

Luther, I'm shocked? What about Wipe Out? I thought that was your favourite?

[MBE]

I guess I would narrow it down to 61-74 in the studio and 61-75 on stage as times where I basically enjoy everything. There were some really good songs and good shows through 1980 but I feel the consistancy wasn't there the last half of the seventies. Still with the exception of Somewhere Near Japan, Soul Searchin, Still A Mystery and maybe Getcha Back nothing they dd past 1980 comes close to to the old standard.

I would narrow it down just a little more from Surfer Girl through to Holland. Not saying Surfin' Safari/Surfin' USA don't have their moments, but Surfer Girl (to me anyway) is the first good album.

The first album is so-so but I think Surfin USA is a fantastic record. It's one of their best pure rock and roll albums.

[mikeyj]

The first album is so-so but I think Surfin USA is a fantastic record. It's one of their best pure rock and roll albums.

Yeah I'm just not the biggest fan of it... While I still like all of the songs, I just think a lot of that record doesn't really stand out to me, but that's just me. I mean I love the title track, Farmer's Daughter, Shut Down & Lonely Sea, but the rest of it I don't really listen to all that often. I guess I'm just not the biggest of a lot of those surf instrumentals, sure I don't mind them, just don't listen to them all that often.

[The Heartical Don]

For this moment it's a toss up between:

The Beach Boys Medley (ne'er in the whole history of music hath anyone dared to foul up a string of classic songs this way. Burning alive at the stake should be reinstuted).

Smart Girls (with samples). Makes you long for dumb blondes.

[carl r]

Spot on. The late 70s albums are rotten in parts, but the vibe is still intact. After Love You and the scrapping of Adult-Child Dennis was the force that kept them even partly relevant, and in this way POB is a very distilled "essence of Beach Boys."  You can't "hear the sea" in the 80s stuff, in either Brian's work (some of which I like) or the Beach Boys band (which I don't). I think it's because of songwriting and production, plus the effect of Dennis' absence on group decisions. Whilst I think BW '88 would have been a very decent album with the right production, the BB songs from '82 onwards were  beyond rescue - take away the 80s synths and they would be simply dull MOR, rather than terrible. Anyway, I go for Still Cruisin' - music for discount supermarkets in 1986.

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.

[KokoMoses]

My all-time favorite Beach Boys song is "Goin On"...... Where the hell does that put me?

Number 2 would be "Getcha Back"... No Joke!!!

Number 3 would be Cool Cool Water!

[The infamous Baldwin Organ]

My all-time favorite Beach Boys song is "Goin On"...... Where the hell does that put me?

Number 2 would be "Getcha Back"... No Joke!!!

Number 3 would be Cool Cool Water!

Good stuff, in my opinion!

[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).

Luther, I'm shocked? What about Wipe Out? I thought that was your favourite?

Actually, you know what, I forgot about that. I do love Wipe Out. I take that one back. It is easily my favorite post KTSA BBs song. Not even close.

[Shady]

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).

Luther, I'm shocked? What about Wipe Out? I thought that was your favourite?

Actually, you know what, I forgot about that. I do love Wipe Out. I take that one back. It is easily my favorite post KTSA BBs song. Not even close.

Ah come on, they made somany good songs after KTSA.

How can anybody not like 'it's getting late'

[Sheriff John Stone]

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).

Luther, I'm shocked? What about Wipe Out? I thought that was your favourite?

Actually, you know what, I forgot about that. I do love Wipe Out. I take that one back. It is easily my favorite post KTSA BBs song. Not even close.

Ah come on, they made somany good songs after KTSA.

Well, at least a couple. How about these five:

1. "Rock And Roll To The Rescue"
2. "Getcha Back"
3. "Where I Belong"
4. "Somewhere Near Japan"
5. "Lahaina Aloha"

[the captain]

I very strongly stand behind my statement. It's not me intentionally being difficult (not that I ever would...). I am being honest. Wipeout. By far.

[JeffRetro]

I've only read about a third of the thread, but i'm guessing that no one's brought up what must be the true abomination of Beach Boys-related recordings - "Disco Symphony" by Rocky Pamplin from his 1979 LP THE ROCK, 6:33 of the most tepid watered-down disco ever committed to wax.  It literally slumps out of the gate and tapers off from there.  The song was written by Mike Love and Ron Altbach (and also recorded by Celebration and released - barely released is more like it - on the DISCO CELEBRATION LP) and the LP, which is almost exlusively tepid, watered down disco, was executive produced by Rocky and Stan Love.

Frightening stuff indeed.

Jeff
Toluca Lake, CA

[John]

How can anybody not like 'it's getting late'

I don't.

Post-KTSA, I like Where I Belong, Getcha Back is okay, Somewhere Near Japan and Island Girl. And Wipe Out is okay.

[The Heartical Don]

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).

Luther, I'm shocked? What about Wipe Out? I thought that was your favourite?

Actually, you know what, I forgot about that. I do love Wipe Out. I take that one back. It is easily my favorite post KTSA BBs song. Not even close.

Ah come on, they made somany good songs after KTSA.

Well, at least a couple. How about these five:

1. "Rock And Roll To The Rescue"
2. "Getcha Back"
3. "Where I Belong"
4. "Somewhere Near Japan"
5. "Lahaina Aloha"

I can understand your quips about 'Getcha Back'. It is perhaps the best example of a band trying too hard and much too self-consciously to re-create its own spontaneity of days gone by. Where 'It's OK' is a masterful success, 'Getcha Back' is a failure.

[Jay]

For me it's a toss up between Sumahama, Summer of Love, and When Girl's Get Together. And Wipe Out. Some of Your Love is pretty bad too. Tears In The Morning also sucks.

[urbanite]

Mike Love's vocal ruined Getcha Back.

[Smilin Ed H]

Tears?!

[KokoMoses]

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).

Luther, I'm shocked? What about Wipe Out? I thought that was your favourite?

Actually, you know what, I forgot about that. I do love Wipe Out. I take that one back. It is easily my favorite post KTSA BBs song. Not even close.

Ah come on, they made somany good songs after KTSA.

Well, at least a couple. How about these five:

1. "Rock And Roll To The Rescue"
2. "Getcha Back"
3. "Where I Belong"
4. "Somewhere Near Japan"
5. "Lahaina Aloha"

I can understand your quips about 'Getcha Back'. It is perhaps the best example of a band trying too hard and much too self-consciously to re-create its own spontaneity of days gone by. Where 'It's OK' is a masterful success, 'Getcha Back' is a failure.

Awwwwww, c'mon! A great song is a great song! Who cares if they're "trying to hard" or whatever? Getcha Back is a prime example of (one side of) what makes the Beach Boys great: catchy melodies: great harmonies: relatable lyrics (ok, I'm evil) and THOSE VOICES!!!! Sure, the 80s production sucks, but hey, it was THE 80S!!!!

And can't we please just leave Mike Love alone? If he really sucked ass as bad as everyone acts like, wouldn't the Beach Boys suck ass too?

[adamghost]

Post-KTSA, I like "Rock 'n' Roll To The Rescue," and all of Carl's songs on THE BEACH BOYS (the ones he wrote, not sang).  I like the Stevie Wonder cover. 

That's what I like.  Then there's separate categories for what doesn't bug me, and what bugs me.

[KokoMoses]

I love Brian on Rock N Roll To The Rescue!

He sounds like he's having fun, and when Brian sounds like he's having fun, it's great!

[phirnis]

Talking about the production of "Getcha Back", I'm certainly glad it didn't end up sounding more like an E Street Band track as Mike originally intended. Love the singing here, even Mike's almost unbearably nasal lead vocal, which still had so much of the original Beach Boys vibe to it. Foskett's (?) falsetto part/Brian impersonation ain't too shabby either.

[Sheriff John Stone]

Mike Love's vocal ruined Getcha Back.

Mike's vocal is one of the main reasons "Getcha Back" was a semi-hit.

As much as "Brian Wilson is the Beach Boys", it is Mike's familiar nasal tone (and I say that affectionately) that was, and is, so attractive to music fans. Yeah, certain fans on this and other boards are sick of Mike and his voice, but, to many music fans, MIKE'S VOICE IS THE BEACH BOYS!