The Beach Boys Hate You

[The infamous Baldwin Organ]

How about a dub companion album to The Beach Boys Love You?

inna dub style! 

[adamghost]

Wow, a lot of very thoughtful posts to something I just threw up here in a puckish mood (Sheriff John Stone, I see your humor meter is still broken.  "Here Comes The Night '79" is one of my favorite Beach Boys tracks, btw).

If you want to take this idea seriously, I think the main problem with the Beach Boys doing something like this Luther touched on his hysterical post...Mike Love in particular but most of the band were very concerned with projecting a positive image and the whole punk thing as perceived in '78 ran totally counter to that.  That's NOT a diss...it's actually a valid branding decision and embracing punk would have been a risk.  The point's already been made that LOVE YOU is very, very close to punk rock already, and the general reaction to that album in mainstream rock circles (as opposed to among critics) was a resounding wtf?  So going further in that direction would have been a risky move that could well have blown up in their faces.

They didn't completely go MOR though.  As S.J. Stone correctly points out (again kindly educating me about the finer points of Beach Boys history), the BBs band in the KTSA era was pretty rocking live, and one of the reasons I like L.A. (LIGHT ALBUM) so much is that it was made in 1979, and in 1979 even MOR bands were embracing new wave elements in the studio (I direct you to "Love Surrounds Me" and "Angel Come Home" in particular the creepy synths, percussion and Bruce Johnston's Oberheim overdubs...not to mention "Shortenin' Bread," which is LOVE YOU redux).

ABSOLUTELY the Beach Boys have a punk connection.  I have to tell a short story that I don't tell very often because it's so on point to this.

In the early '90s I was one of those geeky insecure kids that did not listen to and could not relate to anything punk or college radio-related.  I was into my Beach Boys, Raspberries, and '70s pop, a few '80s bands like Crowded House, and that was it.  I might not have ever changed except my band at the time was sharing rehearsal space with my bass player's roommates.  The band happened to be Weezer.  Rivers Cuomo was a HUGE Beach Boys fan, and used to ask me about Beach Boys trivia.  The day they got signed to Geffen I realized there was something about the way I was approaching music that wasn't working and I asked Rivers what he thought I was doing wrong.  He was a true friend and told me.  It boiled down to "stop trying to make people love you, and start trying to make people understand you.  Forget about playing an industry game, get out of your musical cocoon, take your unique influences and make them cool."

He and my bass player then gave me a box full of tapes to go with me on a cross-country road trip.  There was no Beach Boys, Elton John or any of my comfort food.  There were a few power pop bands like the then-new Jellyfish and Rembrandts, but there was also Pixies, Goo Goo Dolls, Replacements, Sonic Youth, Husker Du.

So I'm listening to this stuff in the car and it's just like noise to me and I basically tolerated it until I put in the first Frank Black album.  About two songs in he launches into a punked-out cover of "Hang Onto Your Ego" and I swear to God it was like this giant light bulb went off in my head.  All of a sudden I got the connection between the pop music I loved and punk rock.  It was the same thing!  What's more it was MY music....it was the same concept that, as Jon Stebbins has pointed out, drew me to Dennis Wilson's music.  The idea of taking the Beach Boys sound and making something different and cool with it.

After that I could not get enough punk rock.  My concept of music expanded and changed.  I snapped up every punk compilation I could find, discovering bands like the Damned, Stiff Little Fingers, Stranglers, Sham 69, Rezillos, and in the process opening the door to appreciating roots music and folk...it was all about stripping a song down to its emotional essentials.  The bells and whistles can be wonderful, but they can also obscure the fact that there's no song there, or that your song isn't saying anything substantial.

I went home, started a punk-ish pop band called Cockeyed Ghost, applied the theory, and got signed in about 18 months.  We used to do a very punked-out version of "Good Vibrations" (with 3-pieces!) as a showpiece in concert.  I've gravitated more back to my pop roots then, but because of that there's a rock edge to everything I do that wouldn't have been there and that helps the emotional core of the song.  On my album that comes out next month, GO WEST, there's all kinds of instances of using the Beach Boys idea in a different context...for instance there's a thunderous, intense, Smashing Pumpkins-like song called "1 in 4" that derives a lot of its thunder from studying how Dennis played the drums and the minimal way the Beach Boys arranged their tracks on some of their '70s albums.  It doesn't sound anything like the Beach Boys (I pointed this out to Earle Mankey and he was like "huh?"), but I used what I learned from them every step of the way.

Carrie, loved your post!  You tell David to rock on!

[TdHabib]

I never really thought of LOVE YOU as a punkish album, Adam, but it's a fair assesment. Really it's an album of variations on the bridge to "Be My Baby," you hear that chord change over and over on the album...ever noticed that?

[adamghost]

Wow....no I didn't!  Good catch.  Probably "Shortenin' Bread" as well.

As far as LOVE YOU being punk (and I wasn't the only one to make that connection), it depends on how you define "punk."  If you're talking strictly snarly guitar pop, then, no, it's not punk at all, though there were keyboard-oriented punk bands (Suicide for one, which was just a keyboard and a vocal IIRC).

As far as attitude, I think it has all the elements.  Does it embrace the DIY ethos?  Absolutely.  Does it say what the foda, I'm going to express myself and damn how anyone else perceives it?  You bet.  Does it sacrifice technical ability for effect?  Yup.  Is it aggressive and harsh sonically?  More so than any other Beach Boys album.  And needless to say, the vocals are just as ragged as the guy in Sham 69's ever were.

Look no further than the opening track:  the hugest snare ever heard on a Beach Boys record, a buzzsaw moog bass, a quarter note organ figure that screams "stoopid." Carl yelling "HEY!" in his "Mess of Help" voice.  It comes on pretty strong.  You don't have to stretch to call that punk rock.  It IS punk rock.

[Sheriff John Stone]

Wow, a lot of very thoughtful posts to something I just threw up here in a puckish mood (Sheriff John Stone, I see your humor meter is still broken.  "Here Comes The Night '79" is one of my favorite Beach Boys tracks, btw).

No, no, no, Adam....I really DO find your posts humorous.

[Mr. Cohen]

I never really thought of LOVE YOU as a punkish album, Adam, but it's a fair assesment. Really it's an album of variations on the bridge to "Be My Baby," you hear that chord change over and over on the album...ever noticed that?

Yes. And if you ever get to hear the piano demo of "Little Children" recorded around that time (it's on Brian Loves You), it becomes obvious that the song is just a variation of "Da Doo Ron Ron". Imagine if Phil Spector and "Shortenin' Bread" never existed. Brian's career would have been COMPLETELY different.

[lance]

I thought that song was more a rip of Mountain of Love?

[Sheriff John Stone]

I never really thought of LOVE YOU as a punkish album, Adam, but it's a fair assesment. Really it's an album of variations on the bridge to "Be My Baby," you hear that chord change over and over on the album...ever noticed that?

Yes. And if you ever get to hear the piano demo of "Little Children" recorded around that time (it's on Brian Loves You), it becomes obvious that the song is just a variation of "Da Doo Ron Ron".

I actually prefer that version/arrangement; completely different feel. 

[Mr. Cohen]

I thought that song was more a rip of Mountain of Love?

OK, you're right, so it's a variation of "Mountain of Love" and "Da Doo Ron Ron". The way he plays the piano on the demo is highly reminiscent of "Da Doo Ron Ron", while the vocal melody is similar to "Mountain of Love". Despite being so derivative (which is probably why it wasn't on Love You), I really love that demo.

[Sciencefriction]

I could see it happening, but they would have to follow it up with a post-punk album to stay current.  Something like The Return Of The Beach Boys produced by Martin Hannett and featuring John McGeoch on guitar, Peter Hook on bass, and Dennis Wilson on drums (on every track).  Okay, sure that would have never happened, but as long as were talking fiction here I think it's okay to dream.

[Foster's Freeze]

"My stuff was always about positivity, I'm Mr. Positive," Love said, the blood and pus still oozing from the hole he pierced in his own nose with a rusty safety pin. "And I am positive I friggin' hate you. This, along with meditation is something that the Maharishi taught me when I was in Rishikesh with the Beatles. On that trip, I helped Paul McCartney write a little song called 'Back in the USSR'--I'm sure you've heard it. Well, we're doing a revved up version on our new album, The Beach Boys Hate You.

"That album, I should say, has a very interesting title--one that I came up with. I've always been a titles man, as you know. Pet Sounds is another one I came up with. But Hate You was, I thought, a very funny little play on words because a few years ago we came out with an album titled Love You. And I think that's really clever. But honestly, I think this album will be a great success, especially if the record company backs it with the kind of support we deserve--something they have not done with recent offerings, honestly not since Endless Summer (which I also titled, by the way). I mean, this will be a hit: Brian is truly back, and he's writing some great things, some creative things."

At this point the interview was interrupted by the sound of rhythm guitarist Al Jardine making the short fall from a standing position to the floor when the Boys were going to initiate him into punkdom with his own piercing. Jardine fainted when a shockingly furious-looking Bruce Johnston, pin in hand, shouted he was a "folk-tilted kitty." Love began to laugh. The interview, it seemed, was over.

Awesome! 

[The Heartical Don]

How about a dub companion album to The Beach Boys Love You?

inna dub style! 

Hehe... great idea! They surely had enough hair to turn that into dreadlocks. And they liked their spliffs (Mike only had a fake one in his hands, never inhaled).  And, in true Jamdown stylee, the titles would have been unspeakably dull:

Let Us Go On This Dub
Roller Skating Dub
Mona Version
Honking Dub
Ding Dub
Solar Dub
Night Dub
Airplane (Version)
Let's Put Our Dub Together
Dub Is A Woman (Inna Irie Style)

and, of course, with King Tubby at the controls...

[hypehat]

And for the follow up.... The Beach Boys Really Love You, a collection of slow jams designed to get those lovin' good vibrations a-happenin'...

[The Heartical Don]

And for the follow up.... The Beach Boys Really Love You, a collection of slow jams designed to get those lovin' good vibrations a-happenin'...

Is that where Kenny G came into the picture?

I know, I might get a lifelong ban for this...

[Sciencefriction]

Actually, I would be really excited by a dub version of Love You if it was done well, I could see that working really well.  Just not a remix album.  :/

[The infamous Baldwin Organ]

How about a dub companion album to The Beach Boys Love You?

inna dub style! 

Hehe... great idea! They surely had enough hair to turn that into dreadlocks. And they liked their spliffs (Mike only had a fake one in his hands, never inhaled).  And, in true Jamdown stylee, the titles would have been unspeakably dull:

Let Us Go On This Dub
Roller Skating Dub
Mona Version
Honking Dub
Ding Dub
Solar Dub
Night Dub
Airplane (Version)
Let's Put Our Dub Together
Dub Is A Woman (Inna Irie Style)

and, of course, with King Tubby at the controls...

Some day....some day.

[slothrop]

I think Lee "Scratch" Perry on the job would be better. His style would compliment Brian's. You know there'd be a whole lot of flutes.

[The Heartical Don]

I think Lee "Scratch" Perry on the job would be better. His style would compliment Brian's. You know there'd be a whole lot of flutes.

Good call. Perry seldom took out the whole of the melody and let the drums and bass only then go on a long time (with faders, mainly). Perry was more into melodic dub, using a simple phaser to color the vocal harmonies a bit, and yes, he loved flutes and Ernie Ranglin's majestic guitar work.

There are few classic albums that I love as a whole, unreservedly. 'Heart Of The Congoes' is one of these.

[slothrop]

I think Lee "Scratch" Perry on the job would be better. His style would compliment Brian's. You know there'd be a whole lot of flutes.

Good call. Perry seldom took out the whole of the melody and let the drums and bass only then go on a long time (with faders, mainly). Perry was more into melodic dub, using a simple phaser to color the vocal harmonies a bit, and yes, he loved flutes and Ernie Ranglin's majestic guitar work.

There are few classic albums that I love as a whole, unreservedly. 'Heart Of The Congoes' is one of these.

Love that album. The first time I heard the opening track, "Fisherman," it completely blew my mind. Just a great roots reggae record with Perry's touch. I know it's not from Love You, but songs like "Caroline No" or "The Little Girl I Once Knew" would be great dub material. The flutes in Caroline No and definitely the bass line in "Little Girl". Such a heavy bass sound in that song. Unbelievable how it wasn't a hit. To bad it's never on "oldies" or "rock" radio these days.

[kookadams]

Love You is definitly punk ALL thd ramones best songs reflected a prevalent beach boys influence/

[Peadar 'Big Dinner' O'Driscoll]

This is well worth checking out for some Beach Boys punk covers

[doinnothin]

I went looking for a good Dub Version of Pet Sounds recently.  This was what I found.

https://soundcloud.com/the-assessor-1/sets/pet-sounds-in-dub/

[Magic Transistor Radio]

The early version of Ding Dang is even more punk than the released song. Also Shortnen Bread has a punk sound. Brian might have had the ability to mix punk and doo wop the way he mixed Chuck Berry and the Freshman! I also heard a boot from the late 70s that Brian has screaming punk vocals. I can't remember what it's called.

[Joel Goldenberg]

Regarding the KTSA tour, Carl sounds pretty angry punk style on that great performance of Darlin' from Knebworth.

[donald]

The 1964 live recording of "What'd I Say" is pretty darn punk. 

Listen to the Surfin USA or Fun Fun Fun  from the 73 In Concert album... gets pretty close as well.

excellent point.  also check out the live boot of We Got Love....from the Nassau or or 93 live boot.....or even Funky Pretty live from one of those boots.  Not exactly the Beach Boys Hate you but still pretty raw and powerful.  One could assemble an entire CD of such material.  It exists.