Your First Time Hearing The Beach Boys

[Don_Zabu]

Note: This is gonna be really TL;DR, so brace yourself:

Some time ago, the only thing I really knew about The Beach Boys was popcultural osmosis that they were a surf band. So when I started reading, here and there, that a surf band I had no comprehension of was supposedly one of the greatest bands in the history of music, I was understandably confused. So to try and figure it out, I tracked down what was supposedly their greatest song, popped it into the YouTube search engine, and listened to it for the first time.

I can't exactly describe the feeling I felt when I first listened to Good Vibrations, but I can describe all the things that stuck out to me immediately upon listening. I remember how immediate it seemed on the first verse. I remember being struck at how different the chorus singer sounded from the verse one. I remember the immaculate harmonies, with that one really high voice that caught my attention in particular. The first bridge leading into the second bridge, and how much of a calm, reflective breather that second bridge was. Then that one harmony chord before kicking back into the chorus. And the vocal leadout. Oh God, the vocal leadout...

But oddly enough, that experience wasn't the lifechanging one, or the one that really jettisoned me into the band. What did is almost an entirely different tangent:

I'd always been intensely interested in what I like to call "the music that time forgot". I was constantly looking for more and more obscure music to listen to, stuff like eden ahbez, Les Baxter, Esquivel, and Bruce Haack. And in my research into obscure albums was when I started reading about Smile.

Of course, I'd heard Good Vibrations at that point, but it still a curiosity to me how this one band with the really silly name that I had barely heard at that point had created this lost masterpiece that I had never heard of. So, to try and figure it all out, I searched a bit, got a copy of Purple Chick's rendition of Smile, plugged it into Winamp, and pressed play.

I was floored. I knew immediately, right then and there from the first opening chords of Our Prayer, that I was in for a musical force more amazing that I could've possibly comprehended.

I remember the graceful, lilting chorus of Our Prayer, and that very sudden transition into Gee (and from there, into the horn bit, and from there, into Heroes and Villains, and from there, into...) seemed to set the incoming mood of the album very well. I remember the constant start-stoppiness of Heroes and Villains, and how striking each segment sounded. I remember thinking overall that the first third of the album sounded like a big musical road-trip, which is probably what they were going for in retrospect. I already knew that I was listening to something extraordinary by then, but it was Surf's Up that absolutely sealed the deal for me, especially the ending tag. From there, it was the sheer fun of Vegetables, and the way On A Holiday started returning to that trip motif, and how the chorus of Wind Chimes seemed to well upwards from the very bowels of Hell. From there, it was the chaotic madness of Mrs. O'leary's Cow, and then the pure, undiluted cool of In Blue Hawaii, and to round it all up, full circle: Good Vibrations.

My life was changed forever.

From Smile, I got into the history, from the history, I got into Pet Sounds, from Pet Sounds, I got into the other great albums, from the albums, I got into the bootlegs, somehow in that mess, I found this board, and in the end, I ended up the pasty guy who stands before you.

Well, there it is. I imagine most other people here got into the band in very different ways, so I'm curious to hear what's what.

[Mahalo]

I like your post. I started to write but then my post got too long. There is something about their stuff that I have not heard in anything else. I will never forget the moments in my early childhood when my family members played me their hits, the time I played the Pet Sounds cassette before going to sleep (always side 1), listening with my ear to the needle because our record player couldn't be hooked up to the speakers to listen to Heroe's and Villian's and Darlin' on one of the comps, receiving the Pet Sounds box and the GV box, learning about SMiLE!, and the first time hearing Wonderful, Cabinessence, and Our Prayer. Moments of childhood that I am forever grateful for.

[Wrightfan]

I guess on the radio but when I first got serious into them is a one of a kind story.

Pet Sounds I believe was my first CD but about a few years after my uncle died (he loved the band, mostly the early stuff before Pet Sounds) I found a greatest hits tape of the band. I popped it in to the only cassette player I had (and still do)...the 2XL toy robot!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CIPKiFnemYk

Heroes and Villains was the last track on the cassette and I think that's how I eventually found out about SMiLE.

[Magic Transistor Radio]

I was 13 years old and I found a copy of my dad's Endless Summer (I didn't really listen to the radio as a kid). I had always been into harmonies (Church quartets). But I hadn't really heard it mixed with rock n' roll (This was the early 90s). It wasn't until I saw the Endless Harmony doc in 98 that they became my favorite band. Around that time, the cd twofers were being released. Like many others I was fascinated with the Smile music. Other albums like Friends, Sunflower and Surfs Up amazed me on the first listen. Others such as Holland and Love You had to grow on me.

[Mike's Beard]

Would have been when I was about 8 and the Fat Boys/Beach Boys "Wipeout!" single was everywhere. Of course at the time I had no idea who they where or had any inkling about their rich musical history and vast accomplishments...... Of course now I'm a massive Fat Boys fan.   

I think it would be better to say that the first time I consciously listened to the BB's was when I was around 13-14 and digging around in the attic and found my mother's old school bag which was filled with scratched old 45's. One of which was "I can hear music/ All I want to do. The rest is history.

[Beckgtr09]

The very first time I heard and saw the Beach Boys was in 1974. We all piled up in to the Burgandy Nova we had, and went to go see them live. The day after we came home from the concert, my Dad sat me down for my introduction into their music. Since he was a BIG fan of their's and he still is, he taught me all about them. He told me all about PET SOUNDS and everything else. I fell in love with that album when I was 5 years old. It just put a hook in me that to this day, I still enjoy that album alot. Dad also bought me 15 BIG ONES for my 7th birthday. So the link between them and my Father is very special to me. When SMiLE came out, he called me that morning and he was delighted to hear it. Now that I have an 9 year old son, I'm doing what my Dad did to me. My son likes songs by them as well, even though his Mother discurages him to do so.

[rab2591]

I was about 8 years old. My parents bought me a beach boys greatest hits tape as well as a sony boombox for Christmas. I cannot remember listening to the tape, but I do remember years later I heard 'surfin' and I could sing it because I'd listened to that tape so many times.

Had my parents never gotten me that tape I would be on a totally different career path right now....funny, they probably bought it on a whim but it completely changed my life.

[Don_Zabu]

My son likes songs by them as well, even though his Mother discurages him to do so.

What the f*** for?

[punkinhead]

My dad had the Best of the Beach Boys (the one that came out after Pet Sounds) on 8-track, so I heard their greatest, but I loved the little gems like Wendy, Kiss Me Baby, You're so Good to Me, and yes, Louie Louie (I loved Mike's bass vocals) that are often missed on normal Greatest Hits packages.  When they sang Wendy, I thought they were saying Winnie, as in Winnie Cooper 

Also, my brothers bought Still Cruisin' on cassette, so yes, I did like Wipe Out (at the time), and I was pretty fond of all the other tunes, and I still like most of the album to this day.

[Beckgtr09]

The main reason is, because she's related to Wicked Witch. She and I haven't been seeing eye to eye since our divorce.

[Fun Is In]

I grew up hearing them on the radio and got a copy of Best of in 1967 that I played, well, nearly obsessively. But even after years of that, I didn't really hear them until a friend loaned me a copy of Pet Sounds in 1974. I knew the hits from PS, but that "whole album that was a gas" was an eye opener, taking me from "Beatles Uber Alles" to "Beach Boys are Number One".   Started exploring from there in the used vinyl shops just sprouting up.

[Andrew G. Doe]

Ready, Steady, Go !, November 1964 - I was only nine, but even so, I winced when they made a complete horlicks of the intro to "When I Grow Up...".

It was only later I realised my folks were, musically speaking (and bearing in mind that in 1964 my mom and dad were 41 and 52), pretty cool: at home we watched RSG and TOTP, and listened to the pirates, Radio Caroline & Radio London.

[Eric Aniversario]

After listening to LA Light Album in 1993 or so, I had this vague feeling that I had heard HCTN as a child.  I was 3 when it came out, so it's definitely possible that I did hear it, but maybe it's a false memory.  It had a very familiar feel to it, though, and not just because I knew the Wild Honey version.