Lowest point in the BB career?

[the captain]

Well, I thought it was kind of funny. 

[phirnis]

I think that one of the lowest points was Mike Love's R+R Hall of Fame speech. They lost a lot of their fans with that one....

That was a high point in my mind. I continue to get a lot of laughs over that.

Played the speech to lots of friends who are completely unfamiliar with the BB's history and none of them thought it was scandalous or shocking, just plain hilarious. I have to agree it's more of a high point as furthermore there's nothing exactly tragic about it, it's just plain embarrassing and rather funny at that.

[elnombre]

People would have a lot less hate for Kokomo if it hadn't been a huge hit.

[Andrew G. Doe]

Bigger than ever? The band that calls themselves The Beach Boys has been reduced in a large degree to playing county fairs and five hundred seat casinos.

Um, you looked at Brian's touring schedule of late ?  Casinos - check... free shows - check... outdoor festivals - check. Plus, these last few days, exactly who turns up is questionable: of late, no Taylor, Paul or Darian. The 'new' rhythm section was conspicuous by its absence at a Canadian show last week.

[KokoMoses]

Can't we please just let these guys play their music at whatever casino/state fair/BBQ/alley ect.. they feel like?

It's what they do. it's what they've been doing their entire lives pretty much. They make some cash doing it and the audience love it. Big deal! Would we have any more respect for Mike and Bruce if they were sitting around at home playing horseshoe and eating prunes?

If you wrote and sang on these songs you'd wanna play them whenever and wherever you could as well.

if certain "rock" jounalists and other writers had been a little more fair to The Beach Boys over the years, they'd be playing much better places, but so be it..... With such little respect paid to Mike (OR Carl, Dennis, Al, Bruce, for that matter) why should he care less about being hip or cool or whatever or making the Brian-nazis happy?

[Mr. Wilson]

Dennis + Carl Dying..1981 tour..

[Pretty Funky]

The question was what is the lowest point in the Beach Boys career erikdavid.

Nobody here would begrudge the guys making a living. Its just the choice of name by one act, marketing of another that upsets people. Has been the case for years.

Your idea of a lowpoint may differ.

I for one would go to a Mike and Bruce show in an instant. But not their Beach Boys and associated inflated ticket price. I'm also done with Brian. I'm now unsure he wants to be out there.

[37!ws]

Lowest point? I'd have to say when there was one original member left in the group plus one non-original-but-twice-new member and they had the nerve to call themselves "The Beach Boys."

I think Mike & Bruce have the right to keep playing as The Beach Boys. It's not like they at one point left the band, started a new one and called it 'The Beach Boys'... They just stayed where they were while the other members left or died one by one.

To me they only have the LEGAL right to use that name. They're not THE Beach Boys. For God's sake, when Brian toured in 2006, his band contained more original members than the group using the name "The Beach Boys"!

[Sheriff John Stone]

I'm also done with Brian. I'm now unsure he wants to be out there.

What happened?

[Andrew G. Doe]

I'm also done with Brian. I'm now unsure he wants to be out there.

I'm pretty sure that at least 50% of the time he doesn't want to be up there, but it beats the alternative.

[37!ws]

Hasn't history proven that if Brian truly doesn't want to do something, he doesn't?

[elnombre]

Hasn't history proven that if Brian truly doesn't want to do something, he doesn't?

Glastonbury.

[KokoMoses]

The question was what is the lowest point in the Beach Boys career erikdavid.

Nobody here would begrudge the guys making a living. Its just the choice of name by one act, marketing of another that upsets people. Has been the case for years.

Your idea of a lowpoint may differ.

I for one would go to a Mike and Bruce show in an instant. But not their Beach Boys and associated inflated ticket price. I'm also done with Brian. I'm now unsure he wants to be out there.

I know, and you're right. I just get sick of all the Mike/Bruce bashing. It really has gone on too long and is really just.... very mean. Of course, I know it's warrented in some cases, but still....

For me, the lowest point would have to be 1976, dragging Brian out and forcing him to write and record with The Beach Boys. I have a major soft spot for 15 Big Ones and the shows from 76-77, but when I listen to Holland, 15 Big Ones starts sounding like the audio equivelant of a snuff film. It really just killed all the hard-won momentum the band had acheived and shut down the whole enterprise as a valid/relevant act... It really was shameful in so many ways.

[MBE]

Hasn't history proven that if Brian truly doesn't want to do something, he doesn't?

True until the day he met Landy.

[XY]

The lowest point is the demolition of SMiLE in 1967 and Brian stepping back after not getting the support he needed. That was the first and most serious low point.
But certain compilations still sell millions these days, so I say the BB did everything right.
"Kokomo" is certainly one of the high points for me. I mean, if Brian would have written it, everyone would praise it as a work of Genius.

[mikeyj]

"Kokomo" is certainly one of the high points for me. I mean, if Brian would have written it, everyone would praise it as a work of Genius.

"Kokomo" is a good pop song - no doubt about it. It's very catchy and as Mike would put it, it's very 'commercial'. I wouldn't call it a work of genius though!! Otherwise almost every decent pop song (whatever that is) would be classed as a work of genius

[Dancing Bear]

"Kokomo" is certainly one of the high points for me. I mean, if Brian would have written it, everyone would praise it as a work of Genius.

"Kokomo" is a good pop song - no doubt about it. It's very catchy and as Mike would put it, it's very 'commercial'. I wouldn't call it a work of genius though!! Otherwise almost every decent pop song (whatever that is) would be classed as a work of genius

We had this debate when "South American" was released as a single.

[Smilin Ed H]

If Brian had written Kokomo, you would've dismissed it as a piece of crap, or, at best, workmanlike and you would'be blamed his wife and thge revisionists would'be blamed whoever he was working with at the time.  If any other band had come out with Kokomo, nobody here would've remembered it.  It's okay in a middle-aged 80s pop fashion, but nothing more. I prefer some of the stuff on Bummer to this, largely because of Carl and Al's singing.

[PongHit]

if Brian would have written it, everyone would praise it as a work of Genius.

Everyone?  Not me.

[brianc]

Me neither. Fun pop songs are just that... something like "Surf's Up," "By the Time I Get to Phoenix" or "What the World Needs Now"... those are works of genius.

[Aegir]

"Kokomo" is certainly one of the high points for me. I mean, if Brian would have written it, everyone would praise it as a work of Genius.

"Kokomo" is a good pop song - no doubt about it. It's very catchy and as Mike would put it, it's very 'commercial'. I wouldn't call it a work of genius though!! Otherwise almost every decent pop song (whatever that is) would be classed as a work of genius

We had this debate when "South American" was released as a single.

I love South American... but genius it's not, except maybe the vocal arrangement.

[MBE]

I remember at the time nobody seemed to like it until it hit. I was just becoming a fan and I remember thinking it was nice that they were popular but I felt it wasn't much. After hearing it a bunch of times I like it less. Just nothing there. To show I don't favor Brian I think Night Time or Walking The Line are just as bad. Still Brian did some great work at the time and so did the Beach Boys if only Somewhere Near Japan and some of the creative 1988 sets.

[PongHit]

... "What the World Needs Now"... those are works of genius.

You mean the Cracker song?

[XY]

"Work of genius" - I didn't mean this literally, of course. Should've written "Work of a Genius". Just wanted to point out that if it would be Brian's work, "Kokomo" wouldn't get the beatings it gets now. People would say "Oooh, Brian was still able to come up with commercial, contemporary music in the 80's that sounds good. What a Genius."
In context that this nice pop song was called a lowpoint in BB history here. A lowpoint! How can a worldwide chart topper be a lowpoint? That's automatically a high point. And because it happened in 1988 and was exactly what the boys needed at that point, I can't understand how the importance can be undervalued with such critism.

[elnombre]

"Work of genius" - I didn't mean this literally, of course. Should've written "Work of a Genius". Just wanted to point out that if it would be Brian's work, "Kokomo" wouldn't get the beatings it gets now. People would say "Oooh, Brian was still able to come up with commercial, contemporary music in the 80's that sounds good. What a Genius."
In context that this nice pop song was called a lowpoint in BB history here. A lowpoint! How can a worldwide chart topper be a lowpoint? That's automatically a high point. And because it happened in 1988 and was exactly what the boys needed at that point, I can't understand how the importance can be undervalued with such critism.

Commercial highpoints and creative highpoints aren't always the same thing.

If Brian had written Kokomo, it would have been the work of a genius, just like if Michelangelo had doodled a picture of his dog taking a whizz.