The Smiley Smile Message Board

Tonight, Carole King is being honored with the Gershwin Prize at the White House by the Library of Congress.  The previous recipients have been Paul Simon, Stevie Wonder, Paul McCartney, and Burt Bacharach & Hal David.  Shouldn't Brian Wilson be next?  After all, here's a guy who made an entire album from Gershwin songs, an award called the Gershwin Prize is especially appropriate for him.  That and he totally deserves it.

Or how about we give THE BEACH BOYS some kind of high honor? Or Carl a posthumous honor for vocal excellence? .... Or Dennis, or Mike?

Fair questions

The Gershwin Prize is for songwriting, and Brian definitely deserves it.

As for The Beach Boys, they should be given a Kennedy Center Honor as a group, imho.

+1

Definitely.

He's probably overdue for it, actually.

I'll be surprised if he doesn't receive this prize in the next few years.

I'm not surprised he hasn't received it. The Beach Boys and Brian are not appreciated in the U.S. like they should be. But you know, the other recipients have also deserved it, and with Carol King, it's great they recognized that there are women in the arts, too. I hope Brian is next. Did Bob Dylan already get this prize? I thought he did. If not, I'm guessing he's next.

Maybe Brian doesn't get the award, since he's not really a rolemodel with all his drugging and drinking history.

I don't think the award has a morals clause. Besides which, Paul McCartney should be disqualified if that were the case. He's even had an arrest history for drugs, and I'm sure he still smokes pot and drinks now. I don't understand why Paul McCartney gets American honor awards like this prize and the Kennedy Center honor when he's not a US citizen. Surely there are deserving Americans. He's already a sir in England, let them take care of his trophy case.

Alas, poor Yorick -- what does that have to do with Brian's songwriting acheivments? Der.

That is probably the only music award Brian has not received as of today

Does he even want it? I mean, I'm sure it makes him proud to get award after award, but it doesn't seem he likes to do the major appearances - he seemed absolutely mortified at the Grammys. I've never seen anyone rush through a speech so fast!

You must be kidding asking this. Of course, he wants it! As an accomplished songwriter, he has enough ambition & ego to aim at getting as much musical awards as possible, being in one league with the other acclaimed composers. I'm sure that he loves himself & of high opinion about himself. I'd very surprised if he didn't, after all given accolades with or w/o The BBs.

So yes, it's a more than a fair question. Brian - like no one else - MUST be the next Gershwin Prize recipient, not just "should".

The award has only existed for less than five years. It's not exactly a "name" award. The people who hand it out have screwy criteria. Paul Simon was the first recipient, and Bob Dylan hasn't gotten one. It's not like these folks have the best of taste.

But it's also technically the highest honor for a popular musician to receive in the United States.

Taste is pretty subjective...for instance, I think Paul Simon is the greatest songwriter in American music history and Bob Dylan, while I enjoy him, is pretty significantly overrated. I don't see how anyone could possibly not think Paul Simon deserves that award.  So what you mean when you say these folks don't have the best of taste is really "they don't share my taste."

Another major one he hasn't got is the Polar Music Prize, handed out annually by the king of Sweden. It's major in Sweden at least, don't know about abroad.

The prize (not honor) has only existed since 2007, so by definition, it's not the highest honor/prize (it's also for songwriters only, not musicians in general).  The Kennedy Center prize might have a little more heft, and even it hasn't existed but for a few decades, and again, it's only as good as the human voting panel that selects it. BW already has a Kennedy Center honor, which has a higher public profile, anyways.

Billy Joel is getting the next one.
http://www.loc.gov/today/pr/2014/14-122.html

Brian deserves it more.

the people behind it want to meet Macca, just like the Nobel committee wanted to meet Obama in 08

Brian probably has no room left on his awards shelf

Nothing stops him to reave one of his kids' shelf, tho.

Don't think he's got the Nobel Music Prize yet.

Yes, of course he ought to have this. Musically, he's way ahead of some of these recipients.

Brian would obviously be fully deserving of this prize but, in terms of success, it`s hard to criticize the recipients thus far.

And one thing that maybe counts against Brian is that his last top 20 hit (in his homeland) was written in 1968. The recipients so far have all had much more prolonged periods of success.

Or the Teen Choice Award.

Get Rosie O'donnell to host again ;D

I love Carole King but her getting it before Brian who really is a giant of popular music is nuts

Absolutely! I heard "Tapestry" & didn't like any single song, which is rare & usually I have 1-2 favorites. It was all 1 big bore. The voice is okay, though.