The Smiley Smile Message Board

As I was listening to "Some of Your Love" off KTSA, something struck me - "Why is it," I thought. "That alot of people don't like this song?"

Then I realized. I realized why I like it and others don't. Why I like the entirety of the Beach Boys catalogue.

I love lame things with group vocals. Look at it this way - if it's just one schmo by himself making crappy music, that's one thing. But if that schmo has convinced four other people to sing along with him, it gains a mythic quality. Even if Brian or Mike or whoever wrote a terrible song, they've somehow managed to convince the rest of the band that it's at least good enough to sing on. There must be something to the song that everyone'd be willing to contribute to it.

I love nostalgia. The first full Beach Boys album I listened to was Pet Sounds. Not because I was looking for mature music. Not because I was looking for baroque pop. Not because I'm a music snob. But because I wanted to listen to music from the 1960s. I like music from the past. I also like music that tries to sound like it's from the past.

I have an emotional connection to the members. I *love* It's OK. You know why? Because Mike sounds so happy on it. Can't you just imagine how he felt singing backing vocals on the Smile songs? Can you imagine how bored he must've been shaking his inaudible tambourine during the three-minute moog solo on Leaving This Town? How pained he must've felt when people were BEGGING him for Be True To Your School and all he could offer them was Vegetables and It's About Time? Now just imagine all that going away with It's OK. Don't worry Mike, it's okay now. Brian's back, Mike, and he's going to make everything alright for you. Screw being progressive, that's not what the kids want. This is how I can listen to Summer in Paradise with a smile.

It's amazing to see how a certain formula can be filtered through different genres. Here Comes the Night, in all of its ten-and-a-half minute glory, sounds like the Beach Boys. But it's disco! Smack dab in the middle of a soft rock album, at that! I love seeing the Beach Boys through the ages performing the same songs, too. The same clean-cut skinny boys in 1964 singing I Get Around are the same hippies in 1971 singing I Get Around and are the same bearded fat men in funny hats and long socks in 1980 singing I Get Around. I love the 1981 Brian at Long Beach performance of Don't Worry Baby because so much had happened to Brian since he first sang that song. I'm not even talking about his voice. But it's still the same Brian. And it's so interesting that a band well-known for its youth-oriented songs lived such adult lives.

I like the Beach Boys because their music is so different and BETTER than everything else I've ever heard...and not only that, they are uplifting as if they couldn't help it. They could sing about jumping off of the Brooklyn Bridge and make it sound positive. They've been there, done that. In a Royal Rumble of bands, they would reign supreme. They span from one end of the spectrum to the other. Captian and Tenille, Fat Boys, Jan and Dean, John and Paul, Kennedy to Reagan, eight trillion others, and one Charles  (scumbag) Manson. 

Not only was their music better than everybody elses', but Brian's been through more than Led Zeppelin and Motley Crue combined, and he survived on top. Mike Love has damn near pissed off the entire world- WHATS MORE ROCK AND ROLL THAN THAT?? Carl and Dennis have created some of the greatest music ever, made all the more intriguing in my opinion in the fact that to this day it is relatively underground to the mainstream, and Alan is a Running Back who sings Help Me Rhonda...that's unbelievable. Bruce...is Bruce.....

Hell, I love the Beach Boys. It all comes down to the music.  :rock

I don't like The Beach Boys at all. They're horrible people.  :o

 :lol :lol :lol :lol ;D

Im a sucker for full grown men singin like angels..Allways have been..ANYTIME.. Im in any kind of weird or bad mood the music lifts my spirits..When i was a kid growin up same time their image gave this kid an idenity..{?}..No Pacifico.. !!..And much of their music is hard to play + sing..How many times have You gone in a club + seen a cover band playin their music
Hardly ever..!!..Brians 88lp got me thru a divorce after 10 yrs of marriage.. Never saw it comin.. Played his lp numerous times a day to get thru the sorrow..  BB are my friends.. Apart of the story + memories of my life.. I cannot imagine my life without BB music.... Being a semi pro musician myself i treat all musicians famous or not.. Like regular people.. BB when i meet them i shake + get very nervous + kind of speechless.. Which is not a good thing if ya ever wanna work with them..
LOL..!!.. Beach Boy boards are the only ones i really read or post on..After ALL these years im still obsessed..!!!!

First of all I think the better question is Who can't like the Beach Boys? There are certain musically illiterate half-wits out there that can't appreciate the genius of the Beach Boys and that's OK cuz' they can go f*** themselves. As for me at 22 I've been a Beach Boys fanatic since the tender age of 7. I have every album (LP & CD), I've read several books, seen several films etc. and it never gets old to me. I'm a devout punk rocker and rock n' roll enthusiast but nothing for me tops Brian Wilson. My other favorite bands the Ramones and the Queers wouldn't exist if it weren't for the Beach Boys. Why would someone dig the Beach Boys? I don't even think it really needs an explanation really, it's rock music at it's finest, pop music at it's finest, vocal talent at it's finest, songwriting etc. I could go on and on...
 8)

In all seriousness though, they are like the coolest band. You don't feel so detached from it then say The Beatles. There is way too many Beatles fans to the point it doesn't feel personal. Liking this band is such community. When I was left alone and my mom had to work two jobs and my dad the night shift and I was left alone most of the time, I came here to learn and have fun. It has been a crazy soon to be 5 years of liking this band. I am friends with people I would have NEVER would have known had it been for them. Plus there is so much variety in the catalog, it's insane. After hearing Pet Sounds at 15, my fate was sealed.

When I was in my early teens (90-95), I was into stuff like Boyz 2 Men, All 4 One, Glad, Acapella and Take 6. I loved vocal harmonies. Then I discovered the Beach Boys and other oldies harmony groups like the Four Seasons, Jan and Dean, etc.

Of all the groups I've listed, the Beach Boys are the only one I still listen to today!! I still love the harmonies, but I've become more aware of the experimental/artistic backing tracks and lyrics. Now I am more into the later Beatles, Pink Floyd, ELO, REM, Radiohead, Flaming Lips, etc.

The Beach Boys were able to combine fun, strange, artistic and emotional into their music. And it makes me smile.

Almost 50 years of good music and bad, hero's and villains, life and death. Sex, drugs and rock and roll as a soap opera. Tabloid Rock.

You can not make this stuff up!

There's a book, a work of fiction titled 'Boy's Life' by Robert McCammon. In the course of that tale, one of the characters hears the Beach Boys recording of I Get Around for the very first time. His reaction to it very much resembles my own first experience. It's impossible for me to describe it, but that account has always stayed with me and is probably the main reason I love the music.

i like the Beach boys because of Brian's "girly" high voice, despite his disowning it in later years.  ;)

I like the Beach Boys because they were real people, and didn't get caught up in that "trying to be hip" thing that Lennon and McCartney fell into - Brian couldn't help but say what he was thinking, whether it was "cool" or stupid or deranged, and the others were the same.  Lennon was always playing mind games with people, Carl and Al and Mike and Dennis were more genuine.  Mike did try to be hip in the Surf's Up era as he attempted to justify his continued presence in the band (Student Demonstration Time) but he also wrote his best song (on his own) at this time, Big Sur.

One of the main reasons why I still listen to Summer In Paradise is because 1992 was the year I first saw The Beach Boys. It gives me a warm, fuzzy feeling. One of my fondest memories as a little kid(7-ish) is singing Little Deuce Coupe with my cousin...just him and I. Two people, singing five part harmony.  :lol Whoever mentioned "nostalgia" in this thread nailed it. Now, as a twenty two year old, I realise just how groundbreaking The Beach Boys, and Brian Wilson were. But, I suppose I keep coming back to that image of two little kids singing Little Deuce Coupe. Sure it's corny....but all that summer, fun in the sun stuff reminds me of one of the happiest times in my life.

I love ther fact that I can find a good song on *every* album, even "Still Crusin" (I just discovered that I like Somewhere Near Japan).

Yeah, that song is still one of the greatests of all time for me.

I love the Beach Boys, sure they don't rock like the Stones or sometimes you might think the Beatles are better, but it's everything about the Beach Boys. The people, the story and the music. I Get Around brings those happy days back when I discovered the Beach Boys. I like all albums, everyone has something for me. For every situation there is a Beach Boys song. If I am sad I listen to stuff like Warmth Of The Sun, Tears In The Morning, Don't Worry Baby, ... and there are too so many songs that makes me smile (Time To Get Alone, All Summer Long, etc). They do have pop songs, some rocking ones, even a bit classic, rap, disco, a little blues and jazz too, psychedelic stuff, surf music, waltz, they have everything, that's why I love them so.  :)

When I am really sad I just need to listen to Good Timin' and then everythings allright again. Thanks Brian, Dennis, Carl, Mike, Al and Bruce.

My favorite line in American Grafitti is when the teen-age girl turns around to the guy who's driving and exclaims: "Everyone knows The Beach Boys are boss!". There will never be another band like The Beach Boys.

I like the Beach Boys for many reasons. Among the top: It is a band with a sound dripping with positive energy. The songs make me feel real good, and start any day in an upbeat mood. The harmonies are uplifting, the arrangements imaginative, and the songwriting creative.
   A Big reason I like the Boys is because their songs can be listened too on many different levels. I can take in the whole sound, or I can listen to harmonic arrangements and be amazed, or I can listen to the musicianship and be amazed, and always hear something new everytime I listen, because so much is in there. That's part of what makes the music and the sound timeless.

The Beach Boys...whats there not to like??

 :thewilsons

For 6 or 7 albums released in between '65 and '77. That is it, really. I find nothing that I'd want to emulate in any of their lives as far as I can tell from reading this board and the odd book or article. However much I think Brian, Dennis and Carl seem very genuine and sincere, only Dennis was a role model as such, but so far out he is out of sight to most mortals.

There really hasn't been a single officially released song by the Beach Boys, together or solo, that I don't like in some way or another.  Now there are some unreleased songs that I can't bring myself to listen to all the way through (like almost all of Sweet Insanity and other early 90's Brian demos), but I think it's more because of the production quality rather than the quality of the actual songs.

I go through phases where I'll like a certain artist for a few months, and then it fades away.  There are probably less than 10 artists that I will always be a big fan of.  The Beach Boys are #1 on that list, and have been since I became a fan in 1991.  Watching and listening to them go through so many distinct phases in their career is just so interesting.  Listening to their music gives me pieces of the puzzle and I think about what the group was going through at that particular time.  I think that's why the 70's music appeals to me the most.  They were going through a time where they were struggling to find a new identity and there was a constant pull back and forth and every which way to get there.  All the music is beautiful AND is part of a very intriguing story.

Have to disagree with this.

I don't think that Lennon and McCartney tried to be hip. They were what they were, and this was considered hip at some points, less so at others. "Wings" were a desperately unfashionable band. In the mid 60s the Beatles had Brian Epstein styling them which is why they looked a lot better than Murry's Boys.

Lennon ... complicated person. Mind games, maybe. Ill-judged publicity, perhaps. Fake, definitely not. More committed and intellectual than any of the Beach Boys and an obvious inspiration for Dennis Wilson judging by similarities between Imagine and POB.  Very different person to Mike Love but both of them were rock'n'rollers.

I should probably think about this more before I post it, and I will probably want to come back and revise it, but here goes.  I think The Beach Boys music is the saddest music in the world, at least the songs I like, and this includes the "happy songs", the sad songs, and everything in-between.  I'm not sure why, but it has always been this way for me.  The "sad" songs need no explanation, I suppose.  Perhaps the reason the happy songs make me sad is because they point to an ideal that simply doesn't exist in this world.  Life has its happy moments, sometimes these moments last for a long time, but they never last forever.  The sadness always returns, sometimes you even realize this fact in the midst of bliss, which makes the bliss all thr more enjoyable, in some bitter-sweet way.  Brian's songs almost make you want to climb inside and live there....forever.  To stop time at that moment (or two minutes of moments) and live eternally in that bliss.  But that cannot be done in this life and this truth is heart-breaking.  It's been said that the saddest sentiment is "what could have been" and I think Brian's music either captures what could have been, the reminder of which is painful, or ponders the absence of  it.  It's like seeing a beautiful landscape in nature and not being able to capture it on film.  Or seeing a beautiful scene in nature and wanting to somehow touch it, or internalize it...or consume it.  Another impossibility.  You cannot "have" it even as you enjoy it, and once you turn away you have only the memory, which is yet another reminder of not actually having it, and now not even being able to sense it.

I believe that for me, Brian's music captures this but not just about scenery, rather about the most important things in life, love, relationships, the fleeting moments of good, the never-ending search for filling-up the empty, and so on.

Or something like that.

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If Beach Boys music makes you sad, then I don't know what else to say except you might want to see a doctor. Really.

I must've been drunk or something when I wrote that post. I just like the music because it's good music. it's so weird when people bump old threads, I feel like I'm a completely different person than I used to be.

That's a bit cold! What kind of monster doesn't listen to Pet Sounds occasionally, flashing back to f*cked up love and sobbing intermittently?

Mike Love: "Brian was melancholy."

Mr. Positivity had a point. Brian was and is and that sad, nostalgic melancholic flavor runs all through his work, through the forced grins.

Simple. They're the best.

The Beach Boys are all about what it means to be a human being: a complex and imperfect creature hard-wired for the full range of emotional experience..... No one has translated this into any art form (or demonstrated it in their lives) better than The Beach Boys.

Mmm, yeah -- that sounds right. Also the family dynamic is so incredible, Shakespearean almost. It gives them a weird bond above and beyond the brotherly semi-telepathic thing you usually get with bands, the same gooey DNA and drama that fed into such a whirling, changing mass... endlessly interesting.

For the reasons I partially explained above there is a certain sadness even in happiness.  I'm not sure why you don't see it.  Think of it this way.  What is Brian doing in Caroline No?  He is comparing the present to the past and lamenting the loss of something which he values as good and therefore the loss of this thing is bad.  There is sadness in once having something of value and no longer having it, right?  And when Brian thought back on that good thing which he no longer had (and which, in his mind, no longer existed) it illicited sadness.  Now I take it that the things that illicit happiness in the happy songs by The Beach Boys are viewed as good and desirable things by those who like the songs.  Either one has those things or one does not have those things.  If one has them, then I suppose that being reminded of the good things one has would illicit happiness.  But if one does not have them then I would think it is reasonable for the song to illicit sadness, much like it did for Brian as he communicated in Caroline No.  Now, does anyone have what is sung about in the happy songs by The Beach Boys?  I have experienced the California Myth.  But the moments were fleeting...and of course there is a reason it is referenced as a myth.  Most of the time I am not living the California Myth.  Most of the time, therefore, when I hear those songs and think on those things I am either thinking about something I've never really had or that I had very briefly.  In other words, most of the time I hear Brian's happy music I am being reminded of good things which I either never had or no longer have and, like it did for Brian in Caroline No, it illicits sadness.

I'm sure I've not changed your mind and I am not trying to, but perhaps I've better explained mine.  Perhaps not.

I'm sorry. You're certainly entitled to your own personal emotional response to the Beach Boys music, and I was being insensitive. I hope things are going well for you, and that you're listening to some music that makes you happy.

Hey, sometimes you WANT music that makes you want to slip into a warm bath and slit your wrists! That's what Nico's "The Marble Index" is for.

I'm reading you loud and clear, mypetsounds. Great posts.

I don't remember the source, the when or the where, but somewhere there is a description floating around of Pet Sounds that a writer or reviewer offered, something to the effect of "sad songs and even sad songs about being happy."  Sad songs about being happy.  That's a pretty good accomplishment.

Pass on that, thanks.

I once listsned to"Marble Index", "Desertshore" and "The End" back to back in one sitting!

I indeed wanted to slit my wrists so I threw on Lou Reed's "Berlin" which sounded like Sunflower in comparison!  ;D

I know that some people feel that way, but I never do. I don't really understand that.

Good thing you didn't put on Metallica & Lou Reed's Lulu, otherwise you may have actually done it.

Agreed!

Lou and those guys should be locked in a dark room with "Metal Machine Music" blasting for, like, a solid year as punishment!

I couldn't agree more! :)

I think Nico's stuff (Chelsea Girls excepted)  is a bit misunderstood. John Cale had it right when he referred to "The Marble Index" as a contribution to European Classical music. It has nothing to do with pop music or even rock n roll and is only really depressing when you look at it through a pop/rock prism, and the lyrical content is more thoughtful and reflective than the music would suggest.

Roses in the Snow
(Nico)

He came your way
And when he had to go
There were roses growing in the snow
Silently you'll go to the shadow of your soul
And you know that it was like this before we had to go

You will never see these lights
Glowing in your nights
Until you feel this way

With every moon it is as though you're getting closer to your soul
And then you go alone and with no fear
Then you will know
That it was like this before we had to go
And you will find that you were blind
Until you saw these lights glowing in your nights

He came your way
And when he had to go
There were roses growing in the snow
Silently you'll go to the shadow of your soul
But you know it was like this before we had to go

You will never see these lights
Glowing in your nights
If you don't know
And there are roses growing in the snow

PEP-AIR SHE'S HAFFING FUN
SHE THINKSSS SHES SOME MANSSS SSSON
AMPHETAMEEN HASSS MAD HAIR SSSSICK
AND WHEN HE DIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIE
THEY GAFE HIM MIIIIIIIIIILK

HEEUH THEY CUMMMM NHAAAAAOOOOWW
SEE THEM RHUNNNNNN NHAAAAAOOOOOOWWW
HEEUH THEY CUMMMM NHAAAAOOOOWWWW
CHELSEE GUHHHLLLLLSSSSS

In Nico's defense, she didn't write those lyrics! That would be Mr. Sunshine Reed!

Naw, I enjoy the song (mostly), although that's about the point in the song where fifty verses have passed and you're like "This fucking song in seven minutes long - is it ever going to change things up?" And then it does.

inb4 someone tells me I don't get it or something.

I have the same experience with that song myself each and every time.

The lead part Sterling Morrison does really makes it for me!

I think Lou Reed needs to go on tour and perform Sunflower in it's entirety! I'd pay to see that!