The Smiley Smile Message Board

Just idle speculation but I wonder if the Beach Boys were starting to lose heart with the failure of Friends & 20/20, poor concert attendances in the late sixties, and , of course, Brian decreasing input to the point that they thought about packing it in. Have they ever mentioned it?
In which case, do you think it was their success in Europe caused them to perserve; Wild Honey, friends, and 20/20 all charted well in Britain. Cotton Fields and breakaway were hits whereas they flopped in the states and Do it Again was a number 1.
At what other times do you think they may have thought of breaking up but continued? The Australian tour of 77?

That Europe saved them?  I think they saved themselves.  Few people have a straight line of perfect successes and often what works in one market might not work in a other.  They found a receptive market, in an age where, there was turmoil and music change at warp speed.  They could have retired and thrown in the towel, and taken the "path of least resistance."

The music is "timeless" but there was a perception that it was not perceived  "timely" in the States. And often "perception" is not "reality." There seemed to be almost a compulsion to release music that had a message, during that era.  Protest music did double duty. It was a constant cattle prod, that elected officials could not escape.  They could turn people off at the end of a protest rally, but hear the same message, on the radio, so that force in the States gathered momentum, and other musicians, who often had a political message swung support for radio airtime, which eventually spilled over to television. It was inescapable discord.

 This Vietnam war was the first one on TV, with network reporters in the field (Vietnam) reporting, and echoes of Country Joe and the Fish singing, "And it's 1-2-3 -- what are we fighting' for -- don't ask me, I don't give a damn--next stop is Vietnam!"  How could you compete with an enraged country; assassinations, recession, etc.?

And, I'm not sure that Europe saved them as much as they saved themselves by working in a market that was not so entrenched politically, and being open minded, and not lazy, exploring more viable options, when others could have, and did quit.  Good strategy.

I remember reading about european tours during the "low" era (in H&V the book) and it seems like they lost money on all those tours.

Yeah, but I bet they had a fun time!!!!! ;D

Some, but not entirely. No doubt they were helped in those post-Capitol years, but seriously, we're only talking about a period of time that lasted 4-5 years. That's not much in the big picture spanning 5 decades of music. Sure, they needed a boost, the European market was much more friendly to the Beach Boys at that time in the early 70's, but when the "classic" Beach Boys songs started to re-appear, thanks to George Lucas and the Endless Summer package, the fans remembered how great these guys could be.

If you have as strong a body of work as the Beach Boys' 1960's catalog on Capitol, the fans will always come back for more, no matter which continent they're from. The music will always save the band, if and when they need savin'. :)

'The Beach Boys saved themselves' is a good reply. Its certainly true. My heading may have seemed a bit provoctive. I think its a time in their history to be admired. they all stepped up to the songwriting burden created by Brian taking a backseat and wrote some great songs, they put out albums that were brave artistic statements considering the heavy rock sound that was popular at the time, and as you say they worked their asses off building up a respected live reputation. My point was every artist probably needs a bit of positive affirmation for their efforts and that their success in Europe may have provided this.
By the way, I'm not British so am not being nationalistic bout it :)
Was wondering more about if they ever thought about calling it a day during those lean years

Very true

Yes, they saved themselves, but popularity abroad had to have helped them endure a very bad period here in the states. In the life of a rock band, 4-5 years is a long time in which many acts would have called it a day. At least they could travel and perform where their music was appreciated and well received in concert.

I agree that Europe (and other parts of the world) must have helped the band a great deal in the late 60s. Bruce stated in the Endless Harmony doc I think that it enabled him to block out the fact that they were failing at home and the successes of albums, Breakaway and Cottonfields must have boosted their confidence at a difficult time. If they were relying solely on the domestic market then it's possible that they could have survived but it would have made it much more difficult.

Endless Summer did.

They did kinda break up in september of '77. On Al's birthday.

As you well know, there were many years in between their fall in America and the release of Endless Summer. Endless Summer actually was what helped propel them to Superstardom for the second time. I think hard work, endless touring, Jack Rielly and the Surf's Up album together help them to slowly rise from the ashes in the U.S..