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There was a pleasent topic about why we dig this group so much.

The first song i ever remember hearing of the Beach Boys was the 1971 Surf's Up song. I discovered it in some random compilation CD at age 13 and I loved it so much.

When I then investigated the group I found all the fun&summer songs and I wasn't really impressed. The I found GOD and WIBN on Sounds of Summer and the rest is history.  I was quite amazed when I learned that SU was piece in the Smile puzzle!  ;D

Any other similar stories?  :)

The first I can remember is "Help Me Rhonda".  I thought he was saying "Help Me Ronnie". 

First one I really "listened to" besides the hits was "Surfs Up" because I'd heard BWPS and almost died of awesome.

The first songs I remember hearing was in 1964 when my older brother bought the Fun Fun Fun/Why Do Fools Fall In Love 45 single. We wore it out quickly on both sides. My brother playing WDFFIL and me with Fun 3x. I was 6 years old at the time, my bro was 15.

1993, I was 6, listened the crap out of good vibrations on an "oldies" compilation.  I admittedly thought it was a beatles song  ;D

My most primal Beach Boys memory would be hearing Little Honda on the radio. I guess it really stood out to a seven year old kid for the "First gear, second gear, third gear" part because at that age counting is still cool.  I'm totally serious. And I always pictured the song being about a car, not a motorcycle. Little boys like cars.

"Surfin"

"Surfin Safari" on an AM radio in my backyard in 1962.

Believe it or not, it was "Ten Little Indians," on my pocket transistor radio.

Surfer Girl. It was on a jukebox at a place where my mom and I use to go. I thought it was the most romantic song in the universe as a kid.

"I Get Around".  1970.  A guy down the street had an older brother who had the "All Summer Long" album. First time I heard it, I kept asking him to play that one cut over and over.  He thought I was nuts.  I went downtown the next day and bought the 45. 

Don't remember when I first heard one of the hits (we had a surf compilation CD when I was a kid), but my first good memory was from a friend around 2007. "What do you mean you haven't heard Good Vibrations?", she asked.

I was entranced. And it was listening to Pet Sounds a couple years later that set me on the spiral to real fandom.

   I Get Around   1964 I think in the UK this would be the first BB record most of us would have heard.

Either Good Vibrations or Help Me Rhonda, back in 1975 when both were playing pretty heavily on the radio.  I thought HMR was by some current nostalgia band, and Good Vibes struck me as weird (I didn't know at the time they were done by the same group, therefore, I made no connection between the two songs).  It would be another five years before I would even have a clue as to who the Beach Boys are, as it took the medley to spark my interest.

Difficult to say as they were such a part of the background growing up. I remember singing along to "Help Me Rhonda" when I was very young.

Similar story.

My first recollection is Vibes, 76 reissue when I was 12. Played the 45 to death - y know, leaving the arm off so the needle returned to the disc on repeat - but then bought 20 Golden Greats and found I'd subliminally known my favourite group for years already, just hadn't associated all those familiar tunes with one band.

Aside from any radio playings, my first KNOW listening to the beach boys was a Pet Sounds LP/CD (I got both for £1) in what I assume was Mid-Late 2010, making my first song Wouldn't It Be Nice. Can't really remember my reaction though, but I didn't play it again for a while. when I did though, I played it again... and again... and again... and again... and again... and again... and again... and again... and again... and again... and again... and again... and again... and again... and again... and again... and again... and again... and again... and again... and again... and again...

You get the idea  ;D

Yep, same.  I remember being about 8 and nagging mum to buy their greatest hits album (she still has it)  and then around 13 listening to it again full on (annoying my Duran Duran loving friends) and loving, You're so good to me, I played that song to death! I liked it because it said you're kind of small and your such a doll, cos I'm only 5'2  :)

Honestly it was probably California Girls or Good Vibrations (thanks to Sunkist).  Like others have mentioned, they were so much a part of the background, everyday music in my young life that it's hard to say.

Kokomo. I was  eight years old at the time and loved it.

Me three. For some reason, I remember Fun Fun Fun being played a lot. My mum had the twenty golden greats CD. But that's the only song I remember until I listened to Pet Sounds, which I only listened to because the NME or something did a 'greatest albums' thing with it in, I think.

I think Kokomo as I used to watch Full House when I was young.

Think it was "Barbara Ann", of all songs. Can't remember where I heard it first, though. Radio, probably.
Really got into them when I was around 15/16. My "music uncle" (like the one in Full House, just older and more beard  ;D) had the GV and Pet Sounds Sessions box sets (among all kinds of cool box sets I saw on that shelf..). One time I visited him in his music shop he said I could listen through all the box set CDs and mix my own Best of The Beach Boys CD in a small "studio" he had set up in the back room of his shop. I'll never forget that. I got past "Barbara Ann" within minutes that day, and was hooked instantly when the piano demo of "Surfin' U.S.A." played at the beginning of disc 1 of the GV box. "Barbara Ann" then didn't even end up on my compilation. Still have that CD somewhere..

I vaguely remember hearing  "Surfin' Safari" first (because it's always seemed familiar) but I definitely remember "Surfin' USA" in '63.

Good Vibrations because of the Sunkist commercial. I was about 5.

same here....1963...surfin usa
to this day i recall "bushy bushy blonde hairdo"
loved it then and still do.....

I used to be a die-hard Aerosmith fan (I still am, but in a smaller manner) and Steven Tyler once mentioned 'Vegetables' from Smiley Smile as one of his all-time favourite songs. I liked it from the very first time.

I grew up in Sacramento, so I was hearing their stuff from the get-go. My older cousin was buying the singles and albums as they came out. I don't remember my exact first impression, though. They were just 'in the air,' part of my life. I do remember that my cousin's friends (they were in high school; I was in grade school) would talk about the difference between the Surfers and the Hards; it had to do with hair styles and tennis shoes versus pointy leather shoes.

Circa 1991/92, at about age 6, one day my mom decided to put on her well worn copy of Endless Summer...she always started it on side 4, which meant my first BBs song was California Girls. I also recall seeing the Lovester doing BTTYS on Full House around that same time period.

The first one I remember was in 1991 when I was five; "Surfin' USA". We sang it as the finale for my kindergarten play.

Surf City. 

Really, probably Surfin' Safari when it first hit the radio.  I was 12. It's still one of my favorite BB songs along with 409, Shut Down, Surfer Girl and Don't Worry Baby.

Honestly, probably Little Saint Nick, because I was born about a week before Christmas and we had it on an Xmas hits album. Besides that, probably CA Girls, Surfin USA, or Surfin Safari on the radio. Some part of me wants to say Surfin USA, mostly because the sound of the "everybody's going surfin', SURFIN USA" always had an effect on me. The first album I ever put on was Endless Summer, because I had found my grandma's vinyl and was looking for names I recognized. The first song I probably sat down and listened to, again and again, was GV.

When my parents got a CD player in 1986 I was given a Bush portable record player and a pile of records.

In between the K-tel and Top of the Pops compilations was a mint copy of the 1966 Best of The Beach Boys, I played that album all through the six weeks holiday that summer. Also out that summer was the film Flight of the Navigator, fond memories of singing along to I Get Around in the cinema.

Still have both player and record, had the player refurbished but the vinyl has seen better times!

I remember as a kid my parents taking me to Johnny Rockets (diner) and while we were waiting on out food and i heard "Wouldnt it be Nice" on the jukebox machine :] from that day on i was interested in everything by the beach boys did.
Thank goodness i didn't hear any of the surfing ones first or i would've dismissed them completely.

"Persil Automatic Washes Whiter"

To the tune of Wouldn't it be nice.

Cheers Murry

Around '64/65, aged 8 or 9, curled up in bed listening to my dad's transistor radio under the blankets and I heard Wendy, that falsetto did something to me. Fast Forward a few year and I'm around 13 or 14 and hear that falsetto again, HOOKED FOR LIFE!!

Thank you Mr Wilson

That's Why I Love The Radio!

for me was All Summer Long from the American Graffiti soundtrack when I was 2 years old!

Ditto this. I was 5 as well (1974 was a good year I guess) I even found the dumb commercial on youtube. I was surprised to hear that it wasn't the Beach Boys at all and probably why it took me 30 years to overcome my anti-Beach Boys bias.

http://youtu.be/i-OvnkRVsF8

My first memory of any music  that  i would actually pay attention to ,  was at the baby sitters house.  She had a big record collection.   I was  probably 11.  And she had lots of records, but she had The Beach Boys Shut Down
Vol 2.   I was fascinated with it.  Loved the harmonies (not that i understood anything) , and the beat.  I had to be the easiest kid to babysit as I sat in her room and listened to records all day...no need to go outside and play. lol.  And the record always skipped in one part on Why Do Fools Fall In Love.  It is so ingrained in me now, when i hear their version, I still "hear" the skip. :)   The Beach Boys kept me off the streets!!!!!!!  She gave me her copy of it. which I wore out.   I remember trying to figure out about the space between songs. lmao.  i thought they just were quiet and started the next song. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH

Whoa, doctor. Eerily similar to my story. I was also 6 and my older bro was 15 as well. But, the single was "I Get Around"/ "Don't Worry Baby". I know I knew of the band before then, but this was the record that I really took notice of and made me a fan.

Surfin Safari. In 1991 I was looking through my dad's cd's and found Endless Summer.

Born in 85, heard the standard stuff as a youngun - "Fun Fun Fun", "Kokomo", "Surfin' USA", "Little Deuce Coupe", wasn't particularly into any of them or found them annoying. I will say I remember "Santa's Beard" being on one of my mom's endless True Value Christmas cassettes when I was about 3 and really enjoying it, although it'd be about 20 more years later until I'd realize it was the Beach Boys.

In 2008, I'd heard about the Beach Boys endlessly and, thinking back to the previously named songs, was baffled when folks would go on about the "genius" of the Beach Boys. I saw an interview with Rivers Cuomo of Weezer praising "I Just Wasn't Made For These Times", gave it a shot, and after repeated listens I really liked it. At *the fucking world's* recommendation, I followed up by listening to the rest of Pet Sounds, because that's the best place to start always no exceptions it's the best album ever it will hook you immediately. Wasn't much into it sans "Wouldn't It Be Nice?" (which I knew I heard before, too), "God Only Knows" (which I'd strangely never heard before), and "I Just Wasn't Made For These Times".

After this, I downloaded a few Smile bootlegs and got really into it from there. "Heroes And Villains" in particular was the first of those batch of songs that stood out to me and I found would not get out of my head not matter how hard I tried. Also should note here that I'm fairly certain I never heard "Good Vibrations" before 2008, either. From there, Smiley Smile (which I loved and took to immediately), a few other stray songs that I read about that sounded interesting, bought Pet Sounds and after repeated listens loved it, too, etc. etc. etc. etc. etc. etc. etc.

Watched American graffitti in 2010, got hooked when I found the full Today! album on youtube.

Mine had to be a car song because my Dad took me to numerous classic car shows and they always play I Get Around, Little Deuce Coupe, 409, and Shut Down. Could have also been Help Me Rhonda, Surfin' USA, or Surfin' Safari as they are played pretty heavily at those types of shows. If I had to narrow it down to one I really took notice of, it would probably be I Get Around or Little Deuce Coupe.

Yep.

Nothing better than a hot rod show with 409 or Surfin' Safari et. al. playing over the PA.

Technically not the first one I ever heard, but the first to leave an impression was Fun, Fun, Fun when I was about 4 (which now that I think about it probably explains my obsession with Thunderbirds ;D )

I know I must have heard some of the surfing stuff before but the first time I consciously listened to the band was the summer of 1973.

The only music we had to listen to was a single cassette my brother had. On one side was the first Roxy Music album, the other was Beach Boys Greatest hits (the UK LP). I think when my brother taped it, he must have flipped the sides as I always remember 'Do It Again' as being the first track and so the first BB song I really listened to. As a result, although my obsession began much, much later, it has always remained one of my favourite BB songs, along with H & V.

I always found it curious as to why, for what was in effect a 1966-and beyond compilation (apart from a few non-surfing earlier ones), that 'Wouldn't It Be Nice' was not included.

probably 409.

I'm sure I'd heard a few songs and the Sunkist commercial as well but "Catch A Wave" is the one that really stands out in my memory. I had a couple friends and we would rock out playing air guitar and drums to one of their dad's record collection. 'Endless Summer' was the album that got played, and I remember being pretty confused and a maybe little bit frightened by all the bearded faces on the cover.

"Surfin USA" sticks out in my memory too and also the first verse of "Wouldn't It Be Nice" which was featured on another TV commercial selling a greatest hits album. There was also the Beach Boys medley 45 that my dad picked up around the same time.

I was really into Def Leppard and Quiet Riot around that time, but there was something about the Beach Boys.....!

I'm sure I've recounted this story before, but here we go again.

Summer 1986. My parents take me and my brother to see the Disney movie "Flight of the Navigator" as part of my birthday gift. There's a scene where the kid is flying around in the spaceship and scanning the radio before landing on "I Get Around". I was hooked!  The next day I took some of my birthday money and bought "Endless Summer" on cassette. The rest, as they say, is history.

The Wipeout rap :rock From my brother's record collection when I was young (sometime between the ages of 6 and 9, probably), even as such a youngster I didn't really care for rap and never thought anything more of it.

I know people tend to look through rose-tinted specs at these kinds of things so permit me to do so:

Fast forward about 10 years and I hear WIBN on "50 First Dates", leave to stew for another year or two then, on a sunny summer's afternoon no less, I decide to listen to WIBN and some of their other tunes - like many people here at that point I realised I'd been a fan of the BB's longer than I knew - "Fun x3", "I Get Around" and "Kokomo" had all been lingering in my memory for awhile and I never put 2 and 2 together. All this while I was downstairs listening to Bob Dylan's Biograph on my mum and dad's hi-fi while they were out. Later on my friends came over and we went and played outside. Bliss.

the time i realized i was a hardcore bb fan when i actually bought wild honey and said f*** it it's different but i can give it a few listens and it might just sink in :) lol

I think I heard Kokomo and Barbara Ann when I was really young, but the first song I remember hearing that made a big impact was God Only Knows. I was six and the Pet Sounds Sessions had just been released; my stepdad was (is) a huge fan, so of course he went out and bought it and started playing it religiously. One day he brought out the CD player and was like, "Hey, listen to this," and he played God Only Knows, and then right after that he played the backing track, and I thought he had performed some sort of wizardry to take the words out.

I remember it so vivdly, too...I sat on the kitchen counter listening to it and I asked him what it meant when he said, "I may not always love you," and then I got a long explanation of what the song meant. Good memories!

I still find the love Rivers gave The Beach Boys in '02 insanely strange. I just can't picture the Fred Durst loving, Only In Dreams bashing, Maladroit creating Cuomo praising IJWMFTT. It'd be more in sync with his erratic and regressive behaviour for him to say that his favourite song was 'Barbara Ann' or 'Kokomo' or something along those lines.

~moving on~

I was born in '94 with both of my parents just falling outside of the era which got to experience The Beach Boys in their glory days and as such, I wasn't exposed to them very much in my youth. I recall singing Surfin' Safari and a Beach Boys arrangement of Do You Wanna Dance? in my choir when I was around six or seven. I enjoyed the songs, but didn't give a lot of thought to the people behind the music.

I became a pretty big Weezer fan in 2010 and grew to love band dramas, 'what if' scenarios and shy, awkward rock stars venting their frustrations through stellar melodies. I guess you could say it was pretty easy for me to become a Beach Boys fan! :lol

OMG, I love telling this story...

I was born in the mid-70s. My dad used to play the hell out of Glen Campbell's I Remember Hank Williams album; heck, he'd probably STILL play the hell out of it if my parents' old console record player weren't being used to prop up one of my mother's decorative statues...anyway...it had the orange Capitol label with the gold text on the bottom. I remember it well.

Sometimes when my parents and brother weren't home I'd be dropped off at the neighbor's house to be baby-sat while her husband was working and her kids were in school. I remember once when I was over there, I was maybe three years old, she pulled out a record, and I saw the orange Capitol label. Now....being a three-year-old, I didn't know that different records could have the same label design, so I thought, "Oh, wow, Mrs. Merillat has dad's Glen Campbell record!" So she put it on the turntable, and instead of hearing the smooth sound of Glen Campbell's voice singing "I Could Never Be Ashamed Of You," I heard...

"Round, round, geeeeit around...."

And I absolutely HATED IT. The sound of that whiny voice got on my little nerves. And in fact, to this day I absolutely cannot stand "I Get Around." (It's been said -- possibly by someone on this board -- that every BB/BW fan has a song that s/he hates that everybody else loves. My wife's is "Marcella." Mine is "I Get Around.")

So how did I become a fan? Well, over the years, I heard other radio-friendly Beach Boys stuff that grew on me, especially because I always loved vocal harmony. Once before I became a fan I heard "We Three Kings" on the oldies station and it blew my mind....but anyway, in 1986, I overdosed on Monkees. After that overdose I decided it was time to move on, so I tried The Beatles in 1987 (partly as an attempt to drive my brother insane -- MTV was constantly showing the cartoon "Twist And Shout" clip, driving my brother to the brink of blowing his head off, so of course I made it a point to get a Beatles album that had "Twist And Shout" from the library) and got hooked (and, sorry to upset you all, but to this day the Beatles are my favorite....by far). So after OD'ing on Beatles for a couple of years, I decided it was once again time to expand my horizons...I figured heck, I never turn off the Beach Boys when I hear 'em on the radio (except for "I Get Around"), so why not? I went to the library, got a few Beach Boys albums, dropped the needle on Best of the Beach Boys Vol. 2 and was instantly blown off the face of the earth by the opening harmonies of "Don't Worry, Baby."

The first two CDs I ever heard at 3 years old (besides the best of Barney  :lol) were Still' Cruisin' and Made In U.S.A. I have vague memories of shaking my skinny toddler ass to Surfin' Safari in my living room, listening to Somewhere Near Japan and Make It Big on repeat in front of my Aiwa boombox, listening to God Only Knows thinking it was a gospel tune, and singing Help Me Rhonda to a 4th grade crush in the school cafeteria. Great soundtrack for a little kid!

Just coasted on those two CDs til I rented the Sunflower/Surf's Up and Today!/Summer Days two-fers from the library in 10th or 11th grade, around the same time I began to respect music a tad more due to a certain dried flower. Rented Pet Sounds soon after and bought up the rest of the albums; been a full-blown BB-head ever since!

"I Get Around" in "Look Who's Talking".

Don't know what the first one I ever heard was but remember sitting in my dad's car watching him competing in a surfing contest in the late eighties whilst listening to a home made mix tape of BB songs, the one I remember most on it was 'Livin' With A Heartache'. That was enough for me, birthday came soon and went out and bought Summer Dreams compliation. The rest is history!

Cottonfields, they made us little kids sing it in class  8) Think it was number one or something at the time

It's my earliest musical memory. I heard 'I Get Around' come over the PA at a school play my sister was in. I was very, very little, but it just sounded crazy to me (in a good way).

Several years later, '20 Golden Greats' led me to Heroes and Villains. From there I hit Pet Sounds (which honestly took a few listens to sink in...but boy, did it ever). Sessions box then sent me to the edge before Smile boots piledrived me into the madness forever. 

Ah, I wish I knew! They've surrounded me since before I was conscious, as they were always in heavy rotation on the radio station my parents used to put on when we were in the car. Most likely the big, old hits, like "California Girls," or "Surfin' USA." I'd say their first song that really caught my ear and made me think that they were really something special was "Wouldn't It Be Nice."