The Smiley Smile Message Board

Idk if this has been posted before buts what the worst Beach Boy song ever?
Besides Kokomo :lol

I'm gonna have to go with Good Vibrations. ::)

But for real, I'd say it was something off SIP. I'd be more specific if I could tolerate listening to it more than I have, which is almost once...

Throw a dart at the back of Summer In Paradise.


If forced to choose, I'd say 'Strange Things Happen', in which Al Jardine learns about sex.

It's kind of a shame to have to say this, but I could probably name about 5 just from the pre-Pet Sounds era and I'd have trouble deciding.  What's worse, is that I haven't even heard Student Demonstration Time or some of the later contenders.  That said, I'd take only Kokomo on a desert island for the rest of my life than have to listen to them covering Louie, Louie.

Kokomo is great. Besides the obvious choices from the post-KTSA era, I'd say Sunshine or Rock And Roll Music.

I really do not like Everyone's In Love With You.

The alternate version of SIP I actually like a lot.


I would say their redo of Fun Fun Fun with Status Quo  :ahh

I love Sunshine! But Everyone's in Love With You and In the Still of the Night are up there, though. After a few more listens to Still Cruisin just to make sure, and I'll have a slew of others.

In The Still Of The Night is great, but then I think it's scientifically impossible to cover that song badly.

Either of the TM songs and/or Funky Pretty/Steamboat.  Besides, I like Kokomo. It's a catchy tune with some good singing. No problem.

Funky Pretty or Steamboat???

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PrRK5KD-eKM

just a random summer in paradise song.

The sad thing about this is that in the future, this is gonna be considered better than a lot of the new music out there. And the good Beach Boys music is going to be like Bach, Gershwin, etc...

Trick question, no such thing!

Summer of Love.

Problem Child

I abhor California Calling!

+1

There is no question, no contest, nothing to discuss.

It is Summer of Love. Full stop.

Mike rapping. A hook stolen from an earlier (yet still lame) Brian Wilson song. Digital-lite production that sounds like the audio equivalent of one of those crappy 3D Magic Eye pictures -- yet it never resolves into anything recognizable.

Awful beyond measure. And Brian appears in the video! Astonishing.

LISTEN: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iBFsJk6PWu0

Eh. I see this as likely, but then I see it being just as likely that people will give a sh*t about music again and the overall situation has improved. As long as popular, modern music has been around, there's always been a lot of bad music as well as a fair amount of good music too, regardless of decade.

Happy Endings

Honorary mention goes to the Crocodile Rock video

Officially: Summer of Love

Unofficially: Battle Hymn Of The Republic

        Love Is A woman....... it just spoils Love You for me.

Man, folks are mentioning some great ones here, In The Still Of The Nite, Steamboat, Love Is A Woman...
I agree with Funky Pretty, though. A fan favorite I have never been able to stomach.

I agree with those nominating Summer of Love. In the Still of the Night is awful as well though...

Of the solo stuff, The Waltz was atrocious.

  I love  In The Still Of The Night..Steamboat..Funky Pretty.. and The Waltz.. so there you go.

Agreed. Embarrassing. I love "strange things happen' though, and a few other tracks on the album. Not a hater of Summer in Paradise at all, just this particular track.

I can't think of my least favourite Beach Boys song, but the one that I hate that everybody else seems to adore is Long Promised Road. I cannot for the life of me get into this one. I've always imagined Carl standing at the mic ready to record to lead vocals when suddenly Jack Reilly hands him a sheet of freshly penned prose and then darts to the control booth, gives Carl a thumbs up and presses record. Carl is left to force the 'lyrics' into the most contrived performances of his life.

Some parts are really pretty (such as the section that starts 1:20), but as a whole, the song makes me cringe harder than anything else from the 62-73 era. If I was looking for a '71 Carl Wilson masterpiece, I'd go straight to Feel Flows. It does everything LPR does, just effectively.

I have to agree with your there, apart from the fact the darn song sticks in your head!

as a side note, about a year ago the SOL video was removed from YouTube (I think the guy's account got deleted), but I had downloaded the video from that previously, and so my friend uploaded it - some might say I saved a piece of beach boys history, while others may say I soiled the internet!

Lana

A thing or 2 (sep'r'tly good songs)

Make it good

Hold on Dear Bro

Winds of Change

Goin' South

When Girl's

Endless Harmony

Passing Friend (There's nothing worse...)

Lady Liberty

Crock-a-dial Rock

Yeah, a lot of these songs are pretty good. I even think passing friend is ok, certainly there are worse. Make it Big annoys me. Happy Endings is pretty cheesy. Summer of Love and the Surfin' cover on SIP. Lady Liberty has no real reason to exist.

See, that's the thing. There are a lot of different types of bad Beach Boys songs.

1.) There are the early, filler tracks. Things like Surf Jam or Denny's Drums or the talking tracks.

2.) There are the Brian things that are just hard to listen to, even if they have cool ideas or chords changes -- "A Day in the Life of a Tree" or "Love is a Woman," for example.

3.) There are the cheese-tastic covers -- much of 15 Big Ones.

4.) There are the songs that are just plain boring -- lots of songs on MIU, "Going South," "Happy Endings," "Passing Friend" and the like.

5.) Then there are the so awful you cant ever forget them songs -- songs that may actually be catchy in the midst of their bad taste. "Summer of Love." "Smart Girls." "Wrinkes." "Battle Hymn of the Republic." Songs that you're astonished were ever recorded.

Transcendental Meditation could do with out that song, Brian's vocal really grates on me.

I'd say "Crocodile Rock" and "Passing Friend" are the strongest contenders in my book.

+2

I'll again say that anyone naming anything before 1980 or so is on drugs. ^_^

Maybe the 1979 "Here Comes The Night" would be my only real contender.

Good point - anything before 1979, rather.

what about Kono Coast or Rock and roll music. rock an roll music sounds like the aural equivalent of an old alcoholic's stale body odor after having pissed himself countless times. but that's just me. Or that Loop-de-Loop Christmass song.

Take A Load Off Your Feet - I hate it even more than Student Demonstration Time and that takes some doing. California Calling, Everyone's In Love With You and TM Song are also horrifyingly bad, as is virtually all of Summer In Paradise.

What, you're green-lighting Winds of Change?

That Summer Of Love video is brilliant in its sheer awfulness...

I'm not imagining the use of samples of "Some Of Your Love" from KTSA in the chorus am I ?

Ya know, I think I should probably stop pretending I have any kind of discerning taste in music. I love Passing Friend, It's Gettin Late and other bits of the early 80s cheese. I can't explain it, other than my love for Carl's voice. But on a warm spring day, car windows open, cruising around, I blare those mo'fos and sing along. And I HATE 80s music.

Damn you, Beach Boys! You've compromised my ability to hate on cheesy music!

holy sh*t holy sh*t holy sh*t.  how did you fans get through all this  :o

Sumahama.   The melody is not so bad it's just the relentless overuse of the word Sumuhama.  lalala sumahama, lalalala sumahama.....   I seriously want to go postal upon hearing it

I'll never get the hate for Sumahama, quality track

:thud

That video is terrible. That drum intro sounded like the beginning of Rick Astley's 'Never Gonna Give You Up' - only I much prefer Astley's song over this!

Greatest comedy video of all time!! Let's see; Mike rapping, Al's balding ponytail, Stamos and that awful drumkit, miserable looking Brian, cheerleader Bruce, backing band consisting mainly of mullet sporting douches, bunch of mostly average looking 'hotties' bumping and grinding around 'The Lovester' for a paycheck.... this video has it all!!!

Wow i forgot about that late-70's christmas album, there is so much sh*t on that!

Loop-de-loop... thank goodness Jack Reily pulled Al from that mess. Maybe his action caused Al to wear the 'Stay Clean With Al Jardine' shirt LOL!

Feel no shame for loving It's Gettin' Late. That song is probably the single best song they did in the 80's.

I'm surprised no one's mentioned "Hey Little Tomboy", either of them! "Student Demonstration Time" is terrible if only for Mike's awful lyrics, he should've let Dennis (or Dennis and a collaborator) write 'em instead. "Everyone's In Love With You" is pretty bad too. Having never listened to anything beyond Love You substantially, I cannot comment but I suspect it gets much, much worse based on what I have heard...

I'm sorry Wirestone but I think "Tree" is a great song, I can even get into J. R.'s... talking, haha. The tag alone should be enough to save the entirety of the song because goshdarn that is a monstrously excellent ending!

This is probably the wrong thread but I kinda dig "Michael, Row That Boat Ashore" too, it's so ethereal!

Hate to say any BB songs are not superb, this one however is not the best by a long shot! The BB's can leave disco alone!

Somebody did mention hey little tomboy. For me SDT's lyrics only fail at the end. It's just kind of a lame ending, lyrically speaking. I mean, the whole concept of do a cover of a classic with different lyrics is pretty lame(though worked on Surfin' USA, lightning doesn't strike twice) but it's a rockin' track. Tree is awesome, one of my top twenty, I also like Michael row your boat, I think it is very well produced, sort of son of Sloop John B I wish there was a better sounding way to hear it.

Having watched the Summer of Love video, I'd like to retract my prior nominations.  That has to be one of the worst songs ever - period.

One of the first songs my daughter learned when she was 3 or 4.

That and "Yellow Submarine" were her favorites.  Now at 12 her favorite acts are Adele, Taylor Swift, the Beach Boys and the Beatles.

I credit "Take A Load Off your Feet"

What makes a song like "Summer of Love" so bad is that somebody thought it was hit material.  Pretty much all of the songs nominated that were recorded pre-1977 were not viewed as potential number one singles.

I can say with complete confidence that "Summer of Love" will never be something I will appreciate.  I can't say that for even the bad pre-1977 material.  One of the things that makes Brian a genius is his ability to put something charming in everything he does. (It took 35 years for me to appreciate "Love You" but I never stopped listening to it because of the moments).

The Beach Boys without Brian have some great moments (the Brianless parts of "Surf's Up", CATP & Holland for example) but when they suck it is beyond redemption.

Audio: in 24 years of being a fan never could endure LEAVING THIS TOWN, HOLD ON DEAR BROTHER or PASSING FRIEND in their entirety.

Video: there is a video of Mike and Dean in skiing suits singing JINGLE BELL ROCK. The horror! The horror!

I erm...sort of like...California Calling. :shrug

I'm sure why this thread even exists. Summer of Love, as others have stated...is beyond awful, and the most terrible song ever recorded by the Beach Boys.  Does ANYONE even like that song? It's...it's unimaginable that Carl even sang on this, I don't want to believe it. I try and forget SIP as an album that ever existed, pretending that some other awful early 90's surf group recorded it. It's just so bad...and Summer of Love is just the worst thing. Ever.

Oh, and uh, in second place is Wipeout. Also cannot be disputed.

God Only Knows.




















just kidding.

Angel Come Home
Going South
Maybe I Don't Know
Passing Friend
East Meets West
Chasin' The Sky
Make It Big
Problem Child
Strange Things Happen

Sounds like a pretty good playlist to me.  ;D

Angel Come Home? You kidding. That's a lovely song. And what's with so many people picking Funky Pretty? It's one of the best songs on one of their best albums - absolutely fantastic fade, so many amazing interlocking harmonies!

But anyway, each to their own and all that... Christ, i'd never seen Summer of Love video before. That really is painful to watch! Just when you're starting to quite like Mike Love something like that comes along to remind you of his crimes. Seriously, Dennis must've been spinning in his grave when they recorded that video! And this is the same band who made Smiley Smile??!!

Can anyone think of any other rock/pop band who've scaled such incredible heights and yet also plumbed such depths?? I know most bands have had good and bad periods, but no-one else seems to have done it to such extremes as the BB's.

+1 

:pirate

I have no need to hesitate on this response:

"(I Saw Santa) Rockin' Around The Christmas Tree" from 1998's Ultimate Christmas cd. Where do I begin:

- Brian's backing track (of which he plays drums and keys) does not keep to any sort of strict time structure, it almost sounds really drunk (maybe it was the heroin?).

- The lyrics. Credited to Brian Wilson & Alan Jardine. Please make it stop!

- Al's kids (Matt & Adam) on dialogue and a bunch of other BB kids for back-up vocals.

As a matter of fact, I just plain hate all Xmas records by major rock artists. Go back to being relevant, why don't you???!!

P.S. Test: PM pm Oh hey guys, I'm being cute and testing the moderators!Yes yes yes, I don't know how to follow the rules!

I really like every single song mentioned in this thread.

I'm a bigger fan than any of y'all.

Spring Vacation, with the inevitable rhyme of vibration and vacation. Have heard more of the song, though not all of it. What a load of sh*t.

No competition: Surf's Up.

It never goes anywhere, there's drugs in it, and it's too  long.

Music for sissies.

Well people I may need an alcoholic drink for lunch after seeing that SOL video. That period was the dark ages for me as a Beach Boy fan. I stopped seeing them on a regular basis, could not take the cheerleaders or what Landy had done to Brian. I remember picking up SIP in the record store and then wisely putting it back on the shelf assuming it would stink. I had no idea how bad.

Angel Come Home is no where close to a worst ever Beach Boys song.

This ought to put this thread to rest. enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RryIroTqs-k

Am I the first one to mention "Spring Vacation"?

As horrible as that is, the SIP video still trumps it.

that's my favorite version of Jingle Bell Rock. seriously. I think Mike and Dean's voices are perfect for Christmas songs.

All of the votes for "Summer of Love" are dead on correct. Yeah there's been album tracks and hard to find tracks that could possibly be worse musically (notice I said possibly worse) but what puts SOL on top as mentioned earlier is that it was put out as a single. Somebody actually thought this would make a hit single. I like to think of it as the Plan 9 From Outer Space of songs. A song so bad that it's hilarious. There are absolutely no redeeming qualities about it whatsoever. Musically, lyrically, vocally everything about it sucks. The video is the icing on the cake too.

I wonder what Brian was thinking during the summer of love video shoot...  ;D

"This is actually quite bearable after 'eating a few sandwiches' if you know what I mean."

:lol, And that was the day Brian decided to finish SMiLE.

Okay, so a few people have mentioned Hey Little Tomboy. If by 'worst' you mean most morally repellent then HLT has got to be a front runner. The released version is bad enough - on lyrical terms (the music itself is okay), but the unreleased version is beyond the pale. Just listening to that thing... those hideous ad libs... makes me utterly nauseous. Teenage boys singing their romantic fantasies about teenage girls can be sweet (thus early Beach Boys). Men in their late thirties singing about teenage girls shaving their legs is just sick, sick, sick... and then those snorting noises... agh! It's a glimpse into some kind of hell, and I'm never listening to it again...

Rant over. Normal service resumed.

This is way too self-congratulatory but I just noticed that I had Brian say "if you know what I mean" to himself in his own head and laughed out loud.

Not at all rockandroll, Brian "ate a few sandwiches" like he did in 1966 and got the SMiLE spirit back...

Personally I do not find any Beach Boys songs offensive, but if HLT upsets you you might not want to listen to Lazy Lizzie.

Here it is covered by some guy: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xo4viCn1cbw

I have not heard Brian's original.

Edit: I have now heard Brian's recording.

Then this song is good for something!   ;D

Agree on everything, but I like Passing Friend.

That said: the synth 'solo' (interlude? stopgap?) in Leaving This Town sounds like Greg Lake out of 'Lucky Man', after 144 Valiums.

The by far worst Beach Boys song is Chain Reaction of Love.

Hahaha! Exactly.

The snorts aren't on the original - the website added those.

Worst Beach Boys song? Either "Full Sail" or "Maybe I Don't Know". Those are two songs I get embarrassed about even if I am alone.

Just endured parts of the SOL video. OMG. Everything that was ever wrong with the group is in here. Every cliche that people love to volley at the group is offered up. So incredibly sad.

As for "Spring Vacation":
Somebody said they heard more than the 20 seconds from the YouTube video--where can we hear the "more"? Besides our own stereos a month from now? (And who wrote this one again?)