The Smiley Smile Message Board

Sure, it would have been very exciting if I could've been there when the classic Beach Boys album were released. To hear them make a huge progression every few months. To be able to see them in concert with Carl and Dennis on stage. But still, I don't think there has ever been a better time to be a Beach Boys fan. We got a five disc version of 'Smile', a #3 studio album and a world tour by the band including Brian. At any moment in time between 1967 and 2011, who would have believed that this would ever happen? I'd say that these are The Beach Boys' new heydays! :)

No, not in my lifetime!

I think in my lifetime, which begins in early 1973, there has been no better time to be a Beach Boys fan.

I would hazard a guess that it would have been great to been a fan through the 1965-69 period.

But all in all this is a very good time.

To me, when I became a Beach Boys fan in late 1997 to 2001 was a totally wonderful period.  We had the Pet Sounds box, which made me a fan.  Then I started getting into the entire catalog piece by piece which came out again on 2-fers remastered, same with the Brother Records albums..  The Endless Harmony doc and soundtrack..  The half good/half crap TV miniseries..  Brian's "Live at the Roxy Theatre" release..  The Hawthone, CA comp..  Brian's "Pet Sounds" tour and A&E Biography special..  There was so much going on.  Then not much happened until Brian brought us BWPS in 2004 and things got amazing again.

I've been a fan my whole life really, which began in 1995, but the experience wasn't personally enhanced until my connection with music in 2007, and my life changed. :lol

But, this is definitely the year of The Beach Boys for me...or at least the summer :p Unless Sir Paul announces some US dates this year, Friday just might be the best concert of 2012 for me...and I'm seeing some rather large names in the touring industry.

I'd say the last few years, yes, actually would be the best time. Yes, it would have been great to be a fan in the mid-60s, but...would it be as dramatic and amazing as of late? Naw. I think I wouldn't have appreciated things then like I do now. (Which in fact happened...I wasn't a fan in the mid-60s! It took til the early 80s, and that was because of SMiLE...)

Yes it was even more amazing to have been a fan in the mid 60s!! I was there, it was wonderful.

I liked being a fan in my teens, in the early 90s, when every tiny bit of news and every Problem Child was celebrated and cherished. The Beach Boys seemed old by then, Brian was a prisoner, and we did not know how much longer they'd be with us.

However, this present time is ecstasy for me. And it makes me realize how much time was lost, how blessed we are, what a miracle we are witnessing and how good life is.

Hard to fathom this period eclipsing the SIP/Cokamoh period.  :p

I became a Beach Boys fan (after loving the hits on the oldies station as a kid) 10 years ago when I was in high school. I was just remarking to my best friend the other night that it was the best time to become  a fan (I got her into them around the same time), as it was like watching a movie unfold before us. In 2002/3 it didn't seem like there was any hope for something cool to happen, that all of the progress was in the distant past. It largely seemed like Brian was touring on his back catalog, albeit very impressively, but no new music was forthcoming. The Mike and Bruce band was at its lowest point (in my opinion) with Adrian Baker/ Mike Kowalski by-the-numbers, uninspired hits-sets, and Al was nowhere to be found. Then in 03 after I had collected most of the released 1965-1973 albums it was announced that Brian would perform SMiLE live, then GIOMH was released (a record that I still rate as half-quite good), followed by SMiLE, me and this same friend went to a few Mike and Bruce shows, then saw Brian play SMiLE live in Ann Arbor in the fall of 04 (such an incredible show!) and then from there things just kept getting better. The Mike and Bruce band switched things up, Brian kept consistently releasing good new music, Al and Dave both began to be more active - hell, my mind was blown when Al rejoined first, Brian for the Pet Sounds mini-tour, and then Mike and Bruce for that Reagan thing. Then obviously the last year. The band really seemed to be at an end when I got into them (Carl and Dennis were already gone before the BBs were really on my radar - which I, rather selfishly, am thankful for the fact that I didn't have to personally deal with that loss happening in real time) and then pretty much as soon as I started paying close attention things became quite interesting and I watched the band become inspired and come back together before my own eyes. I'm quite stoked to see the band live in on June 30th, and I've been listening to TWGMTR almost every day. It would have been awesome to be a fan in the 60s and I am firmly in the camp that the 72-74 live band would have been the best time to see them live, but, no, I don't think there's been a better time to be a Beach Boys fan.

2004

Became a fan at the right time! Around last fall I became interested in them. Just when my interest grew, the reunion was announced! Not that was Goog Timin'!

I recall my sadness in 2006 (check that date) when Al, Dave, and Brian , as poignantly chronicled by Peter Carlin, did not sing together at the Monument's dedication. . . . . long days of despair and sadness, listening to SouthBay Surfer, et al, over and over, waiting for another song. Now we have 12 songs--13 if you count DIA, and we have hopes for even a new album (they have to, and you could imagine Capital offering the sky for one). 

#3 it is; I want to hear some quotes from the BB about this, beyond Mike's charming "adele is hard to budge."

Now the BB are everywhere; I am dizzy with it all.

Remind us again which Beach Boys releases happened that year?  ::)

You mean Google Timin' ?

I didn't think all this would happen. It is a nice surprise for sure. Never thought I would be in the same room as Mike Love!

 I know someone mentioned 2004, and even though that was more Brian than BBs, it was still SUCH an exciting time, especially leading up to BWPS. I had become a fan around that time and was learning all I could about them.

Good Timin' . Sorry, typo.  :P No Google involved, just word of mouth. Not much of a googler.

I became a huge fan some 3-4 years ago. I bought SMiLE, then announced was a Brian Wilson Gershwin album, then a BW Disney cover album (which I LOVE to listen to), then The Beach Boys SMiLE comes out, now a new album (which just hit #3 on the charts!!!!!), a tour, and a new box set.

In my lifetime (I'm 23) I'd say that this is the best time to be a Beach Boys fan. Though I still reminisce of the days when I was 7 when I first heard The Beach Boys - that was a great time too :-D

Just kiddin' ;)

I have to say, the mid-90s were an exciting time, too. In 93, you had the boxed set, which meant that a lot of great, unreleased music was finally available in good fidelity. I started listening in 95, and fans were still talking about it. That year, you had two new BW solo records, with the promise of dozens more songs Brian had written with Andy Paley. You had the BB reunion in 96, the Pet Sounds boxed set, and then Brian and Tony Asher collaborating again. Brian and the girls did the Wilsons in '97, and Imagination followed in '98.

The quality of the new material released over that time was a bit mixed, but there was a lot of excitement in the air. Carl's death -- and Brian's rather poor first couple of live appearances -- rather brought the era to an end. Brian started touring in 99, true, but it wasn't until the Pet Sounds shows of 2000, in my opinion, that the next era really began.

Can't agree with Denny and Carl gone.

Agreed! It has all been quite a ride; getting the vinyl LP's in the 60's, a treat every few months, watching them come out on the different media, like 8 track, cassettes, CD and having it in the car. 

Great to take my kids to the shows, and have them calling to me to "come watch Uncle Jesse with the Beach Boys" on Full House!

This thing now is just the frosting on the cake!  ;)

Except for the loss of Carl and Dennis, nope.  Looking at the band as it is, with 'the five' all present and accounted for, and the way they sound, and the energy and good feelings around it all, it's an incredible time for a 50-year fan like myself. For me, it's like 1965 all over again (with a 'few' new songs, of course!). It's as close to time travel as I can imagine.

Yes. I saw 90 concerts in 14 different states from 1968-1996. Best time was 1975 to 1990. That's what I'll remember, those days. Those shows, those cities. My career had to juggle this passion but I never lost my way. I made it happen and there were hardly any limits. Bless my wife.

I've been a casual fan since the mid-60's and for some reason that i can't explain became a "super fan" after the announcement of this tour. have no idea why that happened.  my musical tastes are quite simple - i still live in the '60s.  In my opinion, the 3 best bands that came from that period (in no particular order) were The Beach Boys, The Beatles, and The Stones.  It is only my opinion, but of the 3, i think that the big hits of The Beach Boys aged the best.  As far as albums go, Pet Sounds is the best album ever made.  Rest easy, Brian.  You won.  You beat Sgt. Peppers and didn't even know it - in my opinion, of course.

What i am saying, is that for me anyway this is the best period to be a fan!

I'm surprised you didn't get really hooked by the Endless Summer/Spirit Of America one-two punch.

That's when I became a fan - 1975. And, the next thing I know, there was a new Beach Boys' album almost every year from 1976 - 1980. That was a weird, wacky time. A lot of the concerts I saw were train wrecks, and, obviously the albums were a mixed bag. But, there was never a dull moment!

i was a great fan of the greatest hits packages all along but not a super-fan otherwise.  Pet Sounds has been in my collection in one form or the other since at least before 1970, and.... I never once listened to it all the way thru until this year!!!! S-T-U-P-I-D!!!!!!  Now, i can't get enough of "That's Not Me", "Waiting for the Day", "I Know there's an Answer" and "Here Today" - and i never even listened to them until this past March.  I didn't care for "Let's Go Away for Awhile" or the title track.  Now, i absolutely love them!!  ok, you figure it out because... i can't.

I would say that the 63-73 was their peak. Most of what they have done since is garbage with a few gems in there. Love You is good. And most other albums have one or two or a few good songs. It went way down hill in the 80s and 90s, although Kokamo made them very popular. I became a fan when the Endless Harmony doc showed on VH1 in 1998. I think that was a great time to become a Beach Boys fan. Expectations for current Beach Boys were very low. In recent years, SIP, Full House, The Country album, Nascar and an embarrasing Brian Wilson solo album called Imaginations. Nothing they did was neither cool nor artistic. But it has gone steadily uphill from there. No, its not even close to what they were in 73. But I would say that it is similar to the late 70s with out the drugs or fighting. Late 70s, I mean the quality of the music.