The Smiley Smile Message Board

How many bands can you think of that has at least one song that fits in each of the following genres?

A cappella: And Your Dreams Come True
Adult Contemporary: Kokamo
Avant-garde: Vegetables
Soft rock/ballad: Surfer Girl
Big Band: Life is for the Living
Christmas: pop: Little Saint Nick
Classic Rock: Sail on Sailor
Classical: Lady Lynda
Country: Cotton Fields
Disco: Here Comes the Night
Doo wop: Why Do Fools Fall in Love
Experimental: Mrs Olearys Cow
Folk: Looking at Tomorrow
Garage rock: Surfin
Hard rock: All I Want to Do
Hawaiian music: Diamond Head
Jazz: Good Vibrations
New wave: Male Ego
Prog Rock: Feel Flows
Psychedelic: Sail Plane
Punk: Drip Drop
Rap: Wipe Out
Rhythm and blues: Darlin
Spoken poetry: Beaks of Eagles
Surf rock: Stoked
Symphonic pop: God Only Knows
Synth pop: Let Us Go On

Modified: I named one song that fits each.

I might be missing some. I'm not totally sure on some. Would you consider Feel Flows ambient? Does Lady Lynda intro count as entering the classical genre? So I may be cheating somewhat. I didn't count solo stuff, but I do consider unreleased Beach Boys material such as Drip Drop as punk.

Not too much of a stretch to consider the likes of "All I Wanna Do" to be proto-shoegaze/dreampop too.

Yeah, I'm not familiar with that genre. I could have said prog rock, or acid rock, but they might be too samilar to psychedelic or ambient. Maybe Feel Flows would be better described as prog rock?

This list seems a bit of a stretch. I don't know if they are any more adventurous or diverse than any other high profile 60s success, particularly any group that stuck around for a few decades.

Lady Lynda certainly doesn't qualify I don't think as working in Classical. I would also say that including unreleased or unfinished work is not playing fair as surely being creatively diverse demands believing in cross genre songs enough to actually put them out.

Can you list the songs you are thinking of for Ambient, Jazz, Experimental and Avant Garde?

Ps your Wyatt Family support is positively noted!

Hard Rock - All I Want To Do

They did it all really.

Apart from metal it's hard to think of a genre they didn't touch on.

Is there a genre tag addressing the Fine Young Cannibals beat they used in Strange Things Happen? "1990s coffee-machine commercial pop" perhaps?

2 words that describe The Beach Boys... Criminally Underrated

Did "Wrinkles" create its own genre? And if so, what would that be?    :lol

Follow the buzzards

I would count unreleased material from any band if it has been recorded. I am not as familiar with other bands, so if you think a band is as diverse as the Beach Boys, I would like to see a similar list with a song that matches that genre.

Also, there is a song next to each genre above. You may have read it before I modified. I agreed and mentioned that Feel Flows as ambient may be a stretch. Perhaps I should change it to prog rock.

 noted

Not that I am aware of. I'm trying to stick to commonly listed genres. Unless many here accept that as such :)

No


Not really


Ballad is not a genre


Classic rock isn't really a genre so much as it is a name retrofitted to rock songs that radio stations play


No


I dunno, it's really just surf rock


No


No


Not much of a genre

Broadly speaking, they have at least come close in American music. Though I can't think of any blue grass???
Also, international music, I can't think of anything on the top of my head.

How about Hawaiian music: Diamond Head?

Genres according to Allmusic (http://www.allmusic.com/artist/the-beach-boys-mn0000041874):

AM Pop
Early Pop/Rock
Surf
Contemporary Pop/Rock
Sunshine Pop
Psychedelic Pop
Rock & Roll
Psychedelic/Garage

I find this information on Surfer Girl interesting: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thirty-two-bar_form

Actually, I'd consider it garage rock. It's a very raw sound, I mean Brian is playing a snare with his index finger haha. At least, the production itself is very garage-rock-y.

On a side note: didn't Murry convert their garage into a music room?

Surfin and many others could cross genres. Good Vibrations has elements of Jazz, symphonic pop, and doo wop

I can think of Benny Andersson (except for maybe surf music). It's everything from glam rock, folk music, funk, country, medieval music, waltzes, rap, reggae, jazz, hard rock, musicals, euro pop, pop, disco, Scottish folk music, Swedish folk music, Christmas music and what not. The list goes on and on and on. Which is kinda annoying because his albums are not coherent at all.

Influenced by, say jazz, or sounding jazz-y is not the same as being jazz, you know. Many songs named in the opening post I would just classify as pop, with various influences and elements of course, but still pop. They were diverse, but certainly didn't do it all.

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I'd say Surfin Safari and especially 409 are closer to Garage Rock than Surfin', which isn't very rock at all.

Yes, of course it did and it's the new rage-Transcendental Rogaine Rock for Swingers.  ;D

The Rolling Stones were also very diverse... they've done a lot of different stuff over the years.

Also I'll just say: Michael Jackson was very, very diverse.  He could sing many styles, and did in his career.  I think he got a kick out of it; "Black Or White" he makes the point of making it sound hip hop and heavy metal in the same song, for instance. 

With all that said, not sure if the Beach Boys are the MOST diverse, but they were very diverse.  I would give Mike Love's endless desire to make money any way possible most of the credit for that. 

A google search lists 'Comedy' as a genre. I'm tempted to say anything off SIP but how about "I'd Love Just Once to See You"? 

Concerning Good Vibrations, didn't Carol Kaye call it cohesively jazz? Even so, aren't their harmony arrangements on many songs considered jazz harmonies?

Or what about the Pet Sounds instrumental, would that be closer to jazz?

Or the Cassius Love vs Sonny Wilson Wilson track :)

Well, maybe now as much rock, but I think it's still more 'garage' :)

The live versions of Feel Flows and All This is That might be the best case for Jazz you could make. Check out the Largo 1977 video, Charles Lloyd goes all-out on them.

Agreed on both counts. I would also say folks like George Clinton covered a lot of ground and Prince obviously. Prince and MJ were huge crossover stars and covered just about every genre for them to cover. Prince legitimately did a Jazz album, an instrumental electronic album, and obviously Rock/R&B/Funk/Pop/Dance with various genre mash-ups along the way. There were even more things unreleased that weren't fit for purpose.

The Beach Boys did a selection of things for sure but I don't think they ever really stepped outside of the set of influences established in the 60s. Not that they had to either. 

Carol Kaye has said a lot of things.  ;D

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As for Jazz; Though technically not a Beach Boys track at all, the studio session of 'I Wanna Be Around' from TSS starts off with some of the wrecking crew playing their own jazz tune. So The Beach Boys have released jazz music....albeit they didn't write the tune.

I just thought of Frank Zappa as another diverse artist. I even saw a video of him 'rapping'

The beach boys are BY FAR the most diverse rock band in the sense that they did indeed touch base on all those styles/genres mentioned and will always be loved by any and every serious music pundit.  Stands the ultimate test of time.

Think cabin essence.    an almost indescribable blend of genres.........maybe Aaron Copeland classical Americana?

To answer the original question, no The Beach Boys certainly aren`t the most diverse band. I mean, there are some bands who attempt a dozen different musical styles on one album never mind a career.

And several other long running artists have had similarly diverse careers. A group like The Monkees, for example, recorded in numerous styles including country rock, music hall and 1920s music and their career is certainly as varied I would guess.

The Beach Boys are perhaps the best band that is as diverse as they are. Few bands that have as massive a catalog of really brilliant music also have additionally ventured into as many genres over so many decades.

Another band that comes to mind as having a stunning amount of genre diversity in their catalog is The Smashing Pumpkins.

Here is the question from a different angle. How many American groups that were big before the British invasion explored as much territory as the Beach BoysPerhaps some of the best did some symphonic and avant gaurd songs like Pet Sounds or Smile, but did any of them go as far out as Smiley Smile, Holland or Love You? It seems that most of the very diverse bands came after the Beach Boys. Their contemporaries and before don't tend to branch out nearly as much. I'm taking pre  64 American groups.

I hate to say it, but you could argue that the Beatles were as diverse, and were only around about 8 years.  Yikes!   Really is there a genre that the Beatles DIDN'T do?  They only recorded about 200 songs, too.  They even did some eastern stuff, which the Beach Boys never did, and experimented with weird-ass time signatures.  They went as far avant garde as Smiley Smile with stuff like Revolution #9, were heavier than the Beach Boys with stuff like Helter Skelter, did straight up country songs like Act Naturally, did big band numbers like Your Mother Should Know, did lullabyes, instrumentals, harpsichord circus music like Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite, etc. 

Not that that means anything.  I'm just saying don't be too quick to try to label the Beach Boys the 'best' at something because as usual you can always bring up what most people consider to be the best band ever. 

I'm not saying the best. No doubt there are many diverse bands. But wasn't All I Want to Do as heavy as Helter Skelter, or pretty close? And this may be unfair, but the Beatles never did rap, disco or punk. Part of what diversifies the BBs is their longevity.

Also, just because I'm saying they are as diverse as anyone doesn't mean I'm saying that makes them the best. My 2nd favorite band is Grandaddy. They had a very small range, but they did it well.

Jon, doesn't Dave consider Surfin to be rather "folky"?

One can invent genres and sub-genres all day (and other will say that those are not genres), so it's pointless to argue too much beyond the wonderful recognition that they could express themselves in so many styles and modes (perhaps better to use that than genre--or in addition to it). For example In the Back of my Mind" is a real "tearjerker," which some might call a genre or anecdotal word for a certain style.

I walked Redondo for 2 hours yesterday with MIC in my earphones. I am sure I heard (and sang) a little bit of everything.

The Professor