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Just wondered if anyone else has particularly guilty pleasures out there... Beach Boys or Brian Wilson songs which you know are bizarrely bad in certain ways, but which you enjoy listening to?

These seem particularly prevalent on "Love You" and "BW88" - Roller Skating Girl, Walkin' the Line are examples that spring to mind.

But to be fair, even some of the 60s tracks, like "Salt Lake City" have this same feckless quality.

So, am I alone in this ?

I actually love "Wipeout".  I doubt anybody's gonna top that.  LOL.

I know what you mean, though.  A lot of the best parts of Beach Boys songs are kind of silly... like "Drive-In"... when the boys are doing the "OOOOOhhhhhh... WOP!!! WHOPPPP WOPPPP!!!!" in the background. 

most of the MIU album & sweet insanity

Roller Skating Child, Drive-in,  and  Salt Lake City are great songs I dunno what you guys are talkin' about. If the songs are catchy how are they bad? And I don't get how people like to rag on the MIU Album all the time, I think it has some good songs on it too, and I think it's better than LA Light and Keepin' the Summer Alive, but whatever opinions are like assholes right? 
 

Hi,
don't get me wrong, they aren't bad songs, but they get away with things that people normally wouldn't. Perhaps its the biggest tribute

Such as, I haven't got any other songs in my collection with a muppet show sax line like the one in "Salt Lake City"...
...
or lines like "I go and get my skates on and I catch up with her We do it holdin' hands it's so cold I go "brrr" "

or "Gimmee, gimmee, gimmee,gimmee lovin' tonight, I need your lovin' (Lovin') Lovin'(Lovin')Lovin' lovin' Wah wa-wa wah wah wah"

great songs, but ...

I enjoy "MIU", "LA" and "KTSA" because even though practically all those songs suck, they are very infectious. "Sone Of Your Love" on KTSA, for example. That song is god-awful, but I can never get that "Sum-sum-sum-Some of your love...Gimmie lovin'....yeah, Sum-sum-sum-Some of your love"...and then the embarrasing verses...ugh...

Yeah, I love the harmonies during the verses on "Some Of Your Love". The song is just too repetitive, otherwise it would be great in my opinion.  And "Santa Ana Winds", also on that album, is amazing.  And MIU is a good album. Completely out of step with the trends of not only its time but an album that could have never been trendy in any time period. It has been said before, but "Hey Little Tomboy" would be loved as another goofy Brian track if it had been on 15 Big Ones, Love You, or left unreleased.

Actually, MIU reminds me of something I heard on The Daily Show. If Bush hadn't gone to war with Iraq and had responded effectively to the nation's economic woes, wouldn't we all just love all his funny sayings and silly poses? When has there ever been a president that loose? He was just on stage chest banging with someone from the army. But our views on this kind of behavior are sullied by our opinion on him as a president. I think MIU gets the same treatment because it failed to do what the Boys had to do to get critical respect. "She's Got Rhythm" cooks. "Wontcha Come Out Tonight" is a nice throwback song. "My Diane" is brilliant, and I even have a weak spot for "Pitter Patter".

Love them for what they were, not what they could have been.

HELP is on the Way. There are so many ridiculously awful yet really catchy lines in that song. "DOUGHY LUMPS STOMACH PUMPS ENEMAS TOO", hahaha.

Johnny Carson.....only from the mind of Brian Wilson.  I love it.

The Beach Boys are probably the ideal band for this kind of category, because there are so many unbelievably bad lyrics, whether they're just corny subject matter, bizarre, perverse or cliched. To add to it, some of the stylistic changes to the instrumental tracks made it even more prone to earning groans: disco, 80s cheese, or what-have-you. And yet they very often had really catchy material despite it. So of course one person's "bad" is another's gold. It's almost just a test of how far you let yourself be carried into the depths of uncoolness.

well said Luther..!!

You took the words right out of my mouth!

Matchpoint of Our Love.

Some of the worst lyrics ever yet, it's very calming and catchy.

Agreed with Matchpoint! I'll add "I'll Bet He's Nice"

I'll bet he's nice...I'll bet he's twice...

but the bridge has great lyrics...

'Island Fever'  :thud

Don't ask. Don't know why.

"I'll bet he's nice...I'll bet he's twice (pause for a second or two) as nice as me and it makes me cry, cause I remember you and I" Genius....

I'm not posting to be disagreeable (it's a matter of opinion; I understand), to defend Mike Love (who I think wrote the lyrics), or to try to be profound, but...

I really never found "Matchpoint Of Our Love"'s lyrics to be that bad, or actually bad at all. They're not Van Dyke Parksian, but I find them unoffensive, actually a little clever. Specifically, which of "Matchpoint"'s lyrics are so off-putting?

I have a serious weakspot in my heart for Hey Little Tomboy, which is probably one of the more disturbing songs ever written, particularly the whole "im gonna teach you to kiss" line, and the "shave your legs for the very first time" voice over.  It's just so, well, creepy. 

At My Window is an incredible song, but the foriegn language voiceover is pretty embarrasing. 

I was gonna say "student demonstration time," but then I remembered that  i actually do hate everything about that song. 

"Let's Go to Heaven in My Car" is pretty dire in terms of lyrics, but a catchy tune.

As for "Tomboy," it has a very nice melody and harmonies, but the lyrics are another matter entirely..."Love is a Woman," another catchy melody that I don't particularly like the lyrics too. From the MIU album "Kona Coast" has embarassing lyrics but an ace melody, from LA Light I always thought "Sumahama" was a cool, memorable melody, lyrically, not so much.

I always thought Landy had the ability to write some good lyrics ("Melt Away," "In My Car," and the 2nd version of "Don't Let Her Know" are solid lyrics that Mike Love would be proud of), but a few tunes from the 80s fit under this category: "I'm So Lonely" is too simple, "Someone to Love" is one of Brian's best rockers of the period offset by a bland set of lyrics, and "Night Time" repeats it's chorus chant far too many times  :deadhorse...

Those are my choices...

Oh yeah, I forgot "I Sleep Alone" (specifically the performance by Brian on youtube). It's a really nice song, but it is just funny to hear it sung by a man.  It brings up disturbing images of Brian and his male therapist, Landy.

Matchpoint does have a nice flowing. relaxed sound, but honestly its about love and tennis?? What the hell were they thinking?? Luther's right, the Beach Boys have so many of those moments. Sumahama again, a good song, first couple of verses are great and then they record the rest in Japanese? HELLO!! Did they think that was gonna get radio play??

When I want to listen to Sumahama I'll listen to the live version from Enoshima Yacht Harbor where they sing the whole thing in Japanese. The audience really digs it.

I love how at the end it's just him pounding on the same chords over and over again in like a stop-motion thing.  It sounds brilliant but it's literally just

BAWWP

BAWWP

BAWWP

BAWWP

BAWWP

BIIITTT

BIIITTT

BIIITTT

BIIITTT

Then they go into the "who's the man" thing.

One I actually really like is "Its a Beautiful Day".  The lyrics are corny as heck, but when Carl comes in at the chorus, the sound of the whole thing is just sublime.

For some reason I really like that part. Don't ask me why ???

I like that part, too. I love listening to it in the car when someone's sitting next to me and mouthing the words.

I'd like to add Lahaina Aloha. I know it's quite a lazy rewrite of Jamaica Farewell (of which the Boys also did a nice version some years earlier) and in a way it's probably just as bland and nauseating as anything on Summer in Paradise. Still, that song somehow strikes a chord with me. Love the accordeon playing (is that Van Dyke Parks?) and Carl gives quite a stellar vocal performance. Not even the generic and corny lyrical content serves as a major turn-off for me. It's all just so very catchy.

Haha, that is quite strange cause I do that too. Although if nobody is around I say the words out loud, even though I'm probably saying it totally wrong and I have no idea what it means (I've read what it says before but I always forget). But whenever I'm listening to the song and that part comes on I can't help but smile.

Easy to remember, the song goes like this:

A little brown sparrow came flutterin' down

(section in French)

He came to my window

And the section in French basically says "The sparrow came to my window". (in French it's "Le moineau est venu se poser à ma fenêtre")

 :)

Thanks Sloop!! I better write this down!! By the way, does he say it correctly or is it really shaky French? Of course you can't blame him, but I'm just wondering. I always used to get confused whether it was French or Spanish, because in the liners or in one of the books or something it says that it's Spanish. Anyway thanks again.

Still Surfin', Lahaina Aloha, and just about all the covers on SIP, not including Surfin' or Forever, are guilty pleasures for me. So is Winds of Change.

The words and the grammar are correct, but the accent is terrible :P  :-D

And for me, but I don't feel that guilty. I think they're good songs.

I don't know.  If I actually like the song, I don't consider it bad.  If catchy is used in a bad way, I'm sure I could find some.  You know what I'm not likely to get any agreement at all with this but I'm going with Surfin' Safari.  It's basic and so obviously catchy but I just don't like it.  On Broadway is another one.  After listening to it once I had the tune memorized, but it's just one of the time I just honsetly don't like it.  I'm completely disregarding lyrics because no matter how absurd they are it just won't impact me.  Only thing they can do is make the song better by being great. :lol

The whole MIU album, start to finish.  I love "Hey, Little Tomboy".  Lyrics?  What lyrics? I love "Walkin' The Line" - though I haven't heard it in years and years.

But my response to Love You will always be part frustration, because there's so much genius and inspiration there slathered over with so much bad taste.  Brian just needed a little competent support.  Look at the people Dennis was working with, listen to the lyrics on Pacific Ocean Blue, listen to that production, and think what might have been for Love You. Somebody took Pet Sounds 2, or as close as we'll ever get to that, and wrecked it.  I know that's a minority opinion, and that a lot of people enjoy the humor of it, which I can certainly see and appreciate- but Brian Wilson is just such a hero to me that I can't help wishing he had been allowed more personal dignity and created another great work of art at the cost of a few perverse laughs.

Sorry for the rant- just rolled off my fingers.

My picks would have to be She Believes In Love Again, and Livin' With A Heartache. Yes, I know that SBILA is typical 1980's overproduction, but I love it. It might be Bruce's last good song. I have TRIED not to like LWAH. Any kind of country that is not Johnny Cash goes against everything I stand for. I also know that any self respecting Beach Boys fan wouldn't even give it a second thought.  But the damn thing just wont stay out of my head.  :lol

They're guilty pleasures.  "Roller Skating Child" in particular, whilst it may carry a fairly catchy beat, is not exactly what most rock critics would constitute as being a "great song".  The lyrics are banal and the production is flimsy (although this was sort of the theme of the album).  Still when it pops up in the shuffle feature of my iPOD, I'll occasionally listen to it.  I just wouldn't be proud of that.   :-[

On one end, I don't agree with you. On the other end, I think you're exactly right!

If you remove the quirky and very "Brian" lyrics, it's not Love You. If you take away the unique arrangements and instrumentation, it's not Love You. I actually think Brian nailed those aspects of Love You, and accomplished what he wanted.

Where the album falters - and I agree with you, FRUSTRATINGLY so - are the rough spots, specifically the vocals, both lead and backing. Why didn't they do more takes? How could they leave some of those vocals on there? It's embarrassing, actually. Just a little more perfectionism please!

They could've kept the arrangements and production, but improved the vocals, and it STILL would've been Love You. Pet Sounds 2? Maybe. At least as close as you could come. Pet Sounds and Love You are personal. I hate to repeat Brian because I hate when Brian repeats himself, but there is a lot of love in those two albums. They're both the closest Brian ever came to solo albums, including his solo albums. Love You is one of my most played BB albums, but I still think what it coulda, shoulda, woulda been....

I just had to respond....I've always felt that "Roller Skating Child" might be the best post-1975 fast song of Brian's. The lyrics aren't the best part of the song, but they're OK. Brian's arrangement, on the other hand, is incredible. There's a lot going on in that song. Like Brian's earlier material, he packs a helluva lot into two minutes. I love the vocals, except for Brian's tag which keeps the song from perfection. It's one of those songs where I say to myself, "How did he write that?" And there weren't  many songs AFTER "Roller Skating Child" where I said that. It was picked as a single from the album. It rocks!

But, it's just my opinion. I like chocolate ice cream, you like strawberry ice cream. No problem...

I  like the fact that this board gives me the chance to know what other people think, and try to reconsider, and re-listen.  Some stuff I'll just never come around on (like Smiley Smile), but I respect the other point of view, especially when it's well-expressed like that.

I'll give you the production, and I know where you're coming from there, but I've gotta have lyrics worthy of those amazing melodies.  "I Wanna Pick You Up" is just so achingly close to being a great song- not the kind of great song that can be appreciated by Beach Boys fans with a knowing smirk, but the kind of song that would have entered the universal consciousness, like "Wouldn't It Be Nice" or so many others.  Agree completely about the vocals- and if everybody's voice was so messed up, there are ways to make that sound work (Billie Holiday's last album, one of Nilsson's, etc.- even Dennis' album, to some extent). It's just a big, maddening almost to me, sonically (not really a word, I know) and creatively.

An old friend of mine is an Elvis fanatic, and he tried to explain to me once why Elvis' career wouldn't be nearly as cool (to him) if the Colonel hadn't made a fool of him in the sixties and had him singing "He's Your Uncle Not Your Daddy" and "The Lady Was A Bullfighter" and "It's Hard To Rhumba In A Sports Car" and all that bilge. Part of the joy of Elvis for him was the total destruction of his dignity, and I just couldn't get that.  Still can't.  Then there are people who voted to honor Elvis on a stamp by showing him as a bloated, dying self-caricature instead of when he was great.  I don't get that at all. Would Pet Sounds have been a better album if the lyrics were goofy and sub-professional?  I don't get it. 

As a cartoonist, I have a great appreciation for the ridiculous, but what I love Brian Wilson for is the sublime.

How in hell can "Drive In" or especially "Salt Lake City" be guilty pleasures?  They're just great, great songs!

Always enjoy this topic because it shows that none of us hear this music the same way.  Ans again, I'm the guy who loves "Hey, Little Tomboy", so go figure!

Well the Elvis stamp chose of Elvis was from a photo in 1973  where he was a trim 170 pounds during the Aloha satellite show. Many still consider the pinnacle of his career achievement wise if not completely artistically.

Fair enough then, that's better than I (mis)remembered.  I still think the Elvis that deserves to be etched in history is the '56 model, but he certainly did some more than worthy stuff much later. I LOVE Elvis in the "Harum Scarum" get up, but wouldn't have wanted him in that turban on a stamp.

The general point, though- (wait, what was my point?)- I guess it was that (as with Brian) a lot of people find great value in what I consider his downfall.  Doesn't make me right or wrong, but if I see a '76 performance or something, I'm looking for some trace of his former greatness, and it's often still there. I hope he'll maintain some dignity.  I often get the idea that other people- real legitimate fans- are watching the chins jiggle or praying that he'll strike a karate pose or forget the words to "Are You Lonesome Tonight" just one more time. O.K., I laugh at that stuff, too. I love the movies, because I accepted a long time ago that that's the way things went and nothing's going to change that- and because there were still very bright spots ahead for him- as with Brian.

And if I couldn't laugh about "Johnny Carson" and so forth I guess I'd have to turn in my striped shirt or something, but it's a painful laugh for me, maybe because I have such a misplaced sense of dignity- especially where my heroes are concerned.  ("Say Say Say" and "Ebony And Ivory" were just agony for me). A great BW melody with Landy's-girlfriend lyrics will always be problematic for me, because there are only going to be so many great BW melodies in this life...the good ones are rare gems.  To me they all deserve Tony Asher or Van Dyke or one of Mike's many great efforts...

Sorry for the long-windedness.

Surfer Joe, you are hitting an area - in the BB/BW history - that is the most fascinating AND tragic for me. After 30+ years, I'm still trying to make sense out of it.

I think I'm like your friend (a little at least) in that I find the 1976-1981 period terribly interesting, fascinating, and, I won't say "cool", but certainly never a dull moment. I won't bore everybody by listing all the elements that went into that era, but you could write an entire book, movie, documentary, mini-series on just those five years. Whenever I read a book or an article about the BB/BW, I go right to that period. It's drama, human drama. Some interesting music came out of that also.

However, the more I dwell on it, or the longer I live, the more tragic it becomes. Maybe that's because Brian never really did come all the way back, the damage was irreversable. Yeah, yeah, there were sparks or traces of the "old Brian", and I still like every album of that period, but, man, they/he had so many chances....

And, what makes it even more frustrating, is, after all of that, the next era, 1982 - present, was even worse musically. If Brian would've emerged in 1982 - musically - the way he emerged in 1976-77....I now find it more painful than "cool". Enough for now.... 

I'd even extend it 1976-1983, when Carl has returned, Brian back under Landy's influence, and Dennis's death. After 1983, I don't see them as a rock and roll band anymore, I see them as more of an oldies act and thats reflected in the sound after that, how they looked, and the way they presented their tours.

I have to disagree with you, tpesky. 15 Big Ones, MIU, and KTSA are way more "oldies" than BB'85.

By the way, another one for the bad, but catchy category is "She Believes in Love Again," which is a well constructed pop song with some duff lyrics near the end, also a bummer production.

I think the 85 songs are almost as oldies-based, but their synth-heavy production might make them seem less so. Certainly Getcha Back, California Calling and tunes like those are as "oldies" as can be.

Right, those two tracks. In a previous draft of my post, I said "most of BB'85". Besides the two you mentioned, and perhaps I'm So Lonely, BB'85 was very "modern".

Modern maybe, but not as rock and roll sounding or raw likely due to  the 80s production. However I should have made it more clear I guess I was thinking primarily in terms of live act/image not so much studio albums.

For me if "Bad but Catchy" was defined as: "A song you could never play for friends because its just too embarrasing to admit you like it" then my vote goes to Solar System - I can't help but love a song with a line like "If Mars had life on it I might find my wife on it"!!! JOY!!! but what a clunker of a song .........

A better word to use: Adult contemporary!

Better still: sh*t.

Luther, I can't help but notice that you bash the 1985 album or SIP every chance you get, here, and over there too. Just wondering, do you have an axe to grind on this matter or don't you realize you've made your point? And made it to the point of exhaustion already. I know you're the author of 3,000 posts here, so we've got you marked down for someone with an extreme dislike for certain BB music. There are no bonus points for repetitiveness!

Your point is taken into consideration. I will not, however, refrain from posting whatever I want, in whatever thread I want. Nor will I comment when others do the same. Thanks.

Sheriff, I think you and I are very nearly on the same page here...I just keep going back to to Pacific Ocean Blue- a masterpiece that continues to grow steadily in stature, I think- and I play it for non-fans and they're just knocked on their ass by it- and it deepens the mystery that you speak of, why Brian couldn't get that kind of support around him to execute his still-brilliant ideas and fill in those gaps, those things he could no longer do.  Gregg Jacobson?  Tandyn Almer? The other fifty guys from "Sail On, Sailor"? Anyone!!!

Around the time of the 1988 solo album I used to make the observation that a lot of guys from Brian's generation had lost inspiration but still knew how to write a song.  (I won't cite the examples I used to give, because that would start a bunch of separate disputes).  Brian, to me, was the opposite- he seemed to remain as inspired as ever (until Sweet Insanity) but, in a way, had forgotten how to write a song. Or at least how to finish one.  If he'd been paired with any kind of a craftsman like he had so many earlier times the results would have still been amazing.  Even stuff like "Male Ego" has a great spark to it, in my opinion.  But instead of what he needed he was given Landy and his girlfriend, or left on his own. I'm still very thankful for the results, such as they are.

TonyW, you mention "Solar System"- I love it despite those lyrics.  I just listen to the beauty of it and tune out the insanity...

Last note on the Elvis parallel- despite my comments on his movie songs, I think I have almost all the soundtracks.  I used to work on an ABC  show called "The Critic" (later on Fox?  Don't remember for sure) and every day at five P.M. I'd blast a different bad Elvis movie song throughout the studio at top volume while people covered their ears and threw stuff at me.

Ok I understand what you mean better, I guess you can look at many things different. 1977 wasn't Elvis' prime nor was it Brian's but I find that people look at them and put the decline at far too early of a date.

What do you do when Brian Wilson shows up in late '76 with a bunch of new songs and is willing to lead the production like in the old days? You can almost hear the Beach Boys walking over eggshells around Brian.

How to 'support' Brian after 1968 was always a very difficult task. What if you proppose a change in the lyrics and he gives up recording for the next six months?

Number One on my list is Goin' On.

Now, before someone jumps on me, I LOVE the melody AND the lyrics of that song. But the instrumental break(sax solo, nostalgo-doowop vocals) just ruins it for me. What's interesting is the production is so RIGHT: IF you're going for a nostalgic cheesey adult contemporary vibe, it NAILS that.
Problem is, I don't think that's what the song is about. The production/arrangement is totally wrong.

But the melody is so strong that for me it just manages to overcome that.

Other songs on the list: I Want to Pick You Up--great melody, cool arrangement, very unusual vibe. But I can't play it for anybody. Everyone's pretty much creeped out by it.

Everybody's in Love With You--so sickly sweet...but I still, you know, once in a while...

Again, I don't want to piss anybody off: but Be True to Your School. I mean, as a sociological study of American jock culture it's interesting, but otherwise I cringe. I just don't relate. Damn it, though, it rocks.

To be honest, the Beach Boys really do have a ton of "bad but catchy songs." The list could go on and on and on.

Sumahama, Lady Lynda, that Our TEam song...