The Smiley Smile Message Board

I'm sure this sort of topic has come up before, but how do you guys reckon the Beach Boys will be remembered in rock history in say 100 years time? I mean will they just be remembered for Pet Sounds and a few hits? and/or remembered for having a genius in the band? etc.. You get my point. Will be interested to hear some opinions. It just got me thinking because I wonder where they will sit compared to all the other "great" artists such as the Beatles, Dylan etc.. in a century from now when we are all gone.

I think the Boys themselves will be remembered for Pet Sounds and Good Vibrations, and Brian will be remembered as one of the greatest pop composers of the 20th century, along with those you mentioned like Dylan and the Beatles. 

I also think that Brian's acclaim will overshadow that of the Boys, just because I believe that time will be more kind to composers than to performers.  People will be performing the songs of the greats until the end of time, thus keeping their names in high regard.

I think they'll be remembered for Surfin USA, Safari, and Fun Fun Fun a bit more than Pet Sounds...

To me, the most telling thing is the 40+ years we've already seen. And what those tell us is, the highlights change. Looking at other artists over time gives a similar message. There was a time when Mendelssohn was as well regarded and oft-performed as Mozart. Did Mendelssohn get worse? Did Mozart get better? Times change. Fashion changes, not just over year-to-year or decade-to-decade, but in historical time: generations and more. So how will they be remembered? I'd ask: by whom and when? Because the answer will vary.

Yeah that's a very good point Luther... but obviously I just mean generally... of course opinions will vary, I'm sure there will still be nutcases like us obsessing over the Beach Boys but I just want to know generally. Like generally (at least as far as I know) Beethoven is the most well known classical composer amongst the general public, so I'm wondering will the Beach Boys/Brian just be a minor blip on the radar who had one good album and a few hits or will they be much more than that?

The Beach Boys will be remembered for three main things. First, as a great singles band who sang about surfing, cars, and California. Second, for their longevity, having lasted for over 50 years. And third, unfortunately, for the litigation, members coming and going, and low periods.

Brian Wilson will be remembered for three things also. First, as a musical genius who not only produced great singles, but Pet Sounds and SMiLE, which were influential. Second, for his drug abusze and mental illness. And third, maybe, for his later solo career, which will have lasted as long, if not longer than his career as a Beach Boy.

I think the fact that their later album such as Sunflower and Wild Honey are being recognised more now than when they were realeased is a good indicator.

To quote Ricky Gevais 'you can't resist The Beach Boys'

I doubt whether 'rock' will be remembered as a high point in the history of popular music at all in, say, 2100. What I already see in the years since grunge (itself a rehash of older 'riffing', nothing new there) is stagnation. Numerous bands thought to last forever don't play any major role anymore in the hearts of the young (e.g. Creedence).
History has a way of weeding out the temporal, the unimportant. Does any of you listen to Janis Joplin and her Holding Cy.? I thought so. 'Woodstock' and 'punk' will be seen as a funny diversion, but not held in any high esteem. Most of punk was sh*t anyway, I mean - a movement proud of its own incompetency? Come on!

If I look into my crystal ball, I see:
staying powers for the works of the Beach Boys, the Beatles... the real composers. So Motown is in there too; and Dylan is a towering figure in another field: as the creator of a lasting body of folk music. The Stones, on the other hand, will remain minor fringe figures, known for their endless riffing, wallowing in their own (and others') dirt.

The special thing with the pop era is that the performance itself has been recorded for posterity. So it is to be doubted whether, as in classical music, there will be that peculiar use of the written compositions to be recorded again and again on a yearly basis by a changing roster of artists. What use is it to let others sing 'What's Going On?' if you have Marvin's originals at hand? Not much, in my opinion.

And here's my conviction: of all pop geniuses, perhaps Brian's work will indeed be done over again the most by many others: choirs, little ensembles, electronics wizards, et cetera. I was witness to BBs evenings in Holland where a whole array of artists (string quartets, classically trained countertenors, jazz groups) did the finest of Brian - and they were wonderful.

And yet, whenever I go to the clubs here in Euro-land over half the songs are just snippets of old songs, like a chorus from a sixties song with a new backing. Think Stars on 45 for the rest of eternity.

I think Brian will be remembered, by those who care, about the same as he is now.  The Beach Boys, once their music goes under public domain, probably in a hundred years will be sampled and stuck into crappy disco songs.

The Beach Boys followed by Boney M in any cheap deesco? C'mon!  :police:

I think that's the future!!! Five minutes of crushing beats with the chorus to good vibrations popping up every thirty seconds. Or maybe just the "Oh, I love the colorful clothes she wears" part.
 Stars on 45 as the Mozart of the twentieth century!! Every hook recycled and repeated until you go mad.

To balance it out, the focus will go to people playing guitars in their living rooms for a niche market of about five persons.

But that's just it, I mean generally, too. General opinions will change over time. There isn't ever a point where the influences that raise and lower the common opinion, the general consensus, will stop: not until the world ends, at which point nobody will be reporting where it all stopped. General consensus on the Beach Boys was quite different 20 years ago than 10 years ago, for example. 50 years from now it will be different, but that isn't where it ends. General consensus always changes--and I don't know that it becomes a truer evaluation. The aforementioned lessening of Mendelssohn's status is often attributed to Richard Wagner's (anti-Semitic inspired) hatchet job on him. For better or worse, it made a huge difference. What will continue to change people's feelings about the Beach Boys? Reissue projects and accompanying P.R. campaigns, for example. Some journalist going nuts and doing the definitive work. Some yet-to-be born popular music digging up a lost gem.

I think it will be thought of in the same way jazz is now (and what is commonly called classical was before it). And hip hop will eventually take the next spot. And something else will come next. It just plugged a several-decades-long hole, as something always does.

I think in 2109 the BBs' importance won't have been forgotten, but they'll be viewed more as one of many major stepping stones in the development of rock and pop than for any one particular album. The law suits and Brian's personal problems will have been long-forgotten, seen by then as irrelevant to the music.

As time progresses towards 2109, and fewer outstanding bands arise to take rock & pop on to its next step, we'll look back to the early ’60s and have our minds blown by the fact that there were so many "giant step" acts in those early decades of rock and pop.

Then, in 2110, the Capitol-Disney-Nestle Corporation will release a laser pin of the SMiLE sessions, including the long-lost final mix of the long-lost Dumb Angel tapes, all re-re-remastered (using the Large Hadron Collider, for Big Bang perfection) in 12.1 internalised sound (speakers implanted in your ears, temple, colon and buttocks).

And everyone will say: "Hang on, this sounds just like Oasis's last album!"

The Heartical commentary..."any of you listen to Janis Joplin and her Holding Cy.? I thought so. 'Woodstock' and 'punk' will be seen as a funny diversion"

I do listen to Big Brother...its a thin catalog compared to the BB's...but the admittedly primitive performance thing they did in '66 to '68 was very unique. Psychedelic blues rock is incredible when its working, and IMO they made it work very well on occasion. The free form guitar of James Gurley was completely off the rails at times which i absolutely love...Iove that big stomping, loose, smoky sound with feedback and Janis wailing. The Big Brother vibe was really distinct as was the vibe/aura/style of many of the "Woodstock" or "Haight Ashbury" era groups. Punk Rock had its worthy elements as well, Ramones were fantastic when they were happening. The two categories you dismiss will have a lasting impact, at least elements of them. i agree the "songs" aren't as strong, but as with Jazz, sometimes its about the heart, the energy, the cutting edge of the performance that makes a lasting impact. I believe when people place entire genres into the "that's crap" category they reveal their own narrow-minded perspective, whether its hip hop, or techno, or blues, or jazz, or Psych, or disco...or Gershwin, or Wilson...there's usually a slice of anything that made an impact in its time that has some worthiness to it. Even Wham had some okay hooks...i guess. The Beach Boys, Brian...no doubt they will remain among the things with the most staying power when it comes to remembering the pop/rock era. But i love music from all eras, you just have to find the things that appeal and move you. Great music is definitely still being made if you take the time to find it, and music just as good was being made a hundred years ago. Beach Boys, Woodstock, Punk Rock...I think its all worthy, and it will all be remembered to a degree.

I love Wham! Well, I like 'em.

Hi Jon, thank you for adressing me in person. In fact, I proved myself wrong just yesterday evening, and you are right to a very decent degree. I watched a brilliant episode of the German crime series 'Tatort' on TV, it lasted 90 minutes, and it was about an inspector taking time off for being in some sort of midlife crisis. He went to the countryside in late summer, to his first real girlfriend (now in her 40s, and married, and a farmer woman). Of course a crime to be solved announced itself right there, but that is not my point.
In that rural area, with that early love flowering again, and set in a cinematographically beautiful evocation of that indian summer, every now and then one could hear late '60s music being played in the local tavern. Not loud, not as in the average soundtrack. Think: Hendrix, Doors, Woodstock. And I was very, very moved, as I never thought I'd be by this stuff. I even got so far as to look up which sampler CD would be a fitting purchase for me afterwards...

So: I stand corrected, not so much because you convinced me, but I literally felt it.

Great post, with many a laugh!  ;D

In 100 years, I wouldn't expect most members of the general public to have any idea who the Beach Boys were. I'm 22 years old, and the only song most people my age know (at least in the US) are Surfin USA and Kokomo. If you're a record snob, you probably have heard of Pet Sounds.

I do think that 100 years there will still people who study the music and culture of the 1960s, and the Beach Boys will have a part in that, even if it isn't a large part. I think the biggest influence the group could have would be the subconcious type, that they influenced the musicians around them to develop vocal harmonies and Brian's production style, who in turn would influence some later groups.

I don't agree. My disagreement is based on the factual observation that at BW's shows (in Europe, that is) people of 20 were dancing in the aisles alongside to people in their mid-50s, and everyone present sang along with the songs verbatim. The status of the Boys and Brian is way better than it ever was after 1968 or thereabouts, and their disks and box sets have not become the object of supersales. Their art is passed on from generation to generation.

Your other point, however, holds true. A special study will be the influence of BW on others. Many a review of the latest Springsteen disk, for instance, does mention a growing infatuation with Brian Wilson's techniques.

Don, that particular series of Tatort by Hessische Rundfunk is always heavily accompanied with this kind of rock music, most notably Led Zeppelin, and I agree it was utilized in the most poignant fashion this time around (while it's usually just blasting from the Kommissar's car stereo to debatable effect).

 :o Well I never... how great to meet someone in the know in this particular place here! So I am not alone in my own universe, so to speak... as you say, yesterday it was used just right; it made me hearken back to my very early teens, when this music had some weird kind of mystic/erotic attraction for me - and it fitted the plot nicely. Your English is very good (in case you are German), by the way.

In my youth I watched a lot of 'nachsynchronisierte' movies on German TV, with John Wayne and so on: 'komm, Du Aschgeige, ziehe deine Kanone und wir machen uns auf den Weg nach Laramie!' (that kind of stuff).

I agree with Luther; well said.

The Beach Boys were ALL composers!!!!!

some were also consistent performers

History will hopefully rectify this misgiving.... but I doubt it :(

They were all composers, but somehow I don't think history will favor those other than Brian (and to a lesser extent, Mike) for that. Sorry, Al...

Exactly.  The only one who had anything approaching Brian's compositional talent was Dennis, and its wonderful that his work is starting to be more recognized.  But his body of work is much smaller than Brian's, and doesn't contain all time classics like Pet Sounds, "Good Vibrations," etc.  Had Denny gone on to compose more great albums (and had been more appreciated from the start), maybe he would be recognized along with Brian, but sadly I doubt that will be the case.

I dunno, see it's hard for me to agree with the "Brian is the only guy with great songwriting talent in the universe" theory when my favorite Beach Boys album is Holland. In terms of momentum, it was certainly Brian. He was obviously the guy who put the Beach Boys on the map, but after he backed away, things continued to get interesting and the other guys took up the reins. No big deal, in my book. They were still the Beach Boys and they continued to create fantastic music up until around 1980, with some ass-kicking moments afterward..... I don't think it will ever be generally accepted just how important all the BBs voices/talents  (and personalities) were toward making them so beloved and important.... And I find this sad. :(

Luckily, I don't think anyone here was backing such a theory. I love a lot of the other guys' songs, but you have to admit, if you're going to rank each of the guys' compositions on a 1-10 scale, Brian's list is both far, far longer, but with a lot more really good songs. Carl has some great songs, but he barely has any songs. Al's songs are fun. People like Dennis. Mike obviously co-wrote a lot of great songs. But in both quantity and quality, it's not a Brian-cult thing to say straight-faced that it's not really close.

....... and I would have to humbly agree with you

my case would not stand up in court, but I can still argue at the walls!! ;p

It's interesting to consider whether nuances such as "Carl didn't write many songs, but some of them were truly wonderful and timed to help prop up an arguably leaderless band" will last through the ages. Chances are not much of anyone will care in 100 years. But hey, who knows...

Absolutely!!!

I think the main trouble is that the Beach Boys are just such a complicated entity.  It takes an amount of effort almost to the point of being investigative journalism, in order to, say, write a thorough and unbiased article about them. My longing for the Beach Boys to be regarded as a wonderous collective of multi-talents really is just a pipe dream.... Of course, no one on this board believes in the "Brian and a bunch of no-talent leeches" train of thought. It just that, if you were a non-fan hired to write the Beach Boys entry in, say, All-Music Guide, you'd probably have all your base opinions/point of view already set in stone long before you even got to Holland or even Sunflower.... So, it's really hard to imagine the "authors of history" making the necessary effort. You pretty much HAVE to be an obsessive to ever hope to get your head around The Beach Boys....

With the Beatles, it's easy. They came, recorded a string of great albums, changed the world in less than a decade, and got the hell out of there.....

I think most any band COULD be similarly interesting to devotees/cult members/fans if they cared to investigate. A lot of people whose musical taste I respect greatly strongly disagree with me about the BBs being worth the effort, for example. But if you wanted to get into it, you could get into anyone. As my favorite dead guy sang, "nothing really matters, anyone can see..."

 I'd say its fairly obvious Dennis Wilson has proven that his material has staying power, Brian Wilson or no Brian Wilson. Pacific Ocean Blue did pretty damn good for a BB's solo product in 1977, reviewed well, sold decently...did it disappear into history because it wasn't Brian or because it produced no hit singles? Did over thirty years of passed time show it had no real importance in the big picture? Well...as Luther said with such sincerity..."People like Dennis". Yeah. In 2008 Pacific Ocean Blue - Legacy Edition sold well over 100,000 units(as of last December). It charted at #16 in the UK where it didn't chart at all in '77. In 2008 it also hit # 8 on the Billboard catalog chart in the U.S. It was also #8 in internet sales on Billboard U.S. It was the Rolling Stone magazine Reissue of the Year, it was the Mojo magazine Reissue of the Year, it was the Uncut magazine Reissue of the Year. It was without a doubt one of the best reviewed releases in all of the music business in 2008, in fact numerous publications called it THE best reviewed release of 2008....and it has sold very well without any Brian Wilson songs or vocals in its arsenal...and it continues to sell well enough that more DW releases will certainly be in the offing. You think Al, or Bruce, or Mike, or even Carl could have done that in 2008? Brian easily has the most historical importance and staying power of any Beach Boy...but to think there is any question about which Beach Boy is number two as an artist is to ignore the facts.

To be clear, I really was being sincere: people like Dennis. Don't let my general ambivalence for Dennis' music fool you. I know that it's just my own unimportant personal preference.

I think pop music from the mid to later 20th century will be mentioned as a footnote,,,maybe a paragraph...in the history books of pop culture...and they will be mentioned together...."musicial entertainers  such as the Beatles, Bob Dylan, and Brian Wilson and the Beach Boys had a significant influence on the youth culture of their day"........etc.

something like the way we regard Stephen Foster or Paul Whiteman.........

When the people who experienced it are gone, only those who care to rediscover it will actually appreciate in a way similar to us...and at that it will be once removed......they will not have lived it...

Stephen Foster anyone?

Very well put, Jon!

Dennis has never been number 2 in the Beach Boys for me. He's been an amazing individual artist who was lucky enough to be be able to call The Beach Boys home (yes, for better or worse)... And who just got better and better and would have continued so if he'd lived. Dennis, in my opinion is/was on a different level than The Beach Boys. His contributions to BBs music created an opportunity for them to be far more relevent and 'hip" and with it then I think they had any clue about whatsoever .... But the public wasn't having it. I get asked all the time by people who I'm introducing the the BBs 'Why didn't they release Forever as a single"? And they're amazed when I tell them, they did, and it didn't even chart.... Happily things have turned around. Someday Dennis might be regarded as Dennis Wilson, rather than "Dennis Wilson" of the Beach Boys!!!

Well I think that's a pretty hard tag to break. After all, the bulk of his career was The Beach Boys, heck even Brian is regularly tagged as "the former Beach Boy".. I don't think there's anything wrong with that though. However, I do think Dennis has gained a lot more attention from the recent POB/Bambu release and hopefully there is more Dennis stuff released soon, particularly his unreleased Beach Boys compositions plus the Sound of Free single. It's a crime that that single isn't widely available.

I think the amazing thing about Dennis's music is that it was so different in style to what the Beach Boys did. Amazing really that his tracks fitted on Light Album so well.

Dennis made Dennis music whereas Brian made Beach Boys music. Brian (as someone pointed out on another thread) still makes Beach Boys music and is probably these days incapable of making anything other than Beach Boys music.

My god, what a band they'd've become if they'd become Dennis's band in the late ’70s instead of the touring juke box.

This post is not directed to anyone specifically, I’d just like to make a point as an advocate for Carl without it being misconstrued against Dennis, because, believe me, I love Dennis’ music.

But there are some facts about Carl’s musical history that need to be highlighted on his behalf:

1.  Although Carl is often cited as not being prolific, Carl wrote and co-wrote over 50 (fifty) songs, and some of them are considered timeless, such as "Feel Flows"  "Long Promised Road"  "Heaven"  "Our Sweet Love"  "Good Timin’"  "All This Is That" …plus all four of his contributions to the Like A Brother CD are outstanding.

2.  Carl co-wrote three songs with Dennis:  "Rainbows"  "River Song" and "It’s About Time"

3.  Carl’s voice is credited on over 80 Beach Boy songs, and Carl lent his voice to background vocals on approx. 80 non-Beach Boy songs.  In the 1970’s (and even throughout the 1980’s) there was rarely a year when Carl wasn’t lending his vocals to another artist's song.  When an artist like Elton John or Tom Petty wanted to add a great backing vocal to their song, they called Carl, and he complied on more than 30 non-Beach Boy albums!

4.  Carl released two solo albums with 15 original songs, written the way he wanted them to be, as he said…”rough around the edges and a bit funkier.”  He judiciously promoted those albums by touring…giving at least two dozen live performances and going on television shows like Dick Clark’s American Bandstand, Tom Snyder, Solid Gold…

5.  Carl produced music outside of the Beach Boys…Ricci Martin’s album, and Flame’s album, which is a critically acclaimed album.

6.  When Brian stepped back a little, Carl stepped up to the plate on albums such as Wild Honey (with Carl’s voice on nine of the album’s songs, it’s a strongly Carl album)… Friends… L.A. (Light Album) and Holland.  With the Holland album, Ricky Fataar said in an interview (I’m paraphrasing) that it was Carl, Blondie and Ricky in the studio all the time working on that album.  Carl is credited on the album sleeve as mostly produced by Carl Wilson.  With the “Surf’s Up” song, it was Carl who worked to get it on the album.  Around that time, he was also appointed “musical director” in recognition of his hard work.  It has also been stated that it was Carl who produced the majority of 20/20, Carl and the Passions—So Tough, Surf’s Up and Sunflower.

7.  In the early days, it was Carl who sat by Brian’s side and who Brian asked for advice.  When Carl was touring, Brian would call him and play songs over the telephone to get Carl’s advice.   

8.  It was Carl who recorded a duet with Olivia Newton John, and he performed “God Only Knows” with Marilyn McCoo on Solid Gold. 

9.  And, it was Carl who insisted the band practice and give the fans a good performance; even leaving the Boys in the 80’s in order to get his point across.  The bottom line is that Carl gave his all to keep The Beach Boys in tact and thriving. 

It’s difficult to compare Dennis with Carl because they are a dichotomy…two brothers from the same tree who branched out and used their talents differently. To some people, the answer is a photo finish, and it just depends on who is interpreting the picture.

One thing is for sure.  They both gave the world some wonderful music.

"8.  It was Carl who recorded a duet with Olivia Newton John, and he performed “God Only Knows” with Marilyn McCoo on Solid Gold.  "  And we've forgiven him by now.

Their legacy?  In Europe they'll be regarded as one of the most influential bands in rock/pop; in the US, it'll be like - sorry, no gut-wrenching guitar solos, so they suck ass OR the British bands were so much better - everyone back to my place to listen to Freddie and the Dreamers OR Christ, they couldn't sing as well as the Temptations - Motown was the sound of young America, you know (of course, not the sound of young Black America, mind you...).  They'll have cult status and be appreciated among those who really know and when you see some middle-aged shitbag singing karaoke Kiss, you'll thank God they're not with us.

As I've said over and over: Carl has the greatest voice of all-time!

Perhaps because of this, it's easy to overlook all his other accomplishments!

I think it's beyond fair to claim that without Carl, The Beach Boys would have imploded quickly once Brian pulled back.

I think this is almost certainly what will happen

Fats Domino and Patti Page were the two biggest-selling artists of the 1950s, each selling in excess of 100 million records, yet they are largely (and unfortunately) forgotten today. If Patti Page is mentioned by anyone at all it's for Doggie in the Window, which no one under the age of 60 has actually listened to, and which is always cited as typifying the type of "square" music the Beatles saved us from.  ::)

Fats gets a little lip service for being one of the contenders for "first" rock record, but that's about it.

Bing Crosby sold about a half a billion records and is only remembered for his Christmas music

I can't imagine BW/BB getting even a full sentence in a history book

I'm under 60 and had a copy of Doggie in the Window when I was a small child.    I seem to recall a video of that showing up somewhere, someplace .......on television.

I think the history books have been written already..essentially....and that songs about surfin will be mentioned in the same paragraphs of commentary on BeachBoys....with little mention of the songs current hardcore fans consider the pinnacle of Brian's art.

This stuff is like antique cars or anything else of pop culture.....they are of keen  interest to those who grew up with it but succeeding generations don't have the same attachement.  It isn't among their memories.

I can buy a very nice 1918 Ford for less than half of what I can buy a 57 Ford or 66 Mustang.  And I'm already detecting that young guys now would often rather have a tricked out import from the 80's or 90's than a mustang or chevelle.

Message:   Sell your nostalgic collectibles NOW before the buyers are all dead. 

Fats Domino only getting a bit of lip service? Oh please! Fats Domino is one of the most influential musicians of the past 60 or so years! If Fats is only a footnote then why was there a Fats Domino tribute album released last years that featured covers by Neil Young, Tom Petty, John Lennon, Corinne Bailey Rae, BB King, Elton John, Paul McCartney, The Dirty Dozen Brass Band, Joss Stone, Buddy Guy, Dr. John, Lenny Kravitz, Bonnie Raitt, Art Neville, Robbie Robertson, Robert Plant, and Randy Newman, among others? How come Brian Wilson decided to cover Blueberry Hill for 15 Big Ones? Fats Domino is the man!

Yeah.  Fats Dominoe and his evil spawn Chubby Checker!

That only proves my point, 95% of the people on that list were children/teens when Fats was in his "prime." 15 Big Ones was almost 35 years ago. He may have influenced a lot of people from that generation, but probably none from the last 40 years. That's not a knock on Fats! It's just that he's largely unknown/forgotten/ignored by everyone under the age of 50. He sold 200 million records (or whatever) and now he's just a footnote in the history of pop music.

Being more than one generation ago doesn't reduce one's stature to "footnote." That people might cite artists influenced by Fats more than they cite Fats is not important: the influence remains. And for what it's worth, I'm 32 and well aware of Fats Domino and his music. Maybe I spend too much time reading the tiny type at the bottom of the page. Or maybe he's not a footnote.

He is not a footnote, nor will the Beach Boys be a footnote. It's true that we on this board probably overrate them a bit, but they will be more than a footnote, if you ask me.

I don't think anybody is arguing that the Beach Boys will hit number one on the charts in sixty years.

I mean, most young people don't listen to Beethoven, that doesn't mean Beethoven's a footnote.

I'm 23 and I like Fats! There are probably more people than you think who know who he is.

Let me put it this way, when was the last time you heard a Fats song on the radio? Any time this decade? What about last decade? People may be "aware" of him as a name and a few young people may discover him, but otherwise he's largely ignored.
I'll bring up Bing Crosby again - he's the third biggest selling artist of all time after Elvis and the Beatles. How many people out of 100 can name a single song of his, excluding Christmas music? I'd guess no more than maybe 5-10, and that of those maybe 1-2 would be under the age of 65. I'm not trying to denigrate Bing or Fats or Patti Page, because they were all great artists and I love all three of them. Perhaps the rise of XM radio will help reverse the trend a little, I do hope so.

Well if you point is that they won't be big radio stars in 2100, I doubt if anybody would argue that.

Bing Crosby IS largely forgotten.

Irving Berlin is not. Nor is Fats Domino. The majority of people dont know either, true, but that doesnt mean that they are footnotes.

Brian Wilson is an Irving Berlin, a Fats Domino. He wont be forgotten.

He was, for a while, one of the greatest producers-recordmakers of the mid-sixties and beyond. He made at least one of the greatest albums of all time, and that is widely recognized by many nowadays, and not just nostalgic boomers, either.

I'll admit that the only thing I associate Patti Page with is "Patti Page and summer days on old Cape Cod..."

Brian Wilson and The Beach Boys will always be remembered in history, but in a certain context. And, I believe that context will fall into the "institution" that music became in the late 1950's and will eventually end; it's getting close now. Pop music or rock & roll music created an institution. It brought the MASS distribution of records, record players, hundreds/thousands of young bands, the rock concert, drugs, T-shirts, magazines, music on TV, AM-FM radios, cars radios, and on and on.....There was nothing quite like it before, and - as we can see it changing right before our eyes - there will never be anything quite like it again. And The Beach Boys were in that time frame, a very popular part of that institution. History will view them as part of that "rock era" or whatever you want to call it, or whatever history will call it. I don't say that to minimalize it; I believe it will be viewed quite fondly, even praised for the trailblazing. But, again, The Beach Boys will be FEATURED in part of that era.

I'm convinced that in the future more of their songs will be covered by popular artists.  Hopefully some of the obscure ones as well. 

The year: 2020
The show: American Idol
The singer: Britney Spears' teenage son

"A cigarette butt when you throw it in the water goes pfffftt..."

If American Idol is still on and still popular in 2020, I am giving up all hope in the human race and either blowing up the world (assuming I have the means as a super villain) or committing suicide (as a run-of-the-mill depressive).

Wouldn't it be great to have a crystal ball?

I can only use a comparison to the likes of Eric Clapton being influenced by Robert Johnson from the 30s with his blues playing.
Many years from now when a new vocal group comes on the scene, I see no reason why they would not be influenced by the Beach Boys style in the same manner as Clapton and others were with the old blues artists.
The subject matter of the songs would be secondary to the vocal complexity and mix I would expect.

A very great, and thankfully popular band at the moment 'the fleet foxes' love Brian and The Beach Boys so much they never shut up talking about them, and name check them in their liner notes.

Add them to the hundreds of bands who credit the beach boys as an influence over the past ten years. This trend will only grow IMO.

I'm 18 and work in Virgin Megastores, I know what's going on :)

Oh also, sounds of summer is brought down to 4.99 euros in a sale last week, it's our biggest seller of the week.