The Smiley Smile Message Board

Obviously, there are no right answers. But I think he would like Rufus Wainright and Jack Johnson. What do you all think?

Lady GaGa. :)

Ha! I had to look that one up. I would have to disagree. :)

Hmm... If he had a chance to pork her, I guess he'd inevitably have to listen to her music. Things men have to do...

He'd probably listen to most of the same stuff he listened to in the '70s.

Ok. You're right! This thread is dead now. :P

not to further kill the thread but i remember reading in some interview (i can't for the life of me remember where) that Dennis wasn't really much of a music buff and didn't really listen to that much music. It's the same interview where he talks about star trek. Someone please correct me if I'm off.

What did Dennis have to say about Star Trek??????

That he wanted to pork Uhura.  And Janice Rand.

Well obviously I'm right--I just naturally assume that. But really, how many people in their 40s, 50s and beyond seek out new sounds? Not many: at least in my experience, most people are pretty locked in to styles, if not to particular people. Just because he was more progressive than other people in the Beach Boys doesn't mean he'd be looking for new things when he hit age 60.

that he loved watching it. I think the interview was early 70s so i guess he would have been refereing to reruns. The other thing i remember vividly from that interview is that when asked where he'd like to go on a perfect first date his response was "the ovaries"...Oh that Dennis.

That interview with Dennis was 1976 from Scene Magazine a local Cleveland mag.

I find it hard to imagine that the person that created "Pacific Ocean Blue" would enjoy something as lightweight and hollow as Jack Johnson...

Goin Public in a loop.

Hmm, actually I remember the "ovaries" quote stemming from a 1976 Q and A that appeared in Circus.  When asked who he'd want to play him in a movie, he replied "Don Knotts". 

That is funny! The total opposite of Dennis. That would be interesting to have an all comedy cast as the BBs. If Don Knotts were Dennis, then the rest would have to be weeker then he is. I think Carl would be that guy in Herbie the Love Bug that makes Irish coffee. Mike would be Lucy Ball.....umm

Massive Attack. Amy Winehouse. And Richard Wagner.

ice clinking around in a glass

Maybe you are right. He did a lot from 76-77

I've been trying to think of something clever to post (Endless Summer?), but I just can't picture Dennis Wilson at 64 years old.

...me either

The creator of Pet Sounds enjoys Celine Dion's music...

But didn't Brian also say in an interview that he like her because she has "nice legs" or something of that sort?

Dennis would listen to Kanye West, Eminem, Nickelback, Buckcherry, Pearl Jam, Pink, and Jason Mraz.

Dennis would listen to nothing but norweigian speed-core and Katy Perry. He would also make the best SMiLE mixes

John Lennon's new album. ::)

He might have still been listening to new music.  He was aware of the new wave, and his favorite song at the time of his death was "Every Breath You Take" (which was a current hit).

It is much harder to imagine Dennis at 64 than it is imagining him listening to new music if he ever lived that long.

That's a good catch. I don't find her attractive but I know a number of men in their fifties and sixties who like her looks.

Even with the Celine Dion correction, it isn't as if Brian has immaculate taste. There is a late 80s interview (in Back to the Beach, compiled by K. Abbott...I forget the interview) when he goes on and on about how great Phil Collins is.

what do you have against Phil Collins??? :drum

From what I've read, Dennis always enjoyed emotional music. More likely U2 and Cold Play.

In short, everything.

Phil Collins, whatever his other faults may be, is an exquisite drummer...

I know. i can't argue that. But hitting adolescence in the later 80s and seeing those damn videos everywhere and hearing those horrid songs all the time ... damn you, Phil Collins.

I recently saw a little clip (can't remember where) and Phil Collins is retiring from music. No kidding. He said that he is dedicated to doing something about the Alamo, either writing a book about it or doing a film about it, or both.

In regard to Dennis liking new music, like I said above, I have no idea what Dennis would be listening to today. But, I am of the opinion that not many "rock and rollers" of his generation (age 64+) listen to a lot of new artists/music. I'm sure some posters will inform me of some, but I don't think there's many, at least if they're honest about it....

That's pretty much my thought exactly.

Very true...Brian's musical taste hasn't really changed in 40 years.  The only older artist I can think of who seems to actively seek out new music is Elton John.

If Dennis were alive today I envisage two possible scenarios:

1: He would be living on the beachfront on the North Shore of Kauai listening to the 60's albums of his live in lover, Dusty Springfield, who he cured of her sexual affliction,

or

2. He would be living in Venice Beach listening Stars & Stripes Vol.2 screaming out "for f#$*'s sake guys why didn't you learn the lesson the first time around?"!   ...   of course the only reason Dennis would listen to S&SV2 was so that he could hear the Lucinda William's version of Forever on which he played drums, was the only Beach Boy who turned up to do backing vocals and, naturally, at the conclusion of the session he nailed her.

Maybe he'd listen to Stereolab...and he probably would've had affairs with both Laetitia Sadier and Mary Hansen (before she died).

The sound of one hand clapping.

I honestly can't imagine someone who was a member of the greatest band ever, grew up in the same house as Brian Wilson, and had the unbelievable musical talents Dennis had even turning on a contemporary "music" station today. IMO 95% of the music from the last 30 years has been trash, much less up to Beach Boys' standards (pre Kokomo anyway :lol). I really don't see someone who had a hand in Pet Sounds, Sunflower, and POB throwing on U2 or Lil Wayne's latest albums and jamming, lol
 

You sound like Bob Dylan.....But I like it! :police:

It's funny but I agree with CarCrazyCutie in a way too. Really the only music I like from the mid 70's on is stuff by people who started during the first two decades of rock. Basically between 51-71. Oh I hear a song here or there I like by a newer group (including some of you on here), but I'm adressing the overall popular music scene of the 80's until now. Honestly even most of my favorite artists weren't the same after the seventies. Great albums like Modern Times by Dylan, or LOS by Brian are few and far between really. A big part of it is just the way music is recorded in the last thirty years.

I hope my tastes don't sound too rigid. During the 51-71 period I like all sorts of music. Rock, blues, country, folk, even gospel. My tastes range from Bill Haley to Black Sabbath so there is a lot of diversity in there. I don't know it's just something I cannot describe about how the music of the era gets to me in a way nothing has since. I mean I wasn't born until 1976 but my ears told me what I liked.

I think there has been just as much as good music over the last couple of decades as in the 50s/60s, it's just that the radio has been overly commercialized. I think in the 90s and especially the 2000s, there has been an explosion of good music, as good as in the sixties, thanks to technological advances making it easier for bands on low budgets to make professional sounding recordings.  The 70s and 80s were kind of bad because you didn't have that, so a lot of the good bands that weren't part of the commercial scene tended to sound garagey, which works sometimes but is limiting sound wise. You're not likely to hear any of this new good music on the radio or MTV, but there are accessible, popular outlets, especially on the internet, where you can find it without much difficulty.

I could imagine Dennis having been into the alternative explosion of 1991-94, IMO the last great time in pop music. Dennis was never "mainstream" and the alternative scene of the late 80s and early 90s I believe could have been of interest to him. I could have understood him getting into stuff like The Flaming Lips and Stereolab and The Verve.

But, he's no longer with us, so I'm sure up there he can hear all the lovely sounds coming from the airwaves. When we're all gone we can have a pint with him and St. Peter and talk about how much Vampire Weekend rox our sox off.

He allegedly liked The Police's "Every Breath You Take" quite a bit.

It gets worse - there's a 1995 Paul Williams interview with Brian where he raves about the Kenny G. Christmas album.  As for Dennis, if he were around today, I don't really see him getting into music from the last couple of decades.  There's been some great stuff in that time but nothing revolutionary or earthshaking (I personally don't consider hip-hop to have advanced music, but that's another story.)  I would picture Dennis kicking back with some classic '50s/'60s rock'n'roll or New Orleans r&b.

It's a bit narrow minded to assume that the guy would stop listening to new music and cease seeking it out.

My dad's over fifty and he listens to more new music than I do in my twenties. Then again, all his wife listens to is Best of 60s albums if she listens to anything in particular at all.

Anyway, you never know. Lots of people around in Dennis' day are still making music. He might still relate to those artists and what they're putting out. Maybe Neil Young's limousine rap, "Cough up the bux".  ;D

Also - these sort of threads are really just people talking about themselves and their own ideas of who a person was based on fairly limited information and a lot of their own dreaming.

I don't think it's narrow minded at all, because older people generally listen to less new music than newer people. Of COURSE there are exceptions. But what would make him one of them? His older brother certainly isn't. The fact that he was a wild man in his younger years, is that what would make him the exception? Most older men I know who were wild men in the '70s listen to (drum roll...) the same music they did then. They're cheering for the Zeppelin, Stones or whatever they loved in their glory years. Might Dennis have been one of the exceptions, sure. Maybe he'd be into Kanye West. Maybe he'd be into Enya. Maybe he'd be into the Dixie Chicks. Maybe he'd be into the sound of his own farts--we don't know. But it seems to me that my "narrow-minded" supposition is more likely true than people just naming bands they happen to like, or naming bands they think remind them of Dennis, and projecting that onto a guy who has been dead for twenty-odd years and who would be in his sixties if he weren't underwater. Clearly, nobody has the right answer, though. That much is obvious and should be assumed.

The reason I brought up Jack Johnson and Rufus Wainright is because it seems to fit the kind of thing he was into in the 70s. There is plenty of good music today. Most of it is not played on the radio. Even though I love the alternative era myself, I'm not so sure Dennis would like it. But who knows.

Which I think is always quite an intriguing thing to read for that very reason.

I don't think Dennis would like a lot of stuff I like. And I don't care for a lot of stuff he liked. 'You Are So Beautiful' is a song I don't care for, and put it in the same mold as 'I Write the Songs'. I also find Rufus Wainright and Jack Johnson kind of boring. But I think it is something Dennis would like today.

The question is: would Dennis prefer the 66/67 Smile session tapes or BWPS?  :-[

No, the question is "what might Dennis listen to today if he were alive?" It's right in the subject line. I'm surprised you didn't notice.

For the win.