The Smiley Smile Message Board

Man, I wish something could come out like this on The Beach Boys!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Beatles_Rock_Band

My daughter's boyfriend has already preordered it...it sounds like fun, and it would have been cool if they would come out with a BB version.   

I play the game with the kids, just cannot get that guitar down, I end up playing the drums.

I would love a Beach Boys game as well but of course there is no way they will ever do that. I just wish they brought out a few Beach Boys songs for download.

Anyway The Beatles game looks pretty awesome, can't wait to play it! I usually play drums as well though I'm still okay at guitar and pretty good at bass but drums is the funnest of the lot.

C'mon now... What's our dream Beach Boys Rock Band setlist?

I would like to see,

Good Vibrations (although a plastic cello might be a problem)
All I Want To Do
Slip On Through
Heroes & Villains (In Concert version, i guess)
The entire Holland/CATP record

 I leave it to you to add some more....

The Beach Boys are probably not "cool" enough to have a rock band made for them.

Because there are many people who just dont realize what good music is!

What she said! (no disrespect to the Fabs, they were a fairly decent band, I guess...) :)

Also legal issues prevent almost anything to come out with The Beach Boys music. The fans suffer. The BB are more harmony driven, Rock Band artists seem to be more music driven artists.

Don't Back Down
I Get Around
Girl Don't Tell Me
Little Honda

THANK YOU! OMG, someone who agrees!! I seriously thought I was the only one lol.

I was reading somewhere that this new Beatles game will have a three part harmony mode that can be turned off if wanted.  So maybe by the time they come out with a Beach Boys' version they'll have the 5-part harmony mode down, lol!




I think Good Vibrations would be cool.  I wouldn't mind seeing Marcella, and some of the songs that have complex bass lines to follow.  Also, you got to have the multitracks available too since when your playing the instrument and stop, sound has to stop also, so that might limit what can be used.  That's not an issue though until the legal issues Alf64 mentioned could be worked out!



That's so true!  The part about how people don't realize.

BBCentral has been 'coming soon' for what...18 months? I have no confidence that the Beach Boys could put out any kind of game in their or in fact my lifetime.

I think closer to 36 months.

Yeah, no chance in hell there will ever be something similar for the BB.

However, there is a free Guitar Hero/Rock Band clone for PC called "Frets on Fire":

http://fretsonfire.wikidot.com/latest-fof

The game is played by a normal keyboard (fake guitar not needed) but the best part is that it's very easy to create playable songs to add to the game.
There's a huge community creating playable-songs and sharing them.

There are no Beach Boys songs that I found... the only is the one I made myself as a test, "Pet Sounds".

I don't get this 'cool' thing, sounds lame but I think TBB are cooler right now then they have been in a long time.

The Beach Boys greatest hits is as of right now 43 on the itunes chart which blew me away, outselling albums like Rhianna and all other new bands, and 3 albums on the pop charts. I doubt it's because the beach boys aren't cool enough, is Dylan not 'cool' because he doesn't have a rock band game.

I respect your opinion, just so don't agree.

Not to carry this too off-topic, but I agree. And I'd one-up you: I don't think it's just now that the Beach Boys are considered cool by plenty of people, but I think they have been, on and off (but more on than off) for a long time. The past couple generations of "cool" musicians, at least, have been overt in their praise of the band. The independent bands (and plenty of majors) in the past 20 years have been consistent about that. And frankly, the public has continued to like this band, too, whether from the "underground/hipster" angle or the mainstream pop angle.

If I can say it without being taken the wrong way--I'm not trying to insult anyone--I think Beach Boys fans are a masochistic bunch who like the us-against-the-world mindset to the point that they themselves carry on the stereotypes of their favorite band's uncoolness long after it was disproved.

Q: Why do you hate the Beach Boys?
A: I like the Beach Boys.
Q: So, then, why do you hate the Beach Boys?

No I actually quite disagree and also its not me being a fan saying "Oh yes I want the band that I like to be looked at as uncool".

But if you go through youtube videos, music websites & articles & talk to people in my age group [18-25ish], I can guarantee you that 80% of them will think The Beach Boys are one of the
"lamest" or "nerdiest" bands out there. Especially when comparing them to groups like The Beatles & The Stones...I'm not going to get too in depth with what I think about this topic because the same topic was started in another thread.

Man what vidoes are you watching, everyime I see a youtube vid it's 'man I wish I was born in the 60's'  ;D

But yeah bands will always have haters, but what you should be going by is are the beach boys still relevant in populare culture and are they still selling. And like The Beatles or the Stones, the answer is yes

Not by some random comment on a youtube video

I'm right there with you.  I've tried to get a few of my friends in the same [18-25] age range turned on to The Beach Boys and the general feeling they had is what you described.

[QOUTE: Man what vidoes are you watching, everyime I see a youtube vid it's 'man I wish I was born in the 60's' 

But yeah bands will always have haters, but what you should be going by is are the beach boys still relevant in populare culture and are they still selling. And like The Beatles or the Stones, the answer is yes

Not by some random comment on a youtube video]


Well I can tell you one is "I Get Around", not the live version. The one where they're all standing and Carl & Al is sitting in a car. Go look through some of the comments [not just the first page] on that vid and you will see an example of what I mean.

And I dont just go by youtube vid comments, I'm just saying that The Beach Boys are not nearly as talked about or almost "worshipped" like a lot of other bands. I'm glad they're still selling, thats awesome. Makes me happier but I'm just saying for the most part its not "hip or cool" to like The Beach Boys.

Ahh it drives ya nuts doesnt it!? It makes me so mad, or if they do listen to any BB's, its Pet Sounds only. I mean I love Pet Sounds just as much as the next person, but thats not the only cool album they made. It seems thats all any younger people will give a chance to.

Yea it does drive me nuts, but at least we're putting the word out there and maybe they'll catch on sometime.  They don't know what they're missing.

Well if you're an indie boy or girl, it sure is...pet sounds is gospel in their language.

I guess it varies with your location, scene and where you buy albums.

Also I've never gotten anything negative said to me about loving TBB, yet anytime I bring up the beatles I always here 'overated' at least once.

Yeah it defintley must be the area then because lol its pretty much all negativity about BB's.  >:(

Looks like I need to be living wherever you are, lol!

That game sucks anyway!

So if a game was made that was based solely on the Beach Boys you wouldn't buy it or even play it?

Well, it's about time the indie kids started getting into the rest of the BBs catalog, especially SMiLE!!

Indie kids have been into Smile for as long as I've been aware of what they were into--it was a big deal in the mid-90s and has been ever since. And maybe everyone else would have been more into it if such an album as The Beach Boys' Smile had been available all these years. It's kind of hard to expect people to get into things that don't exist, or exist illegally and in fragments.

Make it interesting and I would try it. The music with the added sex, drugs, heroes and villains, Landy, Manson, lawsuits etc would be quite a challenge. :lol

The Rock Band series has never really appealed to me...why play songs on fake instruments when I can sit down with a guitar or at a piano and play them in real life?  However, the curiosity factor in a Beach Boys version (or maybe even the Beatles version) would probably be enough for me to try it out. 

You're so right! And I find it so ironic, it's like at some point the "nerdy" image became what cool was and people that would've been considered dorky or really weird and strange pre the mid 60s became what was "it" or "hip". Meanwhile the guys who weren't as "wimpy" like jocks, surfers, guys who were into cars, the outdoors, or guys who could just clean up once in a while became uncool. Totally blows my mind  :ahh And the actual music seemed to go out the window and it became all about image. I guess thats how the BBs became lame and square, and the fact that anyone could consider any of them (well, the Wilsons at least) square is too funny :lol

Yeah I understand where you are coming from - before I played it I thought it sounded pretty dumb but most of my friends were playing it so I joined in and it is quite addictive - not something I would play all the time but it's good if you are with a group of mates etc. The Beatles game interests me though and of course a Beach Boys game would be awesome - I would definitely buy it!

Or even just a surf music-themed Guitar Hero or Rock Band would be cool!

I worked on a kids product that teachers how to play guitar with surf themed music; the Fisher-Price I Can Play Guitar system. It  used Surfin' USA on one of the catridges.

It's not exactly in the same category as Rock Band or Guitar Hero, but I thought you might get a kick out of it, I sure did. 8)

That actually is a great idea!  Toss in some Dick Dale, Ventures, Beach Boys, etc etc. 

Surfaris, Gamblers, Trashmen, Jan and Dean, Tornadoes....  And as "bonus levels/tracks", some non-surf themed guitar music from the same era...Duane Eddy, Link Wray, Chuck Berry, Bo Diddley...

Harmonix and MTV just announced this: http://creators.rockband.com/ (http://creators.rockband.com/) - where they will release tools so that any artist can chart and sell their music to the Rock Band playing public.

Very interesting idea that may bring some of the suggestions in this thread to reality...!

Interesting...

I don't think "young people" think they are nerdy. It's just for most individuals  all they know is the surf songs (thanks to Endless Summer) and yes Kokomo (should die a HORRIBLE death. We need to send you Brian Wilson Presents Smile LSG) and that is all they know. I don't know, do you ever hear "Marcella" promoted anywhere or "Busy Doin' Nothin'"?

I always though "Marcella" would be great on rock band. Especially the "In Concert" version. That would be a perfect fit I believe  :)

Even though even a lot of Beach Boys fans don't like this song, I think Student Demonstration Time is the most Rock Band friendly song. It has typical electric guitar/bass/drums instrumentation, contains "riffs" and "licks" and a solo, and most of the song doesn't have overlapping vocals. Keepin' the Summer Alive might work, too.

Part of the problem with the Beach Boys and older groups in particular is that Rock Band tracks are made by using master tapes that require a lot of instrument separation.  Though the later material wouldn't suffer much from this, a lot of the earlier, arguably more iconic songs didn't have the luxury of being recorded on a lot of tracks.  Many have multitracks missing or are missing elements entirely.  These would have to be completely re-recorded. 

Since the vocals are probably the most important thing on some of these tracks, I suppose the best idea would be to isolate them from the masters (Which can be done pretty effectively) and then re-record the backing tracks faithfully.  Some of this might have been done for the upcoming Beatles game, though I'm not sure how many tracks they used and how much tape bouncing was done with the early Beatle recordings.  Perhaps they had enough tracks to work with on those.

Of course, some songs (Like Good Vibrations) are missing vocals in a multitrack form, and vocals for that would have to be re-recorded for any sort of Rock Band presentation.

I doubt a Beach Boys Rock Band game will ever be made, but I wouldn't be too surprised if they ever showed up either in a game or via DLC. A lot of bands you wouldn't expect are jumping on board to cash in.

Aerosmith did rerecord the songs that are used on their version of Guitar Hero because the masters from their first album no longer exist, and they were so happy with the results that they are now considering those new tracks to be the masters.  I don't know for sure, but I would be certain a similar practice was used from at least some of the Beatles songs, but we'll find out in a few months.

I think Beach Boys songs on a game like this would be unlikely, with the exception of one or two songs like Surfin' USA or Fun, Fun, Fun.  However, I would love to see a song like Surfer Girl show up on Karaoke Revolution, those games are really fun and I think something like Surfer Girl would be a perfect fit.

I might play it, but I wouldn't buy it.

What if there was a 'keyboard' hero with songs from Love You? That would be interesting.

A fun alternative to a Beach Boys "Rock Band" would be to actually learn how to play the songs on some real instruments.   ;D

I've been teaching myself how to play guitar for a few months now, and I've only been able to sort of get a few so far (Summertime Blues-yeah, I know, it's actually an Eddie Cochran song, Surfin' Safari, H&V minus the Cantina section, He Gives Speeches, Vegetables, most of You're So Good To Me)...Brian sure liked to use a lot of odd chords that would be more at home in jazz than in rock and roll, and that would probably be easier to play on a piano than on a guitar. I could imagine Carl and Al, as guitar guys, and as a rock guy and a folk guy, getting pissed at Brian for making them play all those complicated chord changes. Those guys deserve a lot more credit as guitarists. So what if they didn't solo all the time like Hendrix, Clapton, Page, Joe Perry, EVH, Slash, etc.? Playing Brian's music on guitar is sometimes just as hard if not harder than being a stereotypical "guitar god". I find it A LOT easier to play a Buddy Holly, Bo Diddley, or even a Weezer song than to play a lot of Beach Boys songs. Hell, I have a harder time trying to play "Your Summer Dream" than I do Stereolab's "Ping Pong".

I can play their songs on a variety of instruments, and up until Pet Sounds/Smile, they're not particularly difficult. The early ones are very much straight ahead rock.

What always kills me, is that after they stopped focusing on the Surf & Car songs, they're live act really declined until they started using backing musicians. They're are a couple of ideas I've had as to why:

1. Brian was obviously no longer touring.
2. They stopped playing all of the songs way too fast.
3. The newer songs didn't sound as good with just 2 guitars / bass / and drums.

I really think it would have been better to have Al play bass, and have Bruce play a keyboard, even for the earlier 1965 tours.

The "Rock Band Network" @ http://creators.rockband.com/ (http://creators.rockband.com/) has just launched with a little over 100 songs on it.  This is a marketplace that artists can use to get their songs in the game (provided they can find someone to chart it) and make a little bit of money.

So, if anyone knows anyone who might talk to someone who can perhaps convince someone to...oh, work on getting some BB/BW songs up there - that'd be great!   ;D  I wouldn't cry if the current touring version of "Marcella" was available to buy and play...

Here is another idea. How about Vocal Hero. Have 5 different tracks and you have to sing one of the parts. Songs like In My Room and Babarann would be on the easiest level. Our Prayer and Cabinessence on the hardest level.

Agreed.  I don't believe a Rock Band game based on the Beach Boys would really work.  For starters, the Beach Boys never really "rocked". 

Guitar music is on the way out.

For a large part of America, I would say it pretty much is. The bulk of 'popular' music is more about sequencers, and I'd say it's been that way for a time. I don't care for it, but even as I guitar player myself, I personally don't care for the guitar bands that have been coming out lately either. And to remake old sounds never lasts beyond brief revival periods. It's at least good to try for something different.

Actually it's Rock Band that's on the way out, it's so 2007.   Nice that the Beatles finally got around to OK'ing the game, but they are a good three years too late for it to be the sensation it might have been.

A funny byproduct of Rock Band is that the people who wrote the Rock Band mainstays like Aerosmith songs hella SUCK at Rock Band.  Because the game gear is set up for gamers, not musicians.  Joe Perry can't help but play Walk This Way like he's played it for decades - on a real guitar fretboard.  Which is not how the game guitar fretboard works.  So Game Guy could smoke him at playing the game.  Then Game Guy has to go do his shift as a McDonalds french fry cook.