The Smiley Smile Message Board

First off, I wanna say something that's on my mind that off topic, but it does concern the lesser known material...It seems like Bruce is always saying in different interviews over the years that Hardcore BB fans always give more credit to the post 1967 recordings, and then he defends the early hits...I feel like he's kinda bashing us...the only reason why we highlight the later stuff is because we've heard all the early stuff so many times before.

Anyways, enough with that rant...Does anyone know of any celeb's fondness of beach boys, lesser known material...now we all know about the people on documentaries and tributes like Elvis Costello loves Surf's Up and Paul loves Pet Sounds....does anybody know some really good info from other sources?

Isn't Pete Townshend and Roger Daltry a big fan of Pet Sounds and beyond?  ISTR reading that Keith Moon was a big fan too.

I think as far as Bruce is concerned, he was in awe of Brian's talent from way back in 1963. And I'd say he's a Brian fan first and foremost. He probably defends the early hits because they were Brian at his creative zenith. Keep in mind that he went on the record saying Surf's Up (album) was one big joke. He didn't see much point in the Beach Boys without Brian participating. Of course, it begs the question...why IS he playing with Michael if he's essentially Brian's biggest cheerleader?

good call, you'd think he'd wanna join Brian's band....though he did perform with him on Imagination tour/dvd

From Uncut Magazine in June, 1998 some artists listed their favorite Beach Boys songs and albums. Of note that might add to this thread would include:

Bobby Gillespie (Primal Scream)  -Top 3 songs - IJWMFTT, Let's Go way For A While, Still I Dream Of It
Jim Reid (Jesus and Mary Chain) -Top 3 songs - That's Not Me, IJWMFTT, Love And Mercy
Sean O'Haggan -Top 3 Songs - Sail On Sailor, Caroline, No, California Girls/Don't Worry Baby - Albums - Pet Sounds,Surf's Up, Smile
Norman Blake (Teenage Fanclub) -Top 3 Songs - God Only Knows,Girl Don't Tell Me, Do It Again - Albums - Pet Sounds, Holland, Surf's Up
Bob Stanley (Saint Etiene) Top 3 songs - Don't Worry Baby, This Whole World, She Knows Me Too Well


Other well know n people who have publicly mention lesser known material include:

Elvis Costello - Feel Flows,Surf's Up, Cuddle Up(?)
Neil Young - A Day In The Life Of A Tree
Sean Lennon - Sail On Sailor, Happy Days
Peter Buck - Love and Mercy
Matthew Sweet -  The Warmth Of The Sun
John Lennon - The Little Girl I Once Knew
Elton John - Carl and The Passions - So Tough

Carnie Wilson's favorite BB song is "The Trader", if I remember correctly.  She said that in some interview...

First time I've seen one gig called a tour.  ;D

Also The Beach Boys Love You. Reckons for years he could buy copies for 29 cents each and give copies to his friends.

John Cale cites Cool Cool Water as his favourite track.

Some guy called John Stamos liked Forever enough to sing it once or twice...

I heard that Jim Morrison was a big Beach Boys-fan (calling them the reason he came/or returned to California) and that "Wild honey" was one of his favorite albums. If that changed after Denny had beaten him up ?  ;D

Tom Petty likes, among other stuff, "Holland" as you can read in the liner notes.

Jenny Fabian on Syd Barrett: "Years later I found him again living up the road from Earls Court in a flat where he had room. Again he didn't speak much. He was sitting in the corner on a mattress and he'd painted every other floorboard alternate colours, red and green. He boiled an egg in a kettle and ate it. And he listened over and over again to Beach Boys tapes, which I found distressing. He was still exactly the same, only now he was only Syd Barrett the has-been rather than Syd Barrett the star. Years after that I was told that he lived in the Penthouse Club and was very fat and got a weekly cheque from the Floyd. I prefer to remember him as this thin, white, violet-eyed nutter who didn't speak much and who wrote wonderful songs."

didn't Pink Floyd ask Bruce to sing with them on a cut or two??

Yup, for "The Wall".

Pink Floyd wanted the Beach Boys, the studio bookings had even been made, but then the BB went on tour so the sessions were cancelled. Bruce, who hadn't re-joined the BB yet, was available, and he ended up on the album along with Toni Tennille. Both of them sing on side 4 of the album ("The Show Must Go On" is a dead cert, but they might be on "In The Flesh", "Run Like Hell" and "Waiting For The Worms" as well)

The session was cancelled the very morning it was due to take place. October 2nd 1979 at Sundance Productions, Los Angeles. The only song Bruce & Toni are on is that one: "The Show Must Go On". The session was booked for noon to 5 pm, but according to Roger Waters, "they decided to go off and do their own album". In fact, they were up to their collective ass in the KTSA sessions.

I can't help but feel that the BBs appearing on The Wall would have done more for their career (and sales of KTSA) than actually releasing the KTSA album.

With regards to celebrity appreciation for lesser-known material, it might stretch the definition of celebrity but pretty much everyone who appeared on the Caroline No! tribute album would be included, as well as all the others who have covered BBs songs post-66. The Faces, Primal Scream, Hefner, Bluetones are just the ones of the top of my head.

Cameron Crowe - Feel Flows
Alex Chilton - Solar system, honkin down the highway

There are versions of two "Pet Sounds" numbers on the Elvis Costello/Anne Sofie von Otter album "For The Stars".

They are

"Don't Talk" and "You Still Believe In Me".

Worth a listen.

The late and very much lamented Kirsty McColl recorded "You Still Believe In Me" and "Don't Go Near The Water".

Scott Weiland from Stone Temple Pilots is a hard-core Brian Wilson fan and has gone on record as saying BW is his 2nd biggest influence after John Lennon. A couple of months ago I was talking to Doug Grean (his long-time friend and guitarist for his solo projects) and he said Scott's favorite BB song was Busy Doin' Nothin', although it seems to change depending on his mood*. 

Mandy Moore is also a huge fan.




*=gee, who does THAT remind you of? :D

You're right - I had read a Roger Waters interview and just repeated what he'd said, but he was obviously wrong:

=> http://www.pink-floyd.org/artint/119.htm



I've just compared the Beach Boys' and Pink Floyd's schedules for 1979 and the BB certainly weren't touring Japan on October 2nd, 1979. That's interesting... So they COULD have attended the session, but then decided not to? A tour would have been a valid excuse, but now I'm wondering why only Bruce agreed to do it.



Oh, and you can add Drew Barrymore to the list of celebrities who like the Beach Boys. IIRC she managed to put Beach Boys songs once or twice in her movies' soundtracks, and she was in the video for "Rock 'n' Roll to the Rescue".

You can also add Jimmy Nail, famed comedy actor in UK tv programme 'Auf Wiedersein Pet', but perhaps more well known as a singer of hits such as Crocodile Shoes, Love Don't Live Here Anymore and U.K. number one, Ain't No Doubt.  He said in his excellent autobiography 'A Northern Soul', "but listen to any Beach Boys record, particularly Surf's Up, and marvel at the bass playing those counterpoint passes. Groovy. After the tragic summer of 1967 (he had some personal tragedies that year), the Beach Boys became more important and precious to me". He also said about Brian, "The term 'genius' is much overused these days, but I do believe that, for a time back then, Brian Wilson was plugged into something which no one else was privy. His compositional skill, choice of instrumentation and structure, with gorgeous tumbling harmonies everywhere, are real works of modern art".  I guess none of us here could have put it into words better than that.

Would it be accurate to say George is a fan or was influenced or appreciated You're So Good To Me? As he did reference it in the Beatles' Anthology doc.

Really? One of the godfathers of post-grunge (STP, Bush, Live, Silverchair, Nickelback, Creed, 3 Doors Down, etc.) likes the BBs?

Ja, but STP shouldn't be lumped in with the other bands as their tastes ran more towards 60s & 70s rock, plus they moved beyond that sound after their first two albums.  Actually, I probably should have counted the whole band as fans, but Weiland mentions the BB/BW pretty much any time he's asked about music he enjoys listening to.



BTW...Silverchair are also fans...

I guess it's awesome that those guys are fans... That blows away my whole image of musician BBs fans as nerdy and/or quirky/odd types whose musical tastes run a little left of center (a la Elvis Costello, Rivers Cuomo, Steven Page, Jeff Mangum, etc.), rather than "macho" mainstream rock guys.

Probably a subject for a different thread, but Weiland is actually more left to center than it may appear to outsiders. And if you're a fan, send me a PM...you'll thank me later ;)

Carmen McRae covered "Don't Talk" and "I Just Wasn't Made For These Times" on her 'For Once In My Life' album from 1967.

Punk bands Pennywise and the Queers have covered a number of BBs tunes.

I've read interviews with Robin Pecknold of Fleet Foxes where he cites Brian and SMiLE as influences.

My guess is that a lot of well known people are BB fans....same as in the general population, and probably an equal percentage like the later material.

I'm still tripping over Feel Flows over the credits in Almost Famous....

and Randy Newman ......man of many soundtracks....is a big BB fan.

Has Ry Cooder ever mentioned being a fan of BW or the BBs? He's worked with Randy Newman and VDP, and was around in '60s CA as a session musician (albeit more in the folk and blues scenes), so I'd be surprised if they managed to escape his musicological proclivities. To say nothing of the immense fame of the BBs and Brian Wilson, of course. ::)

James Hetfield of Metalica mentioned GOK as one of the greatest songs ever

Billy Corgan (Smashing Pumpkins) is a Brian/BB fan.

The Ramones (or at least Joey Ramone) loved the BB/BW harmonies.

Yo La Tengo has covered the Beach Boys a couple of times (Little Honda and Farmer's Daughter) and are likely fans.

M. Ward is a huge BW/BB fan.  Check what he has to say here....

http://www.musicemissions.com/artists/M|Ward

Sonic Youth has covered I Know There's An Answer...very nice, and Thurston Moore has acknowledged he is a huge fan.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cLktGrpiW5Q

and then there is Fleetwood Mac (especially Lindsey Buckingham) who are huge BB/BW/DW fans....check out their cover of Farmer's Daughter live.... its awesome!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JYIlvhJxrFo

Petty hired Carl Wilson to sing on several of his albums in the 90s.

And Ry Cooder actually plays on Kokomo.

I've heard their cover of Do It Again, which is pretty rad.

Peter Buck (already mentioned here) and Mike Mills of REM are fans and, they, along with Michael Stipe, recorded a song called At My Most Beautiful, which was meant to be a tribute to Brian. The music is sort of Pet Sounds-like.

Seeing as how jmc mentioned M. Ward, so I thought I'd add Zooey Deschanel to the list here...she mentioned being a big Beach Boys fan in her MySpace interview with Brian a few years back, and her albums have a very Beach Boys/Spector type of sound on a lot of the cuts.  In fact, check out this track from her latest She & Him album at the 2:00 mark...a well-executed Pet Sounds homage: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIoYwewzYv4 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIoYwewzYv4)

I remember Paul Weller mentioning Friends being one of his favourite albums.

Zooey Deschanel is a big fan of the Carl & The Passions album in addition to being a noted fan of Brian's solo work and The Beach Boys in general.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tJkBdEIFur8

Sure I saw Weller at one of the RFH Pet Sounds gigs back in '02.

Oh sh*t...Jack Black! There was a *reason* why so many of his movies has a (usually) obscure Brian Wilson reference, or the fact that Orange County had "Love & Mercy" and "Let it Shine" on its soundtrack in addition to "Lay Down Burden".

Jeff Tweedy apparently likes "Love and Mercy," in that he has played it with both his regular band, Wilco, and his "supergroup," Golden Smog (with whom it was also recorded).

Marylin Manson said he was a big fan of the Beach Boys singing the 'Lord's Prayer'  :lol

I never saw much of a reference in School of Rock...unless the striped shirt counts.

I have a friend who works with Marilyn Manson on some film things, he's spent some time at his home, and he told me Marilyn M. had Dennis' POB Legacy CD sitting in the front of his disc pile.

You surely did. He went because he wanted to, not just because it was a gig to be seen at.

Keith Moon, lamented and eccentric drummer of The Who was a huge Beach Boys fan, especially of their earlier recordings. Not only the Beach Boys either, Keith was a huge fan of 'surf' music in general. When the Beach Boys style took a different direction with Pet Sounds, surprisingly with it, Keith Moon's love of their music actually faded.

The band Keith left to join The 'Oo was called The Beachcombers (a London covers band who did a lot of Cliff Richard songs, oddly enough).

that's really odd, because didn't Keith take Bruce around the UK to promote Pet Sounds? I've seen pics from articles (LLVS) but is there any footage or audio of this?

I don't know Justin. My information came from the book "Keith Moon, Instant Party" by Alan Clayson. What we do know is that Keith got in touch with John and Paul, who then came to listen to Pet Sounds at a listening party held in Bruce's room at the Waldorf Hotel in London. Check out the book 'I just Wasn't Made For These Times' by Charles L, Granata, for a more in depth version of how things went on at that meeting (pages 190-194) {This book was apparently named "Wouldn't It Be Nice" in the States}. Incidentally, the book does say that it was Tony Rivers, a good friend of Keith Moon, who introduced Keith Moon to Bruce. I know Tony Rivers is a member here, perhaps he could elaborate a little more about this.

Finally, I don't think Keith Moon actually took Bruce around the UK to promote Pet Sounds, that's possibly taking things a little too far.

In David Leaf's book, there's a pic of part of Bruce's schedule for this visit. I think it was all arranged by Kim Fowley, but yes, Keith brought John & Paul over (although Keith Altham claims they heard it a few days before when someone else played them an acetate).

Zappa, being the highly opinionated fellow he was, surely must have had some opinion of Brian Wilson and/or The Beach Boys. I'm curious if anyone knows what it may have been, considering he was not so fond of The Beatles it seemed...


Do you have a source for this? My "research" (Wikipedia ::)) does not mention him as having played on it -- although, of course, this is not evidence that he did not -- although it does mention that Ry's long-time drummer, Jim Keltner, played on "Kokomo".

There are some very direct connections between Zappa and the Beach Boys including using common backing musicians and even equipment, but maybe the most direct is the fact that James Guercio who managed/performed with/produced and generally advocated for the Beach Boys and especially Dennis Wilson was an early performing member of the Mothers of Invention, he left just as they were negotiating their Verve record contract. Frank insisted he be exclusive to the MOI and Jim wanted to freelance. There's a quote from Frank that says, "Jim Guercio was in the band until he decided to become successful instead."

Frank came up with my all-time favorite rock quote:

"Rock journalism is people who can't write interviewing people who can't talk for people who can't read."  :lol ;D

I once read a quote by Zappa where he was praising a part of "Little deuce coupe". But I don't remember what exactly he did say

Frank said that he liked the 1-2-4-5 chord progression in Little Deuce Coupe. Anyone with a basic knowledge of music knows that, ideally (lol), the seven notes in the major scale, applied to chording, is basically 1, 4, 5, and 7 are major chords, and 2, 3, and 6 are minor chords.

Little Deuce Coupe is in Ab. The first line of the song is the chorus, which is played in Ab. Then, during the verse, the song goes from Ab to Db, and when Brian repeats the chorus lyric, it's almost expected that he will end the verse with the chorus line in Eb. He does it, but to a point. He goes from Eb to Bbm7, then repeats it before going back to Ab and to the verse progression. During the bridge, Brian goes from Db to Ab to Db to Ab7 to Eb7 before returning to the progression. To people like us, used to this kind of musical invention from Brian, it may not seem like much, but these kinds of progressions for 1963 pop songs are somewhat innovative.

Frank's quote, which appears in a part of his autobiography that deals with his dislike of classical-period music and harmony/theory study, is this:
From p. 187 of "The Real Frank Zappa Book," by Frank Zappa. By the way, Jon S. mentioned that there were some people and equipment in common. One specific that people here will recognize is Stephen Desper, who worked for Frank on the road shortly (immediately?) after working for the Beach Boys. I believe Mark Linett worked for Frank, too. The various links notwithstanding, the only direct quote I recall ever seeing is the one above.

And don't forget David Anderle, who was the Verve point man for the Mothers and is thanked on the sleeve of Absolutely Free,before he left to work for Brian and the new Brother Records.

This might be a really far stretch, but in High Fidelity (I dont know if you consider this a Jack Black movie) but in the background at the record store, the LPs Endless Summer and Wild Honey can be seen, might just be coincidence.

IIRC "Dead man's curve" was named, which Brian of course co-wrote