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Smiley Smile Stuff => General On Topic Discussions => Topic started by: Don_Zabu on August 07, 2010, 10:00:33 AM



Title: Getting One's Friends Into The Beach Boys
Post by: Don_Zabu on August 07, 2010, 10:00:33 AM
I'd like to get my friends into The Beach Boys, but they don't seem the slightest bit interested. I tried getting them to listen to Pet Sounds, and the only track they really cared for was "Pet Sounds". Any ideas on how this sort of thing is done? Should I just not bother?


Title: Re: Getting One's Friends Into The Beach Boys
Post by: Fun Is In on August 07, 2010, 10:26:29 AM
My experience has almost always been: you can lead a horse to water but you can't make 'em drink. 


Title: Re: Getting One's Friends Into The Beach Boys
Post by: the captain on August 07, 2010, 10:30:28 AM
Don't bother. By all means, if they've never heard it or are curious, have it around, play it, etc. But don't preach. If they don't like it, they don't like it. If they were to love something you didn't like, I'm sure you'd be insulted by efforts to convert you.


Title: Re: Getting One's Friends Into The Beach Boys
Post by: rab2591 on August 07, 2010, 11:07:30 AM
A good friend/coworker of mine listens to screamo-metal constantly. I gave a copy of 'Pet Sounds' to him half a year ago to try and broaden his horizons a bit - he hasn't listened to it once....I ask him every few months if he's listened to it yet but the answer is always no....I never preach however.

Going with what Luther says, if my friend decided to preach to me about how wonderful screamo-metal was and how I need to listen to it and how intricate and amazing it is, I think I'd find a new friend lol. I will never like screamo and my friend will probably never really love the Beach Boys, so I just leave it at that.

Getting your friends to even listen to Pet Sounds is a huge feat of its own...so be proud of that lol.

It somewhat sucks having no friends who understand how amazing The Beach Boys are, but that's part of the reason why we have the smileysmile board, right?


Title: Re: Getting One's Friends Into The Beach Boys
Post by: Mike's Beard on August 07, 2010, 11:41:16 AM
Friends , family, coworkers - have failed consistently. Their loss basically.


Title: Re: Getting One's Friends Into The Beach Boys
Post by: Myk Luhv on August 07, 2010, 01:45:29 PM
I have not met anyone else in person who likes The Beach Boys as much and for the same reasons as I do -- and I'm 21, so it's at least a bit more tricky, haha. Oh well, they won't get to experience the awesomeness of Smiley Smile!


Title: Re: Getting One's Friends Into The Beach Boys
Post by: hypehat on August 07, 2010, 02:44:04 PM
I have 1 friend who loves The Beach Boys. We bonded over it, in fact, just as I was becoming a fan. I had 20 Golden Greats, my mums copy of Pet Sounds and BWPS (Freshly released, i think), and he responded in kind by lending me.... BW88 and Imagination  :lol

He loves Brian nearly as much as I do, but isn't as obsessive about it as I am, i think - Surf's Up is his favourite Beach Boys song (he can't decide between Carl or BWPS), but hasn't heard, to my knowledge, any of the original Smile material. He's not the bootleg sort, if you see what I mean. I keep meaning to make him a mix....

I feel fellow SmileySmilers pain on converting anyone to The Beach Boys fold. Our Prayer, Heroes And Villains and Vegetables work surprisingly well, but if anyone's going to like a band, they're going to have to listen themselves - Especially with an album like Pet Sounds.


Title: Re: Getting One's Friends Into The Beach Boys
Post by: Eric Aniversario on August 07, 2010, 02:51:00 PM
I have managed to make one fan out of my many friends.  He doesn't know all the songs, but he's heard more than the average person, and he can tell their voices apart.  He's also met Mike, Al, Bruce, and Brian, and seen Dave in concert.



Title: Re: Getting One's Friends Into The Beach Boys
Post by: Curtis Leon on August 07, 2010, 03:02:33 PM
Nope. No one. One of my friends likes death metal, and the other likes, ugh, rap.  :smokin As for my family, well. My dad knows jack sh*t outside of the radio hits, and my mom prefers traditional Asian music. To be honest, I've never even found anyone online who likes the Beach Boys, outside here, of course.


Title: Re: Getting One's Friends Into The Beach Boys
Post by: Surfing Moose on August 07, 2010, 03:26:26 PM
I gave up.

The Beach Boys have a "Fun, fun, fun, Surf, Rhonda" Image you just can't break. Their further interest is below zero.

My girlfriend though I played the BWPS live DVD, now she's in it too.


Title: Re: Getting One's Friends Into The Beach Boys
Post by: kwan_dk on August 07, 2010, 03:52:04 PM
Sit your friend down and watch Endless Harmony with him. That's what got me into the group and their music. Seriously, it worked for me!

I used to really hate the Beach Boys and their sound. I constantly teased my friend for listening to such sappy, shrill music. (What can I say - I was ignorant). But seeing that documentary and having him explain some of the bits a bit more in detail while watching really changed all that up to the point where I've become a full-blown BB-fanatic.

It's fun to look back on now; since then my friend and I have seen both Mike & Bruce and Brian in concert together (including the legendary Smile premiere at Royal Festival Hall) and we're currently singing in a BB-inspired group. Had someone told me that would happen ten years ago I wouldn't have believed them.  :-D

Kwan_dk
http://www.myspace.com/surfschooldropouts


Title: Re: Getting One's Friends Into The Beach Boys
Post by: Magic Transistor Radio on August 07, 2010, 10:19:46 PM
I have told some friends that the Beach Boys are one of the most diverse bands in pop music history. I always get a funny look.


Title: Re: Getting One's Friends Into The Beach Boys
Post by: Curtis Leon on August 07, 2010, 11:51:28 PM
I have told some friends that the Beach Boys are one of the most diverse bands in pop music history. I always get a funny look.

Most people only know the Beach Boys through their hits. California Girls, and I Get Around, Help Me Rhonda. All fair songs in their own right, but Brian was capable of so much more... Ask them if they've ever even heard Wild Honey, or anything after Pet Sounds, really. You'd probably get an even funnier look.


Title: Re: Getting One's Friends Into The Beach Boys
Post by: Austin on August 08, 2010, 12:44:03 AM
A friend of mine, who was somewhat dismissive of the group initially, has been slowly getting into a lot of their mid and late-60's work recently. He's a sucker for complex chord progressions, so one day I played a couple samples from "God Only Knows" and "Surf's Up" in passing...a funny Brian or Dennis story later, and I had him hooked.  ;D


Title: Re: Getting One's Friends Into The Beach Boys
Post by: adamghost on August 08, 2010, 02:59:19 AM
Pacific Ocean Blue has worked for me.


Title: Re: Getting One's Friends Into The Beach Boys
Post by: shelter on August 08, 2010, 03:52:38 AM
I'd like to get my friends into The Beach Boys, but they don't seem the slightest bit interested. I tried getting them to listen to Pet Sounds, and the only track they really cared for was "Pet Sounds". Any ideas on how this sort of thing is done? Should I just not bother?

About six years ago I was one of those hardly interested friends of a Beach Boys fan. He told me to check out Pet Sounds and the Sunflower/Surf's Up 2fer, which I did. I fell in love with Sunflower right away (Pet Sounds and Surf's Up took a bit longer to grow on me) so that pretty much did the trick for me. I suppose Sunflower is the most accessible of the really good BB albums, so my advice would be to try it with that one.


Title: Re: Getting One's Friends Into The Beach Boys
Post by: Amy B. on August 08, 2010, 08:56:45 AM
I've had a really hard time getting anyone I know really interested in the Beach Boys. I have a friend who didn't particularly like the Beatles, so I made her a CD compilation and she fell in love with them and asked me if she could borrow the Anthology, which she proceeded to watch in one night. So I made her a CD compilation of the Beach Boys. Her reaction was, "Yeah, they're okay." And you just think, "Why isn't this other person hearing what I'm hearing?"

But as with any art, you really can't force it on people. For years, I was a sometime fan of the BBs hits, but I didn't know any of the obscure stuff and didn't "get" the genius of their music. I listened to Pet Sounds many times, just thinking it was pleasant. That's where my sister is now. She thinks Pet Sounds is nice, but nothing more. One day Pet Sounds just clicked with me and made me cry, literally. After that I heard the music on a whole other level. It's like when you go to a museum and see a painting that really hits you, and you just want to stare at it, but the people you're with want to move on, and you say, "Look at that," and they say, "Very nice." You can evangelize this stuff. Still, I get jealous when I read on the boards that a fan took non-fan to a BW concert and once the music started, the non-fan just "got it." That hasn't happened when I've taken people to BW concerts.


Title: Re: Getting One's Friends Into The Beach Boys
Post by: the captain on August 08, 2010, 09:21:46 AM
One thing I've found is, it works better when I restrain myself from going into uber-geek mode. I think that kind of obsession turns people off. You know, "listen to that part again, see what he did there? It's [probably Shortnin bread...]!!!!! That's important because blah blah story of the band this guy is fat and bearded by now and you need to obsess and study it." See what I mean? I think it's nice to just give little bits here and there, as music that's easy to enjoy. Then give relevant storyline tidbits when it's appropriate. You start throwing out names, timelines, and the accompanying plot, and it may as well be school. People don't usually listen to pop music for that reason.


Title: Re: Getting One's Friends Into The Beach Boys
Post by: Mooger Fooger on August 08, 2010, 09:26:54 AM
When I first started dating my soon-to-be wife I gave her a present of BWPS - thinking she would listen once and chuck it. You can imagine my surprised when she told me she played "Prayer" over and over for 20 minutes soaking in all the intricacies. She said listening to the record was a revelation. We often play the CD on drives doing the backup vocals and the like.

However, while I am the Brian fan, once she got her hands on POB by Dennis, and asked me to play some of the Dennis stuff, she now prefers his music. I cant complain because I reckon River Song is one of the best all time songs ever written.

Friends of mine who did later admit liking the band, did so once they ventured past the surf hits and delved into the post 1966 era recordings.


Title: Re: Getting One's Friends Into The Beach Boys
Post by: JaredLekites on August 08, 2010, 10:22:39 AM
I find that eventually, they'll get into them on their own time without any coaching. I used to make everyone in my life listen to them constantly which turned a lot of them off. But once I cooled out, they started to come around.

Even my significant other keeps a copy of Pet Sounds for the car. Makes me proud.


Title: Re: Getting One's Friends Into The Beach Boys
Post by: the captain on August 08, 2010, 10:26:34 AM
btw, if you think turning friends on to Beach Boys is a bitch, be glad you're not a Zappa and Beefheart obsessive, too. (Unless you are, in which case you can sympathize...)


Title: Re: Getting One's Friends Into The Beach Boys
Post by: lance on August 08, 2010, 10:37:28 AM
I only gave a half-hearted try at 'turning anyone on' to the Beach Boys. I know it's an uphill battle, because I remember a friend of mine, who I thought otherwise had excellent taste, trying to turn me on to the Beach Boys in 1998--I pretty much gave it an 'ew'. No thanks. I hate that guys voice'.

 I gave a friend of mine(Canadian guy, obsessed with the Stones like I am B. Wilson, etc.) a three disc 'best of' that I made, which was probably overkill. He never told me if he liked it or not, but he did say a year or two later when I mentioned that I liked the Beach Boys:

'Still? Man, we gotta get you to the sea and quick.'

Man, you gotta love comments like that. You want to say: but you don't understand! It's not all ocean spray and Californian Girls! The pain! Listen for the pain! ' But you can't say things like that. So you get a therapist.

People gotta get into things on their own. I had a friend who was a huge Led Zep fan, and though I liked them okay, I couldn't listen to them for a decade because I'd always here his stoned-ass voice telling me 'Dude! Robert Plant was NINETEEN when he recorded this! I'm 23! What am I doing?"




Title: Re: Getting One's Friends Into The Beach Boys
Post by: Ron on August 08, 2010, 03:01:27 PM
Pet sounds was the wrong way to start.

First, since they think they're so cool, get them to listen to Good Vibrations, and tell them that before Good Vibrations, everything was recorded in whole with a few overdubs, after Good Vibrations, everything from rap to country to classical is recorded in pieces like that song.  Then show 'em where the cuts are.  It'll blow their mind.  Then tell them you don't want to listen to anymore today, and put on the most god awful bullshit record you can find, and go "Yeah; I guess Rob Thomas is good too"

The contrast from cut to cut, then finally to whatever bullshit song you play next will blow their mind and they'll be begging you to play soemthing else great.  So the next time you do it, play "Wild Honey", or "Marcella", or "Friends" but only the one song, then move onto something horrible again. 

Eventually they'll associate the Beach Boys with god and whoever you play next with god awful.


Title: Re: Getting One's Friends Into The Beach Boys
Post by: PongHit on August 08, 2010, 03:23:22 PM
you can lead a horse to water but you can't make 'em drink. 

Who lead the iron horse?


Title: Re: Getting One's Friends Into The Beach Boys
Post by: rab2591 on August 08, 2010, 03:23:39 PM
Pet sounds was the wrong way to start.

First, since they think they're so cool, get them to listen to Good Vibrations, and tell them that before Good Vibrations, everything was recorded in whole with a few overdubs, after Good Vibrations, everything from rap to country to classical is recorded in pieces like that song.  Then show 'em where the cuts are.  It'll blow their mind.  Then tell them you don't want to listen to anymore today, and put on the most god awful bullmerda record you can find, and go "Yeah; I guess Rob Thomas is good too"

The contrast from cut to cut, then finally to whatever bullmerda song you play next will blow their mind and they'll be begging you to play soemthing else great.  So the next time you do it, play "Wild Honey", or "Marcella", or "Friends" but only the one song, then move onto something horrible again. 

Eventually they'll associate the Beach Boys with god and whoever you play next with god awful.

greatest. advice. ever. wow. behavioral conditioning to get someone to like the Beach Boys  :lol


Title: Re: Getting One's Friends Into The Beach Boys
Post by: Curtis Leon on August 08, 2010, 03:39:11 PM
Pet sounds was the wrong way to start.

First, since they think they're so cool, get them to listen to Good Vibrations, and tell them that before Good Vibrations, everything was recorded in whole with a few overdubs, after Good Vibrations, everything from rap to country to classical is recorded in pieces like that song.  Then show 'em where the cuts are.  It'll blow their mind.  Then tell them you don't want to listen to anymore today, and put on the most god awful bullmerda record you can find, and go "Yeah; I guess Rob Thomas is good too"

The contrast from cut to cut, then finally to whatever bullmerda song you play next will blow their mind and they'll be begging you to play soemthing else great.  So the next time you do it, play "Wild Honey", or "Marcella", or "Friends" but only the one song, then move onto something horrible again. 

Eventually they'll associate the Beach Boys with god and whoever you play next with god awful.

I dunno... wouldn't that just convince your friends to request that you play the Beach Boys all the time?


Title: Re: Getting One's Friends Into The Beach Boys
Post by: Ron on August 08, 2010, 03:43:30 PM
...hmm.  I thought that was the intended effect.  These damn spells always backfire.  HOCUS POCUS!!!! ALLEY OOP OCUS!!!!


Title: Re: Getting One's Friends Into The Beach Boys
Post by: Jon Stebbins on August 08, 2010, 08:43:53 PM
In the '70's I used to get my high-school friends high and play a mystical Zeppelin track or a trippy Pink Floyd track, and everyone would say whoa...that's sounds so eerie when yer high...and I'd say, ya think that's trippy? Check this out, and then i'd slip on Fall Breaks and Back to Winter or Wind Chimes...and they'd get a little scared and and laugh and be blown away...and ALWAYS ask, what the fluck is this??? At the moment you say "Its the Beach Boys."...their perception is forever shattered, and then their minds are wide open...then, i'd usually transition to Holland or 20/20.  My friends NEVER again said the BB's weren't cool after one of those sessions...But that was the '70's....before Kokomo, John Stamos, tennis shorts, Baywatch and decades of lameness...it was an easier job.


Title: Re: Getting One's Friends Into The Beach Boys
Post by: Dunderhead on August 08, 2010, 09:35:10 PM
The Pet Sounds sessions are really great for this. Get your friends high and play something like the vocal track for "I Just Wasn't Made For These Times".
Then play the actual song, then listen to you friend ask "dude, didn't we just listen to this...that wasn't with music? Whoa!"


Title: Re: Getting One's Friends Into The Beach Boys
Post by: Jay on August 08, 2010, 09:36:44 PM
A friend of mine was doing a paper for school on music. She knew I was an obsessed music freak, so she asked me to help her out. She was basically doing a report on music from 1960 to 1970(an exact same project I had done for school a few years before, oddly enough). She REFUSED to mention The Beach Boys. She took one single listen to 409 and Surfin' Safari, and thought I was crazy. I politely tried to explain to her that this guy by the name of Brian WIlson literally changed the face of music history with an album called Pet Sounds, but she wanted nothing to do with it. She refused to have anything to do with "bubble gum pop music", as I believe she called it. It ended up being a big argument, and we didn't speak for about 6 months.


Title: Re: Getting One's Friends Into The Beach Boys
Post by: Don_Zabu on August 08, 2010, 10:31:48 PM
A friend of mine was doing a paper for school on music. She knew I was an obsessed music freak, so she asked me to help her out. She was basically doing a report on music from 1960 to 1970(an exact same project I had done for school a few years before, oddly enough). She REFUSED to mention The Beach Boys. She took one single listen to 409 and Surfin' Safari, and thought I was crazy. I politely tried to explain to her that this guy by the name of Brian WIlson literally changed the face of music history with an album called Pet Sounds, but she wanted nothing to do with it. She refused to have anything to do with "bubble gum pop music", as I believe she called it. It ended up being a big argument, and we didn't speak for about 6 months.
Tell me: did not mentioning one of the largest music figures of the 60's in a paper about the music of the 60's mark her down in the slightest? It'd be sort of like writing a paper about WW2 and not mentioning Germany.


Title: Re: Getting One's Friends Into The Beach Boys
Post by: Pinder's Gone To Kokomo And Back Again on August 09, 2010, 12:03:22 AM
I think the Beach Boys really are THAT band where each new convert just has to have his or her "personal moment".... I grew up in Hawthorne, so trust me, The Beach Boys were like Christ. Everyone's parents knew or were friends with at least one Beach Boy, but this didn't translate into really loving the band. It was more like respecting the American Flag.... Sure, I knew and loved (as did everyone) the sun and fun hits (still my favorite stuff, btw) but ya know, us kids moved onto punk and dissonance and all that crap.... But MY personal religious experience moment was when I rented the "America's Band" 1985 VHS mainly as a joke and sat back and pressed play and as the opening credits rolled (over footage of some guy surfing) the 3rd movement of Surf's Up played, and man, I dunno.... something just clicked in my brain and I was even too embarrassed to ask anyone just what the hell that song was, so I filed it away, but still I knew there was much more to The Beach Boys than I KNEW. So, a while later I picked up "Surf's Up" in a cut-out bin at a local record store and haven't looked back since. So, I guess, all one can do is play The Beach Boys for their friends in a casual situation and either these friends will have a similar moment at some point, or they won't. But you can't force it.


Title: Re: Getting One's Friends Into The Beach Boys
Post by: Jay on August 09, 2010, 02:04:12 AM
My "moment" was hearing the "Fire"music on the American Band program. I was probably about 12-13. It scared me to death. But it also gave me a kind of "morbid curiosity". I haven't been the same since. I'm not sure if that's good or bad.  :lol


Title: Re: Getting One's Friends Into The Beach Boys
Post by: rogerlancelot on August 09, 2010, 02:39:47 AM
I guess I am kind of lucky. Most of my friends and family like the Beach Boys. My mom loved them before I ever heard them. My brother loves stuff like "You Need A Mess Of Help" and "Let The Wind Blow". My girlfriend likes stuff like "Tears In The Morning" and "In My Room". My friends back in Shreveport mostly are fans to some extent but unfortunately do not post here. I know of 2 that are very obsessive about them (one of them made me listen to Sunflower for the first time).

There was a drummer that I played with for years who was primarily into death-metal. I turned him on to the Beach Boys with a SMiLE mix I made back then (1999). It's easy to turn people on to their music. It's so good, even "Little Pad".

Being the comedian I can be sometimes I once spent a week asking random people (at work, at stores, etc.) what their favorite Beach Boys song was. Hands down "Surfin' USA" won but it was funny to see people stop and sing it. The music will always be loved by mostly all.

Little note: my girlfriend does hate "Vegetables" however. But she loves POB so who cares?


Title: Re: Getting One's Friends Into The Beach Boys
Post by: rogerlancelot on August 09, 2010, 02:43:46 AM
Sorry, thought of one other thing. If you want to instantly turn somebody on to the Beach Boys play them "Let The Wind Blow" from In Concert (1973). They WILL ask to hear more.


Title: Re: Getting One's Friends Into The Beach Boys
Post by: Andrew G. Doe on August 09, 2010, 04:31:34 AM
Play them Love You, then tell them it was released in 1977. Kill or cure.  :thud


Title: Re: Getting One's Friends Into The Beach Boys
Post by: rogerlancelot on August 09, 2010, 05:05:31 AM
Play them Love You, then tell them it was released in 1977. Kill or cure.  :thud

Now that is a tough sale, my friend. But you are correct on kill or cure. But so is Smiley Smile for instance. Either way, I have turned on a lot of people (mostly musicians) to the Beach Boys. Now I'm in Vegas and there is not a lot of Beach Boys that I can tell of on radio for instance. Time to make some new friends around here.  ;)


Title: Re: Getting One's Friends Into The Beach Boys
Post by: Dunderhead on August 09, 2010, 10:02:41 AM
Fun mix for newbie friends:

clip-Dance, Dance, Dance intro with Brian and Chuck laughing
Dance, Dance, Dance (stereo)
Let Him Run Wild (stereo)
clip-Chuck explaining Brian's production
Let's Go Away For A While (stereo)
Don't Talk (stereo)
clip-Mike talking about Brian's harmonies
Prayer
Heroes and Villains (stereo)
clip-Brian doing a bit where he pretends not to know Carl, somebody says "brian you need to take a rest"
Surf's Up (piano only)
clip-Bruce on Wild Honey
Let the Wind Blow (live)
How She Boogalooed It
clip-Dennis hyping himself
Little Bird
Slip on Through
A Time to Live in Dreams (don't know when this is from but it's great)
clip-Dennis hyping up Carl
Long Promised Road
I Went to Sleep
clip-Mike and Al being interviewed
Big Sur (4/4 version)
California Saga / The Beaks of Eagles
Wake the World
Mt. Vernon And Fairway (Theme)
You Need a Mess of Help
Surf's Up (Surf's Up LP)
Better Get Back in Bed
Johnny Carson
clip-Brian and Al talking about Dennis
Companion
Dreamer
End of the Show
clip-Brian Wilson introducing Lay Down Burden
Lay Down Burden
Oxygen to the Brain
Love and Mercy
The Like In I Love You
clip-Brian's speech for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
Surf's Up (BWPS)

I think that's actually a pretty solid history of the band in 90 minutes, tells the band's whole story thematically with a great collection of songs showing off lots of different sides. I wish I had more room on the cd, I would have loved to shove in a couple more things. I don't like the last part as much though, I feel like it's missing something.


Title: Re: Getting One's Friends Into The Beach Boys
Post by: Mike's Beard on August 09, 2010, 10:13:18 AM
I played a homemade comp at work the other day and the second track was "Vegetables". Someone asked me if I really liked this stuff or if I was just playing to piss people off.

My witty reply was "Both".   :-D

P.S. Have witnessed someone turning off "Cuddle Up" in disgust!!!


Title: Re: Getting One's Friends Into The Beach Boys
Post by: SG7 on August 09, 2010, 10:32:51 AM
It takes time and patience. Don't push the stuff on them either. It took my friend John six years for the music to really get to him. Now he's hooked! I just let him borrow most of my BW/BB DVDs for him to watch.


Title: Re: Getting One's Friends Into The Beach Boys
Post by: willy on August 09, 2010, 12:23:51 PM
I've always found it incredibly easy to turn musicians onto the BBs. 8)


Title: Re: Getting One's Friends Into The Beach Boys
Post by: SloopJohnB on August 09, 2010, 12:31:17 PM
P.S. Have witnessed someone turning off "Cuddle Up" in disgust!!!

I'm not surprised by this - although I like the song, I know some people think Dennis' ballads are "pretentious", and I can totally see what they mean by that.


I've always found it incredibly easy to turn musicians onto the BBs. 8)

I've only got two of my friends into the Beach Boys: both are musicians and have eclectic tastes. I didn't really "push" them, because I hate being pushed; I offered BWPS to one of them, and Pet Sounds to the other. They listened to the albums and searched for more by themselves, only asking me for "guidance" in order to find the stuff they were likely to enjoy the most.


Title: Re: Getting One's Friends Into The Beach Boys
Post by: the captain on August 09, 2010, 02:41:10 PM
P.S. Have witnessed someone turning off "Cuddle Up" in disgust!!!

I'm not surprised by this - although I like the song, I know some people think Dennis' ballads are "pretentious", and I can totally see what they mean by that.

I'm almost in that camp, for example. I don't think Dennis was pretentious, but his ballads are a bit...ah, much for me. I prefer his funkier stuff.


Title: Re: Getting One's Friends Into The Beach Boys
Post by: Ron on August 09, 2010, 03:32:22 PM
I haven't been able to really get into Dennis yet.  I bought the album that came out about a year or two ago, but to be honest I only listened to it a few times.

It's not that I don't think he was talented, I just haven't gotten it yet, lol.  I love a lot of his vocals in the BB's, though.  Forever of course is great, Little Bird is great, but I haven't gotten heavy into his solo stuff yet. 


Title: Re: Getting One's Friends Into The Beach Boys
Post by: rogerlancelot on August 10, 2010, 03:30:41 AM
I met a couple of guys here in Vegas tonight. They live around the corner and don't really know any Beach Boys other then the hits. So I showed them "Love Is A Woman" to see what reaction I could get. It was surprisingly positive. Don't ever give up.

I burned them a copy of my SS/WH (they are brothers) to blow their minds with.  >:D

Viva Las Acid  :hat indeed!


Title: Re: Getting One's Friends Into The Beach Boys
Post by: The Madcap on August 11, 2010, 01:19:11 PM
I haven't tried to convert any of my friends yet. I just became a fan within the past year. My advice is to show, don't tell. Instead of trying to tell them about how great the Beach Boys are and how they are more than the surfer image most people associate with the band, play some of the more obscure songs for people, but don't tell them who it's by. If they like the song, they will probably ask about it. If they do, that's when you should tell them it's by the Beach Boys. At first they will probably be surprised, due to the aforementioned surfer image, but they also might be intrigued and it could lead to them checking out more music by the Beach Boys, since you will have shown them first-hand that they are more than the surfer image. Of course, I haven't actually tried this so I could be wrong.

Also, don't start with Pet Sounds. That was the first album by them I heard, and although I absolutely love it now, I couldn't really get into it at first. The first Beach Boys songs that really blew me away were Surf's Up and Good Vibrations. The first album I really got into was Sunflower.


Title: Re: Getting One's Friends Into The Beach Boys
Post by: Mike's Beard on August 11, 2010, 01:31:14 PM
I'd say Sunflower is the best album to try to turn someone on to them, it's very varied, at times experimental, but at the same time accessible enough to appeal to people that like the hits. If Sunflower don't grab then then nothing else will.


Title: Re: Getting One's Friends Into The Beach Boys
Post by: Ron on August 11, 2010, 04:22:18 PM
More advice I would give is don't accept the premise that their Surf or early songs aren't good or are corny. 

"The Beach Boys, you mean like 'Little Deuce Coupe' ?"

"Yeah! Isn't that great!"



Title: Re: Getting One's Friends Into The Beach Boys
Post by: Susan on August 11, 2010, 04:31:19 PM
Pacific Ocean Blue has worked for me.

I was thinking the same thing - it has worked more than once.

One friend recently asked that i "educate" him about the BBs.  We don't get to spend a lot of time together, so i will be gifting him tonight with the 30th Anniversary box set.  He's huge into bluegrass, so i'm not sure how well it's going to work.  I think he is someone for whom POB would NOT be the right road.

Kinda depends on the new listener, i guess.


Title: Re: Getting One's Friends Into The Beach Boys
Post by: buddhahat on August 11, 2010, 04:56:06 PM
I met a couple of guys here in Vegas tonight. They live around the corner and don't really know any Beach Boys other then the hits. So I showed them "Love Is A Woman" to see what reaction I could get. It was surprisingly positive. Don't ever give up.


Do you mean to say you picked the worst track off the Beach Boys' most wacked album to convert somebody, and it worked?! Viva Las Acid sounds about right!


Title: Re: Getting One's Friends Into The Beach Boys
Post by: TdHabib on August 11, 2010, 06:18:43 PM
I played DW's "Time" for a college music professor, totally serious classical guy and he was FLOORED by it. "It's so dynamic" I remember him saying. He insisted on hearing another track from the POB reiusse and all I could think to play was "Love Remember Me." He wasn't as impressed.


Title: Re: Getting One's Friends Into The Beach Boys
Post by: Wirestone on August 11, 2010, 06:21:36 PM
TLOS demos did it for me recently.


Title: Re: Getting One's Friends Into The Beach Boys
Post by: hypehat on August 12, 2010, 03:42:21 AM
Isn't it nice when you discover that people are into The Beach Boys? Was chatting about music to some dude I'm moving in with in a couple of weeks and casually mentioned Brian, and it turns out he's a massive Pet Sounds fan  ;D


Title: Re: Getting One's Friends Into The Beach Boys
Post by: Menace Wilson on August 12, 2010, 09:24:59 AM
I made a BBs comp for a friend of mine who is into everything from Bad Brains to Ravi Shankar.  Wanted the comp to surprise him...show that there was more to the BBs than the standard tunes about surfin and cars.  Here's the tracklist I put together:

1. Passing By
2. Friends
3. With Me Tonight
4. Til I Die
5. Let Him Run Wild
6. Heroes And Villains (sections)
7. Time To Get Alone
8. Wind Chimes
9. Meant For You
10. Be Here In The Morning
11. Fall Breaks And Back To Winter
12. Wonderful
13. Busy Doin’ Nothin’
14. Please Let Me Wonder
15. Little Pad
16. Darlin’
17. Let The Wind Blow
18. Cabinessence
19. Can’t Wait Too Long
20. I Went To Sleep
21. Surf’s Up
22. Old Man River
23. Cool, Cool Water

He seemed to dig it, or at least I heard him make a reference to "Let Him Run Wild" later on.  8)


Title: Re: Getting One's Friends Into The Beach Boys
Post by: rogerlancelot on August 12, 2010, 11:58:32 AM
I met a couple of guys here in Vegas tonight. They live around the corner and don't really know any Beach Boys other then the hits. So I showed them "Love Is A Woman" to see what reaction I could get. It was surprisingly positive. Don't ever give up.


Do you mean to say you picked the worst track off the Beach Boys' most wacked album to convert somebody, and it worked?! Viva Las Acid sounds about right!

Probably a combination of the wackiness of the song and a very abbreviated bio I gave them about the band is what it was. Now they want more. What can I say? Most of my friends back home are in fact musicians (being one myself) but these guys are not really. They seem okay but there are a lot of people in this town to meet first before I start really making "best" friends around here.

I remember a guy I used to work with doing tech support who loved Tool most of all and I made him a copy of BWPS just as soon as it came out and he quickly converted. I can think of other people in the past who didn't care for the BB's and all it took was a SMiLE mix to expand their minds. It's all perception and about how to change the way people view the band. They made a lot of major errors in their 50 year careers after all. But I don't preach about them to people who resist yet I am always up to hearing something new I have never heard before if somebody convinces me in a proper manner.

One last quick story. 12 years ago I met this beautiful redhead at a bar sitting down quietly reading a book. I offered her a drink and some conversation which led to a very quick romance and within a few days she moved herself and her possessions (including a cat) into my apartment. Everything was going extremely well for a couple of days. I was actually starting to fall in love with her. Then IT happened. I casually put on my copy of Abbey Road on the cd player and she asked me who it was. Dumbfounded, I told her it was the Beatles and she replied that she hated the Beatles especially their song "Mrs. Brown, You've Got A Lovely Daughter". I broke up with her on the spot and moved her out by the next morning. Now I have been with this other redhead for almost 11 years and we've seen Paul McCartney in concert together and listened obsessively to Beach Boys and all of that great stuff. Sometimes you have to hold out for the right one.  :hug


Title: Re: Getting One's Friends Into The Beach Boys
Post by: rab2591 on August 15, 2010, 04:17:09 PM
Isn't it nice when you discover that people are into The Beach Boys? Was chatting about music to some dude I'm moving in with in a couple of weeks and casually mentioned Brian, and it turns out he's a massive Pet Sounds fan  ;D


A couple weeks ago I was in town hanging out with some friends; I had my headphones on, listening to a Doors song, when a friend came up and asked if she could listen too....she started going through the music on my blackberry and was like "awesome! The Beach Boys!" - she started playing some really obscure Beach Boys song (I think it was 'Then i Kissed Her') and she started singing along with it! She knew most of the Beach Boys tunes I had on there. We had a great time listening to them.

So yeah, it's great when you finally meet someone with the same tastes!


Title: Re: Getting One's Friends Into The Beach Boys
Post by: summerinparadise.flac on August 15, 2010, 04:21:41 PM
The theme to Dragonball Z with those voices? I'm shaking . . .


Title: Re: Getting One's Friends Into The Beach Boys
Post by: mtaber on August 15, 2010, 07:07:36 PM
Back in the '70's i tried repeatedly to convert friends, always without success.  Maybe it was my breath...

Anyway, I think "Sail On, Sailor" is a good starting point.  If people don't already know the song, they will NEVER guess its the Boys.  Then you break them in slowly, once you've convinced them there may be more to the group than surf and sun...

Man, if "Love Is A Woman" can work, anything is possible!


Title: Re: Getting One's Friends Into The Beach Boys
Post by: buddhahat on August 16, 2010, 01:26:54 AM
Everything was going extremely well for a couple of days. I was actually starting to fall in love with her. Then IT happened. I casually put on my copy of Abbey Road on the cd player and she asked me who it was. Dumbfounded, I told her it was the Beatles and she replied that she hated the Beatles especially their song "Mrs. Brown, You've Got A Lovely Daughter".

Priceless.


Title: Re: Getting One's Friends Into The Beach Boys
Post by: Ron on August 16, 2010, 06:50:08 AM
Everything was going extremely well for a couple of days. I was actually starting to fall in love with her. Then IT happened. I casually put on my copy of Abbey Road on the cd player and she asked me who it was. Dumbfounded, I told her it was the Beatles and she replied that she hated the Beatles especially their song "Mrs. Brown, You've Got A Lovely Daughter".

Priceless.

Bit off topic, but a few years ago there was this great kind of 'outsider' country song about that.  It's called "My Kind of Music" by Ray Scott... download it.  He has a kind of Waylon Jennings sound.

Oh, I met this girl I swore was close to perfect.
I could see the ring, the dress, and the whole nine yards.
I had a country station on and she reached and turned it.
Said she couldnt stand the sound of a steel guitar.
We hit the town to catch an early movie.
And ol' Kris Kristofferson played the leading role.
I said "That's my man!" She said "Who's he?"
so I jumped up and said "Girl, we gotta go!"

She dont like to play my kinda music.
She's never heard a Waylon Jennings song.
She's never been a fan of Willie Nelson.
So there aint no way in hell we'll get along.

She told me she thinks country musics hokey.
She said "You can't dance to it, and all the songs are sad."
I cocked my eyebrow and said "You must be jokin!"
"Ain't no excuse for havin taste that bad."
Then I asked her if she'd heard of Alan Jackson.
And she said "Didn't he sing that song called 'Where Were You?'"
I said "Ya, but girl, that man's a livin' legend."
And she said "Really? I thought he was new."

She dont like tp play my kinda music.
She's never heard of David Allan Coe.
She can't get enough of Whitney Houston.
And I'm thinkin "Lord, that's all i need to know."

So when the night was over i walked her to her door.
And i bid that girl an overdue farewell.
And without a good night kiss i jumped back in my truck.
Turned on some Hank and cranked it loud as hell.

She don't like to play my kinda music.
She don't know Sunday morning comin down.
She can't see what's so cool about he stopped lovin' her today.
Or angel flying to close to the ground.
She told me that she sorta likes the Eagles.
She couldn't name one hit by Johnny Cash.

No, she don't like to play my kinda music.
So i had to tell that girl to kiss my ass!



Title: Re: Getting One's Friends Into The Beach Boys
Post by: The Heartical Don on August 16, 2010, 06:55:23 AM
I have told some friends that the Beach Boys are one of the most diverse bands in pop music history. I always get a funny look.

Hehe. As in: The Ramones are so, so varied in their presentation, and their albums differ intensely from one another; buy their whole catalogue unheard in one go, and you'll see what I mean.

[/suicidal mode]


Title: Re: Getting One's Friends Into The Beach Boys
Post by: Mike's Beard on August 16, 2010, 10:02:48 AM


I have told some friends that the Beach Boys are one of the most diverse bands in pop music history. I always get a funny look.

Hehe. As in: The Ramones are so, so varied in their presentation, and their albums differ intensely from one another; buy their whole catalogue unheard in one go, and you'll see what I mean.

[/suicidal mode]

They've made some of the best music of all time and also some of the worst - can't get much more diverse than that now!  ;D


Title: Re: Getting One's Friends Into The Beach Boys
Post by: Roger Ryan on August 16, 2010, 10:33:46 AM
Obviously the Ramones have nothing on the Beach Boys/Beatles/Stones or what-have-you, but there is definitely a progression from the first two albums to the third album and another leap from the third to the fourth and fifth full-length releases. Try comparing "Beat On The Brat" from RAMONES to "Danny Says" on END OF THE CENTURY or "It's Not My Place In The 9 To 5 World" from PLEASANT DREAMS. That's the sound of the Ramones going from "Surfin' Safari" to something like the TODAY album (to use a Beach Boys progression). They would continue to branch out into more lushly-produced material while embracing hardcore punk as the same time.

The Ramones never made it to a PET SOUNDS/GOOD VIBRATIONS-style revelation, but...well, what do you expect from the Ramones?! They covered alot of ground given the bare minimalism they started out with.


Title: Re: Getting One's Friends Into The Beach Boys
Post by: The Heartical Don on August 17, 2010, 02:07:16 AM
Obviously the Ramones have nothing on the Beach Boys/Beatles/Stones or what-have-you, but there is definitely a progression from the first two albums to the third album and another leap from the third to the fourth and fifth full-length releases. Try comparing "Beat On The Brat" from RAMONES to "Danny Says" on END OF THE CENTURY or "It's Not My Place In The 9 To 5 World" from PLEASANT DREAMS. That's the sound of the Ramones going from "Surfin' Safari" to something like the TODAY album (to use a Beach Boys progression). They would continue to branch out into more lushly-produced material while embracing hardcore punk as the same time.

The Ramones never made it to a PET SOUNDS/GOOD VIBRATIONS-style revelation, but...well, what do you expect from the Ramones?! They covered alot of ground given the bare minimalism they started out with.

Fair comment. I really love End Of The Century. Some dissed that one unjustly. And Joey's version of 'Baby I Love You' is so great.


Title: Re: Getting One's Friends Into The Beach Boys
Post by: matt-zeus on August 17, 2010, 04:56:54 AM
I don't really bother trying to get my friends into the Beach Boys anymore, I did try a bit when I first got into them (in the 90s), though I think it may be easier now due to the fact that Brian has had a lot of publicity and exposure during the last decade.
I got into the BBs through the hits then PS (which took a while to grow on me) then something clicked, you have to have some perseverance to get into it though. Most people i've tried to get into them find the music too sappy or light, which in some cases is true, if you start going on about interesting chord changes and melodies etc then it seems to lose most people - unless perhaps they are musicians.


Title: Re: Getting One's Friends Into The Beach Boys
Post by: Ron on August 17, 2010, 06:53:57 AM
When I was younger, I always liked early rock and roll so I loved that stuff of the Beach Boys, but was a casual fan.  I went to a concert, and bought "Pet Sounds" afterwards, but to be honest my first thoughts on the album was that it was very dreary.  I listened to it a few times, then shelved it away.  A few years later, I got the album out, and for whatever reason really really liked it.  I think the legend about  Brian's sickness helps the die hard fans really understand and get into the music in a much deeper way than most casual or first time listeners do, so that's a bit of a hurdle too.