The Smiley Smile Message Board

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Interesting observations:








I found this quite interesting. These are two of the greatest bands ever (at least by name in one case) and it's funny to see the differences in audience-capacity.

It's not fair to compair these bands. I don't think the Stones would draw 90,000 people if it would be just Mick Jagger with some hired musicians. And besides that, the Stones never became an oldies act because they always kept making albums and producing hit singles.

The BBs had their last hit with "Kokomo" in 88 and the Stones with "Start Me Up" in the early 80s. Both, up to Carls death released albums on a semi- regular basis.
The truth is Mick Jagger is one smart cookie.

The main rolling stones are still there.... 2 of the beach boys are dead..You cant compare .

The fact is if Brian and al and mike and Bruce got together..they would be playing stadiums.

The Beach Boys, all of them, look like merda and dress like old dorks. They blew it with their image 40 years ago. Besides the fact that half of the Beach Boys are dead and the rest lost their voices and pretty much can't perform anyway. Al Jardine can still sing, but Mike's voice is as bad as Brian's.  The fact is the Beach Boys let their fans down and haven't tried to cultivate their image, legacy, etc.  Bay Watch? Home Improvement? Full House?The Beach Boys were only too happy to let themselves go, musically and physically. I mean everyone talks about Brian's weight, I think Carl ate one too many hot pockets himself.

When you say "The Beach Boys" drew a crowd of 4,500, I guess you're referring to Mike Love & Bruce Johnston and the 40 frat nazis they jam with? sh*t, I can't believe that many people would pay to see that trash. If you ask me, they're doing pretty well.

It's not rocket science guys. The Beach Boys, in whatever configuration, have done about 150 gigs annually since the mid-seventies. The Stones tour, what, once every five years ?

You miss the band this summer, they'll be round next year. Miss the Stones, it could be your last chance to see them.

As I said, Mick Jagger is one smart cookie. ;)

The Stones had 22 UK and/or US Top 50 hits after "Start Me Up"...

We fans know this, but do you really think that the genereal public knows this is the Mike&Bruce-show when it's advertised as "Beach Boys" ? They probably wouldn't go there if they wouldn't think these are the real Beach Boys. See "Mike Love of america's band". I think you could compare it, though of course you have to be careful what you actually compare.

And btw I don't think that they could play stadiums if there was a full (as possible) reunion. Nowaday not too many people give a sh!t about the Beach Boys, although it seems that in the last two years there is a little comeback.

Well it is 50/50..

But The beach boys sell the same amount (or more) than the stones every year.

As a fan of both I think the Stones are just as inconsistent. It's a matter of business. They kept themselves scarce. Mick and Keith may fight but they don't let their wives, shrinks, or biographiers break them up. Sure they did solo stuff that hade a degree of sucess but they knew the Rolling Stones as a group means more. Keith's voice was way better in the 60s and 70s too. The Beach Boys let themselves become dorks. All of them (bar Dennis) are guilty of this even Brian (new Leave It To Bever anyone). Bruce and Mike were always a little nerdy but it fit ok until Brian, Dennis, and Carl, declined in the mid 70s. BTW I think Keith and Mick look just as bad (Keith comb your damn hair), but you know they sell themselves a lot better. I mean they have fooled people into thinking that they formed the band or were the most talented. They haven't been superb since Brian Jones died, and 78 was their last GREAT tour and album. The Beach Boys haven't been superb since Brian and Dennis lost their voices. Since 1999 Brian has tried to give a good show and sing on key. He finished Smile. If Mike, Carl, Bruce and Al got him to do this in 1992 after Landy left wouldn't the Beach Boys have made as big of impact as the Stones. One thing I must say is that in the last 10 years Brian and the Beach Boys have made a huge comeback in the States at least. Here they are as well regarded historically as the Stones if nowhere near as big a concert draw. After all the Beach Boys died well before Carl.

...in the last ten years the Beach Boys have made a huge comeback???

On what planet??

Sumahama "charted" too. ;)

Point taken but none of those Stone tunes since have been used as a show opener or have got much play in concert by the next tour.

Are you serious..The beach boys are huge at the moment

Are YOU serious? The Beach Boys don't even exist anymore.  Or do you mean The Mike and Bruce Tribute Show? The Stones are huge, McCartney is huge, the Beach Boys are dead.

For a group of dead guys theyre sure selling a lot of records.

The problem is, they are not dead enough. Look at Keith Richards. Cool.
BTW, the Stones were so impressed by the Beach Boys' TAMI Show appearance that they covered "I Get Around".

They are having more cultural references ever year, in TV,Film,Songs etc

And they have had endless greatest hits albums..and sounds of summer still shiped 2 million in 1 year in the USA Alone..

Well yeah.....but everything you refer to relates to the Beach Boys. You know the group from the early and mid 60s?

Some one said if the bb today toured less often, like the Stones, they could fill the arenas like the Stones. I don't think so. If the bb of today toured less often, they would simply disappear.  I will give one thing to Mr Love, he has kept the name alive...sort of. 

To me the BBs got lost in a way where the Stones stayed true to their school. The early 60s were the surf/ car songs with mainly Mikes lead but the group as a whole were working as one. Mid 60s had the PS/ Good Vibe tunes. Aside from the non-music problems of band members, these were changing times which maybe some group members handled better than others. As I have said before, it must have been VERY hard for Mike to go from singing lead on most of the songs to being a vocal sideman and a non instrument playing one onstage at that. The later 60s/ early 70s took it even further with the SMiLE stuff/ Feel Flows etc, etc. Throw in the Al Jardine folky-feel and you have one very mixed up group of band members IMO.
I wonder what would have happened if around 66/ 67 (drugs taken out of the equation) if Brian, Carl and maybe Dennis had left the group,  and done their own thing what would have been the result? Maybe a Wilson/ Flame vibe but without having to do the old BB stuff in concert.

Not the Beach Boys that play live, but critically the original Beach Boys made a comeback here and in the UK. I don't think they can fix it now, what I meant is that if they had played less live from 1967 or so on they would have been in higher demand. In fact Dennis said in 67 that they were going to do one tour a year, one well crafted album a year, and two singles a year. If that had come to be, I think the Beach Boys wouldn't have declined so quickly. In truth the way things worked out if they had broken up when Murry died, and perhaps done one or two reunion tours it would have been for the best.

Great in theory but to me the older they got the weirder they looked IMO. Take a look at say Pink Floyd and The Moody Blues. Elder statesman for sure but they still look ok in concert. Now think of the BBs of the 80s and what is now the Mike and Bruce show. The surf/ car tunes are like a double edge sword. Its what the paying customer wants I guess but a bunch of  Hawaiin shirt wearing 65 year olds look like multi Bob Hope's. However the alternative, casual clad but singing kiddy teen songs would also be cringe worthy.


http://www.dailyrepublican.com/bob_hope2-94.jpg

http://www.ellisisland.org/genealogy/bob_hope_vietnam.jpg

Remind you of anyone?

I agree with a lot of what you're saying.

Question about your hypothetical. do you Brian, Carl and Dennis quitting the Beach Boys to start a band together or do you mean all three going solo? It's hard for me to imagine what might of been because Brian was so fried and not that interested in music anymore. If Brian had not gone insane maybe he could of had the power to dissolve the Beach Boys. Imagine if he quit the group and started writing and producing records in direct competition with them. How could they have survived? The Beach Boys would have been obliterated.

Yeah, Mike Love kept the name alive long enough to take a big sh*t on it.

Yeah I meant the three doing something together and the drug thing with Brian never happening. Just a concept and nothing else.

With the drug thing never happening we'd have better albums after Holland, even with the burden of non-Wilsons in the band.  ;)

After Holland Carl seemed to be distracted by problems with drugs and his marriage. He had always been able to come up with good product since the sixties. After Holland he wasn't as much there anymore and then there was the Caribou fiasco, the 15 Big Ones disaster, and so on.