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My father loved the Beach Boys up until the point where they became "uncool" in the late 60's/early 70's. Then he sort of went through this phase where he didn't listen to them much until he attended the famous Grateful Dead concert at the Fillmore East with a couple of his friends. As many people on this board know, the Grateful Dead introduced their "California friends," the Beach Boys, and the crowd went wild. The Beach Boys were cool ever since. Since then he has loved them, although he definitely likes the Pet Sounds/Smile stuff and the material from afterwards a lot better than the early hits.
My mother only likes a few songs, particularly Good Vibrations.
My mother only likes a few songs, particularly Good Vibrations.
Wow!
How many can say that they were at that show t all? Should be interesting to hear more about his recollections of that show. Can you urge hime te become a member of this board ? 
My father owns a copy of Steven Gains' book, Heroes and Villains: The True Story of the Beach Boys. The book originally came out in 1986, which was of course many years after that concert. There's a quote in the book that states that almost everyone in the audience was stoned out of their minds that night. I forget who says it. It might not be Gains, I think he's just quoting somebody who was there.
My father and his friends were not stoned that night. He says that he can't really make any definitive statements regarding whether every single person in the audience that night truly was stoned or tripping out on acid, but that it's probably safe to say that is an exaggeration.
I have shown my father this board before, and he does read it occasionally. He's more of a Kinks fan than a Beach Boys fan, even though he likes both bands a lot. He's definitely not as obsessive about the Beach Boys as I am, but I just spoke to him and he said he would join. So expect him to comment on this topic soon.
There are two Beach Boys experiences at the Fillmore East that stand out in my mind. The first is their appearance as headliners in 1968 with Creedence as the opening act. I did not attend the show, but a friend was in attendance. At this point the Beach Boys had become "uncool" as the underground music scene was in full force. I asked my friend about the show and he replied that Creedence was great - the audience loved them - but the Beach Boys were booed by a hostile crowd. He dismissed the Beach Boys as passe and unhip.
Fast forward to April 1971. I'm attending a Grateful Dead late show at the same Fillmore East with two of my friends. As Scott mentioned previously, none of us were the least bit stoned (despite the report in Steven Gaines' book), and we were enjoying a typical ultra-long Grateful Dead late night show. The Dead late shows at the Fillmore started around 11:30 pm and often ran until the wee hours of the morning. My recall (40 years later) is that towards the end of the Dead set, Jerry Garcia (with no warning at all), announced that he'd like to introduce "another California band". The Beach Boys appear to resounding cheers, including mine. Getting a nod of approval from Garcia and the Dead instantly made the Beach Boys cool in the eyes of the partly stoned audience.
The Beach Boys played an excellent seven song set that included: Searchin, Riot In Ceil Block #9, Good Vibrations, I Get Around, Help Me Rhonda, Okie From Muskogee and Johnny B. Goode. The Dead came back onstage to join the Beach Boys near the end of the set, which further increased the Beach Boys' hip quotient. The bands played Okie From Muskogee and Johnny B. Goode together.
At the time it seemed like yet another fantastic evening at the Fillmore East, my all-time favorite concert venue, but it was actually an historic occasion that changed the image of the Beach Boys forever in the FM/underground world. It was great to see a band I had admired since the beginning become relevant again right before my eyes.
