What Do The Beach Boys Mean To You?

[Don_Zabu]

This is a question everyone should be able to answer. In a grand, philosophical sense, what do The Beach Boys represent for you?

For me, The Beach Boys represent emotional purity. They were a band who could tackle very weighty, personal feelings, the kind of stuff we don't talk about in polite conversation, and express them with a beauty, sincerity, and gentleness that no other musician I can think of can even hope to match (Neutral Milk Hotel comes close).

In My Room is a good example of this; most of us would be downright embarrassed to admit how much security we find in our bedrooms, where no one can hurt us.

Everyone goes through these feelings of doubt and insecurity; it's universal. As long as people exist, The Beach Boys will have relevance to somebody.

[Reverend Rock]

Hmmmm...it's not that easy. 

Philosophically, they mean so many different things.  Everything from "In My Room" to "Surf's Up"...I mean, that covers a lot of ground.  Not to mention that sometimes, even at the ripe ol' age of 52 (for me), I still completely concur with the sentiment of being bugged going up and down the same old strip and wanting to find a new place where the kids (or adults) are hip (or at least have the courage of their convictions, and some convictions worth having).

Philosophically, they mean harmony.  They didn't have much harmony in real life, but in what they shared with the world--their music, and the sentiments of their lyrics, there was a lot of harmony--not just musical (of which there was so very much, of course), but spiritual, cosmic, whatever you want to call it.  There is a very beautiful sense of wholeness and well-ness in those harmonies, and in the vast majority of their work, the lyrics being carried by those harmonies as well.

"Good Vibrations" really does, in fact, sum it up. 

 

[Don_Zabu]

"Good Vibrations" really does, in fact, sum it up.  

You know that little vocal bit right before the fade-out? I've always thought the Boys say more about life in those 14 seconds than most bands do in their entire careers.

And then the theremin and everything else come back to bring you down from Heaven and back to Earth, as if to say "Take it easy! Stick around!". It's one of the great musical moments.

[kirkmc- banned on the run]

Great question!!!!!

The Beach Boys (not the farce putting around now) were Gospel... They (Brian) raised the bar in popular music in every, single, way. They set a standard so high, that nobody (not even the Beatles) has ever come close to repeating. They were the best in record production, complex harmonics, innovative song stucture-and soul. They (Brian) taught me that through hard work, you can change yourself-your heart, your neighborhood, and even the world. And they did. The original spirit of adventure in Brian in the 60's is what really saves souls...It offers hope (when there is none),  peace in a tempest, and shines a light in the darkest of places...and that is a beautiful thing!

[Magic Transistor Radio]

Who? Never heard of them! Are they a bunch of men that pose on the beach for Play Girl magazine?

[Alex]

Naked emotional sincerity, sometimes a little corny, but much more meaningful than what's been done by most of those so-called "emo" acts. Naivite and innocence that's missing from a lot of "macho" rock music. Sometimes fun, sometimes "arty", sometimes both at the same time. Some of the harmonies bring on the closest thing this non-believer will ever get to a "spiritual experience". The rock community can have their Beatles, their Dylans, their Zeppelins, their Radioheads, etc...rooting for the Beach Boys is sort of like rooting for the underdog...

[OneEar/OneEye]

So many things.  They are memories - a big part of my childhood was The Beach Boys, and other music on the radio that smacked of them.  They bring back all those memories, my sister Lauren loved them, makes me think of her as a kid (she had a copy of Best of The Beach Boys on which she'd drawn a heart and inside wrote "Laurie Loves Mike!") 
They are joy and sadness, and mind blowing sounds, perfect harmony, and melodic brilliance. 
They are America, youth, California, Sunshine, seascape and family. 
They are the greatest, most intriguing, Shakespearian type of tale yet to be told in all its intricacies. 
They are the quintessential America success story, and tragedy too. 
they are...geez, really so many things, i cannot even really put it all together.
oh, and they're fun too, and way complicated, and simplistic, and frustrating, and....well, you get the picture. 

[hypehat]

I've rattled this tale off here before, but I was 14 and had no clue about the world, until I borrowed my mum's copy of Pet Sounds. She warned me it was 'the most depressing album she had' or something....  It helped me survive my terrible teenage years without resorting to too much depression and self-loathing, because I related to Pet Sounds. That and it sounded INCREDIBLE. I couldn't get over how good that crackly mono mix sounded - I remember especially blasting Here Today a lot, with that avalanche of noise in the chorus (why is that song not discussed much? It's so good). Pet Sounds just spoke to me, as corny as it sounds.
I won't really go on, but the liner notes by Brian (written in 1990 as he was probably on deaths door, which i was blissfully unaware of at the time) had the quote " A song can be so comforting to someone who needs it". And The Beach Boys do that for me.

[Jonas]

Sex, drugs, and rock n roll. 

[Andrew G. Doe]

It is enough that The Beach Boys are.  The alternative is unthinkable.

[Steve Mayo]

until the fire wiped me out of my collection... over $70,000 invested in them. music that was devine to my ears. and my youth..esp. my youth. all the times spent collecting those items and all the places i visited and friends i came to know while collecting those items. that is what the beach boys mean to me. and this was in pre-internet days. deals took a heck of a lot longer back then.

[Mike's Beard]

until the fire wiped me out of my collection... over $70,000 invested in them. music that was devine to my ears. and my youth..esp. my youth. all the times spent collecting those items and all the places i visited and friends i came to know while collecting those items. that is what the beach boys mean to me. and this was in pre-internet days. deals took a heck of a lot longer back then.

Man that must have been a bitch! Good luck on collecting from the ground up again.

Said it before and will say it again - we really take for granted how comparatively easy it is to get hold of stuff these days.

To me the BB's simply mean great music. Their best music is both timeless and of it's time. As with my other favourite groups their music represents an escape from the hassles of everyday life. Crap day at work? Put on "Surf's Up" and suddenly life's not so bad after all.

[punkinhead]

I can explain what they mean to me through a Dennis Wilson song title: they're the sound of FREE

[Wirestone]

They simply mean sublime, multifaceted music with a plethora of eras and sounds to choose from. Quite simply, they resonate on a level that no other music does. To me. (Brian's story has meant to great deal to me personally, as well.)

[Bean Bag]

I can explain what they mean to me through a Dennis Wilson song title: they're the sound of FREE

YES!!!!  Perfect.


And along those lines, I was gonna say -- they're damn near a religious thing -- or really, in a more physical sense: "in my DNA."  But the sound of FREE is the point I'd be trying to make.  Freedom is an aspect of, at least my religion -- i.e.  God wants us to be free.  The Beach Boys aren't a religion, obviously....but they embody the spirit of it -- what it should be and how it should make you feel. 

Hey...didn't Carl say something like that?  "Music is spirit....people are spirit."  Damn right Carl.  God bless your soul.

When I hear those "Oooo's" ...man, that's like someone lifted something off my shoulders -- or lifted something off my spirit, really.  It's like taking my shoes and socks off...and dippin' them in a cool body of water.

Melt Awaaaaaaaaay....

[Paulos]

I can explain what they mean to me through a Dennis Wilson song title: they're the sound of FREE

YES!!!!  Perfect.


And along those lines, I was gonna say -- they're damn near a religious thing -- or really, in a more physical sense: "in my DNA."  But the sound of FREE is the point I'd be trying to make.  Freedom is an aspect of, at least my religion -- i.e.  God wants us to be free.  The Beach Boys aren't a religion, obviously....but they embody the spirit of it -- what it should be and how it should make you feel. 

Hey...didn't Carl say something like that?  "Music is spirit....people are spirit."  Damn right Carl.  God bless your soul.

When I hear those "Oooo's" ...man, that's like someone lifted something off my shoulders -- or lifted something off my spirit, really.  It's like taking my shoes and socks off...and dippin' them in a cool body of water.

Melt Awaaaaaaaaay....

Great post Bean Bag I know what you mean with the harmonies lifting the weight off your spirit, when I listen to the Boys at their best its almost overwhelming beautiful and tears of joy have rolled down my cheeks on many occasions. Strangely when I first read your comment about the 'Oooos' I immediately had Can't Wait Too Long spring up in my head.

[onkster]

The Beach Boys are about being imperfect people, yet being somehow able to touch or tap into the divine. The Hawthorne teenager in me (or the Iowa twentysomething) catches a glimpse of the infinite in the ocean waves at a beach. Someone less than the best looking falls in love with someone, and gets a taste of someone's soul...or, in a larger sense, a taste of soul in itself. Amidst the rock'n'roll bravado of youth, a person--whether it's the songwriter, the singer, or the listener--realizes that, yes, there are moments of doubt, uncertainty--were we made for these times? Are we a little bit scared 'cause we haven't been home in a long time? Are we a cork on the ocean, floating over a raging sea? And it's part of being a real person, to feel all of that, and to know that other people really do share those same feelings, behind whatever facades are up during most days of the week. And those feelings, uncertain, flawed, joyous, and painful as they can be, come in the form of harmony and beauty and invention.

Beach Boys music makes me feel this--this human connection that runs from songwriter to singer to listener and back.

[BiNNS]

Simply put, they mean way more to me than i thought any musical act ever could.

[donald]

The Beach Boys are about being imperfect people, yet being somehow able to touch or tap into the divine. The Hawthorne teenager in me (or the Iowa twentysomething) catches a glimpse of the infinite in the ocean waves at a beach. Someone less than the best looking falls in love with someone, and gets a taste of someone's soul...or, in a larger sense, a taste of soul in itself. Amidst the rock'n'roll bravado of youth, a person--whether it's the songwriter, the singer, or the listener--realizes that, yes, there are moments of doubt, uncertainty--were we made for these times? Are we a little bit scared 'cause we haven't been home in a long time? Are we a cork on the ocean, floating over a raging sea? And it's part of being a real person, to feel all of that, and to know that other people really do share those same feelings, behind whatever facades are up during most days of the week. And those feelings, uncertain, flawed, joyous, and painful as they can be, come in the form of harmony and beauty and invention.

Beach Boys music makes me feel this--this human connection that runs from songwriter to singer to listener and back.

nice post well said

[dumbangel76]

Wow, so many things.... I could fill up a page and a half. One of the first songs that was imprinted on my memory was All Summer Long from the American Graffitti sntrk. I remember all the hits growing up but, the Boys took a back seat to the Beatles. I remember though as it was yesterday I wrote the date down because it was that mind blowing to me. 3-24-95. I was a year out of high school and struggling to find what happens next. A friend of mine got off of work and picked me up we went cd shopping and he picked up Pet Sounds cd. We drove off into the hill country of Texas and listened to it in its entirety. I was moved, blown away, in awe. It affected me on so many levels I went home and sat their and wrote my feelings. I dove head first into the Beach boys story and have never been the same since. I remember thinking when I saw Brian Wilson on the Pet Sounds tour and just having tears in my eyes as my musical hero sang those beautiful songs and just to know all he has been through. I thought that it was as good as it gets... Flash forward to present on June 8th I will be taking my wife and two kids who are Beach Boys fanatics to the show at the Woodlands. It seems like it is a full circle that from that day a long ago wondering what the hell happened to me by listening to this album to now getting to see these guys with my family. All I can say is God bless these men for all the joy they have brought me and too all of us over the years...

[The Heartical Don]

It is enough that The Beach Boys are.  The alternative is unthinkable.

Wonderful reply, AGD. I have nothing to add.