I don't know if anyone has done this before...

[sheknowsmetoowell]

...but I'm trying to categorize the BB's musical stylings through the years. I have organized them into their own "eras". I think I have the general idea down, but I'm pretty clueless about categorizing them after 15 Big Ones. Maybe someone else can help. Or, feel free to post your own interpretations on the BB's eras.

1.   Doo-Wop/Surf Rock Beginnings: (1961 – 1963)

        Surfin’ Safari
        Surfin’ U.S.A.
        Surfer Girl


2.   Mainstream Era - Cars/Girls/The Beach: (1963 – 1964)

        Little Deuce Coupe
        Shut Down Volume 2
        All Summer Long


3.   Transitional Period (1965)

        Today!
        Summer Days (And Summer Nights!!)


4.   Emotional Peak (1966)

        Pet Sounds


5.   Creative Peak (1967)

        SMiLE
        Smiley Smile
        Wild Honey


6.   Peaceful Period – Transcendental Meditation/Hippie/Free Love: (1968 – 1970)

        Friends
        20/20
        Sunflower


7.   Darker R&B Period: (1971 – 1974)

        Surf’s Up
        Carl And The Passions – “So Tough”
        Holland


8.   Novelty Revival: (1974 – 1976)

        15 Big Ones

[joshferrell]

80's/90's- trying too hard to be cool and hip period

[Ron]

Yeah I'd say from '85-'89 there was a "Dammit give us a paycheck and we'll show up" vibe going on.  BTW I'm not being critical.  I'd join the backstreet boys if they'd let me. 

[Summertime Blooz]

I'd say Surfer Girl belongs to that second group as it was leaps and bounds better than the first two albums. I would never classify Smiley Smile and Wild Honey as the BBs creative peak- maybe their regressive or primitive period, along with Beach Boys Party. Today, Pet Sounds, and Smile are what I would consider their Creative Peak. Stick Summer Days in that Mainstream period (maybe rename it the Teen Idols period because the BBS have always been mainstream).

I recently broke their discography into 3 playlists for my Ipod which I think is all you need:
Summer Days and Summer Nights- Everything through Good Vibrations
Fall Breaks- Smile through Holland
Endless Summer- Everything post-Endless Summer

[BJL]

I have a related pet-theory that I'm rather fond of, which is that the Beach Boy's music can be seen as following a single trajectory from surfin safari to holland, and then repeating that trajectory in a condensed, degraded way. 

So in this theory you have the early success playing in some ways simple but very innovate music, the music gets more and more sophisticated, hits an artistic peak, then falls apart, then rebuilds itself. 

So in this (admittedly rather silly, but I like it) theory, 1976 is when the band starts over:

15 Big Ones is the degraded version of their early, rock n roll period, complete with moments of surprising musical sophistication, but only occasionally, and surprising mainstream success (rock n roll music).  Then Love You is the degenerate version of today/summer days, way more sophisticated, fun, by turns serious and summery/teen oriented.  Pacific Ocean Blue, released soon after Love You, is Pet Sounds, the sophisticated, stunning, culmination of 70s Beach Boy music. Then Adult Child and the music brian made around that period is equivalent to Smile, much more musically sophisticated than what came before in many respects, but also much weirder and more experimental at times, and it all falls apart without being released.  MIU is the rest of the band trying to pick up the pieces, with Brian very much pleasant but not leading - the degraded version of friends and 20-20.  LA Light album is Dennis and Carl taking over and being more current and hip, and also better - the parallel of Sunflower and Surf's Up.  Finally, Keepin the Summer Alive is the degraded version of Carl and the Passions/Holland, with its rootsier sound. 

In 1985, the cycle begins again, except this time its even more condensed and degraded.  Beach Boys 85 is the degraded version of their entire career through holland, fed through a mid-80s drum machine and spit back out.  Then kokomo and Still Cruisin is the (again, improbably successful) degraded version of 15 Big Ones/Love You era.  Summer in Paradise is the degraded version of MIU-Keepin the Summer Alive.  And Stars and Stripes is the degraded version of the Beach Boys '85 album and the whole trying to be relevent while pleasing everyone and not doing anything exciting. 

And then, mercifully, the cycle breaks completely in 2012 with an improbable and incredible new album!!

So that's my cyclical theory of the Beach Boys.

Note: when I say degraded, I mean that the music is literally degrading, falling apart, fragmenting.  This process can be beautiful.  I absolutely love the Beach Boys 70s output, so this isnt mean as an insult, just a weird theory. 

[Wirestone]

Not sure about all the specifics, BJL, but I love that kind of thing. Especially for the Beach Boys, who so often look backward for inspiration, the notion of their career as a series of self-repeating spirals makes a lot of sense.

For that matter, you can see the same thing with Brian's career. It takes a bit more mental agility than I have at the moment, but I'm sure it could be worked out!

[Magic Transistor Radio]

Brian is back period: (1976 - 1977)

15 Big Ones
Love You
(Adult/Child)

Last solid group efforts: (1978 - 1980)

MIU
LA Light Album
Keeping the Summer Alive

Cheesy Hawaiian shirts mid life crisis period: (1981 - something)

BB85
Still Cruisin
Summer in Paradise
Full House
Home Improvement

 

[Dunderhead]

Interested to hear Andrew's thoughts on this topic.

The Pendletones Era (1961-1963):
Surfin' USA
Surfin Safari

First Classic Period (1963-1965):
Surfer Girl
Little Deuce Coupe
Shut Down Volume 2
All Summer Long
Today!
Summer Days (And Summer Nights!!)

Psychedelic/Experimental Period (1966-1968):
Pet Sounds
SMiLE
Smiley Smile
Wild Honey
Friends

Second Classic Period/"The Fading Rock Group Revival" Era/Carl Wilson Era (1968/69-1973):
20/20
Sunflower
Surf's Up
So Tough
Holland
In Concert

"Brian's Back" Era (~1975-1977):
15 Big Ones
Love You
Adult/Child

"Looking Back With Love" Era (1977-Present):
MIU
Light Album
Keepin' The Summer Alive
The Beach Boys
Still Crusin'
Summer In Paradise
Stars And Stripes Volume 1

That's generally how I divide up the different eras. The first classic period begins with Brian receiving production credit for Surfer Girl and ends with the start of the Tony Asher collaboration. The experimental period is just that and marks the departure by Brian from the earlier Wall of Sound/Spector influenced recordings, as well as his work with lyricists other than Mike Love. The second classic period begins with the commercial failure of Friends and Brian's commitment to a mental hospital with "I Can Hear Music" being the first fruit of the Carl years. The Brian's Back era begins perhaps with the Caribou sessions and ends with Brian turning over his corporate vote to Mike in 1977. I imagine some will disagree with everything after 1977 being in a single category but that's just the way I see it. Al and Bruce took over production, the Mike Love faction started deciding the band's direction, Carl and Dennis took a definite back seat, etc.

[Alan Smith]

There's a philosophical triad that considers the progression of thought/belief/ideology- :

Thesis vs anithesis = synthesis

 The thesis = one idea or opinion
 The antithesis is an opposing view to the thesis
 The synthesis is the negotiation twixt the thesis and the antithesis.

And, there is a dude called Nick Venet, who once said; "You really can't pull and individual record.  Even 'Good Vibration' is an evolution of 'Surfin' USA'.

I think you have to look at the Beach Boys, and Brian Wilson, holistically - they do look backwards for inspiration (as per Wirestone), but I think they have equally used it to  progress things.  Sometimes 

[Myk Luhv]

The Beach Boys as some kind of metaphor for Hegel's Absolute -- sort like how Hegel used history, except with the group's musical chronology of releases! Someone should re-write that section of the Phenomenology where he talks about the French Revolution to be about Smiley Smile.

[Dunderhead]

The Beach Boys as some kind of metaphor for Hegel's Absolute -- sort like how Hegel used history, except with the group's musical chronology of releases! Someone should re-write that section of the Phenomenology where he talks about the French Revolution to be about Smiley Smile.

You're my favorite poster here Midnight Special

[Alan Smith]

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