Why aren't the Beach Boys ever played on classic rock radio?

[joshferrell]

we had a satellite oldies station at my old work that would play things like Breakaway, I Can Hear Music and Do It Again along with the older stuff. I also heard the original versions of Gee, Hushabye and Why Do Fools. pretty cool.

These can offer up some pretty neat surprises...through the years and different places of employment, this kind of subscription radio especially on oldies formats has offered up good stuff like this, much better than what commercial radio too often has become. I just told someone this week about the time they started piping in a classical satellite station, and the reaction was so negative and actually angry among the workers on the floor, they changed it back to the rotation oldies-pop-etc. format within a few days. Classical is just fine, but not in a factory environment.

But there is still that element of a live DJ and the static and all of that which you get driving in a car with the radio blastin'. It's an experience I hope never gets replaced by digital, programmed subscription radio.

they must syncopate the factory workers "do be do do be doo do be do"

[Music Machine]

The place I hear the Beach Boys most these days is over the PA at grocery stores, department and pharmacies, usually it's the 60's hits but one time close to Christmas I was in a Value Village and heard A Child of Winter over the PA which I thought was really out of left field and very cool.

It's a shame the Classic Rock format de-emphasized album cuts/ deep cuts. As others mentioned, stuff from Surf's Up and Holland would fit in well with Rock stations not scared of playing ballads and softer material. I don't know if they still do but while I lived in Ottawa, the Classic Rock station there tended to play one Elton John ballad an hour. 

[MyGlove]

Here in Philadelphia, our local oldies station 98.1 WOGL plays the usual suspects...Surfin' USA, Fun, Fun, Fun, Don't Worry Baby, I Get Around, Help Me Rhonda, California Girls, Barbara Ann, Wouldn't It Be Nice, and Good Vibrations. Some of the adult contemporary stations play Kokomo, but that's a given.

I'm from Philadelphia too. Never tried that station. I always went with 102.9 WMGK. I can never find anything on the radio so I usually flip back and forth between 102.9 and 104.5. But thank you, i'll check that one out.

[guitarfool2002]

Here in Philadelphia, our local oldies station 98.1 WOGL plays the usual suspects...Surfin' USA, Fun, Fun, Fun, Don't Worry Baby, I Get Around, Help Me Rhonda, California Girls, Barbara Ann, Wouldn't It Be Nice, and Good Vibrations. Some of the adult contemporary stations play Kokomo, but that's a given.

I'm from Philadelphia too. Never tried that station. I always went with 102.9 WMGK. I can never find anything on the radio so I usually flip back and forth between 102.9 and 104.5. But thank you, i'll check that one out.

Try 88.5 WXPN as well. I had a thread a few weeks ago about hearing "That's Why God Made The Radio" on 'XPN while driving on a Sunday afternoon. I may have heard more unexpected Beach Boys the past few years on 'XPN than on any other Philly station, including Heroes ('67 and BWPS versions), various other deep cuts, and most surprising of all, "I Went To Sleep" on Ben Vaughn's weekend show!

WXPN is as close to free-form radio as you'll hear in Philly, although 104.5 has been my go-to station lately.

[Alex]

The place I hear the Beach Boys most these days is over the PA at grocery stores, department and pharmacies, usually it's the 60's hits but one time close to Christmas I was in a Value Village and heard A Child of Winter over the PA which I thought was really out of left field and very cool.

It's a shame the Classic Rock format de-emphasized album cuts/ deep cuts. As others mentioned, stuff from Surf's Up and Holland would fit in well with Rock stations not scared of playing ballads and softer material. I don't know if they still do but while I lived in Ottawa, the Classic Rock station there tended to play one Elton John ballad an hour. 

Was it 106.9 the Bear? I'm not from that area or anything like that (American, actually), but I've been to Ottawa a few times. And interestingly, there's a small area in northern New York state where you can pick up both my area's classic rock station (106.7 WIZN out of Burlington, VT) and 106.9. 106 seems to be a popular frequency for the "let's play Zeppelin, Floyd, the Who, the Stones, Boston, and a bunch of hair metal songs over and over again" stations. (There's a 106.5 WPYX to the south of me in Albany, NY. And if I'm not mistaken, there is, or was, a 106.1 in Ottawa that also played classic rock. Montreal is an exception with their CHOM-FM at 94).

[TimeToGetAlone]

We've got one classic rock that will occasionally play Beach Boys.  It's usually Wouldn't It Be Nice, God Only Knows, and Good Vibrations.  However, I don't know if it's because I made a request a couple of years ago or not but now they play Sail On Sailor maybe once a week or so!

We've also got an okay oldies station that plays the hits through Good Vibrations plus Heroes and Villains, Darlin', and Do It Again.

That being said, it would be nice to hear lesser known tracks from them once in a while, or any artist for that matter.  I'm turned off by radio due to their limited scope of what constitutes a band's songs.

[Runaways]

i don't hear a lot of beach boys in texas, especially not in san antonio; though, I have heard Good Vibrations and California Girls.

[Cabinessenceking]

if Aerosmith, Van Halen and Guns N' Roses are 'classic rock' then I am perfectly content with them not having airplay there. Classic rock stations churn out endless cheesy 70's and 80's rock and Eye Of The Tiger 24/7. The Beach Boys belong to either oldies (their early hits) or underground/indie radio along with Velvet Underground and other non-mainstream rock acts from the 60's and 70's

[I. Spaceman]

if Aerosmith, Van Halen and Guns N' Roses are 'classic rock' then I am perfectly content with them not having airplay there. Classic rock stations churn out endless cheesy 70's and 80's rock and Eye Of The Tiger 24/7. The Beach Boys belong to either oldies (their early hits) or underground/indie radio along with Velvet Underground and other non-mainstream rock acts from the 60's and 70's

My personal radio station would play all of those acts, save Survivor.

[Banana]

I remember listening to the local "classic rock" station on May 16th, 1996...and they did their stupid daily "today in music history" segment and they did NOT mention that on May 16th, 1966...30 years prior...the Beach Boys released the greatest record of all time.  I was really, really peeved.  I don't often listen to the radio (because for the most part it's awful in this part of the country) but that really turned me off.  The stinkin' Eagles will come to town and this station will go on and on and on the next morning about what a transcendent concert it was...but they cannot give Pet Sounds a simple name-check???

[donald]

Personally, I wouldn't/don't sit through what is played on classic rock stations long enough to see if they will ever play a BeachBoys song.  

There is a station in Northern Kentucky, Cincinatti area, WNKU, that is public radio and has the motto; public radio that rocks".   You'll hear Beachboys there (including SMiLE and TWGMTR) as well as a lot of great "indie" music and a fine of assortment of music that I think posters on this site and kindred souls would love.  You might be able to stream some of the music.

As for the Beachboys not getting played, I wish I had 50 bucks for everytime I've seen a movie in the last 5 years that prominently featured a Beachboys song.  They are definitely out there, just not pigeonholed into a current radio format.

And if you think about it, who needs the radio to hear classic Beachboys?  Based on compilation sales over the last 40 years, nearly everyone in the United States must own a BeachBoys CD.

[BB Universe]

This used to bother me somewhat but with classic oldies, pop, satellite radio etc. they are on a lot of radio forums. What we don't get from those outlets, however, are some of the deeper cuts that are just great and might "educate" a listener or an audience and broaden their horizons to a greater appreciation of the group.

[Banana]

Yes, we also have an "indie" station that plays the Beach Boys once in awhile.  It's the only decent station in town.

[SBonilla]

The Beach Boys are not part of the Album Oriented Rock world. The baseball jacket consultants weren't havin' none of that.  Sure, a few tracks from Holland got token adds,  but come on, the group never held a candle to Free, Bad Company, Jethro Tull, Led Zeppelin, and so many others. They couldn't hang (ten) with the heavies in the AOR Pantheon. And that's a good thing. Amen.

[SBonilla]

They came before FM radio.

Not by much. Tom Donahue was rockin' the free form in the Bay Area by at least 1968.

[Banana]

The Beach Boys are not part of the Album Oriented Rock world. The baseball jacket consultants weren't havin' none of that.  Sure, a few tracks from Holland got token adds,  but come on, the group never held a candle to Free, Bad Company, Jethro Tull, Led Zeppelin, and so many others. They couldn't hang (ten) with the heavies in the AOR Pantheon. And that's a good thing. Amen.

That IS a good thing indeed.  Amen!

[ArtVandalay]

Sirius/XM channel Deep Tracks regularly plays SUNFLOWER through HOLLAND era tracks.

Yup. I actually heard "Strange World" on Deep Tracks this morning.

[Magic Transistor Radio]

I have been told that Sail On Sailor gets an occasional play on classic rock stations. Although I've never heard it.

[Ron]

I've noticed this. I've heard every other pop band from that time on a station of some kind. Why not the Beach Boys?

Because they got their most critical success in the early 60's, so it would be the same reason that classic rock stations don't play Chuck Berry, or the Everly Brothers, or even the Righteous Brothers, or the Association, or Johnny  Rivers, or any of the other dozens of fantastic artists from that period. 

I will say though that I have heard a few 70's tracks on Classic rock stations, like Marcella, and Sail on Sailor. 

[Joshilyn Hoisington]

The place I hear the Beach Boys most these days is over the PA at grocery stores, department and pharmacies, usually it's the 60's hits but one time close to Christmas I was in a Value Village and heard A Child of Winter over the PA which I thought was really out of left field and very cool.

Absolutely.  I've mentioned this plenty of times in the past, but probably not lately, that when I worked at a big box retailer, I would hear all kinds of weird Beach Boys stuff.  What was especially odd about it is that it'd just be once.  You tend to hear a few things often.  Sail on Sailor was probably weekly.  All Summer Long I heard maybe yearly.  (I worked there for 10 years, often 40 hours plus a week.)  Your Imagination was almost daily, actually.  Auld Lang Syne was played often around Christmas, as were things like Child of Winter and other stuff off the 70s Christmas record.

And then out of the blue, you'd hear, like, I'm Bugged at my Old Man, or something.  Never could figure out how the system worked.

[Juice Brohnston]

The place I hear the Beach Boys most these days is over the PA at grocery stores, department and pharmacies, usually it's the 60's hits but one time close to Christmas I was in a Value Village and heard A Child of Winter over the PA which I thought was really out of left field and very cool.

It's a shame the Classic Rock format de-emphasized album cuts/ deep cuts. As others mentioned, stuff from Surf's Up and Holland would fit in well with Rock stations not scared of playing ballads and softer material. I don't know if they still do but while I lived in Ottawa, the Classic Rock station there tended to play one Elton John ballad

Was it 106.9 the Bear? I'm not from that area or anything like that (American, actually), but I've been to Ottawa a few times. And interestingly, there's a small area in northern New York state where you can pick up both my area's classic rock station (106.7 WIZN out of Burlington, VT) and 106.9. 106 seems to be a popular frequency for the "let's play Zeppelin, Floyd, the Who, the Stones, Boston, and a bunch of hair metal songs over and over again" stations. (There's a 106.5 WPYX to the south of me in Albany, NY. And if I'm not mistaken, there is, or was, a 106.1 in Ottawa that also played classic rock. Montreal is an exception with their CHOM-FM at 94).

Probably talking CHEZ 106.  The playlist posted earlier with Layla in it is pretty accurate...and yes lots of Elton.  They were doing an all Neil Young  show once a week for a while, which is positive, but no Beach Boys unfortunately.

[BB Universe]

I recall being at one of the Disney hotels at Disneyworld sometime in the early '90's and Island Girl was played at the outdoor pool at the hotel. Surprised the heck out of me even if the general theme of the music being played was "tropical'.

[SunBurn]

A lot of the dudes that love classic rock would probably punch their radios out if it went from "Won't Get Fooled Again" to "Wouldn't it Be Nice."

tee hee! I just tried this out on y
ou tube and it actually works pretty well in a post apocalyptic, pick up the pieces way.

[lee]

I work at a grocery store and muzak plays quite a lot of Beach Boys on the summer/oldies stations. They also have some rock stations that play Sail On Sailor and Surf's Up.

There is an indie classic rock radio station here that played Do It Again a few days ago. I was shocked since it was the first BB song I've heard them play in the 5 + years I've listened to them.

[Summer_Days]

The separation between "oldies" and "classic rock" for radio stations I think happens somewhere around 1967, when the Jimi Hendrix Experience (classic rock), The Doors (classic rock) and Pink Floyd (classic rock, but they never play old Syd Barret stuff) all released their debut albums. The Beatles are an interesting case in themselves; their early period stuff, till about 1965, is almost never played on classic rock radio (unless it's Breakfast With The Beatles or something special), but really only on oldies radio. Much of their singles from about 1967 on are played on classic rock stations.

Note that 1967 was also the year that the general public mostly stop caring about the Beach Boys, at least in the United States.
You're not gonna hear 'Heroes and Villains' or 'Breakaway' on oldies or classic rock radio for pretty much the same reason: what the hell is that?

Of course, when I refer to oldies radio, I mean a format that doesn't seem to exist anymore. My local so-called "oldies" station, KOOL105, played up until several years ago great stuff like 'Wouldn't It Be Nice', 'Build Me Up Buttercup', 'Time of the Season', 'Hanky Panky', 'That'll Be The Day' and lotsa Motown. Now all they play is up to early '70s stuff. I dropped them like a rock after that.