Gimme Five: Song where the Beach Boys Sucked

[Nicko1234]

I've made the point a few times that I think people underestimate Brian's use of irony. BDN is a very self aware song, and I've always seen Brian as being grouped in with those great modern pop writers like Nilsson or Randy Newman. He uses layers of humor in a subversive way, and there's something pointedly self aware about some of the songs he wrote by himself.
BDN is an accomplished song, articulate and self contained in a way few could hope to match. The parts all go so well with eachother, the lyrics, the composition, and style and production, all lock in with one another organically. It's understated, confident, congenial in its' effect, and honest in its' expression. What more could you want?
If anything it's one of the high points of Brian's later career.

Indeed and I don`t dispute that it`s a really nice song. But the fact remains that it is about pulling back which is exactly what Brian did. There is a sense of sadness there and if it was intended to be humorous or ironic then that makes it all the sadder.

[MBE]

Really with albums like they put out from 1985-96 it's hard to take this list seriously. I mean try In My Car, Passing Friend, the SIP remakes of Surfin and Forever, Crack At Your Love, even stuff like Love Is A Woman or Belles Of Paris are way worse than most of that list. Yeah Summer Of Love, Smart Girls and Here Comes The Night 1979 are terrible, but has he heard Happy Endings or Problem Child. For the worst of the worst the 1984-96 released stuff is a goldmine.

Tree is so so to me  as I'm not sold on Jack's vocal, but BDN is a great song by any standard. A bit odd, but brilliant.

[MBE]

I've made the point a few times that I think people underestimate Brian's use of irony. BDN is a very self aware song, and I've always seen Brian as being grouped in with those great modern pop writers like Nilsson or Randy Newman. He uses layers of humor in a subversive way, and there's something pointedly self aware about some of the songs he wrote by himself.
BDN is an accomplished song, articulate and self contained in a way few could hope to match. The parts all go so well with eachother, the lyrics, the composition, and style and production, all lock in with one another organically. It's understated, confident, congenial in its' effect, and honest in its' expression. What more could you want?
If anything it's one of the high points of Brian's later career.

Indeed and I don`t dispute that it`s a really nice song. But the fact remains that it is about pulling back which is exactly what Brian did. There is a sense of sadness there and if it was intended to be humorous or ironic then that makes it all the sadder.

Maybe the fact that Brian was doing quite well during the Friends sessions should be taken in account.

[The Shift]

S' quaint, s'quirky.

It's a classic "slice of life" Brian offering. And musically, to my ears, it is phenomenal.

If an artist can't create art out of their life, then what's left?

Do those who dislike it think it would have been better if it'd been called "Busy Goin' Surfin"?

Even if it is about pulling back, that hardly affects its impact or its value/worth.

[Alan Smith]

I've made the point a few times that I think people underestimate Brian's use of irony. BDN is a very self aware song, and I've always seen Brian as being grouped in with those great modern pop writers like Nilsson or Randy Newman. He uses layers of humor in a subversive way, and there's something pointedly self aware about some of the songs he wrote by himself.
BDN is an accomplished song, articulate and self contained in a way few could hope to match. The parts all go so well with eachother, the lyrics, the composition, and style and production, all lock in with one another organically. It's understated, confident, congenial in its' effect, and honest in its' expression. What more could you want?
If anything it's one of the high points of Brian's later career.

I think you're right to say BDN is a milestone for Brian as it's where he firmed up his ability to express his thoughts, feelings and learnings lyrically, musically and in terms of production.

In my room, You're so good to me, I'd love just once to see you and even When a man needs a woman (although from the same album) are other examples of this direction that was obviously ticking away in the back of his head while paying attention to the the big ticket items.

I think 'til I die was the next step, after that things get patchy although there are some great moments on Love You.

Not sure about the irony, but Brian's self-awareness and willingness to share it with us via a number of senses definitely give these songs an appeal and resonance to match the uniqueness.

[Wah Wah Wah Ooooo]

Summer of Love takes the cake for suckage by the Beach Boys.

Next in line: Surfin' remake off SIP, Forever remake off SIP, Wipe Out, Spring Vacation

[AndrewHickey]

My choices for truly terrible songs that actually got released would be Summer Of Love, Rockin' The Man In The Boat, the disco version of Deirdre from Goin' Public, Hey Little Tomboy and the Mike/Bruce/David version of Don't Worry Baby from NASCAR with Adrian Baker on lead vocals.

[shadownoze]

Busy Doing Nothing is also notable, especially in hindsight, as a rare example of an American samba, a musical form which was quite trendy in the early-to-mid sixties. Girl From Ipanema and the hits of Sergio Mendes were a fresh flavor to most American ears, and for Brian to compose a samba that was both musically and lyrically credible just shows that the guy can do anything when he sets his mind to it. Listen to the simple lyrics and "lazy"vocal style of the Brazilian leaders of the samba movement;  BDN fits right in.

[Sheriff John Stone]

I've pretty much always defended 15 Big Ones. It's Brian Wilson being creative and, hearing what came after it (Love You excluded), it's easily the most interesting stuff he did. I suppose as the producer, Brian has to take the blame. But, it was the bad choices of songs and jarring lead vocals that doomed the album, not Brian's actual Spectorian production. Even songs like "TM Song" have something to offer. You can hear the potential, even if it's just a short melody line or arrangement. Brian wasn't able to fully realize the songs, which was the main difference between the earlier Brian and the 1976 Brian.

I spent more time than I should've trying to come up with 5 BB/BW songs that "suck". It's difficult because I basically like everything they ever did. Not love, but like. So, I'll go with these:

1. "Louie Louie"
2. "Take A Load Off Your Feet"
3. "Summer Of Love"
4. "Daddy's Little Girl"
5. "Silent Night" (from WIRWFC)

[Cabinessenceking]

"A Day In The Life Of A Tree is about a tree.."

This person obviously did not understand that Brian was writing about himself. Only by understanding that can one fully appreciate the song for what it is worth: a personal cry of pain by Brian. If anything from SU should be on that list, let it be SDT or DisneyG

[Ron]

About Silent Night:
   When Brian released Silent Night on his webpage, the previous years, he had released the excellent "Christmas Day", and then "Joy to the World" which was pretty awesome, so then he released "Silent Night" and a lot of fans criticised it.  So Brian (or Melinda doing her typing for Brian thingy) posted this on his website's forum in response to some of the critique:

"Come on Everyone.......It's Christmas....... Melinda told me what has been going on here and it is really sad and not at all what I intended to have happen when I started this cool site. When I recorded Silent Night the other day in the studio, it was just a cool little Christmas message to you guys. I am not sure why someone would judge my abilities by a simple little Christmas tune I sang to bring some love and Christmas cheer to my fans. Then I read that someone said they wouldn't kid themself into thinking I did it for the listening pleasure for the Blueboarders......I can't imagine what I have done to make you think that way......The most hurtful part of this entire event is that it now seems as though I am expected to show you if I still have it? That's crazy. What's even more scary is that some of you are now fighting over what I considered to be a Christmas card to my fans. It would be like me sending you a real Christmas card and having you return it and say it's not as good as the one I sent you last year or the year before. Why are you judging me? All I wanted to do it wish all of you a very Merry Christmas......and look what's happened. I would hope that the events of 9/11 would have taught us all that there are far more important issues than whether Brian Wilson still "has it". Let's please put all this behind us and try to love and understand one another not only during this holiday season but from this point forward. You guys have to know when you write things on this board that Melinda and I read them. Do not be hurtful to her and please respect me. For those of you who appreciated my holiday message........many thanks and for those who didn't, just throw the card away. Love and Mercy, Brian"

[Autotune]

BDN and Tree are marvelous. But less so for the uninitiated. They're creative, albeit extremely idiosyncratic cuts that need some previous friedship, sympathy and complicity with boys, Brian most notably. In the end, this goes to show that the journalist is a casual fan. Not that there's anything wrong with it.

[37!ws]

Dude obviously doesn't have a copy of MIU...guess he missed the 20 copies for 78 cents at his local used place...

[EgoHanger1966]

About Silent Night:
   When Brian released Silent Night on his webpage, the previous years, he had released the excellent "Christmas Day", and then "Joy to the World" which was pretty awesome, so then he released "Silent Night" and a lot of fans criticised it.  So Brian (or Melinda doing her typing for Brian thingy) posted this on his website's forum in response to some of the critique:

"Come on Everyone.......It's Christmas....... Melinda told me what has been going on here and it is really sad and not at all what I intended to have happen when I started this cool site. When I recorded Silent Night the other day in the studio, it was just a cool little Christmas message to you guys. I am not sure why someone would judge my abilities by a simple little Christmas tune I sang to bring some love and Christmas cheer to my fans. Then I read that someone said they wouldn't kid themself into thinking I did it for the listening pleasure for the Blueboarders......I can't imagine what I have done to make you think that way......The most hurtful part of this entire event is that it now seems as though I am expected to show you if I still have it? That's crazy. What's even more scary is that some of you are now fighting over what I considered to be a Christmas card to my fans. It would be like me sending you a real Christmas card and having you return it and say it's not as good as the one I sent you last year or the year before. Why are you judging me? All I wanted to do it wish all of you a very Merry Christmas......and look what's happened. I would hope that the events of 9/11 would have taught us all that there are far more important issues than whether Brian Wilson still "has it". Let's please put all this behind us and try to love and understand one another not only during this holiday season but from this point forward. You guys have to know when you write things on this board that Melinda and I read them. Do not be hurtful to her and please respect me. For those of you who appreciated my holiday message........many thanks and for those who didn't, just throw the card away. Love and Mercy, Brian"

I know it's off-topic, and sorry in advance, but I don't believe for one second that Brian had said or thought of any of that.

[mjforever]

When you get them on headphones the covers on 15BO really grow on you. In The Still of The Night though has always been one of my favorites on that album though, they're classic songs in of themselves so you can't say that they aren't good songs in general. And the production is cool once you start to pay attention to it, the mixing is really the only thing bringing them down.

Also, TM Song is really more of a skit than anything else. It's just not really supposed to be a serious song, it's just a blow off that you're supposed to chuckle at. It's not like this was Mike's self serious side long epic track extolling the virtues of TM, it's just a gag.

I think that because it has `produced by BW` on the label many people give 15BO too easy a ride. In the Still of the Night, for example, has an atrocious lead vocal from Dennis, dire harmonies and poor musicianship. If the group had taken this to Candix or Capitol or whoever in the early 60s they would never have been given a record deal.

I agree that TM Song isn`t a very serious attempt at music making. But personally I would rather hear Mike (or anyone) actually trying to write a good song rather than listening to Brian intentionally recording bilge.

These songs and the 15BO album should never have been released and Brian shouldn`t have been allowed to produce solo as he wasn`t up to it. The same goes for GIOMH 25+ years later.

I'm not going pretend that 15BO is a masterpiece, your take on the album is completely fair, and honestly more objective and critical than anything I would write in its' defense.
I used to positively despise 15BO, so I understand where you're coming from. It's easily the weakest release of theirs from between All Summer Long and Love You, so I think your appraisal of it is perfectly level headed.

Saying that though, I'd say give it a few more spins. It wasn't until someone made a thread about it here that I started to take a closer look. I don't believe that it's a bad album because the band itself had gotten bad. I see a lot of good ideas in there, and some really endearing tracks stymied by a lack of participation and cooperation from everyone involved.

This video is also what partially converted me,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nFeMd3HRtTg

Us Beach Boys fans are a really eclectic bunch, and it's nice that the music offers enough so that we can all find something to really enjoy.

I completely forgot that video existed! Love that clip ... but absolutely hate 15 BO.

[Ron]

About Silent Night:
   When Brian released Silent Night on his webpage, the previous years, he had released the excellent "Christmas Day", and then "Joy to the World" which was pretty awesome, so then he released "Silent Night" and a lot of fans criticised it.  So Brian (or Melinda doing her typing for Brian thingy) posted this on his website's forum in response to some of the critique:

"Come on Everyone.......It's Christmas....... Melinda told me what has been going on here and it is really sad and not at all what I intended to have happen when I started this cool site. When I recorded Silent Night the other day in the studio, it was just a cool little Christmas message to you guys. I am not sure why someone would judge my abilities by a simple little Christmas tune I sang to bring some love and Christmas cheer to my fans. Then I read that someone said they wouldn't kid themself into thinking I did it for the listening pleasure for the Blueboarders......I can't imagine what I have done to make you think that way......The most hurtful part of this entire event is that it now seems as though I am expected to show you if I still have it? That's crazy. What's even more scary is that some of you are now fighting over what I considered to be a Christmas card to my fans. It would be like me sending you a real Christmas card and having you return it and say it's not as good as the one I sent you last year or the year before. Why are you judging me? All I wanted to do it wish all of you a very Merry Christmas......and look what's happened. I would hope that the events of 9/11 would have taught us all that there are far more important issues than whether Brian Wilson still "has it". Let's please put all this behind us and try to love and understand one another not only during this holiday season but from this point forward. You guys have to know when you write things on this board that Melinda and I read them. Do not be hurtful to her and please respect me. For those of you who appreciated my holiday message........many thanks and for those who didn't, just throw the card away. Love and Mercy, Brian"

I know it's off-topic, and sorry in advance, but I don't believe for one second that Brian had said or thought of any of that.

I know!  He's either

A. Basically retarded, so couldn't have said it and can't type.

or

B. He's a genius, so all of that is far too pedestrian for the guy who wrote "Take good care of your feet".

[Ziggy Stardust]

Summer of Love takes the cake for suckage by the Beach Boys.

Next in line: Surfin' remake off SIP, Forever remake off SIP, Wipe Out, Spring Vacation

Found the Forever one (wish i didn't tho) on youtube, but never heard the Surfin' remake! is it that different?

[Nicko1234]

"A Day In The Life Of A Tree is about a tree.."

This person obviously did not understand that Brian was writing about himself. Only by understanding that can one fully appreciate the song for what it is worth: a personal cry of pain by Brian. If anything from SU should be on that list, let it be SDT or DisneyG

Didn`t Rieley write the lyrics?

[Wah Wah Wah Ooooo]

Summer of Love takes the cake for suckage by the Beach Boys.

Next in line: Surfin' remake off SIP, Forever remake off SIP, Wipe Out, Spring Vacation

Found the Forever one (wish i didn't tho) on youtube, but never heard the Surfin' remake! is it that different?

Oh it sucks so hard.  It's got this horrendous (maybe worst ever?) synthetic drum track, plus hideous crunchy guitars in some strange attempt to be grungy or hip, circa 1991-92....the vocal from Carl is, as usual, pretty great. But even that can't salvage such a pathetic attempt at modernizing an old song.

[AndrewHickey]

Oh it sucks so hard.  It's got this horrendous (maybe worst ever?) synthetic drum track, plus hideous crunchy guitars in some strange attempt to be grungy or hip, circa 1991-92....the vocal from Carl is, as usual, pretty great. But even that can't salvage such a pathetic attempt at modernizing an old song.

Could be worse, though -- about ten or fifteen years ago, Bruce said on the BBB board that they'd given the vocal tracks from that version to the people who'd made Macarena, and had them remix it 'in the style of Britney Spears'...

[Wah Wah Wah Ooooo]

Oh it sucks so hard.  It's got this horrendous (maybe worst ever?) synthetic drum track, plus hideous crunchy guitars in some strange attempt to be grungy or hip, circa 1991-92....the vocal from Carl is, as usual, pretty great. But even that can't salvage such a pathetic attempt at modernizing an old song.

Could be worse, though -- about ten or fifteen years ago, Bruce said on the BBB board that they'd given the vocal tracks from that version to the people who'd made Macarena, and had them remix it 'in the style of Britney Spears'...

Well, had that come out, it would've for sure made that thread about the Beach Boy's low point from a few weeks ago.

[TimeToGetAlone]

Summer of Love and Smart Girls are obvious and deserved answers, and I can understand Here Comes the Night being there given the overwhelming length of the track.

But A Day in the Life of a Tree and Busy Doin' Nothin' belong nowhere near this list.  There aren't even close to being the weakest on their respective albums, which are in themselves quite great to begin with.  And in the case of the latter, nothing is even said about the song other than the lyrics.  Ridiculous.

[Zach95]

Dude obviously doesn't have a copy of MIU...guess he missed the 20 copies for 78 cents at his local used place...

Where does such place exist!? I've never found it!

[Music Machine]

5. Male Ego (Awful lyrics and why is Brian yelling at us?)
4. Student Demonstration Time (It might have been tolerable if they'd used the original Cell Block lyrics, but it would have been better if it was replaced by a Dennis song.)  
3. Endless Harmony (I'm okay with NFAP, I'm okay with Tears in the Morning, on some days I can just about stomach Disney Girls but this song is just too damn sappy.)
2. Summer of Love (This might have actually been improved by having Nancy Cartwright doing a Bart Simpson thing on it, it would take it from cringe worthy to nostalgia worthy.)
1. Transcendental Meditation (Ruins the vibe on the otherwise sublime Friends album.)

[oldsurferdude]

Kohkohmoe
Getcha Back
R&R Music
Some of Your Luhv
Still Cruisin'