From a composition standpoint, TWGMTR is a top 10 Beach Boys song

[send me a picture and i'll tell you]

The song is good, but it's not a "classic".  I was indifferent to it at first, but it has grown on me.  The real test is what we will think of this song several years down the road.  Will it still hold up?  I remember everyone gushing over Imagination when it came out.  I think it's fair to say *that* album didn't exactly age well...

I was disappointed in Imagination the day it came out-- and Brian even signed my cd that day. 

TWGMTR has been jizzgasmic from day one.

[bossaroo]

I think the song is definitely a classic. I don't know about top 10, but it's got serious staying power.

The way the chorus ascends is almost ecclesiastical. It's spiritual like Brian's best work, and like a lot of his music it's got a lot of deeper stuff going on even though it appears to be a simple pop song about the radio. He's sneaky like that. But then again, the word God does appear directly in the title.

Whoever said Don't Worry Baby is a makeout song, insinuating that TWGMTR is not, needs to actually give it a chance in that capacity. It works for me.

[Gohi]

Great song on a great album. If you don't agree, I feel sorry for you.

What a stupid inflammatory statement. Are you serious?
Please don't feel sorry for me. I'm enjoying plenty of other music besides one song on the new Beach Boys record.

[I. Spaceman]

Great song on a great album. If you don't agree, I feel sorry for you.

What a stupid inflammatory statement. Are you serious?
Please don't feel sorry for me. I'm enjoying plenty of other music besides one song on the new Beach Boys record.

I'm not stupid, 29-post Blohi. If you take my flippantly stated opinion seriously enough to actually take offense, you're worse off than I assumed. I haven't started the flames, you'll know when I do, trust me. Enjoy the album.

[lance]

Not top ten but pretty great, in my opinion. Gets the DOES NOT SUCK stamp from me.

[Jonathan Blum]

Any impressiveness in the composition due to the inability of uncultured peasants to figure out chords is automatically detracted from with lines like "Push button heaven" and Jeff Foskett's autotuned wailing in the chorus.

...Or, not.

It's not that you can't figure out the chords; it's that when you do, you realize "damn, there's a lot going on there".  Like the first time I got the chords to "This Whole World", and realized that it changes keys nine times in about two minutes, but makes it look seamless.  Sounds simple, does something unexpected and beautiful.

Cheers,
Jon Blum

[runnersdialzero]

I was disappointed in Imagination the day it came out-- and Brian even signed my cd that day. 

TWGMTR has been jizzgasmic from day one.

Man. Fuck your avatar forever and ever. 

[Aegir]

are we really arguing that more chords makes for a better song?

I like the song, I just think it's one of the worst on the album. but I like it. the worst songs on Beach Boys albums tend to still be good songs, in my opinion, because I really like the Beach Boys.

[Jason Penick]

It's my least favorite song on the new album by a country mile.

[puni puni]

Interesting ... so the new line is that people don't like TWGMTR?
That took just about two months.

I've f***ing hated that song with a passion since the moment I heard it, and would've definitely voiced my opinion if I didn't think I would be crucified for it.

It's awful. The lyrics and production are down there with Summer of Love. "Making this night a celebration / spreading the love and sunshine / to a whole new generation" are likely the worst things they ever gathered around a microphone to sing. It reminds me of that little turnaround at the end of Randy Newman's Love Story, but infinitely more depressing.

The other songs on TWGTMR range from okay to great. The title track is just abysmal and shouldn't have even been on the album. I'd like a dollar for every new fan that put the album in recycle bin as soon as they heard TUUUUNING IN THE LAAATEST STAAAR

The comments about the chords are interesting, and I want to see somebody totally rewrite the song with new lyrics, arrangement, and without using a computer.

[AndrewHickey]

It might -- just about -- make the top 100 Beach Boys songs for me. Which isn't to say that it isn't very clever, but Godel's Incompleteness Theorem is also very clever, but makes a lousy pop song.

As a listener, the songs on the new album that have repaid repeated listening are Isn't It Time, Shelter, The Private Life Of Bill And Sue, From There To Back Again and Strange World. Most of the rest I can live without. That's Why God Made The Radio is one of the better less-good songs on the album to my mind, if you see what I mean. It'd probably interest me more were it not so derivative.

That said, it's caught people's imagination more than I expected -- I've had a number of non-fan friends and family mention to me how much they liked hearing the song on the radio, and the crowds at the two gigs I've seen so far loved it.

[Aegir]

does someone want to count how many times they say "That's why god made" during the course of the song?

[Disney Boy (1985)]

Very 'meh' track on a 'bleh' album, the 'yeah' suite notwithstanding.  Nowhere near the top 10. 

Very well put.

[Disney Boy (1985)]

Interesting ... so the new line is that people don't like TWGMTR?
That took just about two months.

I've f***ing hated that song with a passion since the moment I heard it, and would've definitely voiced my opinion if I didn't think I would be crucified for it.

It's awful. The lyrics and production are down there with Summer of Love. "Making this night a celebration / spreading the love and sunshine / to a whole new generation" are likely the worst things they ever gathered around a microphone to sing. It reminds me of that little turnaround at the end of Randy Newman's Love Story, but infinitely more depressing.

The other songs on TWGTMR range from okay to great. The title track is just abysmal and shouldn't have even been on the album. I'd like a dollar for every new fan that put the album in recycle bin as soon as they heard TUUUUNING IN THE LAAATEST STAAAR

The comments about the chords are interesting, and I want to see somebody totally rewrite the song with new lyrics, arrangement, and without using a computer.

I can't be arsed trwaling through old threads to find out exactly where i said it (probably in the New Album Info thread), but i disliked TWGMTR when i first heard it and stated so on here at the time, and my opinion of the song hasn't much changed since then. The opening track on the new album is great, as is Isn't It Time, and - of course - the closing suite. I don't like any of the rest of it, and i really quite strongly can't stand Shelter and Daybreak... So there you go.

[Jaco]

10? It is a song that sounds pretty good on cd, but it is almost impossible to recreate live. Like California Saga (Cal.) or I Can Hear Music, it's one of those songs that simply don't work in a live setting.

As compositition: I think the modulations are in a similar abrubt style like Your Imagination, esp. the chorusses. To me it's a forced, fake modern style, it doesn't flow naturaly like f.e. in This Whole World. (also famous for his many chords and modulations)

ps
And I should have made some rhythm variations with the line "TWGMTR", just like they did with "You need good timing"

[phirnis]

For me, a nice song on a good album, no more, no less. I certainly agree with the notion that it's a bit Desmond Child-like (which I can accept because overall it's fairly successful at what it's supposed to be but I'm glad there are a couple of songs on the album that don't feel quite as forced as this one).

[SBonilla]

does someone want to count how many times they say "That's why god made" during the course of the song?

No, but you could loop that phrase and alternate it with a loop of " No go showboat" and add Bill Withers going "I know, I know, I know..." as an accompanying riff. Add a beat, and you could have a fun afternoon. Oh, and lop the intro to BW's Walkin' The Line...it would fit with the other stuff.

Or, maybe not.

[Autotune]

10? It is a song that sounds pretty good on cd, but it is almost impossible to recreate live. Like California Saga (Cal.) or I Can Hear Music, it's one of those songs that simply don't work in a live setting.

Agree about TWGMTR. Disagree about the other two. Nevertheless, GV, GOK and a few others would fall into the same category of songs hard to present live. Eventually ways are arrived at to perform them in a satisfactory way. The group did not live long enough with the song; it wasn't toured first and then recorded (which is the way Brian's band has worked more recently). But they will eventually make it work. To me it flows nicely on record, but not so much live yet.

[hypehat]

Great song on a great album. If you don't agree, I feel sorry for you.

What a stupid inflammatory statement. Are you serious?
Please don't feel sorry for me. I'm enjoying plenty of other music besides one song on the new Beach Boys record.

I'm not stupid, 29-post Blohi. If you take my flippantly stated opinion seriously enough to actually take offense, you're worse off than I assumed. I haven't started the flames, you'll know when I do, trust me. Enjoy the album.

[Gohi]

Great song on a great album. If you don't agree, I feel sorry for you.

What a stupid inflammatory statement. Are you serious?
Please don't feel sorry for me. I'm enjoying plenty of other music besides one song on the new Beach Boys record.

I'm not stupid, 29-post Blohi. If you take my flippantly stated opinion seriously enough to actually take offense, you're worse off than I assumed. I haven't started the flames, you'll know when I do, trust me. Enjoy the album.

.... 

[runnersdialzero]

YEAH, BLOHI. MORE LIKE "BLOWS-GUYS." LIKE AN INDIAN NAME. THANKS AGAIN FOR THE POSTER, "BLOWS GUYS."

[Don Malcolm]

In the midst of this increasingly bizarre exchange between the "29-post" guy (with whom I must say I empathize, since my "number" is similarly meagre...) and the long-time veteran whose keyboard seems all-too-often to get stuck in SHOUT mode, we have enough actual opinion about TWGMTR to provide a tentative conclusion about the OP's claim.

I read the commentary that provided opinion about the song, and assigned it to a "slot" in a hypothetical poll that would have been worded as follows:

Please state your opinion/evaluation/feelings about "That's Why God Made the Radio":

--Strongly like (6)
--Somewhat like (9)
--Neutral...or, if you prefer, "meh"  (7)
--Somewhat dislike (5)
--Strongly dislike (3)

The current (interpreted) poll responses are listed above in (parentheses).

Of course, absolutely nothing scientific here, and such a question isn't really responsive to the OP's specific claim. (But thanks to those who've weighed in on the chords and provided information/context in that area--very interesting stuff.)

As for myself, I think the chorus is beautiful, a lovely reconstitution of major-minor shifts that work so well in "All Summer Long" and "Kiss Me Baby." The rest of the song is considerably less accomplished, however.

[Loaf]

Maybe if this song had been written in the 60s, and given a sparkling arrangement a la Breakaway or Soulful Old Man Shoeshine, it would be an underrated gem. As it is, add my vote to the 'meh' song on a 'bleh' album not withstanding the 'yeah' suite, which perfectly sums up my opinion.

A bit plastic, a bit overpolished, but "nice".

[runnersdialzero]

Look, sometimes it's necessary to shout. It's actually almost always appropriate to shout, especially in nursing homes and at Blohi (aka "BLOWS GUYS").

[BB Universe]

My feeling is that the album is good, compares favorably with some of the "mid-level" albums in the group's catalogue and will hold up over time.
To the subject of this thread, the song TWGMTR, itself, isn't the best song on the album - its someplace in the middle - so I wouldn't consider it a "top 10" BB song (I'm basing this purely on the listening level (I know what I like when I hear it) and not considering the technical aspects (chords, key changes etc.) of which I have little, if any, knowledge. It was, however, a good choice for a single off the album as it spotlights the harmonies and the song's premise relates to the group's heyday (songs in a car on the radio). If Isn't It Time is the next single, that's a good choice also - catchy beat, use of the currently popular ukulele.
IMO, there isn't a bad song on the release. I really enjoy FTTBA (really strong), Strange World (really has grown on me), IIT and Shelter alot. The suite is excellent, though I have to be in the right mood for the mellow PCH and Summer's Gone. SV (really seems like it is about the reunion and the tour) and BIM (something about the chorus on, driving in the summer after work) are "guilty pleasures" - good melody and some catchy hooks that stay with me. TPLOBAS is "Brian being Brian" (kind of reminds me of Busy Doing Nothing for some reason) and DOTO is an ok listen (maybe slightly long). One can quibble about some of the lyrics (there is no Van Dyke Parks here) but the melodies and harmonies are good.