were there any social critics of the beach boys in their early days?

[kookadams]

I'm 27 and I got into the Beach Boys when I was 6, in kindergarten. Any $ I got then all I wanted was records and discs// On xmas of '93 or 4 I wanted the good vibrations boxset and now I still got it along with every LP, CD, dvds books etc. All my possessions center around the BBs!

[Dr. Tim]

Bringing this back to the OP's question: YES THERE WERE. social critics of the Boys - mostly from the with-it hippie-types back then.*

After Smile failed and Rolling Stone dissed the BB as has-beens, many rock critics and writers fell right into line to echo that idea.  Underground press-types liked to say: The BB were over the hill, reactionary.  Too white.  Or at least white-bread.  No soul (obviously never heard "Wild Homey").  We were all told that the Hip Kidz were rebelling against school, while the BB sang about "be true to your school", cars 'n' girls, how quaint, how old-timey, how un-socialist workers party,  buncha football hero jocks, etc. etc.

This was years BEFORE Mike joined the GOP, BTW.  We are talking "Smiley"/"Friends" era for this kind of talk, which only stopped when the Boys reinvented themselves for the early 70s.

To be fair some perceptive journos never gave up on the Boys during this critical drubbing, like Lester Bangs.


*(I resemble that remark)

[kookadams]

Nah, I think what it all boils down to is that the American music consumers just totally stopped caring about rock and music in general from 1968 til 74. The UK were buying Beach Boys albums like crazy.

[filledeplage]

Bringing this back to the OP's question: YES THERE WERE. social critics of the Boys - mostly from the with-it hippie-types back then.*

After Smile failed and Rolling Stone dissed the BB as has-beens, many rock critics and writers fell right into line to echo that idea.  Underground press-types liked to say: The BB were over the hill, reactionary.  Too white.  Or at least white-bread.  No soul (obviously never heard "Wild Homey").  We were all told that the Hip Kidz were rebelling against school, while the BB sang about "be true to your school", cars 'n' girls, how quaint, how old-timey, how un-socialist workers party,  buncha football hero jocks, etc. etc.

This was years BEFORE Mike joined the GOP, BTW.  We are talking "Smiley"/"Friends" era for this kind of talk, which only stopped when the Boys reinvented themselves for the early 70s.

To be fair some perceptive journos never gave up on the Boys during this critical drubbing, like Lester Bangs.
*(I resemble that remark)

 

Dr. Tim, I think that the original poster meant the very early days in the early sixties; the calm before the proverbial storm, later in the decade. 

[dwtherealbb]

Bringing this back to the OP's question: YES THERE WERE. social critics of the Boys - mostly from the with-it hippie-types back then.*

After Smile failed and Rolling Stone dissed the BB as has-beens, many rock critics and writers fell right into line to echo that idea.  Underground press-types liked to say: The BB were over the hill, reactionary.  Too white.  Or at least white-bread.  No soul (obviously never heard "Wild Homey").  We were all told that the Hip Kidz were rebelling against school, while the BB sang about "be true to your school", cars 'n' girls, how quaint, how old-timey, how un-socialist workers party,  buncha football hero jocks, etc. etc.

This was years BEFORE Mike joined the GOP, BTW.  We are talking "Smiley"/"Friends" era for this kind of talk, which only stopped when the Boys reinvented themselves for the early 70s.

To be fair some perceptive journos never gave up on the Boys during this critical drubbing, like Lester Bangs.


*(I resemble that remark)

None of them to my knowledge (save Bruce) have said much about politics one way or another. And that's a good thing because doing so risks alienating half your fan base. With that said, there are things inherently political in music even if it isn't intended to. There early stuff may have sounded rebellious but it was clearly in a wholesome type of way and very much a soundtrack to the pre-revolution America of drive-in movies, malt shops ad nauseam. The more "raised fist salute" type of music seen in stuff like this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uHfB63ln1Ig , didn't come until the last two or three years of the decade.

But even if the sort of anti-cold war America views didn't come into the mainstream until the late 60s, its not like it came out of nowhere. The areas where that type of mood existed were in a select group of areas like the East Village of Manhattan, North Beach in San Fran, as well as in some universities (Columbia, UCB). So my question is if a lot of the anthropologists and sociologists (think of someone like Hebert Marcuse) criticized them for their music being a homage to cold war America.

[clack]

With that said, there are things inherently political in music even if it isn't intended to. There early stuff may have sounded rebellious but it was clearly in a wholesome type of way and very much a soundtrack to the pre-revolution America of drive-in movies, malt shops ad nauseam.

Firstly, the early to mid-sixties weren't "pre-revolution", because there was no revolution, period.

Secondly, why do you associate malt shops and drive-ins with the cold war? There were cultural currents shaping American society during the 50's and early 60's that had nothing to do with cold war politics : for instance, the rise of the suburbs, the automobile, the teenage consumer with money in his pockets.

Thirdly, early 60's anthropologists and sociologists would have been middle-aged academics. Marcuse was in his 60s! Adorno's writings on music concerned such figures as Stockhausen and Boulez. Sociologists and left-wing cultural critics had no idea that the Beach Boys existed.

[Myk Luhv]

There's no way they "had no idea" about the Beach Boys, it's just that academic sociologists didn't give a sh*t about pop music for teens, which is what the Beach Boys were. Can you even picture Adorno listening to "I Get Around"? Well sure, but I bet he'd be miserable and scowling, haha.

[filledeplage]

Rock and Roll has never really declined, its just the public taste in music changes. It is asinine to suggest people in the late 1960s and early 1970s would be content with simple Chuck Berry rock and roll.

Groups like CSNY captured the movement of change in the USA.

Yes, they (Buffalo Springfield/CSNY) absolutely did! Their music was timely, powerful and "For What its Worth" almost became a mantra for the anti- war effort as well as "Ohio"

They continue to write and perform music to raise awareness about serious social issues. 

[Cliff1000uk]

Paging Jon Stebbins here but I'm sure in his book, it was said that Dennis got a lot of stick from other surfers early on in their career. Maybe he was seen as 'selling out' ie, surfing is our thing and you've helped make it popular to the masses
Possibly, the criticism they received wasn't in print form, but word of mouth?
There is still a culture amongst fans of certain bands, The White Stripes spring to mind, that once a band has become 'everybody's secret', they have sold out and aren't as good

[SMiLE Brian]

Rock and Roll has never really declined, its just the public taste in music changes. It is asinine to suggest people in the late 1960s and early 1970s would be content with simple Chuck Berry rock and roll.

Groups like CSNY captured the movement of change in the USA.

Yes, they (Buffalo Springfield/CSNY) absolutely did! Their music was timely, powerful and "For What its Worth" almost became a mantra for the anti- war effort as well as "Ohio"

They continue to write and perform music to raise awareness about serious social issues. 

They are truly legends, its awesome that you saw them in their prime.

[filledeplage]

Rock and Roll has never really declined, its just the public taste in music changes. It is asinine to suggest people in the late 1960s and early 1970s would be content with simple Chuck Berry rock and roll.

Groups like CSNY captured the movement of change in the USA.

Yes, they (Buffalo Springfield/CSNY) absolutely did! Their music was timely, powerful and "For What its Worth" almost became a mantra for the anti- war effort as well as "Ohio"

They continue to write and perform music to raise awareness about serious social issues. 

They are truly legends, its awesome that you saw them in their prime.

Thanks, and can you imagine seeing Buffalo Springfield and The Beach Boys on the same night? 

And, they are all still in their "prime!"

More amazing, even.