Why Are BB's Fans So Cranky?

[Menace Wilson]

Is it because of the persecution we suffer ("Good god, you actually like all that surfing and cars junk?!?")?

Is it because the band tends to make infuriating career choices?

Is it because we've all read the books and heard all the bootlegs and therefore think we're experts?

Is it because of Al Jardine? (It is, isn't it.)

What's your take...how come we BBs fans tend to behave like female dogs to one another? 

[the captain]

If forced to answer--and this chianti seems to be forcing me to answer--I'd say it's a combination of a) an inferiority complex (i.e., they're not [seen as equal to] the Beatles) and b) multiple diverse, strong periods of material.

Thus most hardcore fans seem to want to fight for the band (inferiority complex), but the band they're fighting for depends on their own particular favorite incarnation. So while Fans A, B, and C all fight for a band named the Beach Boys, Fan A is a Brianista distancing them from the surf 'n' car image as he (let's be honest, it's a he) annoys his friends with Pet Sounds and Smile; Fan B is justifying that early era; and Fan C is the democrat who sees the merits of the early '70s. And so on, on and on, forever and ever, amen.

All of it under the real or perceived slight, fighting as some kind of underdog against the Big Bad Beatles.

[Kurosawa]

All fans of things who are passionate disagree over issues from time to time, sometimes harshly. Besides the Beach Boys, I'm a huge comics and sci-fi fan and some of the most brutal arguments I've even involved myself in were over those things. I doubt BB fans are crankier than any other band's fans.

[zachrwolfe]

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[MBE]

I don't know really, not all of us are.  Maybe we have been hyped too much over the years, or maybe it's just hard to wash the stench out of 90 percent of the 1984-97 era. I've never cared about the opinions of the ill informed, (surf and car music was awesome anyways) but maybe some do.  Could be much more simple, their huge English following. One of my college professors was from England and was a bit of a cranky character. His quote on the matter, "I'm English". Maybe it's the rain over there! I am just kidding of course (I usually love the English people I meet), but that is what he said.

[Iron Horse-Apples]

You calling me cranky Mike?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NV42yt4O1ic

[absinthe_boy]

I don't think we are more cranky than the population of the Doctor Who fan forum that I frequent.

It's probably a "fan" thing rather than a Beach Boys thing. We are all passionate about the music and the band members, but in slightly different ways.

[The Heartical Don]

(a) We want it all.

(b) Our. Own. Way.

[Sheriff John Stone]

I think Jack Reiley inadvertently answered this question a long time ago:

"To sum it up, they blew it. They blew it consistently. They continue to blow it."

Beach Boys' diehards got hooked big time by the catalogue of music from the first 15 years. Why? Because when it came to composing, recording, and somewhat performing the music, the Beach Boys could do no wrong. But, when it came to almost EVERY OTHER ASPECT of their career and lives, they could do nothing right. And that is the fascination. It is divisive. It is complex. It is frustrating. It is a tragedy. And it is perfect material for a rock and roll message board.

[Quzi]

I think crankiness and frustration is what fuelled my fandom.

[Awesoman]

If forced to answer--and this chianti seems to be forcing me to answer--I'd say it's a combination of a) an inferiority complex (i.e., they're not [seen as equal to] the Beatles) and b) multiple diverse, strong periods of material.

Thus most hardcore fans seem to want to fight for the band (inferiority complex), but the band they're fighting for depends on their own particular favorite incarnation. So while Fans A, B, and C all fight for a band named the Beach Boys, Fan A is a Brianista distancing them from the surf 'n' car image as he (let's be honest, it's a he) annoys his friends with Pet Sounds and Smile; Fan B is justifying that early era; and Fan C is the democrat who sees the merits of the early '70s. And so on, on and on, forever and ever, amen.

All of it under the real or perceived slight, fighting as some kind of underdog against the Big Bad Beatles.

All this plus some BW fans are nuttier than he is.

[The Shift]

I'm not cranky. Next guy says otherwise gets a tomato in the puss.

[Chocolate Shake Man]

Don't say puss.

[Iron Horse-Apples]

I don't think we are more cranky than the population of the Doctor Who fan forum that I frequent.

So I have to know,

Which Doctor divides the Who fans as much as Mike Love divides us?

Are the Tom Baker fans  like the Brianistas of the site?

Is Sylvester McCoy seen as the Bruce Johnson figure?

Give me the minutiae!

[Rocky Raccoon]

Short answer: Most of them are old. 

[pixletwin]

I don't think we are more cranky than the population of the Doctor Who fan forum that I frequent.

Haha. This made me literally LOL.

Are you a GB'er?

[Don Malcolm]

Short answer: Most of them are old. 

Yes. And if you're old, you're at least creaky, if not cranky. 

I think it's the elemental Brian and Mike/Brian vs. Mike relationship, where the two of them are in some odd way trying to outlast the other one, that creates an essential tension that can't help but seep into the emotional response that fans develop. The music hooks them, the history fascinates and repels at the same time, and the strangeness of it all is embraced in differing ways by folks depending on the forces that have shaped their own personalities. Put them all together on a chat board and it is often just as combustible as things were for the BBs over the years (and still continue to be).

[lostbeachboy]

I'm 28 and not cranky. I just get pissed off when i the beach boys get overlooked on EVERYTHING.. It's things like good vibrations losing to Monday, Monday. Or Capitol releasing the best of the bb 3 months after pet sounds...or sunflower reaching #151. The list goes on and on...

[MBE]

You calling me cranky Mike?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NV42yt4O1ic

That's funny.

[filledeplage]

I'm 28 and not cranky. I just get pissed off when i the beach boys get overlooked on EVERYTHING.. It's things like good vibrations losing to Monday, Monday. Or Capitol releasing the best of the bb 3 months after pet sounds...or sunflower reaching #151. The list goes on and on...

The time to feel righteous indignation was when this was going on. Great Beach Boys fans I know have learned to become tolerant, make reasoned argument (some earning a living in that capacity) and embraced the delay in recognition, in the context of keeping the music alive.  The Band kept touring and Brian kept composing.  The trick is to "turn things around, and maintain your dignity!"

And it always felt like a great secret, that so many people never "got the music" when it was released, because eventually they all did, when they heard goofy 4-0-9 cleaner commercials, and so many BB songs on movie soundtracks.  The tide finally turned. 

They are very happy people, who have lived to see this all happen, and can finally raise a glass to the Band, and an eyebrow to all the naysayers who can "eat their words with a fork and spoon!"   

We have finally had the last, delicious laugh! 

Cranky? Not on your life!

[AndrewHickey]

Which Doctor divides the Who fans as much as Mike Love divides us?

Pertwee, but Who fans are more divided by production team loyalties than lead actors. There's also the old-Who/new-Who debate

Are the Tom Baker fans  like the Brianistas of the site?

No, they're more like the people who think that the band's peak was the early hits.

Is Sylvester McCoy seen as the Bruce Johnson figure?

More the Van Dyke Parks figure, actually -- although according to Jon Blum, Bruce is a Doctor Who fan...

[Mike's Beard]

My favourite band features a bald headed goon, a stretched out midget, an overweight nutjob who didn't write a great song for over 40 years, a faded 80's hearthrob and a pistol whuppin' Republican psycho - I think I have every right to be a little cranky.  

[Iron Horse-Apples]

My favourite band features a bald headed goon, a stretched out midget, an overweight nutjob who didn't write a great song for over 40 years, a faded 80's hearthrob and a pistol whuppin' Republican psycho - I think I have every right to be a little cranky. 

Wow, an REM fan, right?

[Mike's Beard]

My favourite band features a bald headed goon, a stretched out midget, an overweight nutjob who didn't write a great song for over 40 years, a faded 80's hearthrob and a pistol whuppin' Republican psycho - I think I have every right to be a little cranky. 

Wow, an REM fan, right?

Actually I was talking about Genesis.

[Iron Horse-Apples]

I just saw bald headed goon and immediately thought of Stipe, though Collins works great as well