Being a Beach Boy fan pre-internet

[Watch a Cave]

So I just joined this site and it just struck me how amazing it was that the internet can bring together so many hardcore knowledgeable BB fans together in one place.  As a kid growing up in the 80s I always felt like the ONLY person who was into this band.  I would do my part.. bring the music to school, blast it on my boom box at the beach, etc.. but I never met anybody else who loved the group like I did.

Anyone else go through this same experience?

The 80s are a lonely place when you're the only BB fan around...

[mikeddonn]

I was the same as you.  A friend of mine used to call them the Beach Grandads!  He was into Iron Maiden and Guns N Roses!  Still I persevered and managed to 'convert' a lot of the sceptics.   A big battle I had was with a couple of Beatles fans at school over who was the best.  I didn't help when people only had this cheesy surfing image of the band.  Once I got them listening to Pet Sounds up through Holland and Pacific Ocean Blue they never looked back! Job done!

[Dwayne]

I also grew up in the 80's as a Beach Boys fan (1st concert 1983).  You would think growing up in Sacramento, CA everybody would be a fan but no one I knew were into them as I was.  I know a lot of people on this board despise Kokomo when it came out in 1988 but somehow I felt vindicated that this "oldies" band that I love so much was top of the charts once more and EVERYONE knew it!

[Sheriff John Stone]

For me it was continuous playing/giving/forcing mixtapes (cassettes) on anybody I could.

I played greatest hits tapes at family cookouts (especially Memorial Day & July 4), tried to win girlfriends' hearts with Brian's music, made "deep cut" tapes for co-workers who showed some knowledge about music beyond the Top 10, forced my buddies to play the tapes in the car when we were cruising around, and made sure the Christmas album (and 1977 bootleg!) got played in December. It was a relentless, dedicated effort at spreading the music!

[mtaber]

I got the BBFUN mailing list from Alice Lillie in 1975 and got in touch with a number of fans from that list by mail. This led to my starting my own horrifically bad newsletter and further alienating the international Beach Boy community...

[Watch a Cave]

In my junior high music class the students were allowed to bring an album to class each week and play our favorite 2 tracks for all to hear.  Amongst the standard early 80s fare ( twisted sister, Michael Jackson, def leopard, prince, etc) of course I was the only one to bring in BB albums.  Bizarre looks from everyone but they all seemed to enjoy it.  I would get totally nervous with sweaty palms and everything as that needle came down on the record.   The music would kick in and my heart would be racing!

Ahh good times.

[petzounds29]

 BBFUN and the Add Some Music fan-zine were about the only games in town in the late 70s and early 80s

[Mikie]

Beach Boys fan pre-internet primary sources for my collection and knowledge:

Beach Boys Freaks United - Lillie
Pet Sounds fanzine - Leaf
Add Some Music fanzine - Cunningham, Bleiel
Friends Of The Beach Boys fanzine - Taber (Cancelled subscription after 1rst issue)
Endless Summer Quarterly fanzine - Beard, Mast, Edgil, Dempsey
Beach Boys Stomp fanzine - Grant
Friends of Dennis Wilson fanzine - Duffy
Goldmine Magazine
Discoveries Magazine
Record Collector Magazine
Peter Reum auction lists
Derek Bill auction lists
Steve Bates auction lists
Midnight Records auction lists
Capitol Records parking lot record swap meets, Los Angeles, Pasadena
Tower, Moe's, Rasputin's, Leopold's, Amoeba Records, Berzerkely
Tower, Let It Be Records, Recycled Records, Streetlight Records, Amoeba's, San Fransicko
Tower, Rockaway Music, Music Man Murry, Wenzel's Music Town, Wallach's Music City, Record Collector, Peaches, Los Angeles
Tower, Rare Records, 804 K St. Mall, 9th St. Records, Sacramento
Tower, Rowe's Rare Records, Big Al's Record Barn, San Jose
Blue Meanie Records, El Cahones
Forgot the name, Singapore, mail order only, original silver CD's up the wazoo.

[Andrew G. Doe]

BBFUN and the Add Some Music fan-zine were about the only games in town in the late 70s and early 80s

Beg to differ but in precisely that timespan Beach Boys Stomp was probably at its finest.

[Andrew G. Doe]

I got the BBFUN mailing list from Alice Lillie in 1975 and got in touch with a number of fans from that list by mail. This led to my starting my own horrifically bad newsletter and further alienating the international Beach Boy community...

This is nothing but the truth. It was awful. And yet... oddly compelling... 

[Micha]

I still wonder if you other guys are real or only generated by an internet computer program. In the late summer I had a barbecue with friends out in the garden and played MIC from the Wild Honey tracks on. After about one hour and a half several guests asked me if I had any other music...

BTW, "Watch A Cave" is a moniker that fits very well with my kind of humour!

[Iron Horse-Apples]

The 80's was a lonely town, when you were the only BB fan around.

I was mocked at every turn, and it made me hyper-defensive and argumentative. I'm convinced this is why us BB fans of a certain age are a curmudgeonly lot. We've had years of defending our position, with the zealots knowledge that we alone know the truth.

Brian who?

[Micha]

Brian who?

This year, when I was with some friends, when I said, "BTW, today is Brian Wilson's birthday", they looked at each other if anybody might know what I was talking about, and then one said, "Must be one of the Beach Boys."

[Alan Smith]

When BB85 came out, the school weight-lifting champion asked me to tape a copy for him, but only because he was a hardcore Culture Club fan.

No other serious enquiries came my way, although via 1 kid I managed to get taped copies of Shut Down through Today from his dad's collection - and some of the Beatles nuts met me halfway on Pet Sounds.

Uni was worse, with, again, some concession for Pet Sounds, Good Vibrations amongst the potheads and the idea of Smile, but general disdain abounded - baffling stuff in the face of Mike Love et al (duh) Carl appearing on TJ Hooker, Live Aid and peddling the heavy heavy shi of Kokomo and Still Cruisin'.

[metal flake paint]

The pre-Internet era for this Beach Boys fan in Melbourne, Australia meant physically searching record and CD racks in many local record stores that have since closed down and at record fairs which have become less prevalent.

Fanzines such as Beach Boys Australia, ESQ and A California Saga provided the "latest" news on happenings in the world of The Beach Boys.

Imported copies of Goldmine magazine were scoured, searching for that next BB purchase.

Many of my early purchases were made courtesy of set sale and auction lists, predominantly printed on dot matrix paper. You had to rely on the judgement of the seller about the condition of those items as there was no accompanying colour photo(s) as part of the listing, and payment was by bank cheque (ouch, fee-wise) or international money order (lesser ouch, fee-wise).

One of my most treasured memories from this time was having the privilege to talk long-distance to Frank Holmes and thank him for the colour reproductions he made of the Smile booklet art; a true gentleman.

[petzounds29]

 Sorry AGD no disrespect meant  thats how isolated it seemed I was not even aware Beach Boys Stomp exsisted though somehow I did get a hold of Derek Bills great  auction             

lists.  I had forgotten about David  Leaf 's Pet Sounds newsletter-where he actually reviewed Adult Child as a new release.   
 
Of course Mr. Leaf's book about Brian and the Boys was the deepest insights we had of the group at that time.

[Don Malcolm]

The 70s were surreal, as the BBs went from being shunned and vilified in the USA to top of the heap and then back again.

The 80s were mostly painful, with Dennis's death and all the "applied Machiavellianism" that reigned. 1988 was arguably the weirdest year to date, with BW's "shouty" return and the BBs' unbelievable one-shot-over-the-bow-Sweet-Jesus that is still known as "Santa's Goin'..." (I mean, "Kokomo").

The 90s, of course, brought us the 'Net, with its ever-increasing info, spam, and snark. And the BBs found a way to actually get some of their sh*t back into the old sock, first through cooperation, and then via an Internet-fueled spat that is still "Goin' On."

Throughout all that, I never worried about what others thought about the BBs or my ongoing symbiosis. Running into others who "got it" was always a source of pleasure--and that always outweighed the pain and annoyance of cohabiting with those who didn't. What is most important, regardless of the "delivery system" and networking, etc., is how the music works on the emotions of each and all who truly "get it." I can remember a few times when circumstances forced me to be away from the music--and I can remember the overwhelming emotional tidal wave that occurred every time I would be reunited with it after so long a deprivation. It was like finding the oasis after having been stranded in the desert. And it still happens, just that way.

[Sheriff John Stone]

Of course Mr. Leaf's book about Brian and the Boys was the deepest insights we had of the group at that time.

You're right. Leaf's book has come into some criticism over the years/decades, but when it first came out (1978?), it was something special. That book was a really good read, it had great pictures, and it gave a Brian Wilson diehard optimism that he would eventually (soon?) do great things again. I remember practically memorizing the Leaf book, and it formed my opinions on Brian and the band; many of those opinions I still maintain. 

[mtaber]

I have great memories of all the people I met through my newsletters in the '70's. I actually met my wife indirectly through doing those fanzines. And, in a way, Friends of the Beach Boys was kind of like a prehistoric version of this message board, being very fan-driven and participatory. Plus full of outlandishly fraudulent information, of course.

[filledeplage]

The 80's was a lonely town, when you were the only BB fan around.

I was mocked at every turn, and it made me hyper-defensive and argumentative. I'm convinced this is why us BB fans of a certain age are a curmudgeonly lot. We've had years of defending our position, with the zealots knowledge that we alone know the truth.

Brian who?

It could be potentially construed the same as the 80's in the mid to late 60's.  It was, and is a gift. Stomp was too far away.  BB fans often tend to "march to a different drummer" and are strong individuals and passionate, in my opinion.  Those people who embraced Pet Sounds and Smiley, during the "imposed downturn" and got themselves to be the coolest adults on the planet.

And, I feel sorry for the sheep.  It is like swimming laps; peaceful, sometimes swallowing water, and choking, yet, unlikely to change your mind.  To meet up with many of these iron-willed contemporaries and swap stories has been a blast, as is this forum, whether we agree or, agree to disagree. 

Pre-Internet, it could be isolating, only if you let it.  Here we are with Smiley 

It is a beautiful thing! 

[TimmyC]

This is an AWESOME topic!!! Great idea!!!! Can't contribute anything really since I only became a die hard around 2000, but it's fascinating to read about your experiences pre-internet. Thanks for sharing!!

[Andrew G. Doe]

Pre-internet, we communicated with letters, and occasional phone calls (I once had a quarterly bill for £276 in the late 80s): if you were as devoted (=obsessed) as I was then, you got all the 'zines. Stomp, ASM, Taber's horrific rag, the Japanese and Dutch FC mags. I subscribed to a clippings agency and accrued some of the now-classic articles for maybe 5p each. Oh, the bliss of hearing a whole new album without knowing anything but the title ! I think POB was the last album I didn't get pre-release tape of. Can you youngsters possibly imagine hearing something that magnificent absolutely cold ?  I don't think you can. I just fell over backwards, died and went straight to heaven.

And the best thing of all was, I was pretty much ignorant of all the nonsense we now take for granted and which irredeemably colors our views of... well, everything. The end of the innocence.

The Beach Boys have affected and directed my life since 1975 more than anything else has, or could: wouldn't be here otherwise. Responsible for the minor writing career that I have, and for some enduring friendships - ever the odd relationship. I've met some wonderful and amazing people because of this band... and yes, encountered some terminally weird folk too, not to mention the odd fraud, charlatan, liar and flat out asshole. And that's just here on Smiley. 

But, for all that, good and bad, there remains the music, the incomparable music. Is there any better in the rock canon ? I happen to think not, and of course I'm right. I usually am. 

[Watch a Cave]

I remember hearing Getcha Back on the radio for the first time in 85.. I was floored.

A new BB single??  With a soaring Brian falsetto???  I thought I had died and gone to heaven.

[Custom Machine]

Yeah, it was cool being unaware that the Beach Boys had a new single coming out and then hearing it on the radio for the very first time. 

A couple of incidents that really stick out in my mind are going wild when I first heard Do It Again on the radio and then going all over town looking for a copy, and driving along the beach, hitting a radio pushbutton, and landing on a station that was in the middle of playing a new version of Rock and Roll Music and realizing it was by the Beach Boys.  Also hearing Darlin on the radio, shortly after I bought the Wild Honey album, and realizing it was their new single from the album.  I decided I had to buy the single and give it to my girlfriend that night.  The first record store I went to didn't have it, but walking up to the second one through the window I clearly saw the single in it's picture sleeve displayed on the wall.  When I pushed the door to enter it was locked and they shouted to me that they were closed for inventory.  Shouting back, I said I just wanted to buy the new Beach Boys single and they told me to come back tomorrow.  I continued shouting through the closed glass door, pleading with them to sell me the single, and they finally let me push a dollar under the door in exchange for the single, also pushed under the door, I'm sure just to get rid of me so they could continue with inventory.  Here's another one - walking into Tower Records in June 1974 and being absolutely dumbfounded to see a massive floor display (including cardboard palm trees if memory serves me correctly) of a new Capitol greatest hits double album entitled Endless Summer.  I was amazed that they expected to sell so many copies of a Beach Boys album, although the album was attractively priced as a single record (I think $3.99 at Tower back then) whereas double record sets usually went for a dollar more. 

But that's how it was in those pre-internet days, you'd listen to the radio and search record stores for new releases.  I'd also call record stores inquiring about new releases and starting in 1971 from time to time I'd call Warner Brothers Records in LA and ask about forthcoming Beach Boys releases.  And if I was at the library I'd check Billboard mag for news of new single and album releases.  Sometime in the eighties I began subscribing to the BB FUN (Beach Boys Freaks United) newsletter which often had news of forthcoming releases, plus, as mentioned, Pet Sounds Magazine, Add Some Music mag, etc.

Another great record store, not mentioned by Mikie in his rather complete list, was Pet Sounds in Newcastle Upon Tyne in the UK, one of those good places to obtain rare BB stuff and boots if I recall correctly.  Plus there was Derek A. Biil and, well, I could go on and on, so that's enough for now!

[Sheriff John Stone]

...and then there was the TV Guide. I used to buy it the day it came out AND SCOUR IT! I would check every day, every time, every station - and look for any listing of The Beach Boys. Do you remember those local Evening Magazine or PM Magazine shows? They were usually came on at 7:00 or 7:30PM and consistently featured The Beach Boys when they (The BBs) strolled into town. And, of course, Entertainment Tonight. Sometimes I would be "caught off guard" at the 7:00 PM showing of Entertainment Tonight and The Beach Boys would be featured, so I would then set my alarm clock for 2:00 or 3:00 AM - just to videotape the 5-7 minute segment when it was replayed. I have quite a large VHS tape collection full of old Entertainment Tonight segments; they have been very kind to The Beach Boys over the years.

You know, it's funny, but one of the main things I looked forward to seeing when catching The Beach Boys on TV in those days was to see how much weight Brian was losing. With each successive TV appearance he lost more weight, up until 1980-81. In those days you lived and died by those brief TV appearances. How do the guys look? How did Brian sound? Was Brian with 'em? Did they play a snippet of anything new? As a fan in those days, you looked for anything positive you could find. And things were moving fast; an album a year, different hair styles, clothing, wives