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Author Topic: This Likely Isn't a NEW Topic At All...But...  (Read 2656 times)
Lee Marshall
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« on: November 27, 2014, 01:31:31 PM »

As we come together here, and elsewhere, to discuss the merits of specific songs and/or albums the perspectives are diverse from every angle.

1.  If you grew up with the Beach Boys through the early 60s right up to today you did so with the perspective of it all being new and happening within the contexts of each specific era.  Where was music and production during that time-frame?  How did it compare to the 'competition'?  Did it push the envelope?  [like Good Vibrations...or Pet Sounds for that matter]

2.  If you came upon the Boys AFTER the fact your point of view will be perhaps shaded by the context of the era when you made your discovery and comparisons will be different.

3.  If you grew up in Great Britain you probably wouldn't have been mocked for liking the Sand Pail Sailors the way many of us on this side of the foam were...at least until some of those folks mocking us over here emancipated themselves from the peer-group pressure and discovered that we were right.  The Beach Boys were REALLY talented and way cooler that they were credited with.

I guess the point is that as we come together to celebrate [and sometimes castorate] the music...there isn't a wrong answer.
« Last Edit: November 27, 2014, 01:33:52 PM by Add Some » Logged

"Add Some...Music...To Your Day.  I do.  It's the only way to fly.  Well...what was I gonna put here?  An apple a day keeps the doctor away?  Hum me a few bars."   Lee Marshall [2014]

Donald  TRUMP!  ...  Is TOAST.  "What a disaster."  "Overrated?"... ... ..."BIG LEAGUE."  "Lots of people are saying it"  "I will tell you that."   Collusion, Money Laundering, Treason.   B'Bye Dirty Donnie!!!  Adios!!!  Bon Voyage!!!  Toodles!!!  Move yourself...SPANKY!!!  Jail awaits.  It's NO "Witch Hunt". There IS Collusion...and worse.  The Russian Mafia!!  Conspiracies!!  Fraud!!  This racist is goin' down...and soon.  Good Riddance.  And take the kids.
Matt Bielewicz
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« Reply #1 on: November 27, 2014, 05:31:18 PM »

I guess the point is that as we come together to celebrate [and sometimes castorate] the music...there isn't a wrong answer.

Castorate? What... like... hit it with a beaver? That's an... intriguing image!

I grew up in Great Britain, but not until the 1980s, and from 1980 until about 1990, I can attest that the Beach Boys were terminally unhip and I would probably have been mocked at school for liking them. In my experience, the 'coolness' of the band among casual non-fans did not survive the 1970s (I was born in 1971 and first began listening to music in about 1976, so would not have known of their relative hipness in the UK in the early part of the 70s).

By the late 80s, they were pretty much forgotten about amongst the general public until they had a #2 hit with the Fat Boys on Wipeout. That may have been a success, but boy, it stunk; they were certainly a laughing stock among my then-teenage peers. To me, it felt like a bunch of superannuated dinosaurs, trying like Aerosmith had done in 1986 to become relevant again by teaming up with some rappers. But the crucial difference was that the Beach Boys record sucked like an Electrolux. I had no idea who Aerosmith were before Run DMC, and I thought they were pretty shameless, but the track fell the right side of the 'cool divide' among teenagers in the UK and was played at discos and parties for young people. The Beach Boys record with the Fat Boys, on the other hand, was seen as a joke, a novelty record. It was embarrassing, like seeing your Dad on a dancefloor trying out bad disco moves a decade too late.

In my experience (and maybe it was different for others, but bear in mind that a lot of people here posting from the UK were already converts during this period, whereas I was still completely outside BB fandom at this point) the rise in the Beach Boys' reputation didn't happen again until the early to mid-1990s. The CD release of Pet Sounds must have helped, in terms of making the album more easily available to buy if nothing else. Certainly by 1994, I was aware that a lot of bands were talking about Pet Sounds and Brian Wilson as influences again, and was moved to buy it myself by the following year as the plaudits and name-checking references mounted. Paul McCartney also mentioned Brian during the Anthology series when that was broadcast in 1995.

The Was documentary (which was broadcast on BBC1 as part of Omnibus, a serious arts documentary series back then) and its accompanying soundtrack was the tipping point for me. Most specifically, hearing the chords of the IJWMFTT version of Til I Die (a song I'd never heard before seeing the Was film). Straight away, I wanted to know more, as I could tell that this wasn't the washed-up Hawaiian shirt crud I associated with the late-80s Beach Boys. The footage of Carl & Brian singing God Only Knows at the piano in the film sealed the deal. I had kind of wanted to find out more about Brian anyway, as I'd heard all about SMiLE by then as well. And so, it began...!

But overall, I'd say being a BB fan would have been a pretty thin time through most of the 80s in the UK as well as in the States.

Anyone here from the UK see it differently?
« Last Edit: November 27, 2014, 05:33:25 PM by Matt Bielewicz » Logged
buddhahat
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« Reply #2 on: November 28, 2014, 11:28:10 AM »

Typing on iPhone so please excuse typos!

Matt - I was born in 76 so can relate although my experience differed slightly. If the beach boys were unhip to teenagers in the 80s, to a 10 yr old they seemed really cool! I think there was kind of a revival of 60s music in general at that time, oldies featuring in Levi's 501 ads, back to the future etc so weirdly the beach boys seems kind of relevant to my 10 yr old self and I picked up the cd of made in the USA with some birthday money. I was primed by the time wipeout was released and I lapped it up!

Fast forward to teenage years and the bbs had been usurped by indie favorites the stone roses, pixies etc. I thought my art teacher was dead cool and welcomed his music recommendations, the velvet underground in particular. Then one day he was gushing about Pet Sounds by the beach boys! I'd never heard of the album but couldn't believe that the same guy who loved the VU was into my childhood favourites. This must have been about 94 ish so tallies with your experience Matt. Suddenly the bbs seemed cool again and I felt it was kind of cool to tell my mates about them (at secondary school) although no one took it seriously.

 It wasn't until art college in the late90s that I met somebody else my age who loved them and he introduced me to the smiley smile twofer. At that point the beach boys' post pet sounds stuff did seem hip in the uk and I would crank it up full volume in halls of residence, guilt and shame free!
« Last Edit: November 28, 2014, 11:58:32 AM by buddhahat » Logged

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Lee Marshall
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« Reply #3 on: November 28, 2014, 06:56:37 PM »

And here I was feeling sorry for those of us who went through all of that in the late 60s...only to see a revival in the mid 70s and after the fact recognition from the great unwashed in the mid 80s and again in the mid 00s.

I thought you guys [and gals] who followed/who found the Beach Boys after all the trail-blazing and GREAT stuff had been recorded just kind of coasted in.  I was WRONG.  [not even close to the first time ...nor the last for that]]
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"Add Some...Music...To Your Day.  I do.  It's the only way to fly.  Well...what was I gonna put here?  An apple a day keeps the doctor away?  Hum me a few bars."   Lee Marshall [2014]

Donald  TRUMP!  ...  Is TOAST.  "What a disaster."  "Overrated?"... ... ..."BIG LEAGUE."  "Lots of people are saying it"  "I will tell you that."   Collusion, Money Laundering, Treason.   B'Bye Dirty Donnie!!!  Adios!!!  Bon Voyage!!!  Toodles!!!  Move yourself...SPANKY!!!  Jail awaits.  It's NO "Witch Hunt". There IS Collusion...and worse.  The Russian Mafia!!  Conspiracies!!  Fraud!!  This racist is goin' down...and soon.  Good Riddance.  And take the kids.
Ron
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« Reply #4 on: November 28, 2014, 10:49:23 PM »

I was born in the late 70's, my parents listened to 60's music and of course the Beach Boys were played often on anything we were listening to.  When I was about 5 my dad off handedly mentioned that the Beach Boys were playing a show nearby (we didn't go, but I remember him mentioning it).  When I was 10, I was picked on in class frequently but at the time the Beach Boys were considered 'cool' at least to us 10 year olds, they'd play "Kokomo" at the skating rink and "Wipe Out" with the fat boys was pretty popular.  Even the kids who picked on me, the class bullies were into the Beach Boys.

By the time I was 16 "Pet Sounds" was considered a masterpiece and all the neckbeards rambled on endlessly about how great it was.

So in my life, I've never experienced a time when the Beach boys were uncool. I think the whole 'uncool' vibe people get is a reflection of their own insecurities.

Loud.  Proud.  


Edit: Just noticed that Buddhahat said basically the same thing... I hadn't read his reply yet, but at similar ages we both had the same experience.  Not really sure where the 'uncool' label applies to the Beach Boys, maybe in the 70's they were uncool?  Looking back they seemed their coolest in that era...

« Last Edit: November 28, 2014, 10:52:22 PM by Ron » Logged
The Shift
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« Reply #5 on: November 29, 2014, 01:02:54 AM »

Born in the UK in 64, turned on to the BBs in 76  by he rerelease of GVs to promote the 20 Golden Greats LP.

Yes recall lengthy period when BBs were unhip here. When meeting at schoolmates houses to learn to drink, the other guys would take along Blondie's Parralel Lines album, Supertramp's Breakfast in America and ELO's Discovery… I'd take along Pet Sounds but it would never get played. Still, I was able to swap my unwanted LPs in the playground for their big brothers' unwanted BBs LPs. Though I reckon I lost out when I traded my copy of Beatles Hollywood Bowl for a copy of 15BOs.

Stuff like Wipe Out was embarrassing. Felt felt down by the band. The wall of Brians was a guilty pleasure but even I could see that the record would be interpreted as "sh*t" by the world at large.
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Lee Marshall
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« Reply #6 on: November 30, 2014, 10:45:39 AM »

Ron..."So in my life, I've never experienced a time when the Beach boys were uncool. I think the whole 'uncool' vibe people get is a reflection of their own insecurities."...I beg to differ. Huh

John... " I reckon I lost out when I traded my copy of Beatles Hollywood Bowl for a copy of 15BOs."...I beg NOT to differ. Wink 2
 
 
 
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"Add Some...Music...To Your Day.  I do.  It's the only way to fly.  Well...what was I gonna put here?  An apple a day keeps the doctor away?  Hum me a few bars."   Lee Marshall [2014]

Donald  TRUMP!  ...  Is TOAST.  "What a disaster."  "Overrated?"... ... ..."BIG LEAGUE."  "Lots of people are saying it"  "I will tell you that."   Collusion, Money Laundering, Treason.   B'Bye Dirty Donnie!!!  Adios!!!  Bon Voyage!!!  Toodles!!!  Move yourself...SPANKY!!!  Jail awaits.  It's NO "Witch Hunt". There IS Collusion...and worse.  The Russian Mafia!!  Conspiracies!!  Fraud!!  This racist is goin' down...and soon.  Good Riddance.  And take the kids.
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