Does your fandom ruin the music?

[SMiLE Brian]

Carburetors man, thats what life is all about!
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l8q2ejKAsHg

[Emily]

beyond whether music was played technically as scored, is there such a thing as objectivity with music?

[ontor pertawst]

Hahahah different Paul Williams. It's a shame Paul had that accident, I would've loved to have read his thoughts on everything that happened in Beach Boys/BWorld in the 00s and 10s. Paul was a FAN who wouldn't even have known the meaning of "ruining the music," it was cruel and downright vicious of this universe to curse that brain with dementia.

[Peter Reum]

I also came up with The Beach Boys, Jan&Dean, The Beatles, The Dave Clark 5, Dylan  The Four Seasons, The Stones, Motown, and other pop artists. I think one generation's music is usually set aside by the next  generation. As I dug deeper into  my parent's music, I developed a huge interest in jazz, Western , and Blues music. Then I took courses in tribal music and classical music in college.Before grad school, I spent about  7 years managing a small group of record stores. I heard  a truckload of music on the stores' audition  systems.

The adventure for me in listening is hearing a recording that knocks me out the first few times I hear it.Having listened to group and solo Beach Boys music extensively throughout the years, I may not hear BN/BW music for months.I will be playing other music of different genres,and I'll come back to Beach  Boys/Brian music when I crave it. It's kind of like touching my musical base and then striking out for more new discoveries. That formula  for listening has always kept BB/BW music  fresh for me.

[Debbie KL]

Well, having a remarkably short attention span, I do take breaks from anything and everything, including this music - unless it pops up, and then I can't help but enjoy it.  Beyond that, I'd say that when it gets too personal - when one gets too involved with anything beyond the music, it can get tougher yet, for awhile.  The breaks from listening get longer.

But the music always wins because it's that remarkable - at least it has been for the past 50 years.  

As far as the swipe at Brian's solo career...Yawn...Few, if any will bite at this point, because it's such a boring little game by now.  Trust me, we "defensive" Brian fans don't care.

[tony p]

what ruins it for me sometimes is knowing what else they could have achieved musically if it werent for bad management/decision making

[Don Malcolm]

Don't burn out, Buddahat! It's better to fade away! Summer will be gone for each and all of us all too soon. Let the details wash in and out of your life like the ebb/flow of the tidal sea, and remember that the BBs embody all of life's triumphs AND contradictions--and, thanks to the very different flavors of tenacity exhibited by the group's two great antipodes, have managed to do so in some form or another for more than half a century. It's maddening, but it really represents life lesson's writ large.

Every time I am forced by circumstance to be apart from the music for more than 2-3 weeks, the return to it is always a tidal wave of joy. This despite whatever else has gone on behind the scenes. It's the music that has the primal power to soothe, rouse, radiate, rejuvenate, laugh, cry, and make you more alive than you were the moment before you heard it. You just need to let go of the details and get back to the Cabinessence! 

[RangeRoverA1]

I don't know such thing as fandom ruining music. I am not easily influenced by what other fans say here. If they call my favorite song - let's say, At My Window - bad/boring - fine, I'll go on thinking it's great because that's how I hear it, that's my perception & taste in music. The band's own drama doesn't affect me one bit either. It isn't my business, they're adults, they can solve it themselves, without fans' help. That goes to any thread where people fight about this 'n' that, such as in post-C50 threads. who fired who etc. - I don't care for any of that full stop. As long as they still exist- good. This year is 5 year jubilee of listening to BBs. 5 enjoyable yrs. I listen to other groups & singers but everytime I go back to our Boys.

[Micha]

My fandom doesn't, but some other people's does.

That is what I wanted to write. Here's a good example of those people's "fandom":

once you realize that brian and mike are both dicks in their own way you can be free to enjoy the bbs again.

Ok bud, hows Brian a dick in his own way? Hmmmm did he listen to the session musicians and incorporate their ideas as well as the other Beach Boys into the music? Yes. Did he tell Mike I don't ever want to work with you again? No. Did he try to take publishing rights from Mike and the other Beach Boys? No. Did he beat up Rocky Pamplin when he caught him sleeping with his wife, no once again. Did he hit his brothers for anything at all? Brian was a gentle soul like Carl. You are here to spread your bs but, the fans and fact finders are going to piss on your parade. Here's a good idea quit lying or leave!

Like, "WE are in possession of the ABSOLUTE TRUTH, if you're not with us, you're against us, leave!" I'm kind of embarrassed I'm into the same music as such "fans". Even though that is inevitable.

[Micha]

Andrew, In America Brian Wilson may be a well known name, but where I'm from, not so much.

In England, where l'm from, Brian's pretty well known.

Over here in Germany, only music journalists and certain music enthusiasts have ever heard of Brian Wilson. I remember very well a few years ago in a circle of friends I mentioned, "Hey, you know what? Today is Brian Wilson's birthday!" The others looked at each other to find if anybody else knew what I was talking about, until one of them concluded, "Must be one of the Beach Boys!"

Bella, where are you from?

  My fandom makes me wonder if I sometimes overrate The Beach Boys.

Everybody who joined this forum overrates The Beach Boys, including me!

[Awesoman]

I tend to go through my music in phases so that I don't get sick of it.  When Brian's latest album came out I was listening to a lot of Beach Boys.  Haven't listened to them too much lately.  I'll come back to them eventually.  Right now I'm on a Clapton fix. 

[catlag]

The Beatles fan base is pretty intense, you don't even need to be near them to feel it.

Andrew, In America Brian Wilson may be a well known name, but where I'm from, not so much.

Same here (Montreal, Quebec, Canada). Only one of my friends, the one who took me to see Love & Mercy last summer, knew who Brian Wilson was. None of my co-workers know him. To my great shame, the only thing I knew of BW before L&M was that he was "in" the Beach Boys and... oh yes, he was Carnie and Wendy Wilson's father. (!)

So since I've become a fan, a short, short time ago, I've read a lot about the band and individual members... I do admit sometimes It has affected the way I perceive the perfect Beach Boy world I had initially made up in my mind, just listening to the music. But if anything, knowing more makes me love them even more, because when you can get past it, it just enhances your experience of it.