Lowest point in the BB career?

[TdHabib]

Bigger than ever? The band that calls themselves The Beach Boys has been reduced in a large degree to playing county fairs and five hundred seat casinos.

I hate to say it, but I agree. The venue I last saw the Touring Beach Boys was a small venue that looked just like a high school auditorium-literally very small.

[Sheriff John Stone]

Bigger than ever? The band that calls themselves The Beach Boys has been reduced in a large degree to playing county fairs and five hundred seat casinos.

I hate to say it, but I agree. The venue I last saw the Touring Beach Boys was a small venue that looked just like a high school auditorium-literally very small.

Nice, intimate settings! God bless 'em. Did the people leave happy?

[Aegir]

The only time I saw Brian was in the same venue I saw the Beach Boys.

[Smilin Ed H]

Murry's death.  Anything good after that, we should be exceptionally grateful for.

[jeffh]

Bigger than ever? The band that calls themselves The Beach Boys has been reduced in a large degree to playing county fairs and five hundred seat casinos.

I hate to say it, but I agree. The venue I last saw the Touring Beach Boys was a small venue that looked just like a high school auditorium-literally very small.

Nice, intimate settings! God bless 'em. Did the people leave happy?

The few that were there probably did leave happy. A nice show, in a tiny venue, by a good cover band.  Maybe there are advantages to playing on the oldest of "The Oldies" circuit.

[Shady]

Bigger than ever? The band that calls themselves The Beach Boys has been reduced in a large degree to playing county fairs and five hundred seat casinos.

Not the beach boys touring band, that's not even the beach boys. 

I just mean the beach boys music is still as relevant and in your face as ever.

And in my very humble opinion, there 70's music is only getting bigger and more appreciated

[Sheriff John Stone]

Bigger than ever? The band that calls themselves The Beach Boys has been reduced in a large degree to playing county fairs and five hundred seat casinos.

I hate to say it, but I agree. The venue I last saw the Touring Beach Boys was a small venue that looked just like a high school auditorium-literally very small.

Nice, intimate settings! God bless 'em. Did the people leave happy?

The few that were there probably did leave happy.

Alright! Gotta keep spreading those good vibrations. That's what it's all about.

Row, row, row your boat....

[jeffh]

You left out part of my reply. Smoke and mirrors, eh? Sort of like the cover band that you seem to need to defend.

Simple solution, The band calling themselves The Beach BoyS should change their name to The Beach Boy ( singular ) That would be truth in advertising!!!

[PongHit]

No one's gonna say "Kokomo"?  That's so many low-points, it's hard to pick just one.  Has any other major group made so many mistakes & squandered their credibility as often??   

[brianc]

How in the world could "Kokomo" be seen as the low point in the Beach Boys' career? You mean artistically? Even at that, there's lower.

Whether "Kokomo" reached the heights of Brian Wilson's '60s material or not -- and that doesn't even need to be argued... it was way below -- "Kokomo" was presented to the public with a lot of moxy. Rarely has a classic band been given that much cache in the public eye so long after their golden era. It would have been easy to present the Beach Boys as a bunch of old squares. Even though they weren't pitched to teenagers, they also weren't being pitched as part of the adult contemporary market.

I personally find the song to be middle of the road, at best. But it was a big hit for a reason.

[Beach Boy]

As mentioned before there where many low points, like 1978 and 1981, where the Beach Boys became a juke box band. And since that, it was really all bad. But even after that there were some interesting stuff and the Beach Boys kept going. And 1981-83 was an interesting era to follow because of the Wilsons and since 1983 the Beach Boys did again some music. So I would say the low point for me was when they played without passion (bad setlist without surprises, though every year was something rare in the set) and didn't record something, besides Stars & Stripes. So my vote goes for 1994 - 2003. Since the UK shows in 2004 the BBs got a lot better.

BTW The Beach Boys played some days ago before 60 000 people.

[TdHabib]

I think that one of the lowest points was Mike Love's R+R Hall of Fame speech. They lost a lot of their fans with that one....

[Sheriff John Stone]

Simple solution, The band calling themselves The Beach BoyS should change their name to The Beach Boy ( singular ) That would be truth in advertising!!!

Be careful, jeffh. You advocate calling Mike Love "The Beach Boy"? He'd like that!

[Sheriff John Stone]

BTW The Beach Boys played some days ago before 60 000 people.

And in the midst of a low point...

[Aegir]

I think it was only 50,000. But what's a few thousand among friends?

[PongHit]

... it was a big hit for a reason.

And that reason was: because the song was used in the movie COCKTAIL, starring Tom Cruise?

[Aegir]

Then why didn't Wild Again by Starship also become a big hit?

[the captain]

I think that one of the lowest points was Mike Love's R+R Hall of Fame speech. They lost a lot of their fans with that one....

That was a high point in my mind. I continue to get a lot of laughs over that.

[oldsurferdude]

Bigger than ever? The band that calls themselves The Beach Boys has been reduced in a large degree to playing county fairs and five hundred seat casinos.

I hate to say it, but I agree. The venue I last saw the Touring Beach Boys was a small venue that looked just like a high school auditorium-literally very small.

Nice, intimate settings! God bless 'em. Did the people leave happy?

The few that were there probably did leave happy.

Alright! Gotta keep spreading those good vibrations. That's what it's all about.

Row, row, row your boat....

..."Wwwwwwwwwwwwwhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhheeeeeeeeeeeeeennnnnnnnnnnnnn..."

[oldsurferdude]

BTW The Beach Boys played some days ago before 60 000 people.

And in the midst of a low point...

Most Likely a freebe-

[brianc]

And that reason was: because the song was used in the movie COCKTAIL, starring Tom Cruise?

I was a teenager at the time, and it did trickle down ever so slightly to the teen audience. But again, it was pitched perfectly to a 30-something audience that could relate with Tom Cruise and his aspirations in that film. To pin it all on that one factor would be a disservice to a single that was marketed flawlessly, no matter how bad or unartistic some of us might like to think of it.

I remember seeing it at the very height of my obsession with late '80s college rock and indie music, and as a teenager at the time, I didn't find the Beach Boys to be relatable. However, I also thought they genuinely looked like they were having a good time, and they looked comfortable. That factor has kept a lot of their other "fun" material from looking like it was much fun at all. One example I can think of, off the top of my head, would be that campfire scene where the Beach Boys are all surrounded by twenty-something girls... in like 1989... and you have Brian with his eyes practically bugging out of his head. It was all so contived to make everything seem a-okay and good timey... but no one buys it. With "Kokomo," I knew little about the Beach Boys' private lives, other than that Brian Wilson was sort of a disturbed person... so they looked like they really belonged there... the way they were in the music video.

[brianc]

And especially with the Baby Boom generation in America... you get quite used to the idea of people not getting old as quickly as the generation before them.

[Pretty Funky]

Death's of Dennis and Carl. Nothing could be lower. Period!

Followed by the realisation that Mike was not going to stop using the Beach Boys name, the 'departure' of Al, Bruce becoming Mikes partner in crime. The sight of two old men and a bunch of wannabes onstage wearing Hawaiian shirts with a senior citizen leering at young woman. The inconsistent and often unsettling image of Brian Wilson on stage. Not convinced he wants to be there.

[the captain]

Death's of Dennis and Carl. Nothing could be lower. Period!

Exclamation point, it seems, instead of a period.

[Pretty Funky]

Touché