THE BEACH BOYS PLAY MONTEREY POP

[Sheriff John Stone]

This talk about Mike Love and Coke (the soda) reminds me of that Pet Sounds-era video (was it for "Sloop John B" or "Wouldn't It Be Nice"?), the one where the guys come out of a house and shake hands with Brian, and Mike is holding a bottle of something in his hand, he even shows it to the camera. The video was black & white and wasn't too clear; can anybody see which beverage Mike was holding/drinking?

[Roger Ryan]

This talk about Mike Love and Coke (the soda) reminds me of that Pet Sounds-era video (was it for "Sloop John B" or "Wouldn't It Be Nice"?), the one where the guys come out of a house and shake hands with Brian, and Mike is holding a bottle of something in his hand, he even shows it to the camera. The video was black & white and wasn't too clear; can anybody see which beverage Mike was holding/drinking?

Well, he's definitely holding a Coke bottle in the "Good Vibrations" promo film. I suspect this "momentary lapse of reason" regarding not appearing at Monterey is similar to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame speech in that Mike became unhinged for a day or two and stopped making sense.

[Alex]

Just saw the Monterrey Pop Festival movie on TV last week...bemoaning the fact the Boys were no-shows...

[rogerlancelot]

Setlist from Adelphi Theatre, Dublin, Ireland
May 2, 1967
Second Show:

1. Help Me Rhonda
2. I Get Around
3. Surfer Girl
4. You're So Good To Me
5. God Only Knows
6. Sloop John B
7. Do You Wanna Dance
8. Then I Kissed Her
9. California Girls
10. Wouldn't It Be Nice
11. Good Vibrations
12. Barbara Ann

How much different would you suppose the set would change in only a month's time? Probably not too much.

[Mr. Wilson]

excuse me but i could be wrong but here goes..I could swear there is a quote in the first few books written about BB that the complaint  was BB werent gettin paid for gig or had ti sign there rights away to the film + didnt like the deal presented to them..BW was on the board i dont remember details but there was a money issue involved..Please dont throw fruit i bruise easy..!..Just puttin this out for discussion..

[The infamous Baldwin Organ]

Setlist from Adelphi Theatre, Dublin, Ireland
May 2, 1967
Second Show:

1. Help Me Rhonda
2. I Get Around
3. Surfer Girl
4. You're So Good To Me
5. God Only Knows
6. Sloop John B
7. Do You Wanna Dance
8. Then I Kissed Her
9. California Girls
10. Wouldn't It Be Nice
11. Good Vibrations
12. Barbara Ann

How much different would you suppose the set would change in only a month's time? Probably not too much.

In my opinion, that's pretty realistic.

[Chris Brown]

Setlist from Adelphi Theatre, Dublin, Ireland
May 2, 1967
Second Show:

1. Help Me Rhonda
2. I Get Around
3. Surfer Girl
4. You're So Good To Me
5. God Only Knows
6. Sloop John B
7. Do You Wanna Dance
8. Then I Kissed Her
9. California Girls
10. Wouldn't It Be Nice
11. Good Vibrations
12. Barbara Ann

How much different would you suppose the set would change in only a month's time? Probably not too much.

In my opinion, that's pretty realistic.

I'd say so too, at least in a world where Smile never came out.  Only thing I'd kick off is "Then I Kissed Her."  They only did it at the Adelphi show because EMI had decided to release it as their single (which they weren't happy about), but they wouldn't have had similar pressures at Monterey.

What's always interested me is what they would have sounded like at Monterey...would they have tried the drugged-out sound of their Hawaii shows to try and get over with the young and hip crowd?

[Alex]

Setlist from Adelphi Theatre, Dublin, Ireland
May 2, 1967
Second Show:

1. Help Me Rhonda
2. I Get Around
3. Surfer Girl
4. You're So Good To Me
5. God Only Knows
6. Sloop John B
7. Do You Wanna Dance
8. Then I Kissed Her
9. California Girls
10. Wouldn't It Be Nice
11. Good Vibrations
12. Barbara Ann

How much different would you suppose the set would change in only a month's time? Probably not too much.

In my opinion, that's pretty realistic.

I'd say so too, at least in a world where Smile never came out.  Only thing I'd kick off is "Then I Kissed Her."  They only did it at the Adelphi show because EMI had decided to release it as their single (which they weren't happy about), but they wouldn't have had similar pressures at Monterey.

What's always interested me is what they would have sounded like at Monterey...would they have tried the drugged-out sound of their Hawaii shows to try and get over with the young and hip crowd?

Add H&V, Caroline No, Wind Chimes, and Let Him Run Wild,  and knock off Barbara Ann, and we'd be golden!

[TonyW]

Hhhmmm, interesting timing ... I was watching "Respect Yourself: The Stax Records Story" last night and it had these two quotes relative to Monterey Pop. The first by Booker T Jones (same of MG's fame) and Wayne Jackson (Brass section for the Mar-keys) - both were on stage with Otis Redding who, as we all will recall, took the Beach Boys spot on the Saturday night:

Booker T Jones: "We ended up playing the Monterey Pop festival and that was a life changing experience for me".

Wayne Jackson: ".. there were fifty thousand people there and they had all the hippy guys there with the long hair and the torn jeans and the tennis shoes and there we were in silk suits and Beatle boots and swaeters and, like, doing steps ... we must have looked like a lounge act or something, I don't know what but it killed them and the when Otis (Redding) walked on the stage it was over for everybody".

Silk suits, Beatle boots and dance steps? Perhaps striped shirts wouldn't have been so bad.

[Cam Mott]

Interesting point. The Boys were asked there because of what they were, not to be something they were not. Also I don't think all of these genres and styles were considered corny because the tolerance of diversity was massive at the time because they were all successfully going head to head on the Top 40 radio everyday.

[Jon Stebbins]

...I don't think all of these genres and styles were considered corny because the tolerance of diversity was massive at the time because they were all successfully going head to head on the Top 40 radio everyday.

Monterey wasn't the Top 40 friendly affair that some of have suggested.  At the time of the festival the large majority of the acts including Canned Heat, Big Brother and the Holding Company, The Paupers, Electric Flag, Butterfield Blues Band, Quicksilver Messenger Service, Steve Miller Band, Moby Grape, Laura Nyro, Ravi Shankar, Country Joe and the Fish, Hugh Masekela, Blues Project, Grateful Dead, and Jimi Hendrix had never made the top 40 in the states and most of them never would. The Who, Jefferson Airplane, Scott Mckenzie and Buffalo Springfield had each made the top 40 once as of june '67, Lou Rawls and Booket T. twice. Otis Redding hadn't cracked the top 20. There were only a few truly successful top 40 acts at Monterey....those being Simon and Garfunkel, Mamas and Papas, The Association, The Byrds and Johnny Rivers. The Beach Boys would have by far had the most Top 40 exposure of any act at Monterey.

[Bicyclerider]

I'm sure there were multiple reasons the Boys didn't attend Monterey, Coca Cola, Carl's draft problems (given as the reason in the press, hard to see how that would prevent an appearance),  working on finishing their album, their unreadiness (had they been rehearsing or even playing live in the month before Monterey?), Brian's mental state. 

The Beach Boys fall from commercial grace was due to one person, IMO . . . Brian.  He lost interest in making "commercial" music and continuing to "compete" with the Beatles and others for top 40 success - at the same time as pressures mounted on him to have a hit single to keep the Beach Boys financial entity intact.  Smiley Smile and to a certain extent Wild Honey sound a bit "desperate" (as much as I like them) - the still talented but damaged Brian trying to churn out material for the Beach Boys in the quickest and simplest way possible.   It could be he lost interest in the Beach Boys as a group (as he would express in the 70s) but felt obligated to keep the family business alive anyway that he could.  He had hit a wall during Smile and now had completely turned his back on the brilliant production and arranging techniques he had developed and perfected.  He returned to them with Friends but that also failed due to a lack of a hit single.  Then, either due to his deteriorating mental condition, his disappointment in the failure of Friends, or just creative burnout (most likely), his productivity dramatically decreased, and production was turned over to outside producers and the Beach Boys themselves in an attempt to regain commercial success.

[Cam Mott]

...I don't think all of these genres and styles were considered corny because the tolerance of diversity was massive at the time because they were all successfully going head to head on the Top 40 radio everyday.

Monterey wasn't the Top 40 friendly affair that some of have suggested.  At the time of the festival the large majority of the acts including Canned Heat, Big Brother and the Holding Company, The Paupers, Electric Flag, Butterfield Blues Band, Quicksilver Messenger Service, Steve Miller Band, Moby Grape, Laura Nyro, Ravi Shankar, Country Joe and the Fish, Hugh Masekela, Blues Project, Grateful Dead, and Jimi Hendrix had never made the top 40 in the states and most of them never would. The Who, Jefferson Airplane, Scott Mckenzie and Buffalo Springfield had each made the top 40 once as of june '67, Lou Rawls and Booket T. twice. Otis Redding hadn't cracked the top 20. There were only a few truly successful top 40 acts at Monterey....those being Simon and Garfunkel, Mamas and Papas, The Association, The Byrds and Johnny Rivers. The Beach Boys would have by far had the most Top 40 exposure of any act at Monterey.

So all of these genres and styles represented at Monterey weren't going head to head in the Top 40 at the time? Surely, it wasn't so only on KUDL and WHB.

[Jon Stebbins]

...I don't think all of these genres and styles were considered corny because the tolerance of diversity was massive at the time because they were all successfully going head to head on the Top 40 radio everyday.

Monterey wasn't the Top 40 friendly affair that some of have suggested.  At the time of the festival the large majority of the acts including Canned Heat, Big Brother and the Holding Company, The Paupers, Electric Flag, Butterfield Blues Band, Quicksilver Messenger Service, Steve Miller Band, Moby Grape, Laura Nyro, Ravi Shankar, Country Joe and the Fish, Hugh Masekela, Blues Project, Grateful Dead, and Jimi Hendrix had never made the top 40 in the states and most of them never would. The Who, Jefferson Airplane, Scott Mckenzie and Buffalo Springfield had each made the top 40 once as of june '67, Lou Rawls and Booket T. twice. Otis Redding hadn't cracked the top 20. There were only a few truly successful top 40 acts at Monterey....those being Simon and Garfunkel, Mamas and Papas, The Association, The Byrds and Johnny Rivers. The Beach Boys would have by far had the most Top 40 exposure of any act at Monterey.

So all of these genres and styles represented at Monterey weren't going head to head in the Top 40 at the time? Surely, it wasn't so only on KUDL and WHB.

As of June '67 all of them were not. Some were, but not all...unless you had Chicago Blues, African Jazz, Indian instrumentals or anything similar to Hendrix in your top 40 in June '67.

[Cam Mott]

...I don't think all of these genres and styles were considered corny because the tolerance of diversity was massive at the time because they were all successfully going head to head on the Top 40 radio everyday.

Monterey wasn't the Top 40 friendly affair that some of have suggested.  At the time of the festival the large majority of the acts including Canned Heat, Big Brother and the Holding Company, The Paupers, Electric Flag, Butterfield Blues Band, Quicksilver Messenger Service, Steve Miller Band, Moby Grape, Laura Nyro, Ravi Shankar, Country Joe and the Fish, Hugh Masekela, Blues Project, Grateful Dead, and Jimi Hendrix had never made the top 40 in the states and most of them never would. The Who, Jefferson Airplane, Scott Mckenzie and Buffalo Springfield had each made the top 40 once as of june '67, Lou Rawls and Booket T. twice. Otis Redding hadn't cracked the top 20. There were only a few truly successful top 40 acts at Monterey....those being Simon and Garfunkel, Mamas and Papas, The Association, The Byrds and Johnny Rivers. The Beach Boys would have by far had the most Top 40 exposure of any act at Monterey.

So all of these genres and styles represented at Monterey weren't going head to head in the Top 40 at the time? Surely, it wasn't so only on KUDL and WHB.

As of June '67 all of them were not. Some were, but not all...unless you had Chicago Blues, African Jazz, Indian instrumentals or anything similar to Hendrix in your top 40 in June '67.

I suppose it depends on how narrow or broad you define the genres and styles but point taken, all is an over-statement.

[beatlebren66]

Here is a fantasy Monterey concert I found. This is if they had released SMiLE. "Gettin' Hungry" would be brand new.

Intro - 00:00
The Letter - 00:10
Surfer Girl - 02:06
You're So Good To Me - 05:43
Gettin' Hungry - 08:33
You Still Believe In Me - 11:54
Vege-tables - 14:49
Surf's Up - 17:45
Caroline, No - 23:02
Sloop John B - 26:53
Wouldn't It Be Nice - 30:10
Heroes And Villains - 32:20
God Only Knows - 36:13
Good Vibrations - 39:35

http://vimeo.com/60884004

[pixletwin]

Wow. I had never heard the Beach Boys live version of Surf's Up before.