I woke up to pop music in the early 80s as a pre-teen, and the Beach Boys were pretty much a punchline by then, as you piece indicates. I remember a dopey anti-jogging satirical book we had (written to make money off of ridiculing Jim Fixx) included a truly nasty joke about Dennis' demise. This seemed to be the standard for alt-comedy at the time - Spy, National Lampoon, early SNL, etc. were all frankly vicious more often than not, sometimes frighteningly misogynistic. The BB were a great target, I guess.
Sometime in the last decade some really, really good BB songs started wending their way into my playlists. I'd never heard "Forever" before and I was just blown away, and this was just in the last year. What a great band. I'll continue to explore them. Thanks for writing this.
Brian Wilson is the Marlon Brando or Orson Welles of pop music. I mean I’m of course glad he didn’t die at his peak (that’s silly) but I think The Beach Boys would be remembered differently if he had.Heroes and Villains” is one of the smartest, eeriest pop songs ever recorded, easily matching anything on Sgt. Pepper’s. Could we have Steely Dan without them? John Cale?
Yes, I could see the Beach Boys being viewed differently if they dissolved in the late 60s. They would've been a lot poorer but more mystique may have been attached to them. I'm a big Heroes and Villains fan and I enjoy both the version released and the longer cut off Smile
Does acid help musicians create better music? It appears to give them an intense short-term burst of creativity, but in the long term, I wonder if artists are better off without it. I know this goes somewhat against common opinion, but sometimes common opinion is wrong and should be questioned/challenged. The flame that burns twice as bright burns half as long, after all. Perhaps instead of Pet Sounds, which burned so brightly due to its psychedelic-inspired sound, we would have gotten 2-3 albums nearly as good as Pet Sounds (dare I say even surpassing it?) just spread out across a greater length of time. Maybe the band would have innovated longer instead of burning out in their post-Pet Sounds days. I love their music from the pre-acid days. It's clear they knew how to write catchy songs w/ strong hooks. Pet Sounds is psychedelic but still catchy as fuck. It seems like psychedelics, the more you use them, draw you further and further away from "pop" art and more into "experimental" art, which tends to, in my opinion, usually not be as good. I've never done psychedelics. I'm such a square. I just find Brian Wilson fascinating. I know he says he regrets using them, which is interesting to hear an artist admit to. Thoughts?
I should've noted more that Brian actually repudiated acid by Pet Sounds and "I Know There's an Answer" (once called "Hang on to your Ego" was supposed to be a song knocking the LSD crowd. I do believe it drove his psychosis further and triggered him in terrible ways. He was talented enough where he probably could've pulled off Pet Sounds anyway, having never dropped acid.
Superb essay - I’ll check out some of those obscure albums you recommend.
Yes, their catalog is so deep
I woke up to pop music in the early 80s as a pre-teen, and the Beach Boys were pretty much a punchline by then, as you piece indicates. I remember a dopey anti-jogging satirical book we had (written to make money off of ridiculing Jim Fixx) included a truly nasty joke about Dennis' demise. This seemed to be the standard for alt-comedy at the time - Spy, National Lampoon, early SNL, etc. were all frankly vicious more often than not, sometimes frighteningly misogynistic. The BB were a great target, I guess.
Sometime in the last decade some really, really good BB songs started wending their way into my playlists. I'd never heard "Forever" before and I was just blown away, and this was just in the last year. What a great band. I'll continue to explore them. Thanks for writing this.
I saw Mike Love perform at Pyro Festival this summer.50 years of thinking Brian was the only Beachboy...down the tubes.
Brian Wilson is the Marlon Brando or Orson Welles of pop music. I mean I’m of course glad he didn’t die at his peak (that’s silly) but I think The Beach Boys would be remembered differently if he had.Heroes and Villains” is one of the smartest, eeriest pop songs ever recorded, easily matching anything on Sgt. Pepper’s. Could we have Steely Dan without them? John Cale?
Yes, I could see the Beach Boys being viewed differently if they dissolved in the late 60s. They would've been a lot poorer but more mystique may have been attached to them. I'm a big Heroes and Villains fan and I enjoy both the version released and the longer cut off Smile
Does acid help musicians create better music? It appears to give them an intense short-term burst of creativity, but in the long term, I wonder if artists are better off without it. I know this goes somewhat against common opinion, but sometimes common opinion is wrong and should be questioned/challenged. The flame that burns twice as bright burns half as long, after all. Perhaps instead of Pet Sounds, which burned so brightly due to its psychedelic-inspired sound, we would have gotten 2-3 albums nearly as good as Pet Sounds (dare I say even surpassing it?) just spread out across a greater length of time. Maybe the band would have innovated longer instead of burning out in their post-Pet Sounds days. I love their music from the pre-acid days. It's clear they knew how to write catchy songs w/ strong hooks. Pet Sounds is psychedelic but still catchy as fuck. It seems like psychedelics, the more you use them, draw you further and further away from "pop" art and more into "experimental" art, which tends to, in my opinion, usually not be as good. I've never done psychedelics. I'm such a square. I just find Brian Wilson fascinating. I know he says he regrets using them, which is interesting to hear an artist admit to. Thoughts?
I should've noted more that Brian actually repudiated acid by Pet Sounds and "I Know There's an Answer" (once called "Hang on to your Ego" was supposed to be a song knocking the LSD crowd. I do believe it drove his psychosis further and triggered him in terrible ways. He was talented enough where he probably could've pulled off Pet Sounds anyway, having never dropped acid.