Whats your favourite Beach Boys song?

[Man of Harveys]

They were nothing like as good as the Beatles. That's because no-one has ever been half as good as the Beatles. I LOVE the Beach Boys - it's fantasically well written and arranged pop.

Tough call on the favourite tune though - I love Pet Sounds (as anyone with two ears with a brain in between should) and Wouldn't It Be Nice is a bit of genius but will probably go for I Get Around - what seems at first like a very simple pop song is actually the perfect three minute symphony.

 

[Icy Gull]

No he wasn't, he was hinting at the fact that Americans hype the Beach Boys up as a band because the were the only band in America at the time writing music that could rival it when in fact they were nowhere near as talented as the Beatles (when the Beatles broke America the Beach Boys stopped selling so many records). Nothing to do with the Monkees.

Can I just say - CRAP

The Beach Boys were going before, or at the same time as the Beatles and were real rivals, not manufactured or hyped.

Good Vibrations (although I can't stand it due to overplay) stands up as well today as any Beatles song and I cannot agree that Brian Wilson was any less talented than McCartney or Lennon, it was just unfortunate that he scrambled his brain with drug abuse and lost it as quite an early age

Pet Sounds is universally recognised as being one of the best ever pop records, although I'm not a big fan of it.

 

[n1 gull]

God only knows is my favourite song of all time.

 

[keaton]

No I know who the difference between the Monkeys and the Beach Boys. I quite like the Monkey's, in a harmless manufactured pop kind of a way. as for the Beach Boys, a band so phoney it's image was based on a sport only one of them had the remotest idea about well take your over produced pap and stick it.

But the Beatles' image was completely fake and created by Brian Epstein and the Stones went to private schools and all pretended to be working-class wide boys

nearly all bands at that time were 'shaped' in one way or another

My favourites are God Only Knows and Don't talk put your head on my shoulder

 

[Yorkie]

The surfing image was fashionable when the Beach Boys started. Jan & Dean had hits at the same time.

 

[Trufflehound]

'God Only Knows' may be the most perfect pop record ever made.

Don't know about the most perfect ever (I'd give that honour to the Lemonheads' version of Different Drum), but it's certainly up there. And streets ahead of everything else the BBs ever did.

 

[Exmouth Seagull]

I could listen to the brilliant repeating end section of God Only Knows forever, as used recently for the climax of Love Actually.

Other fave tracks - California Girls (remember the Caledonian Girls advert in the days they were our shirt sponsers), Breakaway, Little Girl I Once Knew, many more.

A brilliant underestimated group, totally miscast as surfers - most of their best stuff had nothing to do with sun, beaches or surfing. Up there with the Beatles imo as one of the greatest pop groups ever.

 

[Pevenseagull]

"I know there's a answer/ hang on to your ego"

quality

and David Bowie's cover of "God Only Knows" is SHIT - some achievement given the outstanding quality of the source material

 

[Hungry Joe]

Any track from Pet Sounds, pure genius. If I had to choose one then it would have to be God Only Knows just ahead of Sloop John B. Got a really early bootleg of REM doing Sloop John B live circa 1980, hilarious.

 

[Dover]

God Only Knows for me too.

 

[Albion Edd]

My favourite is probably good vibrations

 

[Hungry Joe]

My favourite is probably good vibrations

Excellent, you can join mine & Easy's Electric Toothbrush up the Bum Club if you like.

 

[The Large One]

Every track on Pet Sounds is very listenable and well-produced - if only they had stopped yakking in the background. The new version of Good Vibrations on Brian Wilson's Smile album is absolutely brilliant, arguably better than the original single.

The story of the Beatles 'beating' the Beach Boys after they toured America is not strictly true. Brian Wilson's father Murry was a hard task-master and a bully. Brian was well-capable of producing some high quality works, but his father sent him loopy trying to get him to keep up with the 'progressive' works of the Beatles. Pet Sounds sent the Beatles straight back into the studio to try and top Wilson's efforts. They were so impressed with that album, Brian Epstein took out a (genuine) full page ad in Melody Maker and New Musical Express proclaiming Pet Sounds to be a work of genius.

Eventually, of course, the Beatles prevailed, and Wilson went tonto as a result.

Their musical success in the UK and US is a tale of two halves. The Beach Boys had very little commercial success in the UK before 1965. They had very little commercial success in the US after 1966. Good Vibrations is the only song to hit No1 here AND there. Later singles like Break Away, Do It Again and I Can Hear Music were flops in America - here they were big hits. The US market really only craved the surfing, hot rods and chicks records.

Anyway, in answer to the original question - tough choice, so for now (I will feel different later), I will plump for 'Let Him Run Wild'. No, 'In My Room'. Oh f*** it, 'Caroline, No'.

 

[Theatre of Trees]

Sloop John B persistantly sing the line "I'm tired and I want to go home" when I'm having a shit day at work.

 

[Hungry Joe]

The Beach Boys were going before, or at the same time as the Beatles and were real rivals, not manufactured or hyped.

Good Vibrations (although I can't stand it due to overplay) stands up as well today as any Beatles song and I cannot agree that Brian Wilson was any less talented than McCartney or Lennon, it was just unfortunate that he scrambled his brain with drug abuse and lost it as quite an early age

Pet Sounds is universally recognised as being one of the best ever pop records, although I'm not a big fan of it.

Spot on. The Beatles openly admitted that Pet Sounds was the major inspiration behind Sgt.Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band.

 

[Jam The Man]

My love for Pet Sounds goes without saying...

It's hard to select a favourite one from so many classics, but i'd put Warmth Of The Sun, Tears In The Morning & Disney Girls '57 right up there.

And what's the point of non-BB fans coming on this thread and slagging them off? If you don't like them just start another thread you wuckfits.

 

[NMH]

Darlin'

 

[frimleygreen_shotspur]

as an impoverished aldershot fan,"guesting" on your fine portal,may i offer up"surfs up" as a seminal track..as perfect today as when the master tape ran way back..way back...

 

[Beach Hut]

Good Vibrations - one of the all time classics IMHO

 

[e77]

Probably Wouldn't It Be Nice but after seeing Brian Wilson do it live at the Festival Hall, 'Surfing USA' is up there.

mmm.....Smile