The way I see it, they have a few decent songs, such as God Only Knows and Good Vibrations, but holy ****, they don't deserve the credit they're getting.

The Immortals: The First Fifty : Rolling Stone

The Beach Boys above Led Zep and The Who? What is the world coming to?

I can't think of a single Beach Boys song I can listen to for more than five seconds without wanting to kill myself. Good Vibrations is probably the most overrated single ever.

You have very extreme musical opinions...

I take music seriously. :D

I respect that and will proceed with caution. Just know that while I love music as much as any inanimate or intangible thing in the world but I don't take discussing it all that seriously.

Oh c'mon now, I agree that Pet Sounds is a bit overrated, but it's still a great album and Brian Wilson was one of the best melodicists around. Not liking them is one thing but calling them talentless is just plain wrong, their vocal harmonies were brilliant and just because Carl Wilson was no Jimmy Page and Dennis was no Bonzo dosen't make them horrible musicians either. Brian Wilson is a favorite songwriter of mine. The post Brian stuff IS pretty horrible though.

If anything, the worst band to consistantly be compared to The Beatles is The Rolling Stones, they haven't done a damn thing as innovative as The Beatles, or The Beach Boys, at at least 30 other bands from the 60s.

Compared to whom? Ringo Starr?

I apologize for bringing my personal feelings into this. After spending a few hours reviewing their talents, I have objectively concluded that The Beach Boys were indeed a steaming pile of shit.

I must apologize again. I called Carl and Dennis horrible musicians, but...where's the music to show they were ever musicians? Carl's EXTEMELY limited skills on guitar allowed him to play a few scales, while Dennis was absent or nearly so from most of their recordings. But I have to give them credit. The Beach Boys realized a LONG time before The Monkees did the wonders of session musicians.

And the post-Beach Boys Brian Wilson equally so. I implore you not to romanticize about Brian's insanity as evidence of his creative expression (a la Syd Barrett). The bird flew a LONG time before Smile was written.

Now you're just being dificult on purpose. :laughing:


And whats wrong with that? I've always thought of The Beach Boys as being more of a collective than a band. Who cares if Carl is not a great guitarist or if Dennis is not a great drummer? Has anyone ever called them such? I don't recall anyone ever raving about Carl as a guitarist or Dennis as a drummer. But they did their job and it's not like the ever f*cked anything up on record. The praise has always been directed at Brian Wilson and deservedly so. He's the writer and producer. And thats always been what the Beach Boys were about, the melody and vocal harmonies and the production.

For one, Wilson is a better songwriter than Barrett (sue me, it's true) and no I'm not gonna use his insanity as proof of his genius. His music is a better example.

Smile was a great piece of work btw.

http://www.terminally-incoherent.com/img/facepalm.jpeg

What part, exactly, of Brian's work, is better than Barrett's? The lyrics and structures in Brian's songs, even in their "best" work, Pet Sounds, are far, far less innovative and diverse than Gates of Dawn, or even Barrett's solo albums.

:crazy:

I love Wilson and actually like the Beach Boys, but Barrett's work on Piper and his best songs on his solo albums have better lyrics than almost all of the Beach Boys stuff (God Only Knows is their lyrical peak). See Emily Play is a better song in every aspect (save backing vocals) than anything the Beach Boys have ever done.