Absolute genius, was gutted when I read of his passing. Saw him at the Royal Festival Hall in 2002, the entire place was filled with grown men crying their eyes out.

I felt like he never really understood just how powerful and devastatingly beautiful his music was, to him he was just trying to make some fun surf music sound like Phil Spector. His favourite song was Shortnin' Bread!

Only thing to add is 5*

Whilst not a fan of the Beach Boys myself, I cannot knock their influence on generations and on music in general. It is massive,

And I do like a lot of their songs.

Give me the Beach Boys any day of the year over most of the crap that has topped the charts over the last two decades or so.

Growing up, I was quite dismissive of the Beach Boys. I guess the music from the 60s that grabbed me had more of an obvious edge, and they came across as a bit lightweight with all their surfing stuff, soft arrangements, sunny mood, and general squareness. Over the years I realised I'd overlooked some of the most inventive pop music of its time. Brian Wilson's harmonies, in the arrangements and unexpected shifts, are beyond anything anyone else was doing.

I guess I feel a bit like VC's comment above. Their sound / their genre still isn't really my thing, but there's no denying the talent, and Brian Wilson wrote (and produced) some of the greatest pop songs of all time. Four or five of them still make me gasp, and there are probably a lot of other gems that I've never listened to because I didn't ever really get into them.

Always loved the beach boys great band

Russian

I think the Beach Boys often wrongly get labelled as just some surf pop band when their later stuff rivalled any band at the time, I guess I’m partial to that dreamy west coast sound with stuff like Curt Boettcher, Gene Clark, Gram Parsons, CSNY. I would highly recommend listening to anything between Pet Sounds and Surfs Up, you have 7 brilliant (if not a little random) albums made during a very troubled time for Brian Wilson but he made some incredible music. Like you say, his harmonies and arrangements are unparalleled. His brothers made some lovely stuff round that time too.

comment by Red Russian (U4715)
posted 16 minutes ago
Growing up, I was quite dismissive of the Beach Boys. I guess the music from the 60s that grabbed me had more of an obvious edge, and they came across as a bit lightweight with all their surfing stuff, soft arrangements, sunny mood, and general squareness. Over the years I realised I'd overlooked some of the most inventive pop music of its time. Brian Wilson's harmonies, in the arrangements and unexpected shifts, are beyond anything anyone else was doing.

I guess I feel a bit like VC's comment above. Their sound / their genre still isn't really my thing, but there's no denying the talent, and Brian Wilson wrote (and produced) some of the greatest pop songs of all time. Four or five of them still make me gasp, and there are probably a lot of other gems that I've never listened to because I didn't ever really get into them.
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I was quite the opposite. As a 17/18 year old in the early 2000s I really enjoyed their albums but never really went back to them in the years since. Gonna have to give them a go again this weekend but the whiskey collection is depleted so I’ll have to purchase a new bottle for the occasion.

comment by manutd1982 (U6633)
posted 13 minutes ago
Russian

I think the Beach Boys often wrongly get labelled as just some surf pop band when their later stuff rivalled any band at the time, I guess I’m partial to that dreamy west coast sound with stuff like Curt Boettcher, Gene Clark, Gram Parsons, CSNY. I would highly recommend listening to anything between Pet Sounds and Surfs Up, you have 7 brilliant (if not a little random) albums made during a very troubled time for Brian Wilson but he made some incredible music. Like you say, his harmonies and arrangements are unparalleled. His brothers made some lovely stuff round that time too.
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Yeah, I'm aware that the music grew a lot more complex and interesting, especially after Brian gained greater artistic control while struggling personally. 'Dreamy west coast sound' says what I was looking for better words to express. It's a sound I've never really identified with, even though there's obviously a lot of great songs produced within those musical traditions.

Good article.

'Don't Talk, Put your Head on My Shoulder' is my favourite Beach Boys song, and it was hard to pick a favourite.

Here is my AI-generated tribute to The Beach Boys. Hope you like it! Let me know if you do.
https://www.udio.com/songs/vCwufpDLfXobjh5QioNuaa?utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing

Fair enough!

Nice write up.

I'd recommend watching the documentary on Disney

Sloop John B, God Only Knows and In My Room are three of their songs that for me stand out.

Wilson almost singlehandedly took on Lennon & McCartney and inspired the fab four to make st peppers

I love the Beatles but Sgt Peppers is massively overrated. Billed as their magnum opus but they have so many better albums. The whole concept of the album finishes after 2 songs.

comment by manutd1982 (U6633)
posted 8 minutes ago
I love the Beatles but Sgt Peppers is massively overrated. Billed as their magnum opus but they have so many better albums. The whole concept of the album finishes after 2 songs.
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yeah agree there! Revolver, abbey road and rubber soul top it

It could have been seen as magical if you were around when it came out I suppose?

Yeah I can imagine the hype at the time was huge, but I think time has shown that is isn't that great compared to their other stuff.

A lot of it comes down to how you got introduced to a group I guess. For example, my experience of the Beatles as a kid growing up was the likes of Yellow Submarine, When I'm 64, Hey Jude and other such throwaway kiddie songs.

It wasn't until I heard covers by the likes of Eddie Hazell (I want you (she's so heavy)), Wu Tang sampling While My Guitar Gently Weeps and other such takes that I found myself enjoying some of the Beatles songs.

With the Beach Boys, you cannot get away from the surfing, Cali-sun songs which probably turn a lot of people off from a deeper dive into their catalogue. A lot of people will name Kokomo if asked to name one of their songs...

My Mum introduced me in the early 90's. Whilst my mates were listening to Nirvana and the stone roses, I had eight days a week running through my headphones!

Kokomo is a great tune.

Love Kokomo! Has absolutely nothing to do with Brian Wilson, but it's great in a cheesy guilty pleasure way. The Beach Boys' grandad hawaiian shirts era.

Surfer girl , great song too