It’s not a controversial statement to say that the Beatles are one of, if not THE greatest band of all time. I am certainly not one to deny it, as I was so obsessed by them in the eighth grade that I called myself Paul McCartney and drew comics about his adventures. I wish I was kidding.
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| Pictured: the author. |
However, with this “greatest band ever” thought process comes several missteps; namely to reduce the years of the 1960s in music to the Beatles’ albums. While this is not done terribly often any more, the only other bands usually thrown in are the Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, and the Velvet Underground. This is criminally reductive, as there are so many great albums and bands from the 1960s that simply do not get their due outside of rabid 60s-pop junkies like myself. Therefore, my aim with this blog post/article is to guide you, the reader, through some essential bands. I will never fully get out of the 1960s musically, as I continue to find amazing music from then almost daily, so this is hardly a complete list.
The Beach Boys
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Now, this might be a controversial statement: to me, the Beatles-Stones debate should not be between the Beatles and the Stones. While I love Beggars Banquet and many of the Rolling Stones’ classic records, it is my opinion that it should be (and even would have been) a toss-up between the Beach Boys and the Beatles.
One innovation in the field of pop music that is often attributed solely to the Beatles is the notion of a studio-as-instrument, exemplified by Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. This attribution is almost entirely incorrect, as the Beatles were very influenced in this regard by the Beach Boys, especially in their album Pet Sounds. Much has been written about that album’s sonic innovations, so I’ll keep it brief: it’s a kaleidoscopic mix of instruments and sounds not typical of a pop record, to the point that it almost becomes pure noise, as many of the instruments are indistinguishable. I would say, however, that Pet Sounds is far more personal than anything the Beatles had recorded at the time - the album is Brian Wilson’s heart and soul pressed on vinyl. At a time when music was getting to its most abstract lyrically speaking, Brian Wilson took cutting-edge studio effects and used them to communicate his feelings of loneliness and melancholy. “I Just Wasn’t Made for These Times,” indeed. Additionally, Wilson produced and arranged the entire record, which was extremely complex. Such duties would have been fulfilled by George Martin in the Beatles, and besides his lyricist Tony Asher, WIlson didn’t have a collaborator like Lennon had McCartney. The fact that he managed to craft Pet Sounds, while also under intense pressure for hits from Capitol Records, is nothing short of astounding.
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Now, as much as I love Pet Sounds (which is quite a lot) the general feeling I detect is that it is a culmination, a peak, a grand exception in the Beach Boys’ discography. This is not the case, and I’ll admit to somewhat resenting Pet Sounds for overshadowing their excellent other records. A case in point is the albums before and after Pet Sounds - The Beach Boys Today! and Smiley Smile.
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Today! demonstrates that Pet Sounds is not a fluke or a surprise burst of genius. The first side of Today! is closer to the stereotypical image of the Beach Boys (e.g. “Barbara Ann”) with some more “frivolous” songs about dancing, as well as a generally happy vibe. This is not to say that moments of introspection don’t exist - see the brilliant “When I Grow Up (to Be a Man)” to disprove that - and the record as a whole sounds great, if not as utterly kaleidoscopic as Pet Sounds. However, it is the second side of the record that is usually discussed, and while this is reductive, it’s easy to see why. Side two of Today! is heartbreaking and achingly beautiful. “Please Let Me Wonder” sets the tone for the rest of the album, with some of Wilson’s best lyrics and saddest melodies. This is followed by a strong contender for my favorite Beach Boys song (although its predescessor is in the ring as well) - a cover entitled “I’m So Young”. The rest of the side is similar in tone and style, and can easily make me cry.
To me, the two sides of Today are perfect together as companion pieces; they show the two sides of being a teenager. The first side is more of the “party” side, while the second side showcases the heartache that we all experience at that age. To leave Today out of the canon is simply criminal.
Smiley Smile is a complete departure from Pet Sounds and, really, the Beach Boys sound. Many have heard the story of the unreleased-until-2011 album Smile - intended to be “a teenage symphony to God” that would continue the cut-up symphony aesthetic of one of the all-time great Beach Boys singles, “Good Vibrations”. That album was never truly completed, though its release in 2011 is completely essential to anyone who likes music. A commonly shared and stated opinion of the album is that it would have cemented the Beach Boys’ reputation as one of the greatest bands of all time, maybe even better then the Beatles. And this is justified: it is extraordinarily radical and ahead of its time; I can only imagine what pop music would have turned out like had it been released.
Instead of Smile, which was shelved for many complex reasons, the Beach Boys released Smiley Smile, which is entirely different, While it contains many reworked versions of Smile-era songs (as well as both “Good Vibrations” and “Heroes and Villains” the intended lead single from Smile) and a generally rushed sound befitting its hasty recording in Brian Wilson’s home, Smiley Smile is no slouch. It is honestly kind of frightening at times, and is really nothing like Smile. It is incredibly haunting and minimalist rather than abstract and symphonic, and has been cited as an important precursor to lo-fi, ambient, and (in my opinion) indie pop. According to Daniel Harrison, a music theorist, Smiley Smile is not a work of rock music, it is art music*. It’s an incredibly difficult record to describe, but is just as essential as its famed counterpart.
After Smiley Smile, the Beach Boys went on to make several more great records, some of them being incredibly strange like The Beach Boys Love You. In all honesty I need to give these albums more of a listen, but I can say for certain that the two consecutive albums Sunflower and Surf’s Up are incredible, and rightly ranked up there with Pet Sounds as masterpieces. They are just as essential as all of the records mentioned here, with the title track of Surf’s Up being one of the greatest Beach Boys songs ever put to tape. Additionally, the title of Surf’s Up is ironic considering the album’s mellow, sad tone, and especially when paired with the solemn painting on the record cover. It demonstrates that the Beach Boys knew they were more than just a surf band - they were one of the greatest bands of all time.
*Harrison, Daniel (1997). "After Sundown: The Beach Boys' Experimental Music". In Covach, John; Boone, Graeme M. Understanding Rock: Essays in Musical Analysis. Oxford University Press. pp. 33–57.