The Beach Boys, on one hand, should need no introduction. On the other hand, they had very little influence on the formation of my musical aesthetic.
I first heard the Beach Boys in elementary school, when a friend played his Endless Summer and Spirit of America compilations for me. I liked them, but never picked up my own copies. And then I didn’t hear them for about 20 years. During my time in high school and university, two years spent waiting tables after college, and my post-graduate MFA years (a time spanning most of two decades, the ‘80s and ‘90s, and two states, Texas and Massachusetts), I spent a decent amount of time listening to music and talking music with music lovers of all types that I met. And during this time, I remember having exactly one conversation about the Beach Boys. I’d read that Pet Sounds was pretty good, and asked a friend who had even more music than me about the album; he said it was, indeed, good, and I could stop by to borrow it and check it out. I don’t think I actually did. And that was it. Absolutely nobody who was into music was into the Beach Boys at that time, at least nobody I knew. To me, they were a band for kids, my childhood being the only time I remembered listening to them.
Then, come the early 2000s, there was a tremendous Beach Boys revival. Animal Collective and other bands so clearly bore their influence, and Brian Wilson finally re-recorded and released a critically acclaimed version of the long-lost album Smile, leading to a critical resurgence that now sees Pet Sounds sitting at the #1 spot on Acclaimed Music’s Top Albums of All Time list. Not bad for an album that hardly anyone seemed to be listening to for twenty years. I find it a little hard to reconcile this radical shift in critical opinion, in fact. I’m more of an alt-rock guy than an indie-rock guy. I like my music to have an edge to it, not to be delicate and lush.
I also like stuff that’s poppy and catchy, too, though; so I found plenty to like when I started exploring their music. After much listening, I can confirm that a rebirth in recognition was justified; The Beach Boys certainly deserve a place in the musical canon of the past 70 years. But the best album of all time? No way. Pet Sounds, to me, belongs somewhere in between the two extremes of today’s acclaim and the neglect of the ‘80s and ‘90s. I easily found a place for it on my top 100 of the sixties, but can’t say it would make my top hundred of all time (if I ever were to make one).
However, I do genuinely like a lot of the Beach Boys’ music. These two playlists compile most of what I feel is best in their work; they would absolutely serve as an excellent introduction to the band for those who, like me, had dismissed them for so long. (I must admit I still prefer their light, poppy stuff to their dreamy, introspective moments. When I listen to these playlists with my nine-year-old daughter, she always pressures me to skip slow songs like “Surfer Girl” and “In My Room,” and most of the time I don’t mind the omission.)
Playlist 1
Playlist one focuses on their earlier surf-pop days, with songs about surfing, the beach, cars, girls, the drive-in, and fun things in general.
Playlist 2
Playlist two shows their more “mature” side, including some tracks from their critical peak, Pet Sounds.
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