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Post subject: Re: What category are the Beach Boys?
Posted: Sat May 10, 2014 7:30 am
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IM4Tone wrote:
Actually, I think pigeon-holing can be counter-productive

I agree, but when you name your group "The Beach Boys", you're kind of setting yourself up for stereotyping :D .

When growing up in the area, we used to think of the Beach Boys more as a Southern California band, along with Jan and Dean, and Thee Midnighters, among others.

Wikipedia actually has an interesting short article http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surf_music , which reminded me that the enduring influence of "surf" music can be found (along with tons of other examples) in the James Bond Theme, which premiered with Dr. No in 1962.

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Post subject: Re: What category are the Beach Boys?
Posted: Sat May 10, 2014 2:11 pm
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The Beach Boys' early stuff is what I call Classic Pop. They went to Classic Rock later on, then became nostalgia. Their songs were strong enough to make the listener have visions of what they were singing/playing about. That's a big step above most bands talent.


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Post subject: Re: What category are the Beach Boys?
Posted: Sat May 10, 2014 3:18 pm
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WildintheStreets wrote:
The Beach Boys' early stuff is what I call Classic Pop.


+100000000000

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Post subject: Re: What category are the Beach Boys?
Posted: Sun May 11, 2014 9:07 am
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Lightnin MN wrote:

Dick commented on the Beach Boys covering some of his songs saying they were the most famous Surf Band to exist.

cheers!


Who am I to argue with Dick Dale? Surf music it is. :wink:

But honestly, plain and simply, they were a "great" band.

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Post subject: Re: What category are the Beach Boys?
Posted: Sun May 11, 2014 5:17 pm
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In his evolution from the sublime to the serious, Wilson and company wrote and sang about their lives growing up. To us guyz in da east it was like youze guys in SoCal drove to school every day in shorts and sandals and then went out to da beach and screwed around for the rest of the day instead of wait'in on da bus in da sno and da cold. We failed to realize that California wasn't all coastline and beaches. But for sure, if you were a competitive swimmer back then, as I was, it was the Santa Clara Swim Club where all the action was on the West coast.

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Post subject: Re: What category are the Beach Boys?
Posted: Sun May 11, 2014 6:35 pm
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I'm a longtime fan of the Beach Boys. "Good Vibrations" is one of the best PURE POP records I ever heard. It was so amazing hardly anyone noticed it as in MONO.

When you look at the Beach Boys genesis it was in POP ROCK based songs about surfing and hot rod cars. So you could say they are a "HOT ROD ROCK" band as much as they are a SURF band. Except "HOT ROD ROCK" isn't exactly as well known a music genre or have quite the legs as SURF.

SURF is an edgier, sometimes angry and far more rebellious genre. SURF is always guitar-bass-drum centric and always totally lacking in 4 part vocal harmony, violins, cellos, tympanis, pianos, harps, Theremins, woodwinds, horns, vibraphones and glockenspiels. With the advent of the portable electronic organ (Farfisa/Vox/et al) SURF still retained the guitar-bass-drum formula and the organ was relegated to chordal harmony support. Always but always the guitar, bass and drums have been SURF music's weapons of choice...and really all it needed. SURF even had a baby, and they called it PUNK ROCK.

Other than originating in Southern California, Beach Boys music has far less in common with Link Wray, the Chantays and Dick Dale than it does with the Spaniels, the Regents, the Four Lads, the Four Freshmen, the Beatles, the Vogues, the Four Seasons and even the Eagles.

Nobody points to the Beach Boys catalog as influencing PUNK ROCK, while SURF gets frequent credit as a major influence on PUNK.

The Beach Boys just happened to do some songs about surfing because they felt (quite correctly) it just might sell records. You could write and record a song about moonshine, dogs, pickup trucks, trains, tractors, cheating, rodeo and prison yourself....but unless you are a Country artist doing so would not make the final product a COUNTRY song or make you a Country artist any more than the Beach Boys doing songs about surfing makes them a SURF band. It would sound like you, whatever you are.

In the case of the Beach Boys even when they sing about surfing the actual sound is POP or sometimes POP ROCK. More than a few times such as on "Surfer Girl," "Don't Worry Baby" and "Good Vibrations" they achieved the rare PURE POP status reserved for the most amazing ear candy of all time. Even when the Beach Boys did Rock and Roll songs they still sounded POP to me because of the vocal styling and arrangements. The Beach Boys entire Christmas music catalog is POP and there's no way to find anything SURFY about it whatsoever.


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Post subject: Re: What category are the Beach Boys?
Posted: Sun May 11, 2014 6:46 pm
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brotherdave wrote:
I'm a longtime fan of the Beach Boys. "Good Vibrations" is one of the best PURE POP records I ever heard. It was so amazing hardly anyone noticed it as in MONO.

When you look at the Beach Boys genesis it was in POP ROCK based songs about surfing and hot rod cars. So you could say they are a "HOT ROD ROCK" band as much as they are a SURF band. Except "HOT ROD ROCK" isn't exactly as well known a music genre or have quite the legs as SURF.

SURF is an edgier, sometimes angry and far more rebellious genre. SURF is always guitar-bass-drum centric and always totally lacking in 4 part vocal harmony, violins, cellos, tympanis, pianos, harps, Theremins, woodwinds, horns, vibraphones and glockenspiels. With the advent of the portable electronic organ (Farfisa/Vox/et al) SURF still retained the guitar-bass-drum formula and the organ was relegated to chordal harmony support. Always but always the guitar, bass and drums have been SURF music's weapons of choice...and really all it needed. SURF even had a baby, and they called it PUNK ROCK.

Other than originating in Southern California, Beach Boys music has far less in common with Link Wray, the Chantays and Dick Dale than it does with the Spaniels, the Regents, the Four Lads, the Four Freshmen, the Beatles, the Vogues, the Four Seasons and even the Eagles.

Nobody points to the Beach Boys catalog as influencing PUNK ROCK, while SURF gets frequent credit as a major influence on PUNK.

The Beach Boys just happened to do some songs about surfing because they felt (quite correctly) it just might sell records. You could write and record a song about moonshine, dogs, pickup trucks, trains, tractors, cheating, rodeo and prison yourself....but unless you are a Country artist doing so would not make the final product a COUNTRY song or make you a Country artist any more than the Beach Boys doing songs about surfing makes them a SURF band. It would sound like you, whatever you are.

In the case of the Beach Boys even when they sing about surfing the actual sound is POP or sometimes POP ROCK. More than a few times such as on "Surfer Girl," "Don't Worry Baby" and "Good Vibrations" they achieved the rare PURE POP status reserved for the most amazing ear candy of all time. Even when the Beach Boys did Rock and Roll songs they still sounded POP to me because of the vocal styling and arrangements. The Beach Boys entire Christmas music catalog is POP and there's no way to find anything SURFY about it whatsoever.


If this be the case (and I'm not saying it isn't, BD) then how would you classify Elvis?

Rock?

Pop?

Gospel?

R&B

All of the above?

This is why it's so difficult to pigeonhole many of the more popular artists -- their music transcended the demographics of their fans.

Just an observation, mind you......

Arjay

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Post subject: Re: What category are the Beach Boys?
Posted: Sun May 11, 2014 7:09 pm
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I think one of the most difficult artists to classify is Santana !

Just sayin'

cheers!

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Post subject: Re: What category are the Beach Boys?
Posted: Sun May 11, 2014 9:07 pm
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Retroverbial wrote:
[If this be the case (and I'm not saying it isn't, BD) then how would you classify Elvis. Arjay

I would classify Presley as an entertainer who began on one track and was well guided into a popular track where he eventually culled an audience of all ages. The rock musicians of those years didn't find there way to Vegas. They played venues like the Filmore West and East. Like Presley, Bobby Darren made the same leap. I never accepted Presley's annointing as the King of Rock and Roll. He contributed a style, which eventually evolved, but Chuck Berry gave us a musical guitar form which he borrowed from Elmore James and fleshed out further. This simple, alternating back beat was then, and continues to be the foundation of rock's musical structure, until the power chord gave us another turn. As far as Santana is concerned, he told a story to Guitar Player magazine many years ago, that he was 'discovered' by Bill Graham wilst attempting to sneak into the Filmore West to see the ABB. In conversation that ensued, Santana told Graham of a band [his] which was a 'blues' band, but had conga drums. Santana writes originals, and covers other peoples work with an afro/cuban rock influence. I suspect that the uninitiated know that Peter Green's 'Black Magic Woman' originated in the pre-Buckingham/Nicks/Perfect Fleetwood Mack blues band from England, and was not a Santana original. On Claptons' first box set, there's a track with him and Santana doing the classic blues song "Eyes To The Blind", arranged Santana style.
It's an absolutely terrific track.

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Last edited by ZZDoc on Sun May 11, 2014 9:14 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Post subject: Re: What category are the Beach Boys?
Posted: Sun May 11, 2014 9:10 pm
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And then emerged The Nightcrawlers, with their quintessential "Little Black Egg".

:wink:

Arjay

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Post subject: Re: What category are the Beach Boys?
Posted: Sun May 11, 2014 10:35 pm
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Lightnin MN wrote:
I think one of the most difficult artists to classify is Santana !

Just sayin'

cheers!


I'd say Chicano.

The way I see it, the point of genres is to make it easier to avoid stuff you do not want. If I'm looking for music for myself, chances are I'll pass the religious, country, pop, dance, rap, r&b, urban, soul, latin, dance collections and children's sections. That saves me a lot of time.
Similar when I dial in the radio in the car - RDS and stations that list genre is a great feature.

Back in the past, I could tell the clerk a few of the things I did like, and he would recommend something based on that. These days, that won't work, because those who work at record stores (or more likely, record sections of non-record stores) do it to have a job, and don't have time or inclination to listen to incoming music.


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