11.6.25

The Beach Boys

My Beach Boys mild take is that they have a handful of good singles and one passable album (I dare anyone to say they like "Pet Sounds" with a straight face). I famously do not really like the Beatles, but I do have ears: the Beatles have at least four times as many classics, and can flood the zone with music that is 'fine', a thing the Beach Boys absolutely cannot do.

Their reputation relies a lot on Brian Wilson and the mythic lost-to-time follow up to Pet Sounds which doesn't exist and therefore allows the listener to project genius onto it. A lost album gets you all of the benefits of projection and none of the drag of actually existing reality. (I have heard the outtakes and attempts to reconstruct it: a lot of projection is required)

The poor management and mental health stuff is tragic, of course--he never really got a chance to have a full career. But see also Peter Green, Syd Barrett, even Johnny Cash--a lot of people do not have their career their talent deserved.

No comments: