Saw the movie, Love and Mercy, and really enjoyed it, primarily the studio scenes. The Wrecking Crew! I have a somewhat varied history with the Beach Boys. They were my second concert, opening for Chicago at the Chicago Stadium in 1975. Brian Wilson was not in the band, and I can't say I was that thrilled with it. My friend Gary was a Beach Boys nut and we used to drive around in his 1969 gold GTO with the top down listening to the greatest hits.
Later, during my college sophomore year at University of Kentucky, a few guys wanted to participate in a Gong Show competition at the dorms. The idea was to be the Blanding Beach Boys, wear polo shirts and white pants, and play a few Beach Boys songs. I was asked to join because I had a bass. Notice I didn't say that I could play bass. I had recently purchased a Gibson EB3 copy with a small Marlboro amp. I was in the process of teaching myself. Anyway, I sang bass and played bass; a pretty nifty trick for a newbie. We worked up Fun, Fun, Fun, Surfin Safari,and Help Me Rhonda. The judges loved it, although they said we sounded more like Led Zeppelin than the Beach Boys. At the end of our last song I did a roll on my back and flipped back up while playing. I was an excitable boy indeed. It was my first time on stage and I milked it. I got my picture in the school newspaper!
I was totally oblivious though to the Pet Sounds/ Smile era of Beach Boys songs. For one, I just wasn't that interested. I was more into distortion and guitar energy and the genius of Brian Wilson was lost on me. Early on as a musician I had some good friends who played pure pop music inspired by Brian Wilson. My good friend Ric Menck, who was instrumental in spreading the word about eleventh dream day, had a series of brilliant pop bands that spearheaded indie pop in the eighties. He was absolutely adored in England.
When edd would roll into NYC to visit the home office, our A&R person would let us rummage through the Atlantic vaults at 75 Rockefeller and fill our mitts with product. I remember picking up the Brian Wilson solo record which was a promo interview record with snippets of songs. I don't remember it holding much interest for me--I did listen to it at least once, but I don't even know if I still have it. Now that I've just heard the song Love and Mercy from that album I can't believe I ignored it. I can't stop playing it. I'm also diving back into Pet Sounds and Smile a little. I've got friends who know every inch of this stuff, and I know I'm late to it, but hey, that's the great thing about music--you can always go deeper.
