The Greatest American Band Debate: The Beach Boys

It is frustrating when a lot of people like something you may despise. 

If we at SeedSing are going to be a competent and commendable website, we need to give recognition to things that we may not like, or even hate in this case, but other people adore. We kind of did this on the podcast when I had my brother Seth on and he talked about his love for the Grateful Dead. I'm clearly not a fan of theirs, but Seth loves them and we gave him yet another platform to opine on why he loves them. I'm going to tackle a band that I truly despise for the greatest American band debate, but a ton of other people, easily in the millions, loves and adores. Today, I'm going to talk about, not really make the case for them, just talk about the Beach Boys.

Let's get this straight right out of the gate, I really, really, really hate the Beach Boys. They're bubble gum pop music in my opinion, and I think Brian Wilson is one of the most overrated musicians of all time. Had he not had a nervous breakdown, he wouldn't be the "icon" that he is today. There'd be no movies or books about him, he'd just be another run of the mill musician. He's not genius, not even close. So, have I laid out the fact that I really dislike the Beach Boys enough yet? I think so, but my hatred will bubble up throughout this post today. Let's get to why a lot of people, not me, think they're not only the greatest American band, but the greatest band of all time. First of all, they introduced, or some even say, invented the California surf rock sound. This sound was very popular in the 60's, and is kind of making a resurgence nowadays. People like to say that they have the best vocal harmonies of any band ever. I don't hear it, but fans seem to think they're the greatest. That's high praise to be told that you have the best harmonies of all time. That's a huge accomplishment in music. Brian Wilson is the unquestioned leader of the band, and he wrote and orchestrated pretty much all of their music. This is music to fans ears, but not that impressive to me because I don't like their music at all. Their music sounds simplistic, but fans adore this. He wrote their biggest hit "Good Vibrations". This song epitomizes California rock. It's poppy with an easy guitar riff and the vocals couldn't be anymore "beachy". That's what I like to refer to their harmonies as, "beachy". That means, to me, that they sound like they're singing on the beach, in every song. Kind of a happy go lucky vibe to their music, also known as "pop" music. Everybody knows the song "Good Vibrations", so, for all intents and purposes, that makes them one of the greats. That sentence just hurt my brain. God, I hate the Beach Boys. "Good Vibrations" came after their most critically acclaimed album, "Pet Sounds". I've tried with this record, and I just don't get it, but critics and musicians and fans adore it. It is the essential California rock record. People will tell you that they brought psychedelia to the masses with this album, but I'll take any Pink Floyd or Jimi Hendrix or even any YES album over "Pet Sounds" for my psychedelic music. "Pet Sounds" opens with another humongous hit, "Wouldn't It Be Nice". This song is not psychedelic, it's pop. The Beach Boys thrive with songs like these. "Good Vibrations and "Wouldn't It Be Nice" are in their wheel house and songs like these were massive hits because this is what the masses liked and still like. It's poppy and fun and while they may be sad lyrically, they sound happy, so fans like them and think they're happy songs. "Good Vibrations" and "Wouldn't It Be Nice" are no different than current songs like "Honey I'm Good" by Andy Grammar or "I'm Yours" by Jason Mraz. They're all bubble gum garbage, but the masses love it. They called the album "Pet Sounds" because they literally use pet sounds. This is like the stupid stuff Phish does, using vacuums as instruments, that people seem to think is innovative. It's not psychedelic, it's stupid. But, most critics heaped praise on the Beach Boys for doing this. They thought it was ingenious, and only a musical "genius" like Brian Wilson could pull this off. 

Soon after "Pet Sounds", Brian Wilson started to lose his mind. This wasn't like Syd Barrett from Pink Floyd, who literally did lose his mind, I feel like this was, what some today would call, a media ploy. I feel like the Beach Boys wanted to be even more famous, so they made Brian Wilson go nuts. I'm sure he has a problem, but he's still alive and making music, so he couldn't have been that nuts. The Beach Boys, and more famously, Brian Wilson did gain even more notoriety after this. The band broke up after "Pet Sounds", but some iteration of the Beach Boys still made albums up to 2012, and they're still touring. What they may be most famous for, post Brian Wilson, is the fact that they recorded "Kokomo", but even bigger than that, they play live with John Stamos. This makes them very lame, in my opinion, but when "Full House" was a massive hit, being on the show multiple times, as the Beach Boys were, they were remembered and gained even more fame. Older fans would see this and think, hey they're still doing it. And younger fans, they loved them some "Full House" and teenage, and even a lot of adult women, loved them some John Stamos. They regained their old fans, and brought a whole new generation of fans by being on "Full House".

In 2004, Brian Wilson released the album "Smile" to huge critical acclaim. I believe the editor of this website, RD himself, bought this album when we lived together (ed note: yes I did). He would put it on, and I'd think, Jesus, this is crap. I think even RD hated it too (ed note: yes I did), but he would listen to it and try to like it. I don't get the love, but fans loved it. The love for the Beach Boys is very weird to me. They've won tons of Grammys and other music awards. Some magazine named them the most influential American rock band(bull shit) and they're still beloved to this day. I've said it many times, I HATE the Beach Boys, but if we are taking this debate seriously, they need to be mentioned. I know a lot of people will read this and call me a hater, and I definitely am a hater of the Beach Boys, but at least I took time today to put them in this discussion. I also know that I left out huge chunks of their career, but I don't care enough to mention any of it. I feel I covered what is best known and what made the Beach Boys famous. 

This post was very hard for me because I'm a music snob and the Beach Boys boil my blood. But, I did it, I made the "case" for the Beach Boys as the greatest American band. I know this will read very different from my other greatest American band posts, but you have to put bands in this discussion, even if you dislike them. Go ahead Beach Boys fans and skewer me in the comment section, I know it's coming and I'm ready for it. 

Bring it.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man podcast. While writing this piece, Ty was humming along the Blue Jean Committee's hit song "Catalina Breeze". Follow Ty on twitter @tykulik.

Cloves and Fedoras: The rebirth of an insane beautiful dream in "Jodorowsky's Dune"

Madness can create great beauty

Cloves and Fedoras is Seed Sings reviews for little known pieces of pop culture.  Feel free to contact us with your own submissions of undiscovered gems that must be known.

Once upon a time there was going to be a movie that featured Mick Jagger as the scion of an evil family bent on ruling the galaxy. The evil family patriarch was to be played by legend Orson Welles. The band Pink Floyd, fresh off of Dark Side of the Moon, was going to produce the score for a planet in this movie. Salvador Dali, and a prop of Dali's head, was tapped to play the mad emperor of the galaxy. H.R. Giger worked on his very first movie with this film. The movie was going to be the first adaptation of Frank Herbet's science fiction classic Dune, the power behind this bold dream was avant-garde filmmaker Alejandro Jodorowsky.

Jodorowsky's Dune (2013) is a documentary directed by Frank Pavich that looks at what could have been if the world got to witness this version of Dune on the big screen. Alejandro Jodorowsky (El Topo, Magic Mountain, Tusk) himself is the star of this documentary and he takes you joyfully through his memory, and vision, of creating a truly remarkable film. The french film financier Michael Seydoux, who owned the film rights to the book, adds his recollection to Jodorowsky's creative endeavour. The documentary is filled with the incredible stories these men lived, and goes through the disappointment of not having the director's vision be put to film. 

The cast for Jodorowsky's aborted Dune was an incredible story in itself. The director made insane deals to secure the cast of his dream. Orson Welles agreed to play Baron Vladimir Harkonnen if the actors favorite Parisian chef could be retained on set to make Welles favorite food on demand. The director's own twelve year old son was put through intensive martial arts training to prepare for the lead role of Paul Atreides. David Carradine, at the height of his Kung Fu fame, was tapped to play Duke Leto Atreides. Jodorowsky's  and Seydoux's story of casting Salvador Dali is one of the highlights of the documentary. No spoilers, you need to see the film to see this amazing story of what could have been.

The amazing cast of Jodorowsky's vision was equally matched by the forces who were creating the world of Dune. Legendary french comic artist Moebius was hired by Jodorowsky to create storyboards for the entire movie. Special effects technician Dan O'Bannon, later famous for Alien, was recruited to create the never before seen visual effects. British illustrator Chris Foss, famous for creating many iconic science fiction book covers in the 1960s and 1970s, was tasked with creating the "machinery" of the galaxy. The creative force of these three artists created a massive book detailing the entire layout of the film. This telephone sized book is featured heavily in Jodorowsky's Dune and is a star in its own right.

Seydoux attempted to get the budget together by using the Dune layout book and shopping the idea to film studios. Many speculated that the film would clock in well over ten hours, and in a pre Star Wars days, science fiction was not a hot property in Hollywood. Everyone interviewed in Jodorowsky's Dune seem excited by the memories of creating the film, and they share their dejection in the failure to get the project off the ground. The documentary is not quite as long as Jodorowsky's masterpiece, it is only 88 minutes. The time you spend watching this story will make you wanting more. The documentary made me wish for ten hours of incredible film.

Alejandro Jodorowsky may be known as an eccentric madman. His vision for Dune was incredibly unconventional, but great science fiction is visual and thought provoking. The 1984 David Lynch film, one in which Lynch had his name as director removed from the theatrical release, is considered a disappointing misstep. We will never know if Jodorowsky's version would have done the book justice. Thanks to the incredible documentary Jodorowsky's Dune we get a chance to peek at what could have been. Near the end of the documentary, Jodorowsky suggest that someone could use his storyboard book and make an animated film out of its contents. If we can get this done, I will be one of the first to watch the film. All ten plus hours.

RD Kulik

RD is the Head Editor for SeedSing. He is always looking for insane projects that deserve attention. Realize his dream by writing for SeedSing.

The Greatest American Band Debate: Influencers

SeedSing is filled with music lovers. We can not agree on who is the best band from the States. The Greatest American Band Debate will be a regular feature where we discuss and compare bands who started in the good old USA. If you have any suggestions of bands we should debate Contact us seedsing.rdk@gmail.com

When  it comes to music, no one is completely unique.

Continuing our discussion on the website of the greatest American band, I want to focus on influential bands today. I'm not going to single out one specific band, I will give my readers many examples. The one problem I ran into doing research for this piece, it was hard to find American bands that were truly influential. It was easy to find bands from the UK that were influential. You can take Pink Floyd and see their influence on many current bands like Radiohead or Muse. You can take Led Zeppelin and see their influence on bands like the White Stripes and Black Keys. There's so many more from the UK that have influenced American bands. Doing further research, I found that these bands from the UK were influenced by American musicians, but not bands. Zeppelin and Cream were heavily influenced by guys like Robert Johnson and Son House. In fact, a lot of the UK musicians were very influenced by blues musicians from the 20's and 30's. So, like I said, it was tough, but with help from my father, we found a good number of influential American bands.

When we talked, the first band that came up was the Paul Butterfield Blues Band. If you listen to our most recent podcast, you know that's my dad's favorite band. What makes them so influential, they had great musicians playing great, rocking blues music. Their writing was top notch. You take a band like the Black Keys, and as much as Zeppelin influenced them, the Paul Butterfield Blues Band was just as important to shaping their music. The same could be said for a band like Buffalo Springfield. This is another band that had great musicians and wrote great songs, and members of Buffalo Springfield would break away and do some really big things in the music industry. Stephen Stills and David Crosby were in Buffalo Springfield before they were Crosby, Stills and Nash. I love music that has distortion in it. It's my favorite effect on guitar. That's where a band like Ike Turner's Rockin 88's come into play. The story goes, while traveling, their amps fell off the car and were sliced. Ike and the band didn't know what to do or where to get new amps, so they used them. While playing, the guitar sounded gruff, but they all liked it. Distortion was born. Look at any number of rock bands, be it RATM or Soundgarden or Alabama Shakes, and you can hear how important distortion is to their music. Another, bigger band, Sly and the Family Stone, brought the concept of playing funky rock and roll, while having a big band feel. The way they injected horns and funk in their music reminds me a lot of what a band like Black Joe Lewis and the Honeybears are doing right now. You can take bands like the Eagles and Three Dog Night and see the influence they have on bands that focus on the vocals and harmonies in their music. Take a band like the Killers and see how much the Eagles and Three Dog Night meant to them getting started in music. A band I never really listened to until my dad told me about and have recently listened to and kind of enjoy is ELO. They have a unique electric sound and most of their music is all instrumental. I can see how a band like Ratatat was influenced by ELO. Some of their songs sound identical. It's uncanny.

Even bands from the 80's have influenced current bands. Look at Blondie, they had a cute blonde girl as their lead singer, and a bunch of dudes begin her. Tell me Grace Potter and the Nocturnals weren't influenced by that. They have the exact same makeup to their band. The Talking Heads were this avant garde, take all kinds of risks kind of band. If you just listened to them, I bet you wouldn't be able to guess what they looked like. I look at someone like Har Mar Superstar and feel the same way. He and his band play funky, R&B music, but Har Mar looks exactly like Ron Jeremy. When I first heard him and the Talking Heads, I felt the same. I loved the music, but I had no idea what these musicians looked like. Devo had a big influence on electronic/rock music. They took big chances and hit home runs every time. I look at a current band like TV on the Radio and see they were heavily influenced by Devo. Aerosmith, with their accessible to all ages rock music reminds me a lot of the Foo Fighters. Even a band like Nirvana has influenced younger musicians. I look at Conor Oberst and I just know that he listened to a ton of Nirvana. His lyrics are almost as poetic as Kurt Cobain and just as sad sometimes.

So, there are a lot of influential American bands. You have to do some research, but you can see how influential a lot of the bands from the 60's and 70's are on current day musicians. Go check out some of the bands I've mentioned today and compare them to who you are currently listening too, it may surprise you.

Go out and seek older music too, you will see the influence, I promise you.

Ty (With a little help from his dad)

Ty is the Pop Culture Editor for SeedSing and the co-host of The X Millennial Man Podcast. The biggest musical influence in his life is Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem. Follow Ty on twitter @tykulik.

The Greatest American Band Debate: The Introduction

Time to get the records out.

SeedSing is filled with music lovers. We can not agree on who is the best band from the States. The Greatest American Band Debate will be a regular feature where we discuss and compare bands who started in the good old USA. If you have any suggestions of bands we should debate Contact us seedsing.rdk@gmail.com

I'm a lover of all music.

All music except for jazz and new age country that is. People often pose the question to me, "Who's the best band"? There is any number of answers to give. Some may say The Beatles, Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, The Rolling Stones, etcetera. The one thing you may have noticed in those answers is, those are all bands from overseas. Mainly the United Kingdom. Why no American bands? Is it because most great American musicians are solo artists? We have Bob Dylan, Janis Joplin, Robert Johnson, BB King, Miles Davis and Woody Guthrie just to name a few. And before I get yelled at online, I don't count Janis Joplin's backing band, The Holding Company, or Bob Dylan playing with The Band(who are all Canadian except for Levon Helm) as great American bands. They're very good, but not great.

So, let's break it down. Who is the greatest American band? Do they come from the 50's, 60's, 70's, 80's, 90's or 2000's? Is there even an American band that can hold a card to the great bands from overseas? I don't know that for sure, but I'm going to throw out a lot of great American bands today and we can all decide together.

Let's take the 50's. One band that comes to mind for me is The Crickets. You may know them as Buddy Holly and the Crickets. The Crickets played on some of the greatest songs in the history of music and were just as important to Buddy Holly's music as Buddy Holly was. Some people may put The Crickets into The Holding Company category, but go back and listen to some of their stuff and you will see how influential they were on modern day rock and roll.

In the 60's, we got some more psychedelic rock bands from America, but I'm not too crazy about some of these bands. First, we have The Doors. I am not a fan of the Doors, but they were hugely popular and definitely put their stamp on rock music. Jim Morrison was fine as a poet and songwriter, albeit super overrated in my opinion, but his band was really pretty good. They just had an unfortunate choice in picking their lead singer and were stuck with Jim Morrison. Then there's the Beach Boys. I CANNOT stand the Beach Boys. They made crappy pop music and are an abomination to rock and roll. That being said, they are in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and a lot of people not only like the Beach Boys, they love them. Their fans will also defend Brian Wilson to the heavens, no matter how difficult of a person he is to work and deal with. My favorite American bad from the sixties, by far, is Creedance Clearwater Revival. Their brand of rock music, mixed with blues and soul is undeniably great. They've had a ton of hits and a ton of fans, are in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and John Fogerty is still making pretty good music as a solo artist.

The 70's brought along a lot of great talent to American rock and roll. We got the Eagles, Aerosmith, ZZ Top and Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. Each one is great in their own right, and in the case of Aerosmith and Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers they are still making music. In Tom Petty's case, he is still making great music. Many people might even say that The Eagles are the greatest American rock band of all time. I disagree. The 70's did put out some great music from all corners. We also got KISS, the Ramones and Sly and the Family Stone. Another band from the 70's that people love is Grateful Dead. Not me though. In my opinion, they are a jam band that has no structure to their jams. I don't want to hear one song that's usually three and a half minutes long turn into a 30 minute song. no thanks. My older brothers will be pretty upset at me for trashing the Grateful Dead, but I just don't like them. When it comes to 70's American bands, it gets no better than the Allman Brothers Band. They played great songs with a beautiful mixture of rock and blues. Robert Johnson introduced me to the blues and Son House introduced me to slide guitar, but the Allman Brothers made slide guitar and rock/blues music cool. They are not just one of the best American bands, they're one of the greatest bands of all time period.

The 80's changed what rock music could be in America. Bands like Heart and The Runaways showed that girls can rock just as hard as guys. Blondie blended all different types of music, and did it very well. And yes, Blondie is the band name, Debbie Harry is their lead singer's name. But, when it comes to 80's rock bands in America, the Talking Heads are the greatest. David Byrne is a genius and still making fantastic music. The Talking Heads were innovators and way ahead of their time. They tried so many different things with their music and, more times than not, hit it out of the park.

The 90's brought on the grunge era in American rock music. We got great bands like Green Day, Soundgarden and Pearl Jam. Each band is great in it's own way. Green Day brought back punk/pop music. Soundgarden brought back the psychedelic rock from the 60's and 70's and Pearl Jam was dark a brooding. A very cool version of emo. Then came Nirvana. Kurt Cobain was a musical genius. Especially as a lyricist. His lyrics are profound and prolific. He died way too young and became way too famous too fast. His two band mates, Kris Novaselic and Dave Grohl were excellent. Most people know Dave Grohl and all the work he's doing right now and Kris Novaselic has played bass for many different bands. When it comes to 90's American rock for me, it gets no better than Weezer. I love Weezer. Rivers Cuomo is a great writer and very excellent, very underrated guitar player. Their first album, "The Blue Album" is a work of art. Then, they released "Pinkerton" which is just as good and maybe even a bit better than "The Blue Album" Weezer is awesome.

Which brings me to the 2000's. Time will have to tell with this era. It's only been 15 years and these bands still need a bit more seasoning. That being said, there are some bands on their way to greatness for sure. The White Stripes could've been on their way if they were still making music. Jack White has also become an unfavorable character and a shell of his former self as a musician. He's also a well known asshole too. Bands like the Black Keys and TV on the Radio still need time, but in the Black Keys case, they are well on their way. There are other bands such as, Alabama Shakes and The Shins, but like I said earlier. Time will tell.

See, in this long piece I couldn't single out just one American band. There's a lot to choose from and if I was told that I had to name one right now, I'd pick the Black Keys, strictly because they're my favorite band. I didn't even touch on rap groups and yes, rap groups can be considered great American bands. I'll leave that for a future piece. So people out there reading this, let me know which American bands are great in your eyes. Who did I leave out or who did I bash that you like. Or, do you agree with me. Leave a comment and until later, keep listening to good rock and roll music.

Be it American rock or otherwise.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the co-host of the X-Millennial Man Podcast. He is eager to write another 1000 words on music. Follow him on twitter @tykulik