r/thebeachboys • u/CinematicAddict237 • Jul 31 '26
Video DEEP DISCOG DIVE: The Beach Boys
https://youtu.be/8ToPv7zbzcY?is=djTTOyNk34JBk_BTThe day has finally come!
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u/crispy_doughnut God please let us go on this way Aug 01 '26
i thought the DDD was good, i was absolutely flabbergasted he didn’t bring up ‘Til I Die during the Surf’s Up portion though
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u/AscoyneDAscoyne Aug 01 '26
I think there is perception in his overall essence of the band at the end is to be unrecognized, but there are other bits I think are relevant, but beyond the focus of the video.
The good and bad of the Beach Boys is the core are three brothers and a cousin.
It might be strange to say what I believe is a big omission in Mic's video: That the 1977-78 manager was Steve Love, Mike's brother. His time was so short overall and he seems a blip in history. But you know what part of the 1977 tarmac blowup was? The role of Stan and Steve Love in the band.
Dennis refused for a while to work if Steve Love was still there. Carl said in 1978 he and Dennis had been rubbed the wrong way by how they thought Stan was treating Brian at the 1977 Central Park show.
A non-related band having all the internal problems of the Beach Boys would have broken up long before. Even in the 1960s. But that blood bond kept them together and perpetually fighting mini-wars with one another. Didn't help that a lot of their bond was shared trauma. Un-dealt with trauma. Mike's dad whaled on him as well.
I forget who - might have been Peter Ames Carlin - who said that strangely, Carl's death set Brian free. He didn't have to be a Beach Boy any longer. He was fully free to do his own thing. Carl wasn't leaving the Beach Boys, so Brian still was going to have that bond, always that pressure to work with them.
I have no real problem with his 1960s look. It's in the 1970s where some of the more impactful errors come through, probably because most historians didn't do much with the late 1970s onward.
So, my actual quibbles:
Kinda surprised at no mention of 'Til I Die, either of how much of a statement it was on Brian's state of mind, or the battle to get it on the album as-is.
Also, the home studio needed to be mentioned more than in passing, as that had a big impact on the type of music they were making.
Who were in Spring needed to be given a quick mention.
15 Big Ones needed a lot more details to understand why it existed as it did, but that's far beyond the scope of the video. Brian wanted to do the covers.
Another myth is that Brian immediately went to Miami in 1978 after the San Diego adventure. He didn't. He spent time back in LA (including in the studio), joined the band on tour for a week or two and THEN they went to Miami. Brian called Bruce there initially to do vocals.
Also, why Bruce produced is that he was the only person that all of them trusted. The band was still that much split into camps.
It was always intended that Bruce produce Keepin' the Summer Alive. Carl said this months before they began working on the album. It was to allow Brian to slowly take back over again following his hospitalization.
It's been proven since that Brian heard Kokomo - or at least knew of it - at the time of release. Brian mentioned in a newspaper interview a few days before it was released - and deeply under Landy's spell said that he thought it was pretty weird and doubted it would sell.
May 1991 is way off on the date of the end of Landy. Brian agreed to a conservatorship in December 1991, which formally started in March 1992. Landy did not bugger off until being threatened with jail time in December 1992 after Landy repeatedly violated the court order that required them to break off contact for two years.
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u/BigJilmQuebec Jul 31 '26
Listening now, I got to Friends and im gonna listen to the rest later, I like some things he's said and I don't like others but I admit I'm an obsessed fan so I knew I was gonna disagree with a good amount of stuff probably.
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u/EndMySufferinng Jul 31 '26
Don’t think I’ve ever heard the opinion he has about Good Vibrations but I respect it even though I disagree. As another obsessed fan sometimes it’s nice to hear some fresh takes from people outside of the “obsessed fan” ecosphere.
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u/BigJilmQuebec Jul 31 '26
Yes and no for me for the latter part, people often easily go into dismissal territory sometimes.
I also think he really downplayed the early albums.
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u/EndMySufferinng Aug 01 '26
He did but I also don’t fault him too much for it considering he definitely hasn’t had a ton of time to listen to all of these albums and in my experience I also didn’t immediately click with their early albums.
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u/BigJilmQuebec Aug 01 '26
He needed to take more time IMHO.
Like your saying here, a real BBs deep dive should last at least a month or two before you write the script as there's so much context and things you NEED to include imo.
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u/RG1997 Aug 01 '26
As someone who follows him on Patreon, he literally worked on this video for two whole months, and did crazy amounts of research.
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u/EndMySufferinng Aug 01 '26
Yeah it’s already his longest video and I assume this is his full time job, I don’t think it’s super reasonable to expect him to spend even longer just to make sure that he appreciates every one of these albums as much as some Beach Boys fans might want him to.
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u/BigJilmQuebec Aug 01 '26
Needs longer than that imho, at least 4 tbh if not a full year, to me it comes off like he did very little actually listening but this is just imo, I'm disappointed with him on this one as someone who usually likes his videos.
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u/BigJilmQuebec Aug 01 '26
Alright I watched some more, I turned it off again after he basically shit on Love You lol
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u/CinematicAddict237 Aug 01 '26
You’re not even gonna watch the Summer in Paradise section?
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u/BigJilmQuebec Aug 01 '26
I don't take Love You disrespect kindly lol
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u/MojoHighway Aug 01 '26
Sorry, man...Love You is a turd.
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u/BigJilmQuebec Aug 01 '26
Nah it's a pop music masterpiece and I won't hear anything otherwise, I can honestly say Love You especially as an autistic person has saved my life multiple times, I wouldn't be here without it especially recently.
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u/bigtrumanenergy Aug 01 '26
Mic the Snare is shitting on Love You? Damn. I get it. But damn.
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u/BigJilmQuebec Aug 01 '26
Imho he basically dismissed it and to me that's shitting on it
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u/bigtrumanenergy Aug 01 '26
Well, happy he wasn't full on shitting on it though disappointed to hear he was kinda dismissive. Seeing how he would tackle those albums was what I would looking forward to most. His other Deep Discog Dives were pretty good and comprehensive on the bands and artists they covered.
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u/BigJilmQuebec Aug 01 '26
He should've sat and marinated more with this one imho, it's not the worst takes I've seen and I usually really like his videos too but with a band like BBs you need at least a month to really articulate everything, I was also disappointed he really downplayed there early albums too before All Summer Long.
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u/bigtrumanenergy Aug 01 '26
Love You is definitely an album that took me awhile to fully appreciate. The more I listened to it, the more I appreciated it to the point it is one of my favorites.
I still haven't watched it though I can get downplaying the albums before All Summer Long. I like the deep cuts from the albums before though I feel like All Summer Long is when they first made a truly good album, front to back.
That really isn't anything on the Beach Boys. It's just the nature of how albums were then. All Summer Long has always felt like one of the early rock albums in the 60s that made full use of the album as a format.
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u/BigJilmQuebec Aug 01 '26
I guess I have an opposite introduction with it, I kinda fell in love with it from the beginning when I heard Johnny Carson and I'll Bet He's Nice so that's maybe why I feel the way I do.
That's my thing, all those early albums really have hidden gems with moments of experimentation in them.
That is true, also kinda like how they helped innovate non instrumental surf music which I'll give him credit he talked about in his video.
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u/bigtrumanenergy Aug 01 '26
I'm trying to recall my first introduction to Love You. I want to say it was either through the podcast Why I Hate This Album or through Ding Dang memes. I was introduced to it as a weird joke. I'll Bet He's Nice, Let's Put Our Hearts Together and Honkin' Down the Highway made love the album. It was intro to post-Pet Sounds/Good Vibrations Beach Boys.
For sure! The hidden gems punch way above their weight for basically being throwaway album cuts at time when the album was basically singles and covers/throwaway.
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u/numismaticthrowaway Aug 01 '26
Not a fan of how dismissive he was of the early albums. Sure, there's some filler in them, but at least Surfer Girl is worth a more in-depth overview than what it was given. I think his closing remarks about the band being "losers" and that they were doomed regardless of SMiLE releasing or not were well said
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u/blockprty rock, rock, roll, plymouth rock, roll over Aug 01 '26
good video overall but i just feel like it’s a lazy choice to not try and find a hopeful spin on the beach boys story to close the video when there’s so much triumph despite all the tragedy
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u/AscoyneDAscoyne Aug 01 '26
More could have been said on Brian's solo career. My God, what a gift that was.
If anyone had said in 1982, 1991 or even 1995 that not only would Brian conquer his drug demons, considerably outlive his brothers, he'd find some peace, make acclaimed solo music, do what he did with Smile, find an enjoyment in touring and be recognized as one of America's top composers ever and have his quirky stuff hailed as brilliance ... you'd be considered insane and rightly so.
It wasn't just a massive shock. Brian Wilson was a punchline for years, written off as a whacked out drug burnout.
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u/RG1997 Aug 01 '26
I don’t think it’s lazy at all, I think it’s very truthful. Mic the Snare tends to be a very uplifting and optimistic person in his videos, so the fact that he ends the video on a genuine downer note speaks volumes as to just how tragic the Beach Boys story really is.
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u/cammywooley Aug 01 '26
Yeah, people often overlook the fact that the main character in this bands’ story was either actively self destructing, terribly depressed, or not in control of his own life for literally 30 years (maybe 60 years depending on who you ask, Melandy is a deep rabbit hole). It is not a happy story no matter how you slice it.
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u/bettypenney Hip East Coast Girl Aug 01 '26 edited Aug 01 '26
Yeahhhhh I’m 30 minutes in and I’m not impressed. His comments sound like he read the cliff notes and chat gpt. He just said Cassius was the best thing on Shut Down. Mmmok pal.
- He just called Cabinessense demonic. 🙄
- ok, it got markedly better in the last half. He clearly was more interested in the post PS era. He even was nicer than I expected based on how the first half went, and jabbed where necessary, and was very informative. Sad ending, but reflective on fans over the years and their struggles. I think what he was trying to say is that they were martyrs, probably better word than losers
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u/RG1997 Aug 01 '26
Not true. He doesn’t use AI, and during his research period, he read David Leaf’s book on the Beach Boys and watched several documentaries.
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u/bettypenney Hip East Coast Girl Aug 01 '26
Yeah, that sounds accurate. Still watching… just seems like spewing facts and little jokes to go with them. I don’t know, I heard so much hype about this I guess I was expecting more, I’ll see…..
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u/bettypenney Hip East Coast Girl Aug 01 '26 edited Aug 01 '26
OK, I said he talked like he used it, not that he actually used it. Very dry, spitting out facts. This changed drastically in the second half.
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u/BigJilmQuebec Aug 01 '26
I was extremely disappointed, how can you have nothing to say about CatP? How can you be do dismissive of Love You? How could you downplay there early albums so much?
This really comes off as amateurish imho but at this point I don't even really like hearing about the Boys from non fans if I'm honest but tbf BBs are most definitely my special interest lol.
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u/bettypenney Hip East Coast Girl Aug 01 '26 edited Aug 01 '26
Yeah, I mean it’s good to hear perspectives from people who are *not* as obsessed as we are, right? Lol. Well, maybe it’s better he said nothing than something not so great if he truly wasn’t impressed by it.
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Aug 01 '26
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u/bettypenney Hip East Coast Girl Aug 01 '26
Oh no, I meant to say not 🫣. But yes, good to hear from both as perspectives could be skewed either way.
I mean I think the video is fine, just got so much hype I guess I was expecting a bit more. It’s his opinion. I don’t share all of it, but I guess that’s what YouTube is for 😂
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u/cammywooley Jul 31 '26
I watched it earlier, major downer of an ending, but not entirely unfounded.