Post a controversial music opinion

I guess I missed it. Maybe I wouldn't be foaming at the mouth at the mere thought of it if I'd read some of these naysayers' screeds.

2xp

pitchfork gave it like a 7 in the '90s

Imo it's more of a 3.

pom hates the beach

Lies! I actually like some of their dumber, carefree surfin' material.

I like it but def wouldn't care if I never heard it again. The cult of Wilson's genius was p obnoxious in the late 90s/ early 00s. Whenever people reverently trotted out the "teenage symphony to God" line (about Smile but often applied to PS too ime), I was like "does that actually sound appealing to you?"

lol, exactly.

I feel like (and I'm not talkin about pom's take here) the whole "Pet Sounds isn't REALLY THAT GREAT, it's OVERRATED" has become the du jour take that supplanted "Pet SOUNDs IS TEH BEST BEACH BOYS EVER" in the last few decades. Pom's is unique cos he's saying it outright sux. I can appreciate that boldness.

It's not really a thing here because the Beach Boys discussion on these boards is some of the finest I've seen on the interwebs, particularly Shakey's poll series for each album. but I am tired of being bombarded w/ "b-b-b-but did you know there are better albums than Pet Sounds" whenever I talk about that album in hipster company. I have all of their albs other than Holland and any of their 80s output, I don't need to be talked to like a n00b!

I do however love Pet Sounds, particularly the aforementioned "Put Your Head On My Shoulder", "God Only Knows", "You Still Believed in Me", etc. but usually my favorite BB is the one I have on. even the early car/beach albums which most critical folk sneer at are really good, though there are a lot of tracks that appear on more than one album.

I still have an unresolved dispute with Shakey regarding the Beach Boys

about How She Boogalooed It?

had to do with the recording process during the Pet Sounds era, it was very trivial, but for some reason stuck in my craw for years

is Shakey gone forever because people accused him of abusing a subway sandwich or a trucker hat? I can never keep track of ancient ILX beefs

There's no critical approach anyone can take to Pet Sounds that someone else isn't going to find hackneyed or outrageous or both.

man I love pet sounds. I listened to smile again recently and it really is a damn masterpiece. I didn’t think I even knew it really well but I knew the whole thing by heart! So many amazing melodies and imagery-inducing arrangements

I have never listened to Pet Sounds all the way through - or any BBs album - because all I need is "Don't Worry Baby" and "Good Vibrations." And I only need to hear either of those two songs about once a decade each.

everybody needs “til I die”

xposts Shakey posted this very ill-advised thread: True or False: Every sexual assault accusation must be believed

He got shit for it, which I can't blame anybody for.

milo calling him "rapey mo" and posting a 10+ year old crepey post he made under his old dn seems to be what made him leave outright though.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xP5-jp6nbsM

Smile is great. had the Brian Wilson 2004 version but getting the Beach Boys official release of it a decade ago was a treat and obviously superior.

some people prefer the weirder version of "Vegetables" on Smiley Smile.

If the entirety of Pet Sounds were like 'Good Vibrations', which is what I was led to believe in the first place, I'd be on board with its deification.

You don't even like "Wouldn't It Be Nice", pom?

There's no critical approach anyone can take to Pet Sounds that someone else isn't going to find hackneyed or outrageous or both.

― Halfway there but for you, Monday, February 1, 2021 5:24 PM (three minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

Fixed this for you.

'Pet Sounds' still feels overrated to me, even though I think it's 3/4th a great album. Yet also I'm perfectly happy to never have to hear it again.

TS: 'Pet Sounds is overrated' vs 'Pet Sounds is underrated'

Xp ha none of it is really like "Good Vibrations " (which is awesome).

https://www.discogs.com/Lambchop-Pet-Sounds-Sucks/release/2430649

I fucking hate the shit out of 'Wouldn't It Be Nice'. Aside from 'God Only Knows', 'Sloop John B.' is the only other song I find palatable, maybe because it's an adaptation.

If Pussy Galore had covered Pet Sounds instead of Exile On Main St., that would have put all this bullshit to bed nice 'n' early.

yes Exile's rep never recovered from that

I think Pet Sounds is fine, but the quality of Brian Wilson's work scales exponentially. "Surf's Up" is God-like, "God Only Knows" is spectacular, "Good Vibrations" is fine, "Wouldn't It Be Nice" and "You Still Believe In Me" are all right, and I wouldn't miss much of anything else. "Vegetables" walked the plank many years ago and was eaten by some very healthy sharks

Wild Honey has three songs which are better than anything on Pet Sounds

"Wouldn't It Be Nice" has the prettiest bridge in pop history, i will not back down from this!

Sometimes I wake up in the middle of the night thinking about how there will never be a greater disconnect between Pet Sounds's deathless critical reputation and the honest-to-God nausea I experience whenever I hear it, barring a song or two.

― pomenitul, Monday, February 1, 2021 11:00 AM (thirty-seven minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

I like Pet Sounds, but I wouldn't begrudge anyone for hating it. Substitute Unknown Pleasures for Pet Sounds here, and you've got me ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Last year we spent some time in the Music Theory thread unpacking the weirdness of those modulations on that song, very crafty!

I think what interests me about Pet Sounds also is just what a step up it is from Today! and all their previous work, but w/e. Pom you're not alone I know at least three other people who are allergic to pets

"Wouldn't It Be Nice" has the prettiest bridge in pop history, i will not back down from this!

'Oh, we could be married (oh, we could be married) / And then we'd be happy (and then we'd be happy)' is the 10th circle of Hell.

Tbf I actually like the dorky af album cover.

just think of it as a song about pretending to be married as an excuse for fuckin'

Weird to me that anyone would outright "hate" this album (yet still like the Beach Boys in general), but I guess I understand. Its corniness definitely undercuts some of its creativity. At the same time, it's just barely over 30 minutes long, so I can take it. As far as mannered orchestral pop goes, I have more trouble with Burt Bacharach, who I assume Wilson was very into.

Dunno, it still sounds like postwar white middle-class American incel dude music to me.

xp

I linke to think of it as "mentally 12-year-old man tries to imagine what adult relationships are" but guess that's sort of the same thing

mentally 12-year-old man tries to imagine what adult relationships are

Sums it up, really. Not only do I not get the appeal at all but I fail to see how the Greatest Album of All Time™ could possibly revolve around this theme.

just think of it as a song about pretending to be married as an excuse for fuckin'

This has been my interpretation as well. It's about teenagers who want to be older so they can have sex whenever they want.

I think Brian Wilson was pretty explicit about trying to present a teen POV in these songs

I thought "Wouldn't It Be Nice" was meant to be ironic-utopian, and also the author was what, 23? 24?

I guess the whole thing sounds like a pocket symphonic YA novel.

Sorry, I can't refrain from writing this...I shouldn't. But in french (at least Canadian french) "pet" is a fart. So it took me few seconds to realize I was reading in english (I know "sounds" is an english word...but my brain works like that). I read "fart sounds"...sorry..

— Hugues Tremblay (@Hugues_Tremblay) January 30, 2021

He seriously doesn't know it means the same thing in standard French? Christ, that's embarrassing.

Otherwise, otm.

The record also chronicles an emotional change. "Wouldn't It Be Nice" to "Caroline, No" is an emotional shift to disillusionment, if not necessarily maturity.

idk why anyone would listen to the beach boys for the lyrics, but "caroline, no" and "i just wasn't made for these times" has some genuinely moving moments that are enhanced by the harmonic trickery and group vocals.

Yeah, I like that it ends on a bit of a downbeat, but it takes way too long to get there. I know that some people are unable to listen to it very often because it's too 'depressing', which is o_O as far as I'm concerned.