Great analysis and editing, The Beach Boys are truly underrated. I remember I once read Lennon was asked how the Beatles felt competing with the Stones and he said something to the effect of: We're not competing with the Rolling Stones, we're competing with the Beach Boys.
On the other side Wilson said that The Beach Boys thought they were pretty cool until the Beatles came along and suddenly "we looked like a bunch of caddies"
@@gbeachy2010 They pretty much tried to one-up each other. IIRC, I think Paul McCartney once said that Sgt. Pepper was somehow inspired by Pet Sounds, which was inspired by Rubber Soul.
@@minstrelofMir Listen to the complex arrangements from Pet Sounds. Nothing the Beatles made ever touched that. I love the Beatles as a band more, but Pet Sounds is literally the perfect album.
Joshua Capati in the 65-67 era, both bands were the spearhead for popular music. The thing is that The Beatles ended soon enough to become a legend, and the The Beach Boys perpetuated to be just an old band with some funny songs, under appreciating the incredible magic and genius behind.
@@ericrose3877 he may as well be dead, the poor guy seems to have barely any cognitive function sometimes; in the middle of concerts he'll stop and stare into space, he gives one worded responses in interviews. He may be physically living but personally it seems like he's dragging on without much fire left in him.
Brian Wilson is a musical genius; check out some of the behind the scenes videos of him directing recording sessions. Brian and the rest of the Beach Boys are egregiously underrated and underappreciated to this day. "Good Vibrations" is the Magnum Opus of Brian and the rest of The Beach Boys. "Good Vibrations" is a top ten, pop/rock song, hands down, no questions, no hesitation, no reservation, no equivocation. This video is a brilliant dissection of the song. Exceptionally well done.
Unfortunately, the little graphic you showed for a Bb major depicts an Ab minor, but I'll say as both a musician and audio engineer, I bloody adore the way you thoroughly broke this song apart. I'm loving your work more with each new video.
Just for anyone scrolling by who doesn't know much about music and is wondering what a Bb major chord would look like, I'll try to explain without a picture. If you take the given graphic for it, shift the top (furthest to the right) and bottom (to the left) notes each over by 1 key to the left, and then shifted the middle note 3 keys to the left (i'm explaining like this for people who can't recognize named notes on a piano) then you'd have a Bb major. Well technically an inverted Bb major. The Ab minor chord is also inverted (although differently than the Bb major chord I described is), while the two other chords are exactly what they're labeled as. To make the Ab minor not inverted you would use exactly the same notes except you would move the bottom note up an octave (meaning it's the same note but in the next repetition of the pattern of the keys).
Man, I always bring the Beach Boys as one of my favorite bands, and people always react in a shocking way, then I begin my defense on why people should really listen to them. Thank you.
Javier Del Cid same here, because I feel like most people that have only a passing knowledge of the band just see them as a surf rock band and nothing more. Which is fair I guess, but their musical masterey and lyrical content is so much stronger and deeper than people realize.
I feel like people only know half the story and don't see the mastery of the craft of songwriting that whole band has. And the real genius of Brian Wilson. He's a master of playing the studio as an instrument.
I'm a Beatles nut and have been since I was 4 or 5. I'm now 48. But, the greatest pop song ever produced, and the greatest 3 minutes in music ever, is Good Vibrations. It's perfect in every conceivable way.
I think they were seen as a novelty because the whole beach scene culture that was going on but they had some seriously great songs and Brian Wilson was a genius
I think they were undone by themselves when Brian blew a gasket doing SMiLE, or they might have been known as the greatest band ever. The Monterey Pop cancellation signified the beginning of the end for them
It's unfair to slag off all of Summer Days & Summer Nights as formulaic simplicity. Listen to "Let Him Run Wild", that's totally on par with Pet Sounds melodically, arrangement, & production wise.
Came here to say this, that was a misguided example when an earlier album would have served better. There was no discussion of the BB harmonies or what makes them unique, which was a through-line from their earliest efforts and showcased in Summer Days/Nights exceptionally
Bree Pearson right? I mean, yeah, Brian Wilson is great. But he spent most of the time the album was being made "dealing" with "things" (no one's perfect, so I use gentle terminology). The amazing hooks and riffs were created from barebones scratch tracks by uncredited and AMAZING session talents.
Carol Kaye did play on 3 sessions for Good Vibrations, but none that made it into the final edit (one of those was guitar, and one of those didn't involve either of the famous riffs she demonstrates in interviews). The bass parts in the single are distributed between Ray Pohlman, Lyle Ritz, Bill Pitman, Jimmy Bond and Arthur Wright. All of the lines were written by Brian.
@@dud3stuff Prince is definitely up there with jus the sheer amount of instruments he could play. But Brian Wilson has a sophistication (I hate that word because it sounds rude but it’s really not meant to be) that Prince lacked to some extent.
Prince was a world class performer and a capable record producer, Brian is arguably the greatest record producer and songwriter of all time. They’re both among the greatest musicians ever, but I think few people who know of Brian Wilson’s achievements would deny his genius.
Not all of Summer Days (And Summer Nights!!) is so simple. Brian's production aesthetic on Pet Sounds the following year began on the two fantastic 1965 albums Today and Summer Days. Plus, the second side of Today contained songs with lyrical themes akin to those on the songs on Pet Sounds. Starting with these two albums, Brian was developing a more mature, musically and lyrically, direction for The Beach Boys, reaching its zenith with his masterpiece Pet Sounds.
Summer Days was the BB's 'Revolver' IMO - as a cohesive focused unit at the peak of their powers and riding the crest of the wave, it's just viewed differently due to marketing, time frame, and cultural differences. Check out Unsurpassed Masters if you've not already - there's a Summer Days (and Summer Nights!!) Boxed set in there, if you will. It's incredible.
Yeah I thought Today! was released closer to Pet Sounds especially with the themes that occur on the B-side. Even though technically the album right before Pet Sounds I'm pretty sure is Beach Boys Party! as well as some compilation album. Which use to be counted as part of their discography since the album 20/20 was a reference to it being their 20th album, when counting their compilations.
I would say that Summer Days is definitely a precursor to Pet Sounds and you can hear Brian Wilson start to take ahold of the complexity he would master (it’s beating a dead horse at this point but obviously the intro to California Girls is probably one of the best 12 or so seconds in pop history). Overall tho I would still say SDaSN is still far behind Pet Sounds.
I was privileged to watch the Beach Boys perform live in Birmingham, England, in June 1967,what an amazing night! They were as good on stage as on record! Incredible!
Poly, your arguments are stunningly good. I've never plunged this deeply into the Beach Boys, and now you've convinced me to investigate further. Well done.
In the early 1960's the Beach Boys & the Supremes were the Only competition that Beatles & the Rolling Stones had for the Top of the Charts... The Beach Boys were truly a pioneering and iconic band. Their Music stands the test of time
This breakdown of this song really got me thinking, so clear and perfectly executed. I loved it. I'd love a video on Jimi Hendrix's "1983... (A merman I should come to be)" as I believe it is a truly underrated masterpiece of its time!
I love 60s pop, 70s rock, and 90s alt-rock but I am not a fan of pop-rock. Exceptions: Blondie, Queen, and Mott the Hoople. So, if you are going to analyse a pop-rock band why not make it Blondie?
Brian Wilson is one of the very few genuine musical genius in pop music. Not only was the song "Good Vibrations", the entire album that it was on, "Smiley Smile" is a work of symphonic art.
Ever since watching Love & Mercy I have been appreciating the Beach Boys anew. I was a tween durig that time and was a Bealtes fan but I never bought any BB songs. I LOVE the harmonies. That's what music needs now - more harmonies! which of course came from the doo wap of the 50s.
The first time I heard this song I was in awe. I could have sworn it was at least five or six minutes long. Oh, that mellow part, ending with that big harmonic chord, and then... *nothing* They left us just hanging in space as the echo fades, for an instant, before falling right back into that delightful chorus. It's like a rollercoaster! Pure Magic! Every single time, man, it "sends me there!"
You should TOTALLY make a video discussing the chords and harmonies in The Flamingos "I Only Have Eyes for You". Such an incredible composition with both a haunting and passionate interplay
Summer Days and Summer Nights was so much more than "simple" Brian had already been pushing the musical envelope since '64. The instrumentation on Summer Days is so dense and layered. California Girls and Summer Means New Love? basically the prequels to Pet Sounds
The Disingenuous Gamer Absolutely. Also gems like Let Him Run Wild, You're So Good To Me and the ingenious Beatles-alike Girl Don't Tell Me where the guitar intro is the same as Ticket To Ride's with the notes slightly shifted around. Everyone goes on about Beach Boys Today, but Summer Days/Summer Nights is the real quantum leap towards Pet Sounds and all that came after, the difference being the advent of LSD in Brian's musical and spiritual advancement.
The dismissal of that album sort of illustrates truly how badly underappreciated they are, with a purported expert underappreciating them in a video that highlights why you should appreciate them
80's on the beaches of north carolina, south carolina and florida the things i remember most was the rise of the latin beat (yes, i still feel that conga) and the resurgence of the beach boys (do you remember a place called kokamo?). the beach boys were as much a part of my musical education as the beatles and pink floyd.
To dismiss previous songs and work to 'Pet Sounds' is insane. On a shoestring and limited by his Father and overseers Wilson crafted amazing beauty. Made it radio friendly and profitable.
"Who whenever you're talking about the greats in rock, be sure to give Brian Wilson and the Beach Boys a little love." Except for Mike Love, ironically.
Mike wrote the lyrics to Good Vibrations as well California Girls, I get around, Fun Fun Fun and about 300 more. Get your facts straight. You know nothing about the Beach Boys.
What I NEVER get is why music critics praise complex song structures and use of different instrumentations in Pet Sounds or Sargent Pepper and, once this trend mutated into Prog Rock after Days of Future Passed and In The Court of The Crimson King, they dismiss the whole catalague. I really really can't understand it.
My ear has always been more keen than my actual knowledge of music.This song has always stuck out as a masterpiece to me,but I’ve never been able to explain what I’m hearing.This clarified a lot for me and I never realized the chorus was “reversed”at the end.Thanks!
All of a sudden your videos are popping up in my feed. I'd never heard of your channel until today. Love the detailed analysis you bring to the music. I am currently binge watching your channel.
It has been my favourite song since I heard it in a museum in Oslo while travelling. I had no idea it was so complex which might explain why I still like it and listen to it religiously after 5 years.
Never thought about it that way before. I always thought it was more complicated than their other stuff but it was hard to get back the Sunkist commercials, etc to see it as more than a pop song. Very well done
Love your videos and this one is definitely my favourite since NOBODY PAYS ENOUGH ATTENTION TO BEACH BOYS AND ESPECIALLY THIS TRACK. seriously, we should've been playing the heck out of this song in radio, parties, playlist etc etc
I was driving home and I turned this song up on the radio (I had heard a million times over the years). But I had it turned up, and as I was listening to it, I realized, I never knew how much had gone into it with the instrumentation. And also, as this video points out -- how many times it changes radically throughout the song. It was genius.
This channel is so good that I don’t care what the subject matter is - I am being educated. I just can’t wait until it is about a musician I truly love.
I don't understand how a channel and have a couple million views with high a like to dislike ratio and still have only 26,000 (subs). Keep up the good work my dude!
Like mothers milk to me having been born and spent my childhood in Southern California. Thanks for the love and attention to detail, and above all the art!
You MUST make a video on the early UFO song, Treacle People. The lyrics are absolutely stunning, And taking about the melodies and atmosphere would make an amazing video! You're content is AMAZING!
He wasn't saying that Revolver came before Pet Sounds. He was just saying that The Beatles were recording and innovating music like Tomorrow Never Knows at the same time that Pet Sounds was being recorded.
Always thought of 'Summer Days (And SummerNights)' as the Beach Boys 'Revolver' - they were WAY ahead of the curve - 'Pet Sounds' their pre-Pepper 'Pepper' and 'SMiLE' & 'Smiley Smile' pre-empted the same sprawling disintegration as the 'White Album' - the difference being the Beach Boys stuck together and managed to make wonderful music well in to the next decade, but there were so many dynamic paralells, the main difference was that they were a family concern.
Revolver came out only 3 months after Pet Sounds. Pet Sounds was a much bigger influence on Sgt. Pepper than on Revolver, McCartney and George Martin said in interviews that Sgt. Pepper wouldn't have existed with out Pet Sounds and it was their attempt to replicate it. So basically, Rubber Soul led to Pet Sounds led to Sgt. Pepper
Well, you see, The Beach Boys aren’t exactly considered “rock”. They’re more surf rock; pop; R&B. Not exactly “classic rock (hard rock, soft rock, progressive rock, etc.)”.
Add some love for the wrecking Crew here. The only Beach Boy to play instruments on this was Brian, everything else was the WC. Notably the great Hal Blaine on drums and Larry Knechtel on keyboards. How good was Hal Blaine ? He even played drums on the Carpenters recordings .. and Karen was the drummer. Geniuses the lot of them.
Carl Wilson on Guitar too, but the Beach Boys on tour learned to play what the Wrecking crew did. The Beach boys voices are amazing on every song they made, no band outside of the Doo-wop bands of the 50's, and a few bands here and there, could really come close to Matching the Vocal harmonies, The Beach Boys had, the Mamas and Papas are a pretty good harmony group, but that is my Opinion. The Beach Boys did not just live off the Wrecking crew, they were immensely talented and great.
This song in Australia is used in sales jingles for stores selling cheap white goods. One of the top songs of all time flogging made in China crap. It doesn't make any sense to me. To me it's a haunting song, like no other.
Wow! Have only recently discovered your channel, and I am extremely impressed. Thus, I subscribed immediately. Many thanks for your deep analysis and educational presentations. I've only watched a few of your vids, yet I am sold. Have already begun sharing them with 'the uninformed' as I gently refer to many friends who always never understand anything I say about music. So, please, keep up the exceptional work. Again, well done!
My parents gave me their boombox and some cassettes when I was about 4 so I could listen to music in my bedroom. The Best of the Beach Boys was in the little box they gave me and I played it over and over and over again. Good Vibrations was by far my favorite and I think listening to it at such a young age had a huge effect on what I would enjoy listening to in the future. I still have that tape and I put it in my boom box from time to time. Heroes & Villains was one that I heard much later in life in my 20s, but that one is an absolute masterpiece as well and I wish everyone knew it. Brian Wilson is a genius and I wish a better word to describe him existed.
I think that layered & musically dense are are good descriptions. Yes, I agree It was a musical masterpiece at the time. It's my favorite Beach Boys mainstream single.
I am a huuuuge Beatles fan but I am not ashamed to confess I love Good Vibrations and always mention it when I say: one of the best songs ever published. And I love almost no album as much as the sadly abandoned and nevery finished "smile" - Just love it . Thanks for this vid ^^
I couldn't agree more. This song is extremely sophisticated compositionally. The production is great, but the writing is incredible! Kind of the opposite of the average pop or indie rock songs coming out today that have lots of clever production and really good playing/singing but are essentially three or four chord songs with little if anything new to contribute in terms of structure. Lots of great hooks, but alas... Another great (and underrated) Beach Boys song is I Get Around. If you break it down it's really cool how Wilson "got around" the key changes on this one. Loved your presentation. Thank you!
We can thank the legendary Carol Kaye for that stratospheric bassline. Her ground-breaking basslines, and contributions to countless hits of the '60s are certainly worthy of their own Polyphonic episode.
I think since you mentioned the different studios you could aswell mentioned The Wrecking Crew and the picking technique on bass from Carol Kaye. Great video and great analysis, always learning more stuff about this great song.
Fun fact:
This was the most expensive song to ever be recorded at the time
D Rose, Lil Pump
Money well spent
He literally covers that
@@CMCSS-to3to both idiots
@@historyexplained916 nah man, they are revolutionary
Anyone who says nice things about Brian Wilson is a friend of mine
Niko Kääpä Brian is a good guy.
Hi friend!
Brian is one of the greats and im glad he found a way to treat his schizophrenia
Niko Kääpä i love me some brian wilson. absolute genius.
It bares mention that Charles Manson was a very big admirer of Brian Wilson.
Great analysis and editing, The Beach Boys are truly underrated. I remember I once read Lennon was asked how the Beatles felt competing with the Stones and he said something to the effect of: We're not competing with the Rolling Stones, we're competing with the Beach Boys.
I saw George Harrison say that in an interview.
On the other side Wilson said that The Beach Boys thought they were pretty cool until the Beatles came along and suddenly "we looked like a bunch of caddies"
@@gbeachy2010 They pretty much tried to one-up each other. IIRC, I think Paul McCartney once said that Sgt. Pepper was somehow inspired by Pet Sounds, which was inspired by Rubber Soul.
sounds like the beach boys had 16 track recorders,,when the beatles got 4 tracks they made peppers
@@minstrelofMir Listen to the complex arrangements from Pet Sounds. Nothing the Beatles made ever touched that. I love the Beatles as a band more, but Pet Sounds is literally the perfect album.
It's a shame that The Beach Boys aren't as appreciated as the Beatles.
Joshua Capati in the 65-67 era, both bands were the spearhead for popular music. The thing is that The Beatles ended soon enough to become a legend, and the The Beach Boys perpetuated to be just an old band with some funny songs, under appreciating the incredible magic and genius behind.
TheHollowBodiesBand I get that. I agree with you 100%. People saw them somewhat fade away.
Well, they weren't as good as the Beatles. No one was/is.
Still great, but c'mon, they aren't the Beatles.
BB's didn't meddle with culture, religion or politics.
jsamc I think this is the main thing - I absolutely prefer The Beach Boys, but they were definitely the ‘safer’ band in my opinion.
Brian Wilson is one of the saddest stories in pop history. Such a genius, though.
Young, Dumb, and Baroque well his story ended happy you could say
@@tysonasaurus6392 Sure, not as sad as Badfinger's story.
He's STILL alive, a major accomplishment ahead of the many losers out there before, during, and after this magical time
@@ericrose3877 he may as well be dead, the poor guy seems to have barely any cognitive function sometimes; in the middle of concerts he'll stop and stare into space, he gives one worded responses in interviews. He may be physically living but personally it seems like he's dragging on without much fire left in him.
Point Dexter Crazy = Genius
Brian Wilson is a musical genius; check out some of the behind the scenes videos of him directing recording sessions. Brian and the rest of the Beach Boys are egregiously underrated and underappreciated to this day. "Good Vibrations" is the Magnum Opus of Brian and the rest of The Beach Boys. "Good Vibrations" is a top ten, pop/rock song, hands down, no questions, no hesitation, no reservation, no equivocation. This video is a brilliant dissection of the song. Exceptionally well done.
Hell, the phrase “Brian Wilson is a genius” has its own Wikipedia article. Because it’s true; Brian is indeed a genius.
@@JH14FAN Thank you, JH14FAN. Very well stated.
Unfortunately, the little graphic you showed for a Bb major depicts an Ab minor, but I'll say as both a musician and audio engineer, I bloody adore the way you thoroughly broke this song apart. I'm loving your work more with each new video.
Dang, nice catch! Definite slip-up on my part
Thank you Jeffery!
Just for anyone scrolling by who doesn't know much about music and is wondering what a Bb major chord would look like, I'll try to explain without a picture. If you take the given graphic for it, shift the top (furthest to the right) and bottom (to the left) notes each over by 1 key to the left, and then shifted the middle note 3 keys to the left (i'm explaining like this for people who can't recognize named notes on a piano) then you'd have a Bb major. Well technically an inverted Bb major.
The Ab minor chord is also inverted (although differently than the Bb major chord I described is), while the two other chords are exactly what they're labeled as. To make the Ab minor not inverted you would use exactly the same notes except you would move the bottom note up an octave (meaning it's the same note but in the next repetition of the pattern of the keys).
Polyphonic why not give The Wrecking Crew credit for the song?
@@BongHanks Agreed, the iconic bass line was played by Carol Kaye:
th-cam.com/video/9UqNvMOdhGU/w-d-xo.html
Man, I always bring the Beach Boys as one of my favorite bands, and people always react in a shocking way, then I begin my defense on why people should really listen to them. Thank you.
Javier Del Cid same here, because I feel like most people that have only a passing knowledge of the band just see them as a surf rock band and nothing more. Which is fair I guess, but their musical masterey and lyrical content is so much stronger and deeper than people realize.
the struggle is real. Brian Wilson is my hero and people are like really?
@@CornerBoothGames all those lyrical and sound Mastery are the exception not the rule though
My favorite band, there’s nothing like peak beach boys
I feel like people only know half the story and don't see the mastery of the craft of songwriting that whole band has. And the real genius of Brian Wilson. He's a master of playing the studio as an instrument.
Video essays about music make me feel good about life.
Ikr?! 🙂💯
"I don't know where but she sends me there" HAS ALWAYS BEEN MY FAVORITE LINE OF THIS SONG.
"When I look in her eyes, she goes with me to a blossom world."
I'm a Beatles nut and have been since I was 4 or 5. I'm now 48.
But, the greatest pop song ever produced, and the greatest 3 minutes in music ever, is Good Vibrations.
It's perfect in every conceivable way.
It’s fantastic no doubt. A day in the life says hello. 😊
It's hard to overstate this contribution. When the Beatles study your technique for a year before releasing Sgt Pepper, you must be on to something.
I think they were seen as a novelty because the whole beach scene culture that was going on but they had some seriously great songs and Brian Wilson was a genius
I think they were undone by themselves when Brian blew a gasket doing SMiLE, or they might have been known as the greatest band ever. The Monterey Pop cancellation signified the beginning of the end for them
It's unfair to slag off all of Summer Days & Summer Nights as formulaic simplicity. Listen to "Let Him Run Wild", that's totally on par with Pet Sounds melodically, arrangement, & production wise.
Came here to say this, that was a misguided example when an earlier album would have served better. There was no discussion of the BB harmonies or what makes them unique, which was a through-line from their earliest efforts and showcased in Summer Days/Nights exceptionally
Fun fact: the first Queen song recorded in a studio was a cover of "I can hear music". So definitely Beach Boys was a major influence to Queen.
The Ronettes recorded the song "I can hear music" a few years earlier than The Beach Boys. But I agree that Beach Boys influenced Queen.
@frankstrawnation: you look incredibly like Max Schreck.
@@tilend89 but no one knows that song because the ronettes.
That was Freddie Mercury's first song pre queen... Under the name Larry Lurex.
Mentioning the high melodic bass parts without mentioning Carol Kaye is almost criminal.
intrepgun thank you!! i was waiting for at least a little credit
Bree Pearson right? I mean, yeah, Brian Wilson is great. But he spent most of the time the album was being made "dealing" with "things" (no one's perfect, so I use gentle terminology). The amazing hooks and riffs were created from barebones scratch tracks by uncredited and AMAZING session talents.
intrepgun True, and I'm not taking anything away from their contribution to bringing the music to life, but at the end of the day, Brian wrote it.
Carol Kaye did play on 3 sessions for Good Vibrations, but none that made it into the final edit (one of those was guitar, and one of those didn't involve either of the famous riffs she demonstrates in interviews). The bass parts in the single are distributed between Ray Pohlman, Lyle Ritz, Bill Pitman, Jimmy Bond and Arthur Wright. All of the lines were written by Brian.
Indeed.
Is there a way to super subscribe?
Brandon Messner Turn on upload notifications? Maybe he has a patreon?
I do have a Patreon! www.patreon.com/polyphonic
No the FCC bans that option
@@Polyphonic nice plug
The bell
Well said, there will never be another Brian Wilson...He beats them all, just my opinion. A musical genius. Thanks for sharing..
jamie einkauf right off the top of my head, I'll throw Prince out there as a challenge to this statement.
PRINCE????? WTF? He was nowhere near Brian Wilson in talent.
@@dud3stuff He was stating an opinion dumbass, go challenge someone else.
@@dud3stuff Prince is definitely up there with jus the sheer amount of instruments he could play. But Brian Wilson has a sophistication (I hate that word because it sounds rude but it’s really not
meant to be) that Prince lacked to some extent.
Prince was a world class performer and a capable record producer, Brian is arguably the greatest record producer and songwriter of all time. They’re both among the greatest musicians ever, but I think few people who know of Brian Wilson’s achievements would deny his genius.
Not all of Summer Days (And Summer Nights!!) is so simple. Brian's production aesthetic on Pet Sounds the following year began on the two fantastic 1965 albums Today and Summer Days. Plus, the second side of Today contained songs with lyrical themes akin to those on the songs on Pet Sounds. Starting with these two albums, Brian was developing a more mature, musically and lyrically, direction for The Beach Boys, reaching its zenith with his masterpiece Pet Sounds.
Summer Days was the BB's 'Revolver' IMO - as a cohesive focused unit at the peak of their powers and riding the crest of the wave, it's just viewed differently due to marketing, time frame, and cultural differences. Check out Unsurpassed Masters if you've not already - there's a Summer Days (and Summer Nights!!) Boxed set in there, if you will. It's incredible.
Right, these songs were definitely complex...."simple", yeah right. Summer Days is brilliant.
Yeah I thought Today! was released closer to Pet Sounds especially with the themes that occur on the B-side. Even though technically the album right before Pet Sounds I'm pretty sure is Beach Boys Party! as well as some compilation album. Which use to be counted as part of their discography since the album 20/20 was a reference to it being their 20th album, when counting their compilations.
I would say that Summer Days is definitely a precursor to Pet Sounds and you can hear Brian Wilson start to take ahold of the complexity he would master (it’s beating a dead horse at this point but obviously the intro to California Girls is probably one of the best 12 or so seconds in pop history). Overall tho I would still say SDaSN is still far behind Pet Sounds.
I was privileged to watch the Beach Boys perform live in Birmingham, England, in June 1967,what an amazing night! They were as good on stage as on record! Incredible!
Poly, your arguments are stunningly good. I've never plunged this deeply into the Beach Boys, and now you've convinced me to investigate further. Well done.
I reckon a video for 'A Day in the Life' should be made considering it was brought up. Amazing song
I think the Beach Boys music was a far bigger influence on the Blue Album (Surf Wax America being a prime example)
arklowrockz what
Jimmy Page weezer
NotSoGuff OP didn’t even mention weezer
Jimmy Page what is your point?
Credit goes to Carole Kaye for that magnificent bass lines on the verses.
Carol Kaye. Goddess!
Absolutely! Brian wrote the bass line though!
No, it doesn't.
Brian wrote it in its entirety. Carol says as much.
The Verse Bass line is from Brian and the jazzy chorus Bassline is from Carol Kaye . Watch interview
10% of the credit, at most. The rest goes to the genius of Brian Wilson.
In the early 1960's the Beach Boys & the Supremes were the Only competition that Beatles & the Rolling Stones had for the Top of the Charts... The Beach Boys were truly a pioneering and iconic band. Their Music stands the test of time
Dude your channel is seriously one of the best, the topics you cover are so fantastically similar what I'm interested in
This breakdown of this song really got me thinking, so clear and perfectly executed. I loved it. I'd love a video on Jimi Hendrix's "1983... (A merman I should come to be)" as I believe it is a truly underrated masterpiece of its time!
“Floating through space with The Beach Boys” that made me strangely emotional
Poly, I'm surprised you didn't mention the Wrecking Crew, Brian spent most of the Pet Sounds sessions alone while the rest of the guys toured.
Poly is talking about the arrangement, not the players. That's a whole story in itself.
These are all so fucking good
I'm in love with this channel, such refreshing and well produced content. If you ever make a video about john frusciante I'd be so happy
The Chili Peppers were actually my first real musical obsession so that's definitely a possibility!
I love 60s pop, 70s rock, and 90s alt-rock but I am not a fan of pop-rock. Exceptions: Blondie, Queen, and Mott the Hoople. So, if you are going to analyse a pop-rock band why not make it Blondie?
check out walls and doors by john :D
yes please!
owww yes frusciante the guitar god
Brian Wilson is one of the very few genuine musical genius in pop music. Not only was the song "Good Vibrations", the entire album that it was on, "Smiley Smile" is a work of symphonic art.
"Revered and underappreciated" could describe The Beach Boys as a whole.
One of the greatest intros EVER written. The transition into the song is absolutely seamless despite being on a entirely different musicle planet.
Now that I’ve watched this I can’t help but think why the hell isn’t this still pumped out on the “classic radio” stations? This is an amazing tune.
i saw brian wilson perform this with about 20 singers and musicians at bestival festival
at the isle of wight
it was pretty amazing
Ever since watching Love & Mercy I have been appreciating the Beach Boys anew. I was a tween durig that time and was a Bealtes fan but I never bought any BB songs. I LOVE the harmonies. That's what music needs now - more harmonies! which of course came from the doo wap of the 50s.
The first time I heard this song I was in awe. I could have sworn it was at least five or six minutes long.
Oh, that mellow part, ending with that big harmonic chord, and then... *nothing*
They left us just hanging in space as the echo fades, for an instant, before falling right back into that delightful chorus. It's like a rollercoaster! Pure Magic!
Every single time, man, it "sends me there!"
You should TOTALLY make a video discussing the chords and harmonies in The Flamingos "I Only Have Eyes for You".
Such an incredible composition with both a haunting and passionate interplay
Summer Days and Summer Nights was so much more than "simple" Brian had already been pushing the musical envelope since '64.
The instrumentation on Summer Days is so dense and layered. California Girls and Summer Means New Love? basically the prequels to Pet Sounds
The Disingenuous Gamer Absolutely. Also gems like Let Him Run Wild, You're So Good To Me and the ingenious Beatles-alike Girl Don't Tell Me where the guitar intro is the same as Ticket To Ride's with the notes slightly shifted around. Everyone goes on about Beach Boys Today, but Summer Days/Summer Nights is the real quantum leap towards Pet Sounds and all that came after, the difference being the advent of LSD in Brian's musical and spiritual advancement.
these replies are the responses i have been waiting for. thanks for renewing my faith in music history, millennials get it wrong so often.
The dismissal of that album sort of illustrates truly how badly underappreciated they are, with a purported expert underappreciating them in a video that highlights why you should appreciate them
80's on the beaches of north carolina, south carolina and florida the things i remember most was the rise of the latin beat (yes, i still feel that conga) and the resurgence of the beach boys (do you remember a place called kokamo?). the beach boys were as much a part of my musical education as the beatles and pink floyd.
This song should be the definition of heaven in the dictionary.
Any of their songs make me smile. Doesn’t get much better than that.
To dismiss previous songs and work to 'Pet Sounds' is insane. On a shoestring and limited by his Father and overseers Wilson crafted amazing beauty. Made it radio friendly and profitable.
What is forgotten is the 1967 poll in Britain of the greatest rock band. The Beach Boys beat the Beatles.
I've just shared this channel with so many people.... The content is just so good!
"Who whenever you're talking about the greats in rock, be sure to give Brian Wilson and the Beach Boys a little love."
Except for Mike Love, ironically.
Mike wrote the lyrics to Good Vibrations as well California Girls, I get around, Fun Fun Fun and about 300 more. Get your facts straight. You know nothing about the Beach Boys.
This is literally the best content on TH-cam right now with beautiful editing and great research
you see, if you study theory, you realize that this song is modified sonata form. so, it has direct link to classical form.
This is quite possibly my new favorite TH-cam channel! Keep the hits coming, guys!
What I NEVER get is why music critics praise complex song structures and use of different instrumentations in Pet Sounds or Sargent Pepper and, once this trend mutated into Prog Rock after Days of Future Passed and In The Court of The Crimson King, they dismiss the whole catalague. I really really can't understand it.
My ear has always been more keen than my actual knowledge of music.This song has always stuck out as a masterpiece to me,but I’ve never been able to explain what I’m hearing.This clarified a lot for me and I never realized the chorus was “reversed”at the end.Thanks!
Who else is with me where their favorite part of this masterpiece is the distinct second episodic movement?
All of a sudden your videos are popping up in my feed. I'd never heard of your channel until today. Love the detailed analysis you bring to the music. I am currently binge watching your channel.
I'm obsessed with the Beach Boys. So underrated. I would say they are better than the Beetles, but that is just my opinion.
It has been my favourite song since I heard it in a museum in Oslo while travelling. I had no idea it was so complex which might explain why I still like it and listen to it religiously after 5 years.
"I don't know where but she sends me there" HAS ALWAYS BEEN MY FAVORITE LINE OF THIS SONG.
1:16 Peht Seeonndss. This guy from Kentucky
Never thought about it that way before. I always thought it was more complicated than their other stuff but it was hard to get back the Sunkist commercials, etc to see it as more than a pop song. Very well done
At that time music was DIY, welding carried out by meticulous and blessed craftsmen; today we sample !
Thanks you are pumping out awesome videos, looking forward to many more
I've never heard A Day in the Life on the radio.
imnotgoodwithnamesbruh I feel bad for you son.
It’s the most played Beatles song on classic rock stations. And it’s barely played.
I hear Come Together and Hey Jude a lot on the radio.
I heard it a few weeks ago
I hear "something" and "get back" a lot on the radio
Love your videos and this one is definitely my favourite since NOBODY PAYS ENOUGH ATTENTION TO BEACH BOYS AND ESPECIALLY THIS TRACK. seriously, we should've been playing the heck out of this song in radio, parties, playlist etc etc
I was driving home and I turned this song up on the radio (I had heard a million times over the years). But I had it turned up, and as I was listening to it, I realized, I never knew how much had gone into it with the instrumentation. And also, as this video points out -- how many times it changes radically throughout the song. It was genius.
This channel is so good that I don’t care what the subject matter is - I am being educated. I just can’t wait until it is about a musician I truly love.
This song was, is, and will always be one of my favorite songs
Just binged all your videos. It's very apparent the amount of effort you put into them. Can't wait for the next one. Keep it up!
How do you not mention the wrecking crew????????????????
Only Brian Wilson could write something so musically perfect. And only Mike Love could write lyrics that fit with those notes so well.
Good on you for including Merriweather in your albums at the end there ;)
I love Merriweather! I wanna do a video essay on it some day.
Lonerism and The Soft Bulletin too
Please do it! and I also saw Lonerism in there which is one of my favorite records ever, please do a video on it too!
I really love how you cover these songs. That's why I subscribed. Hope to see many, many more songs done by you.
I don't understand how a channel and have a couple million views with high a like to dislike ratio and still have only 26,000 (subs).
Keep up the good work my dude!
Like mothers milk to me having been born and spent my childhood in Southern California. Thanks for the love and attention to detail, and above all the art!
Your music discussions are refreshing. Subscribed.
carol kaye is awesome in this song :)
You MUST make a video on the early UFO song, Treacle People. The lyrics are absolutely stunning, And taking about the melodies and atmosphere would make an amazing video! You're content is AMAZING!
Wasn't Revolver way after Pet Sounds? It was Rubber Soul to inspire Brian to make Pet Sounds.
He wasn't saying that Revolver came before Pet Sounds. He was just saying that The Beatles were recording and innovating music like Tomorrow Never Knows at the same time that Pet Sounds was being recorded.
No, RUBBER SOUL inspired Brian to make Pet Sounds. Not Revolver! Rubber Soul came out in 65, and Revolver was 66.
Always thought of 'Summer Days (And SummerNights)' as the Beach Boys 'Revolver' - they were WAY ahead of the curve - 'Pet Sounds' their pre-Pepper 'Pepper' and 'SMiLE' & 'Smiley Smile' pre-empted the same sprawling disintegration as the 'White Album' - the difference being the Beach Boys stuck together and managed to make wonderful music well in to the next decade, but there were so many dynamic paralells, the main difference was that they were a family concern.
Revolver came out only 3 months after Pet Sounds. Pet Sounds was a much bigger influence on Sgt. Pepper than on Revolver, McCartney and George Martin said in interviews that Sgt. Pepper wouldn't have existed with out Pet Sounds and it was their attempt to replicate it.
So basically, Rubber Soul led to Pet Sounds led to Sgt. Pepper
And 'Today' sonically pre-empted 'Rubber Soul' by a good 8 months.
Thank you for perfectly explaining and articulating why this is song is outstanding and under recognized. It’s one of my top 5 favorite songs!
The ultimate good vibes song. The Beach Boys are truly underappreciated (though maybe not as much in California)
What is this? A heaven of a channel? It's just fantastic!
You know what you never hear on Classic Rock stations? The Beach Boys, that's what.
Well, you see, The Beach Boys aren’t exactly considered “rock”. They’re more surf rock; pop; R&B. Not exactly “classic rock (hard rock, soft rock, progressive rock, etc.)”.
I have never thought bout this song in this way and it was incredible interesting
Add some love for the wrecking Crew here. The only Beach Boy to play instruments on this was Brian, everything else was the WC. Notably the great Hal Blaine on drums and Larry Knechtel on keyboards. How good was Hal Blaine ? He even played drums on the Carpenters recordings .. and Karen was the drummer. Geniuses the lot of them.
Dean Laffan And Glen Campbell on guitar
Carl Wilson on Guitar too, but the Beach Boys on tour learned to play what the Wrecking crew did. The Beach boys voices are amazing on every song they made, no band outside of the Doo-wop bands of the 50's, and a few bands here and there, could really come close to Matching the Vocal harmonies, The Beach Boys had, the Mamas and Papas are a pretty good harmony group, but that is my Opinion. The Beach Boys did not just live off the Wrecking crew, they were immensely talented and great.
Besides Brian and Carl playing on Good Vibrations, Dennis Wilson plays organ in one of the parts.
It was played on "rock radio" extensively for over a decade. Having grown up during the 1970s I remember it well.
Before Bohemian Rhapsody, before Stairway to Heaven, before November Rain, there was Good Vibrations
Beautifully done! Good form..... Nice peek into a mad lunatic genius and very well put together. Love this channel.
This song in Australia is used in sales jingles for stores selling cheap white goods. One of the top songs of all time flogging made in China crap. It doesn't make any sense to me. To me it's a haunting song, like no other.
At least it means that I still hear the instrumentals of the song on the radio.
Goddammit polyphonic, you have the best channel I’ve discovered in a long time. So unique. I can’t get enough
I've always felt that Good Vibrations was incredibly overproduced, but it ended up being overproduced in a great way.
was on my snowboard shredding list years ago. used to love riding to the tune.
Wow! Have only recently discovered your channel, and I am extremely impressed. Thus, I subscribed immediately. Many thanks for your deep analysis and educational presentations. I've only watched a few of your vids, yet I am sold. Have already begun sharing them with 'the uninformed' as I gently refer to many friends who always never understand anything I say about music. So, please, keep up the exceptional work. Again, well done!
Thank you...this is a real treat.
My parents gave me their boombox and some cassettes when I was about 4 so I could listen to music in my bedroom. The Best of the Beach Boys was in the little box they gave me and I played it over and over and over again. Good Vibrations was by far my favorite and I think listening to it at such a young age had a huge effect on what I would enjoy listening to in the future. I still have that tape and I put it in my boom box from time to time. Heroes & Villains was one that I heard much later in life in my 20s, but that one is an absolute masterpiece as well and I wish everyone knew it. Brian Wilson is a genius and I wish a better word to describe him existed.
I think that layered & musically dense are are good descriptions. Yes, I agree It was a musical masterpiece at the time. It's my favorite Beach Boys mainstream single.
I am a huuuuge Beatles fan but I am not ashamed to confess I love Good Vibrations and always mention it when I say: one of the best songs ever published. And I love almost no album as much as the sadly abandoned and nevery finished "smile" - Just love it . Thanks for this vid ^^
I couldn't agree more. This song is extremely sophisticated compositionally. The production is great, but the writing is incredible! Kind of the opposite of the average pop or indie rock songs coming out today that have lots of clever production and really good playing/singing but are essentially three or four chord songs with little if anything new to contribute in terms of structure. Lots of great hooks, but alas...
Another great (and underrated) Beach Boys song is I Get Around. If you break it down it's really cool how Wilson "got around" the key changes on this one.
Loved your presentation. Thank you!
6:57 that’s crazy because I honestly feel so many comparisons between Pet Sounds and Pinkerton, it’s cool to see this
We can thank the legendary Carol Kaye for that stratospheric bassline. Her ground-breaking basslines, and contributions to countless hits of the '60s are certainly worthy of their own Polyphonic episode.
Good vid, but it's kinda weird when you all of a sudden see Paul Dano in the middle of all these old pictures of Brian
I think since you mentioned the different studios you could aswell mentioned The Wrecking Crew and the picking technique on bass from Carol Kaye. Great video and great analysis, always learning more stuff about this great song.
This channel is going to blow up soon. Every video is seemingly perfect keep it up
Love this video!! You're doing a great on with our channel. Keep it up!!