Capitol Records made a mint. Having both The Beach Boys, and The Beatles on their label in the 60's. I found that The Beach Boys were called The Pendletones and when they recorded Surfin Safari someone at this early record company that pressed the records changed the name to "The Beach Boys" so it would fit in better with the other surf bands at the time.
They were like "what" who are The Beach Boys ?
The beach boys were/are nothing less than the greatest rock band of all time. Changed my life and dennis made me wanna be a drummer. And to single out pet sounds as their essential album is a huge understatement- there are 8 beach boys albums everyone should own- surfer girl, all summer long, today, summer days, pet sounds, smiley smile, wild honey and sunflower.
I agree with you. Some of those early 1970s lps are great.
"Disney Girls", "Surf's Up" are masterpieces.
I'm so torn on the Beach Boys. I'm younger, 32, but I grew up listening to their tunes. I think Brian Wilson is brilliant, coming up with those melodies like he did. I think their voices together are amazing! But... Sad to learn as I got older, that a lot of the recordings were studio musicians, with the exception of vocals...
Also, a previous band manager of mine, named Phil, worked for a production/stage company in Houston in the 60s. He told me that when the Boys came for a concert in Galveston in around 66 or 67, they were the biggest A**holes that he ever had to work with. Said that they yelled at a stage crew member for setting up a mic in the wrong place on stage.. said that they called other stage crew members names and talked badly to the audience about the lack of Galveston's beach surf conditions. My dad happened to be in the audience at this show, and confirmed that they were jerks to the audience as well. I dont say this to bash them (maybe a little) ... i really like their tunes.. I'm just kind of torn on them. Id say they definetely have their place in rock n roll history.. very influencial indeed. But I wouldnt say they were the greatest rock band ever...
On the flip side, Phil said that when working with Hendrix and the Doors, they were awesome!! Said Hendrix was one of the nicest guys he met in those days.
It was probably mike love that was the prick to the audience. They didnt just sing and have studio musicians/ they played along with the studio musicians ,jus like EVERY other group at that time. Their music is the best music of thelast fifty one years period, no one came close; the beatles tried but never got to brians level .
Back to the Camco portion of this post....................the first set of Camco drums I ever saw was at a Beach Boys concert at the municipal auditorium/arena in Nashville in 1965 or '66.
I stood at the front of the stage drooling over the blue moire finish.
Dennis played well; the drums sounded good.
I read that after Brian Wilson heard the Sgt. peppers LP it contributed greatly to his nervous breakdown.
I don't think the guys in the Beach Boys played along with "The Wrecking Crew". Brian would not allow it.
Brian Wilson invented music, and Dennis Wilson invented drumming, thank the heavens for the creators of music the Beach Boys !!!. Large dose of sarcasm !!!Keep on Pl
The year was 1963. Our band had a regional hit record. We played frequently at the Midway Ballroom. Which was a big band era ballroom that was built on stilts over Cedar Lake in Northwest Indiana. The owner, Jim, informed us when he booked us for one particular gig that he had some band from California who would be opening for us. We found out that the band was The Beach Boys who were on the charts with Surfin Safari. It took some pleading from our band to convince Jim that The Beach Boys shoud be the featured act even though he booked them for a very cheap price before their record became a major hit. The guys were very pleasant and not at all demanding. I think that, because we went on first, our Fender Dual Showman amps and my four piece Rogers set that was set up just like Dennis' Camcos were used by them. We were impressed by their tight vocal harmonies and their surf band musicianship. Mike Love actually blew a few saxophone notes on a couple of songs, and there was no keyboard used onstage. I don't remember Murry being present. Brian's book states that Murry hired someone to drive the guys across the Midwest while pulling an equipment trailer.
Wow, that's a nice little piece of history that you participated in. What was the name of your band and what was the Rogers set you played that evening?
