In Memory of a Musical Genius - The Best of Brian Wilson

The Beach Boys were, unequivocally, one of the best known and most successful bands of the 1960s.  In a time when rock and popular music became dominated by British Invasion bands like The Beatles, The Rolling Stones and The Who (among many others), The Beach Boys and their sunny music managed to keep America on the charts.  Between 1963 and 1966, the band had 19 Top 20 hits, 13 of which made it into the Top 10, 8 of which made it into the Top 5 and 3 of which hit #1.  The band was known for its songs about surfing and cars and became emblematic of the popular vision of Southern California and the so-called “California sound.”

Similar to other groups from the 1960s, their early material was light and focused on young people, surfing, cars and girls.  However, as the 1960s progressed and moved toward being more experimental and progressive, so did the band’s music.

The driving force behind The Beach Boys was Brian Wilson.  He was one of their primary lead vocalists (known for his falsetto vocals) and the creative mind that wrote and produced most of the band’s output.  He coordinated and arranged the band’s trademark vocal arrangements and was at the forefront of the record producers who used the studio as an instrument unto itself.  His impact on popular music from the 1960s cannot be overstated. Sadly, drug use and mental illness negatively impacted him in the late 1960s and into the 1970s, which likewise resulted in the declining fortunes of the band.  In his later years, he managed to conquer his personal demons and make additional music.

As most of you probably know, Brian Wilson recently passed away at the age of 82, just days away from his 83^rd birthday.  In his memory, I present my list of Brian Wilson’s (and, by extension, The Beach Boys) best songs.

10. “Help Me, Rhonda” (1965) – Written primarily by Wilson with some lyrical assistance from Mike Love, the song was a #1 smash, the band’s second. The chorus with the repetitions of “Help me, Rhonda, help help me, Rhonda” is instantly recognizable.  It was also a #1 hit in Canada and made it into the Top 5 in Sweden.

9. “Fun, Fun, Fun” (1964) – One of the band’s songs that touches the California ethos of hot-rods and hamburger stands.  The song was inspired by an actual incident involving the daughter of a manager of a radio station in Utah. It peaked at #5 on the charts in the U.S., while also cracking the Top 10 in Canada, Australia and New Zealand. “And she’ll have fun, fun, fun ‘til her daddy takes the t-bird away…”

8. “I Get Around” (1964) – Another hot-rod and girls song, it is primarily focused on the doo-wop vocals with Wilson’s voice soaring over those of his band mates. It was the band’s first #1 hit in the U.S. and it also topped the charts in Canada while reaching the Top 10 in the UK and New Zealand.  “Round round get around, I get around…”

7. “Don’t Worry Baby” (1964) – This one was originally released as the B-side of “I Get Around.”  While it also deals with car racing, it deals with it from a different angle. Instead of bragging about his car or his prowess as a driver, it instead has the protagonist worrying that he has taken things too far and then being reassured by his girlfriend – “Don’t worry, baby.” Wilson wrote the song with Roger Christian and the former’s lead vocal is one of his most acclaimed and praised in the entire Beach Boys canon.  In a 2011 interview, Wilson himself cited it as the best vocal he has ever done. It only peaked at #24 in the U.S. but it has grown to be considered one of the band’s (and Brian Wilson’s) finest songs.

6. “Surfin’ U.S.A.” (1963) – The Beach Boys’ first Top 10 hit, this song peaked at #3 in the U.S, while also charting in Canada, Japan and the UK. It is a rewritten version of Chuck Berry’s “Sweet Little Sixteen” with new lyrics that were evoked the stereotypical surfing culture of California. Wilson’s lyrics focus on surfing and include a list of 15 surfing spots, most of which are in the band’s native Southern California. It remains one of the band’s and Wilson’s most well-known songs. “If everybody had an ocean, across the U.S.A…”

5. “Surfer Girl” (1963) – This was the first song on which Brian Wilson was credited as the producer.  Wilson cited it as one of the first song he ever wrote. It is a sweet plea to be loved by the titular character.  It is much slower and more of a ballad than most of band’s early work, which helped this song stand out, as did the doo-wop vocals and Wilson’s own soaring lead vocal. It peaked at #7 in the U.S., while actually cracking the Top 5 in Canada and New Zealand.

4. “California Girls” (1965) – One of the band’s most well-known songs, Wilson himself cites it as his favorite song The Beach Boys ever did.  Its iconic first verse extolls the virtues of the girls in various parts of the U.S. (East Coast girls are hip, Southern girls have great accents, Midwest farmer’s daughter make you feel alright, and Northern girls’ kisses keep their boyfriends warm) while still wishing that they could all be California girls.  The song was an international smash, charting in 10 countries worldwide, peaking at #3 in the U.S. but reaching #2 in Canada and topping the charts in South Africa.  The song was famously covered by erstwhile Van Halen frontman David Lee Roth 20 years later as his first solo release, once again peaking at #3 in the U.S.  Roth’s version featured Brian Wilson’s youngest brother Carl on background vocals, joined by none other than Christopher Cross.

3. “God Only Knows” (1966) – 1966’s Pet Sounds is The Beach Boys’ most acclaimed album and this song was one of the singles from that album. (It was actually the B-side of our #2 song.)  The album is an early example of a concept album and focused on youth from a largely more introspective perspective than most of their earlier songs.  This particular song was groundbreaking both in its musical complexity and inverted chords as well as its use of God in the chorus and title, things that were essentially unheard of in popular music at the time.  The lyrics convey a seriousness and moroseness uncommon to most love songs as the narrator says that without his lover, life would not worth living and only God knows what would happen. Wilson cited The Beatles’ “Rubber Soul” as his inspiration for both the Pet Sounds record as a whole and this song in particular.  As may be predicted based upon the foregoing explanation, the song was only a minor hit at the time in the U.S., peaking at only #39.  However, it was more successful overseas, where it reached the Top 10 in Ireland, the Netherlands, Norway and the UK.  Over time, it has become one of Wilson’s most acclaimed works, ranking at #25 on Rolling Stone’s list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.

2. “Wouldn’t It Be Nice” (1966) – Another track from Pet Sounds, this song is deceptively catchy.  It juxtaposes upbeat, joyous-sounding music with melancholic lyrics. The lyrics tell of a young couple in love who fantasize about getting older and being married and being able to live together, fall asleep together and wake up together every day.  Instead of focusing on the pleasures of youth like much of the band’s repertoire, it takes a more mature, introspective approach and instead shows a yearning to be older.  Longtime readers of this blog are well aware of my affinity for sad songs and wistful, melancholic lyrics and this song (as well as our #3 selection above) check those boxes.  The song peaked at #8 in the U.S., while also reaching the Top 10 in Australia, Canada and New Zealand. 

1. “Good Vibrations” (1966) – Anyone who is a fan of The Beach Boys and has been reading this list probably could have already figured out what #1 was. This track is, in many ways, the culmination of all of Brian Wilson’s skills in the studio and as a vocal arranger. It melds a catchy chorus with overlayed and overlapping vocals, as well as a wide variety of musical instruments.  In addition to the six members of the band, there were more than 20 other musicians who took part in the recording process, which was spread over an unheard of (at the time) 7 months and cost the modern equivalent of a quarter of a million dollars. Again, this is just for ONE song less than 4 minutes in length!  The result was both a commercial and critical smash that hit #1 in six countries and reached the Top 20 in 18 countries around the globe. Sadly, the success of this single also became the undoing of Brian Wilson, both personally and professionally.  His perfectionism and his desire to outdo what he accomplished with this song, coupled with his increasing drug use and mental illness, became debilitating. He soon retreated from public view and often spent days on end within his house and room, not going outside at all.  As a result, this was the last #1 and last Top 10 hit that Wilson was involved with.  The Beach Boys themselves did not have another Top 20 hit until 22 years later, when “Kokomo” topped the charts in 1988.  However, Brian Wilson had no involvement in that song, so “Good Vibrations” remains the pinnacle of the career of a uniquely talented but tortured artist.

Honorable Mention:

“In My Room” (1963)

“Surfin’ Safari (1962)

“Little Saint Nick” (1963)

Norm Peterson's Greatest Hits

Cheers was a hit comedy that aired on NBC for 11 seasons from September 30, 1982 to May 20, 1993.  While I was too young to have watched the initial seasons, I caught them in re-runs and, by the early 1990s, it had become one of my favorite shows.  In fact, despite it having been off the air for more than 32 years, it is still one of my three favorite TV comedies of all time (along with Friends and Seinfeld).  My college friends will attest to my nightly ritual of watching Cheers re-runs at 10:35pm while enjoying a 32-ounce cup of Dr Pepper and a bag of microwave popcorn, all while sitting in my bean bag chair.

While Cheers brought us lots of funny episodes and loads of memorable characters, few are remembered as fondly as Norm Peterson, portrayed by George Wendt.  A regular at the bar, one gag that continued for the duration of the series was Norm entering the bar to a chorus of people yelling “Norm!” and then one of the bartenders asking Norm a question and getting a humorous or sarcastic response in reply.

In memory of George Wendt, who passed away earlier this week, I give you my Top 12 one-liners from Norm – his so-called “greatest hits”.

 

12.       Sam: “How’s life in the fast lane, Normy?”

            Norm: “Beats me. I can’t find the on ramp.”

11.       Woody: “What’s going on, Mr. Peterson?”

            Norm: “Let’s talk about what’s going IN Mr. Peterson.”

 

10.       Coach: “How’s life treating you, Norm?”

            Norm: “Like it caught me in bed with its wife.”

 

9.         Woody: “What’s going down, Mr. Peterson?”

            Norm: “My cheeks on this barstool.”

 

8.         Woody: “Hey, Mr. Peterson. What do you say to a cold one?”

            Norm: “See you later, Vera. I’ll be at Cheers.”

 

7.         Woody: “There’s a cold one waiting for you, Mr. Peterson.”

            Norm: “I know and if she calls, I’m not here.”

 

6.         Woody: “Hey, Mr. Peterson. Jack Frost nipping at your nose?”

            Norm: “Yeah, now let’s get Joe Beer nipping at my liver.”

 

5.         Sam: “What’s up, Norm?”

            Norm: “My nipples. It’s freezing out there.”

 

4.         Coach: “How’s a beer sound, Norm?”

            Norm: “I don’t know, Coach. I normally finish them before they get a word in.”

 

3.         Coach: “What’s shaking, Norm?”

            Norm: “All four cheeks and a couple of chins, Coach.”

 

2.         Sam: “What are you up to, Norm?”

            Norm: “My ideal weight if I were 11 feet tall.”

 

1.               1.               Sam: “What’s happening, Norm?”

Norm: “It’s a dog eat dog world, Sammy, and I’m wearing Mike Bone underwear.”

 

RIP, George Wendt, and thanks for the laughs. Here’s hoping St. Peter and a bunch of angels all greeted you with a big heavenly “NORM!” at the pearly gates.

Cheers!

Another Current Events Rant

It’s been a while since I’ve gone on a rant and I have some things to get off my chest, so sit back and let me vent…

Trump and Tariffs- I could rant for hours about Donald Trump and what a disaster he is and how much damage he is inflicting on our country and the world.  But, in order to be (somewhat) brief and focused, I will divide my thoughts into a couple of different areas.  First off, tariffs.  For one thing, I’m still not convinced that Trump knows how tariffs work and I know for damn sure that a lot of his followers don’t.  Tariffs are not a tax on other countries.  Other countries don’t pay tariffs.  The importing company (aka the company in the good old US of A) pays them.  So, if we charge a tariff on, say, computer chips coming in from China, it’s not CHINA that is paying the tariff – it is the U.S.-based company that is importing those computer chips that pays the tariff. So, while it may be additional dollars coming into the government’s coffers, it’s not money coming from foreign countries or entities providing those dollars. It’s American companies doing so.  And how do you think that the American companies will recoup those extra expenses?  They will raise prices on their products, which then means you and I will pay more for those products for no other reason than Trump mistakenly thinks it’s an awesome idea.

Tariffs have their place and can be useful, but only when they are applied strategically to certain products and industries, as opposed to broad-based tariffs on everything. In theory – and this is what Trump keeps saying – tariffs can bring some production/manufacturing back to the U.S. However, that takes a lot of time to occur, if it even occurs at all.  If a company wanted to decide to make those aforementioned computer chips in the U.S., there is a LOT of time and planning and expenses that go into that.  The company has to spend likely hundreds of millions of dollars to design and build the plant and to then staff the plant and it will likely be at least a few years before the plant is up and running.  What is the likelihood that the company is going to elect to do THAT instead of just pay the tariffs and then charge more for the computer chips they continue to get from China and call it a day?  That is certainly easier and cheaper than building and staffing a whole new factory.  Also, who is going to work at these factories?  Unemployment is already low and I can tell you from very recent experience, hiring people into factory or production facilities is NOT easy as is.  There generally are not a lot of people lining up to work in a factory or production environment, so adding more of those jobs is only going to exacerbate the existing labor struggles that exist.  So, we’re all going to be paying more now and in the future on the possible, maybe, off-chance that companies will spend hundreds of millions of dollars to do something that probably doesn’t make much financial sense for them to do.  It’s not difficult to see how Trump managed to lose money on casinos nor why he filed for bankruptcy multiple times.

 

Trump and DOGE- I think we can probably all agree that our federal government was bloated and there was probably a fair amount of waste, duplication of effort, etc.  No one is saying that the bureaucracy ran like a proverbial well-oiled machine.  If you want to cut the fat and streamline government, I’m 100% in favor of doing so.  But you don’t do it the way that Trump and Elon Musk are doing it.  You don’t just fire tens of thousands of people, many of whom you don’t know what they do or if what they do is necessary.  You take a more measured, surgical approach.  You take your time to audit the department, determine what it does well and what it doesn’t do well and you figure out a way to focus on the former and get rid of the latter.  If you do that, you can reduce and streamline the government bureaucracy but do it in a way that intelligently right-sizes things.  You don’t just take a sledgehammer or a chainsaw and cut the whole damn thing down indiscriminately.  People say the government should be run like a company, but even companies generally are strategic in making cuts or laying off employees. They reassess their needs and where cuts can be made and how to minimize the fallout with the remaining employees, customers, clients, etc. Trump and Musk are not doing that and they are creating a mess while making vague promises and assertions about all of the money they are allegedly saving us.

 Also, please do not forget that Musk has dozens of government contracts, so it’s not like we have an unbiased, impartial person making determinations on what stays and what goes.  We have someone who has his hand in the government’s pocket and is undoubtedly making decisions that will benefit himself now or at some point in the future.

 

Trump and “America First” – One of the biggest claims that Trump makes and that his followers constantly repeat is that he is putting “America First.”  Really, I’m supposed to believe that a man who used phony “bone spurs” to avoid serving his country in Vietnam has any interest in putting America first? I’m supposed to believe that a guy who has married women from foreign countries twice is going to put America first?  I’m supposed to believe a man who openly fawns over authoritarian leaders like Vladmir Putin and Viktor Orban has any interest in actually putting America first?  Trump only cares about one thing: himself.  He’s proven that time and time again over the years and the fact that a large component of our electorate and population are too delusional to see that is extremely alarming.

 

Why do we even vote in Missouri? – Missouri Republicans – who control virtually every facet of state government these days – now have a long history of undoing things that voters did at the ballot box.  For a party that constantly cries about “free and fair” elections and respecting the will of the voters, they consistently do the opposite in the Show-Me State.  From puppy mills to local minimum wage laws to now paid sick leave, Republicans in Missouri have been, for more than a decade now, disregarding what happens at the ballot box.  Here’s the general playbook:

             A)     Citizen-led initiative gets enough signatures to get a measure on the ballot

B)     Voters overwhelmingly approve measure at the ballot box

C)      Missouri Republicans don’t like what the voters did, so they insult their intelligence (“they were confused,” “they didn’t really know what they were voting for”) and then promptly draft and pass bills undoing what happened in B above.

You see, they talk about things like “small government” while consistently acting like they are the dismissive parent who knows best what we need.  When the City of St. Louis passed a minimum wage ordinance that set minimum wage in the city above what it was in the state, the Republicans in Jefferson City stepped in and said “Nope, we don’t like that” and passed laws essentially restricting a city from governing itself. All because they didn’t like what the local government did. That’s being Big Brother and is the opposite of “small government.”

Which brings us to our latest episode of “Missouri Republicans Undoing the Will of the People.” As part of Proposition A that was on the ballot last November – which was approved by nearly 58% of voters – employees are scheduled to be entitled to paid sick leave beginning on May 1.  Employees will accrue 1 hour of paid sick leave for every 30 hours worked, capped at 56 hours (7 days) used per year.  The earned paid sick leave could be used for the employee’s own illness or to care for a loved one. It’s really a small thing: thinking that someone who works hard for a living shouldn’t have to either A) lose money because they got sick and had to stay home or B) come to work sick – potentially infecting others – because they cannot afford to lose that money.  We can argue about what the right number of sick days is or how they should be used, but conceptually, I think most people agree that an employee should not be forced to choose between losing money or coming to work sick.  It’s kind of common sense, which is why (I believe) the bill passed overwhelmingly at the ballot box last November.

 While there were groups stumping for and supporting the proposition last fall, there were no groups campaigning against it.  Now we know why.  Instead of spending money to keep the proposition from passing in the first place, those groups (like the Missouri Chamber of Commerce) are just pressuring the state representatives and state senators whom they have financially supported in the past to do their bidding and get rid of paid sick leave. And it’s working!  The Missouri House has already passed a bill getting rid of paid sick leave and it is now with the Missouri Senate, where it is likewise expected to pass and then be signed by the governor.  So, more than 57% of Missouri voters made their voices heard in November and the Missouri GOP is essentially flipping them the bird less than 6 months later.

 As I said before, we can argue conceptually about how much sick leave people need or whether or not government mandating companies to provide paid sick leave is the right way to do it.  But, at the end of the day, the voters spoke and the elected leaders should not just be able to override that because they have a deep pocketed businessman in their ear telling them they should.  Sadly, this has happened multiple times in Missouri over the past 15 years and there’s no reason to believe it will change unless we hold those in Jeff City responsible and vote them out next year.  But we all know that won’t happen because of the letter after their name on the ballot the next time around.

 Just remember that the next time a Missouri Republican talks about standing up for the little guy and representing the best interests of Missourians, they are full of shit.  They only care about whoever is lining their pockets and that generally isn’t going to be you or me.