# Best Beach Boys song? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 26, 2010, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-beach-boys-song/558434 "2010-10-26T19:22:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2010, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-beach-boys-song/558434/21 "2010-10-27T02:01:57Z")
The list doesn’t have nearly enough post-_Pet Sounds_ stuff. I second “Surf’s Up,” “Feel Flows,” and “Do It Again,” and add “Darlin.” I seem to recall we’ve done threads like these before, in which “Good Vibrations” and/or “God Only Knows” was the clear winner, with “Wouldn’t It Be Nice” also making a strong showing. ---
**Author:** ![Ms\_Boods](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5e9695/32.png) [@Ms\_Boods](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ms_Boods)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2010, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-beach-boys-song/558434/22 "2010-10-27T02:44:32Z")
I’m in the midst of a Beach Boys phase at the moment, which means the symposium paper I’m giving in London next week has a Beach Boys song title as part of its title (neither the paper, presentation, nor entire symposium have anything to do with Brian Wilson or the Beach Boys.) My PowerPoint presentation also includes references to them, including pictures. I also have tickets to go see Brian’s Surf ‘n’ Gersh concert next September at the Royal Festival Hall :3 I ticked off a number of songs on the list above, but admit I enjoy listening to a lot of the out-takes and rehearsals from ‘Good Vibrations’ and ‘Heroes and Villains.’ I also really like the instrumental-only and vocal-only versions of the songs; a number of those get played and analysed in my rock music class (Brian Wilson appears in three of my lectures, now that I think about it.) I had a chance to contribute the updated entry on surf and the Beach Boys in the Grove Encyclopedia of American Music, but someone with seniority pipped me to the post, unfortunately. Mmm, Brian – bonkers, but a genius. ---
**Author:** ![Argent\_Towers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e8c25b/32.png) [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2010, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-beach-boys-song/558434/23 "2010-10-27T03:02:03Z")
Mine is [Gonna Hustle You](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AkMbF4pOTlQ) - the original version, not one of the numerous ones with bastardized lyrics. ---
**Author:** ![multimediac17](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/839c29/32.png) [@multimediac17](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/multimediac17)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2010, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-beach-boys-song/558434/24 "2010-10-27T03:23:54Z")
God Only Knows is my favourite, Surf’s Up deserves a mention, Kokomo is amazing and I too dislike Barbara Ann. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2010, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-beach-boys-song/558434/25 "2010-10-27T03:43:12Z")
> [@Ms\_Boods](#): > > a number of those get played and analysed in my rock music class (Brian Wilson appears in three of my lectures, now that I think about it.) I would love to take your rock music class. Or, failing that, I would love to see an “Ask Me About My Rock Music Class” thread. ---
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2010, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-beach-boys-song/558434/26 "2010-10-27T04:14:14Z")
\*Fun, Fun, Fun \*is my favourite song by them. But I like most of them. ---
**Author:** ![Jilaad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e8c25b/32.png) [@Jilaad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jilaad)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2010, 5:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-beach-boys-song/558434/27 "2010-10-27T05:54:46Z")
Good To My Baby ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2010, 6:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-beach-boys-song/558434/28 "2010-10-27T06:20:30Z")
“Shut Down” was my favorite Beach Boys song for a long time, because it was the first BB song I heard when I was 7. Since then, I have to nominate a few that aren’t on the list: “Getcha Back,” “All Summer Long,” and “Rock & Roll To the Rescue” have become some of my favorite Beach Boys songs. ---
**Author:** ![footballisplayedwithyourfeet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/9f8e36/32.png) [@footballisplayedwithyourfeet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/footballisplayedwithyourfeet)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2010, 9:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-beach-boys-song/558434/29 "2010-10-27T09:48:29Z")
It would have been a toss up between God only knows and God vibrations, but I’ve had the latter as my ringtone for some years know and I’m really getting fed up with it\*; so God only knows it is 😃 \*but obviously not to the extent that I’m going to take the trouble to change it 😉 ---
**Author:** ![multimediac17](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/839c29/32.png) [@multimediac17](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/multimediac17)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2010, 10:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-beach-boys-song/558434/30 "2010-10-27T10:07:00Z")
‘Good Vibrations’ is used (with different lyrics) as the jingle for a big electronics company here in Australia, and I’ve heard it so many times over the years that no matter how good I know it is, I just can’t listen to it. It is most certainly not one of those songs that “never gets old”. Try it once an ad break for years of TV-watching and it gets _old_. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2010, 11:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-beach-boys-song/558434/31 "2010-10-27T11:33:52Z")
I came here to vote for _God Only Knows_ but started listening to _The Beach Boys - 20 Good Vibrations_ and discovered that _Good Vibrations_ is packed full of musical ideas that, due to the time, they had to keep to less than 4 minutes. And they had very few electronic aids. They piss away fantastic stuff over a few bars. ---
**Author:** ![Meurglys](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/258eb7/32.png) [@Meurglys](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meurglys)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2010, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-beach-boys-song/558434/32 "2010-10-27T13:18:03Z")
Agghh! Too many to list. But let’s say _Deirdre_ from the Sunflower album. ---
**Author:** ![Ms\_Boods](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5e9695/32.png) [@Ms\_Boods](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ms_Boods)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2010, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-beach-boys-song/558434/33 "2010-10-27T13:40:14Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > I would love to take your rock music class. Or, failing that, I would love to see an “Ask Me About My Rock Music Class” thread. If people were interested, sure. It’d be fun. (I’d be hesistant because the threads I’ve started die after one or two posts ☹ ) Maybe when I get back from these two conferences (Kinks’ paper in DC on Friday, then this other thing at the British Museum next week). > [@don't ask](#): > > ``` > I came here to vote for God Only Knows but started listening to The Beach Boys - 20 Good Vibrations and discovered that Good Vibrations is packed full of musical ideas that, due to the time, they had to keep to less than 4 minutes. And they had very few electronic aids. They piss away fantastic stuff over a few bars. > > ``` Don’t look at it that way, as pissing away a lot of ideas, but rather as taking something huge and unfinished, and narrowly honing it down – Brian deliberately edited down 90 hours’ worth of music (riffs and ideas) to create a 3:35 ‘pocket symphony’ – it’s why I find listening to the various rehearsals and practices fascinating. It was also probably the most technologically advance single released to date (November 1967); It cost $50,000 to produce that one single :eek: Brian had advantages that the Beatles didn’t, as far as tech went. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2010, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-beach-boys-song/558434/34 "2010-10-27T16:13:33Z")
How could you leabe out their comeback, only 1980’s #1 single [Kokomo](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kokomo_(song))? Dumb ass! ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2010, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-beach-boys-song/558434/35 "2010-10-27T16:24:19Z")
Good taste? 😃 I _almost_ went with _Surf’s Up_, a greatly under-rated and under-appreciated work of true art. But my heart belongs to _God Only Knows_ and _Pet Sounds_. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2010, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-beach-boys-song/558434/36 "2010-10-27T17:04:11Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > How could you leabe out their comeback, only 1980’s #1 single [Kokomo](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kokomo_(song))? > > Dumb ass! As the OP states, “for what should be obvious reasons.” It’s the only Beach Boys song that gets radio play that forces me to change the station. I’d count “Wipe Out,” too, although I can’t remember the last time I heard it on the radio, and it’s a collaboration with the Fat Boys, so I don’t consider it a Beach Boys song. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2010, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-beach-boys-song/558434/37 "2010-10-27T17:15:06Z")
Good Vibrations. The classic example of Brian Wilson staying on the right side of the thin line between his genius and his insantiy. ---
**Author:** ![casdave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c6cbf5/32.png) [@casdave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/casdave)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2010, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-beach-boys-song/558434/38 "2010-10-27T17:57:50Z")
…and one where he just slips the other side of sanity, ‘Hang on to your ego’ [![]( " - YouTube") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oBVbjpZhxPw) song was renamed and slightly reworded for release to ‘There must be an answer’ ---
**Author:** ![The\_Second\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@The\_Second\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Second_Stone)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2010, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-beach-boys-song/558434/39 "2010-10-27T18:55:16Z")
God Only Knows and Don’t Worry Baby are the two best Beach Boys songs. ---
**Author:** ![mack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mack)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2010, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-beach-boys-song/558434/40 "2010-10-27T18:57:51Z")
I voted for Good Vibrations overall, although my favorite for the last few years has been Surf’s Up. God Only Knows is a beautiful song and so expertly crafted but Good Vibrations is the Beach Boys tour de force. I was thinking of voting for In My Room because it’s so lovely and wierd but went with GV. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-beach-boys-song/558434.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-beach-boys-song/558434.md?page=3)