# The Beach Boys are great/ awful

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-beach-boys-are-great-awful/783835>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [April 5, 2017, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-beach-boys-are-great-awful/783835 "2017-04-05T18:58:40Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 5

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**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\
**Post date:** [April 16, 2017, 12:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-beach-boys-are-great-awful/783835/81 "2017-04-16T12:24:00Z")

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> [@Lorne\_Armstrong](#):
>
> Peter Gabriel’s last album of new material, Up, is brilliant. Granted, it’s from 2002 when Gabriel was only 52. But he was still writing great songs after putting on a lot of years.

I’m a Gabriel fan, but the fact remains- even IF he goes on tour this year with a great band, and even if his voice is in great shape (I hear it’s not), how many people in the stands will want to hear anything he’s written or recorded in the past 20 years?

I’m not picking on HIM. There are very, very few artists of his age (or older) who can play songs from the Seventies, the Eighties, the Nineties AND the 21st century without sending bored fans to the snack bar or the rest room.

Springsteen is still a great performer and he still has loyal fans who’ll pack Madison Square Gard n to see him. But if he starts playing too many songs from “Ghost of Tom Joad” or “Lucky Town” they’ll fall asleep.

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**Author:** ![glowacks](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/glowacks/32/5548_2.png) [@glowacks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glowacks)\
**Post date:** [April 17, 2017, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-beach-boys-are-great-awful/783835/82 "2017-04-17T02:15:42Z")

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Weird Al continues to make excellent music and had his first #1 album over 30 years since he hit the scene, though he writes very little truly original tunes (not to say that his style parodies don’t show him as a capable writer, but he’s not _coming up with_ that style). But he does seem to be able to continually highlight the absurdities in our culture and music regardless of when it is.

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**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\
**Post date:** [April 17, 2017, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-beach-boys-are-great-awful/783835/83 "2017-04-17T02:24:45Z")

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> [@glowacks](#):
>
> Weird Al continues to make excellent music and had his first #1 album over 30 years since he hit the scene, though he writes very little truly original tunes (not to say that his style parodies don’t show him as a capable writer, but he’s not _coming up with_ that style). But he does seem to be able to continually highlight the absurdities in our culture and music regardless of when it is.

[From here.](http://weirdal.com/archives/faq/)

> [@](#):
>
> Does Al only do parodies of other songs?
> 
> No… about half of the songs on Al’s albums are originals, meaning that Al wrote the music as well as the lyrics.\*\* Some originals are in the style of another artist (like “Bob” or “Genius In France”), but they’re still entirely new compositions.\*\* If you’re not sure whether a song is an original or a parody, check the writing credits in the liner notes of Al’s albums.

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