The Five Dopiest Beach Boys Songs, Including One Where Brian Wilson Raps

By Chaz Kangas Mon., Nov. 7 2011 at 5:00 AM

Wait, where are our wetsuits?

See also: A Tour Of Beach Boys' Haunts In Their Hometown Of Hawthorne, California - With Pictures!

Last week saw the release of the Beach Boys' The Smile Sessions box set, and folks can't stop talking about how amazing it is. In fact, the recent splurge of critical praise for the group makes it seem like they could do no wrong.

Rest assured, however, that this is not the case. In fact, with over 30 albums attributed to them, there's been plenty of bogus, phoned in, or simply warmed over material. Don't get us wrong, we adore the Beach Boys, which is part of what makes their awesomely horrible tracks so fun. Without further ado, here are the five dopiest Beach Boys songs on record.

5. "California Saga: The Beaks of Eagles" (1973)
The Beach Boys' best work is characterized by innovative harmonies, genuine warmth and a sense of wonderment. "The Beaks of Eagles" -- part of the "California Saga" from their 1973 album Holland -- has none of these. If you always felt the group could have used the disturbing touch of utterly joyless spoken word poetry, well, we beg to differ.

4. "Make It Big" (1989)
After the surprise success of "Kokomo" from the Cocktail soundtrack in 1988, the Beach Boys decided to release Still Cruisin', an album largely consisting of the songs they'd contributed to movie soundtracks, including "Make It Big," from Troop Beverly Hills. Unlike the stripped down version heard in the film, this obnoxious synth-heavy album version sounds like the '80s collectively threw up.

3. "TM Song" (1976)
"TM Song" is the only track off of the Beach Boys' 1976 album 15 Big Ones for which Brian Wilson gets the sole writing credit. As far as we can tell, his best artistic decision on the track is making it short. His ode to transcendental meditation -- it's "simple, it's easy as writing this rhyme," he imparts -- shows him at his most creatively overspent. Even more baffling is that this was the B-side to the album's first single, a cover of Chuck Berry's "Rock and Roll Music."

Tags:

Al Jardin, Beach Boys, Brian Wilson, California, Mike Love, Music, Pet Sounds, Sessions, Smile, Worst Songs

We Recommend

pbonito_

I knew Make It Big would be on here :) Guilty pleasure inexplicably found in a compilation otherwise culled from the glory days. Also, was 'Busy Doin' Nothin'" the original "The Lazy Song?" ;)

John

This is the type of thing that only superficial music listeners find interesting. Yes, the Beach Boys, like most groups, have put out some dippy songs, but about half of the ones here are far better than you give them credit for. For example Busy Doin Nothing takes a lazy day lyric and sets it to a bossa-nova beat, and makes a perfect Sunday afternoon song. Not every song has to have the depth of Dylan. But the BBs come close on Beaks of Eagles, one of their best ecological songs. If all you want is to make fun of things, well you can do that for any song. With the amazing Smile Sessions being just released, I can't believe you people are wasting our time with this.

Stlatshaw

Some of the choices are amusing; however, Beaks of Eagles is actually the spoken section of a three song trilogy about California on the Holland LP ("California Saga"), bookended by two classics, "Big Sur" and "California." As a recitation, it may suffer by modern standards as this is a format not used much these days. But the poetry by Robinson Jeffers is darkly brilliant and the music by Al Jardine on the chorus is infectious. As for "Busy Doin' Nothin," the pre-occupation with the trivial is the point of the song, presenting a mellow day in Bel Air, circa 1968. Music and subject matter of the time; Busy Doin' Nothin' is considered a real Beach Boys classic.