Ryan and Matt continue their march through the history of American pop and rock music with a consideration of The Beach Boys’ Pet Sounds.
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Syllabus
- Pet Sounds on Wikipedia
- Thick Description: Toward an Interpretive Theory of Culture by Clifford Geertz
- The Intentional Fallacy by W.K. Wimsatt, Jr., and Monroe C. Beardsley
- Portlandia: “The Studio” on YouTube
- Pet Sounds Review on Pitchfork
- Pet Sounds Review (1972) on RollingStone.com
I was glad to see, after it was broached as a possibility in The Beatles episode, that you guys got to The Beach Boys. Particularly Pet Sounds, their one album I’ve heard in its entirety. Also, “Kokomo” is a really good song. I know that is slightly off topic, but it is on topic enough to mention it, and I take it upon myself to defend that song against all its many naysayers.
I’d like to see you guys go even further back, and tackle Elvis or something. Or the very origins of rock and roll? What were the kids of Happy Days listening to? Other than Leather Tuscadero, of course. That, or you could go a little further into the future, but stay in the past, and talk about the mall pop era.
Oh wow, had I waited a few more minutes, I would have realized just how apt it was to bring up “Kokomo.” Although, it should be noted that it’s “Aruba, Jamaica/ooh I want to take you/to Bermuda, Bahama/Come on pretty mama/Key Largo, Montego/Baby why don’t we go…” and so on and so forth. The Beach Boys deserve for you to get their lyrics right. John Stamos deserves it.
I had never heard this record before, and probably wouldn’t have without the excuse of a recent long road trip.
If you haven’t done so already, go listen to the song “Hang On to Your Ego” from Frank Black’s first solo record. It’s nearly a cover of “I Know There’s An Answer”, but the chorus goes:
Hang on to your ego
Hang on cuz I know that you’re going to lose the fight
That’s a great album, by the way. I’d love if you covered that one — although it doesn’t seem likely, since Rachel nailed the Frank Black aesthetic on the Last Splash episode.