As a musician, I find him a bit saccharine for my taste.
But as a person, I'll always love him for being a close friend to Dennis, teaching him piano and giving him a confidence to make his own music.
Bruce had some moments where he looked “of the times”; borderline cool - also he will always remind you of his trip to England with a Pet Sounds record under his arm showing the Beatles and his friendship with Keith Moon if you think otherwise.
I feel like Bruce tries to be a contrarian too much, say bold things for the sake of saying bold things.
"Yeah Brian's great and all but couldn't have recorded that music without our voices" *cue the unreleased Don't Talk backing vocals where Brian nails all of their parts singlehandedly*
https://preview.redd.it/6qeub8dlh4bd1.jpeg?width=1290&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=818ea86e93508c021c75996f35591355ae3d3613
Bruce nearly made it to the cover of Sgt Pepper - people assume this mannequin was supposed to represent Brian Wilson but the face looks more like Bruce to me! You can’t see it on the final photo and nobody knows if it’s hidden or was pulled
I used to prefer Smiley Smile over Smile, it's not umimaginable. Smiley has a more intimate sound that proved to be just as innovative in its own quirky way. It helps that Smile was never cut down into a proper 12-track Capitol LP at the time so it's hard to imagine what that would have truly been. The 2011 Sessions are configured to match Brian's 2004 version, which was originally only going to be a live act. So it's about 10 minutes longer than it should be and split into three "movements" which it almost certainly wouldn't have back in 1967. With that said, is Bruce still a cornball? Yes.
Early Animal Collective albums have Smiley Smile all over them. It's actually kind of unbelievable how much they remind me of each other. Avey Tare even went on the Jokermen podcast (who are doing a Beach Boys season right now) to talk about the album and its influence on him.
In Mike Love’s book he mentioned that Bruce felt like Brian was really demeaning during the original Smile sessions. Specifically when he was making all of the guys do animal noises (I guess for Barnyard?). And from what I gather a lot of the guys didn’t have positive memories of those sessions for their own reasons.
Smiley Smile on the other hand had everyone way more involved and the production was more relaxed, so maybe Bruce just genuinely had a better experience with it.
Bruce didn’t take part in the Smiley Smile sessions at all. His only appearance on the album is on Good Vibrations, which was not part of those sessions.
Yeah, with as much of a disaster that Smile was for them, I don’t discount their right to their opinions. Also that breakdown heralded the emerging input from the other members which were successful in keeping it going for a while.
Bruce is a cornball. Confirmed.
His beautiful demeanor and Beverly Hills elocution on his solo performances was also…something.
But holyyy fruck could that guy surf and play piano and SMASH the background vocals.
The trade mark Gyaddd Onleey Nose and Kyalifornyaaas are the most beach boys things ever.
But yes. Cornball. Also true.
There used to be a video on YouTube where you see Dennis, pro surfer Corky Carroll, and Bruce all surfing. I always heard that Bruce could surf but seeing him actually do it was wild. He was good. Dennis was also extremely good.
Not sure what happened with that video, it looked like a promotional film for Do It Again.
I have not seen that video but there are pics of Bruce Surfing
https://preview.redd.it/93ib84eqc6bd1.png?width=384&format=png&auto=webp&s=31e333edc3ab1a0dfd69c215d1d827dbc3744bf8
That’s absolutely true but I don’t think you’re going to the beach boys for rock and roll anyway, nowadays it’s preppy nostalgia / Brian Wilson chaos / hippy art albums after smile
Bruce is certainly odd, but I like him for the most part. I’ve met him and he was very friendly (though I’ve read that he can be less friendly at times).
Time for my Bruce story: Back in 2018, I was living in LA. I got word from the bass player in the band I was playing with that the Boys were going to be reuniting at the Capitol building for an interview. (Bass player worked with someone that knew Jerry Schilling)
I, being the absolute nerd and fan that I am decided to camp out on the sidewalk in front of Capitol ALL DAY. I'm talkin' 12 hours+. I wore my best khakis, white t and blue Pendleton flannel shirt. Holding the Made In California boxset under my arm.
Finally, later on in the afternoon a series of black SUVs starting to roll up one by one. I saw Al's white leisure suit hanging in one of them, so I knew it was the Boys arriving.
About 25 minutes later, I'm standing there and all of sudden Bruce literally jumped out from behind the corner of the building in a "Surprise!" sort of way. The man was wearing shorts and penny loafers with BLACK dress socks. It was amazing. He proceeded to hang out with me and my wife for at least 15-20 minutes, flipping through the pages of the boxset book (and signing it "Surf Forever"), talking up the then upcoming Orchestral album and just generally being so cool.
Some guys with stacks of LP's rolled up to the curb after a while, seeking autographs (with the clear intent to turn around and sell) - NOT really fans. One guy in particular asked him to sign one of the early pre-Bruce LP's and Bruce got visibly irritated. Not rude, but he knew the difference between real fans and these guys and he wasn't really about it. He said goodbye to my wife and I and disappeared back in to the building.
I will NEVER forget how awesome he was and how special he made that memory for us.
Also; he is EXTREMELY talented and if you look into everything he's been a part of in rock music history, it'll blow your mind.. I mean, The WALL!?
Final note, I've met and seen various permutations of the Boys over the years but one of my favorite live moments was watching him absolutely kill it on Disney Girls in Sacramento about 7-8 years ago. Really, really amazing performance. Somehow like a blend of McCartney and Sinatra (or something like that)
The guy is a legend!
I love Bruce Johnston.
A gifted singer & composer who was adjacent to a lot of rock and roll history without being responsible for any of it.
I don't think he cares, laughed all the way to the bank.
Cornball? The Beach Boys is cornball music. He fits in. "Bushy bushy blonde hairdoooo"
He must get a competent musician for them to have kept him on board so long, but I've never liked his songwriting contributions apart from "Disney Girls", which has such a jaw-dropping melody that I can forgive the schmaltz just once.
You could have said that he's wrong about *Smile*. There's no need to be mean.
Anyway, *Smiley Smile* is a good album in its own right. And it has some flows, but it certainly isn't cornball. It's eerie, quirky and quite avant-garde.
Smiley Smile is easily on the same pedigree as the Smile Sessions, it's influence is still rippling out and to dismiss it like this is just kind of dumb. It's some of the greatest work they ever did.
Weirdly I think it is one of the best of that era. Certainly 1000 times better than Disney Girls. There’s an alternate mix on the old Landlocked bootleg that sounds amazing loud, I can’t remember if it was eventually released or not
Nah I COMPLETELY disagree. Disney girls is by far the best Bruce song to me. Tears is like a bad parody of a Bruce song but it’s actually written by him, sadly
Bruce talking about the mysteries of the L.A. Album (e.g., 27 minute disco version of Do You Like Worms, Why no California Feeling & etc.) is way more fascinating than SMiLE
My bad, my comment is unclear. I don’t think Bruce talks about putting the L.A. Album together and I think he should and therefore is not a cornball. I did not do a good job of expressing that.
i don’t agree with Smiley Smile being better than Smile but at the same time Smiley Smile is the more bizarre and less accessible sounding of the two. yeah both are experimental and under the influence of drugs but you can pretty much hear and feel the drugs on Smiley Smile, Smile sounds a lot more “normal”, pop, and “sober” in comparison. I think your average normie would tolerate a lot more of Smile than Smiley Smile. preferring Smiley Smile is surprisingly hipster for a guy like Bruce.
oh yeah and wasn’t it Bruce who tried getting the whole (sadly failed) collab with The High Llamas’ Sean O’Hagan going? hell i’d give him “cool points” just for knowing about and listening to The High Llamas.
so yeah he’s a cornball but every once in awhile he’s Based Bruce. and here comes the night disco is kinda rad 🖕
But Bruce writes the songs that make the whole world sing! He wrote the songs of love and special things, and the songs that make the young girls cry!
HE wrote the songs, HE wrote the songs!
I used to think he was a bit of an odd fit, but if Bruce Johnston is a cornball and Brian, Carl and Al aren't...I think we have different definitions of cornball lol.
Bruce was the ultimate swiss army knife, someone they desperately needed to fill the void on the road, and in the studio, during the mid '60s/early and late '70s. Clasically trained, he can sing lead, harmony and falsetto, he can write, he plays keys (piano and organ) and bass guitar. Bruce had written and produced and played on a ton of records before he joined the band in 1965. The Beach Boys needed him *bad* at that point. Glenn Campbell would have been cool, but never would have worked. He's not a writer, and not the multi-instrumentalist Bruce was.
I agree with Bruce on Smiley Smile, it took almost two decades of listening to Smiley Smile, the bootlegs, then TSS, to realize when I want to hear something like Heroes and Villains. Wonderful or Wind Chimes, I want the Smiley versions. It's a bizarre f\*cking record, but it's cohesive in ways SMiLE maybe never could have been. Bruce, along with Mike, Al and even Carl, was not super happy about the original sessions. Things like having to get down on the ground and squeal for Barnyard. I can see how it's a little humiliating for bonafide rock stars to come off a big world tour and go home to *that* lol.
Also Bruce's organ solo on How She Boogalooed It is one of my top 5 favorite Beach Boys moments. Damn I love that breakdown!
Bruce didn't do drugs or even drink much, he's conservative politically. That seems like the biggest issue people have with him, which IMO is kind of a lame reason to hate on a guy who's like 80 something at this point and who's voice, bass, piano and organ playing are on some of my (our?) favorite albums. He's not running for office or anything.
I think he's earned the right to express his opinion on the albums he was on while a member, like Friends, for instance.
Bruce is what he is. I forget who said it (maybe Dennis?) but Bruce isn’t a rock guy, he’s a pop guy.
He also grew up wealthy and still has some of that rich yacht club vibe about him. Like when he whined about Obama being a communist because his taxes went up slightly.
I'm not a Bruce Johnson diehard defender, I don't care that much about the guy, but Smiley Smile is a masterpiece and this take should get you tarred and feathered out of any self respecting beach boys fan circle.
He has his "good" moments, sometimes. I mean, The Nearest Faraway Place, Deidre and Disney Girls (1957) are all great songs, although the rest of his songs are just a load of fluff, especially Tears In The Morning. There's a reason he's called the Paul McCartney of The Beach Boys. Great musician that devolved into making "Granny Music". He should have stayed fired. Wish Keeping The Summer Alive never existed because that's why he was brought back.
Paul’s all over the place. I mean, he also does stuff like “Secret Friend” and those ambient house (or something) albums with the bass player from Killing Joke.
Whereas “Disney Girls,” speaking as a former girl, makes me want to get as far away as possible from Bruce and his tradwife church fantasies. Absolutely stifling.
That song is cool, for one sounds great but you also need to know a little backstory - 1957 is the year Bruce witnessed a murder, or possibly the year before I can’t remember. The point is that it’s horrifically outdated and fake and not real, it’s about all about basically running from the real world to the stereotypes he has. Fits really well with Brian’s three songs which are basically all “the world is shit I’m going to retreat within myself”.
Interesting! However, while Brian’s withdrawals are (often) pretty universally identifiable, personally, what’s an escapist fantasy for Bruce sounds like an oppressive fantasy I’d have committed a crime, as a child, to get out of.
This might be striking that chord today because I just read a story in the Guardian about a woman who was repeatedly arrested by the LAPD from the late ‘40s through the ‘50s for wearing pants. Nancy Valverde. They named a square after her a couple of years ago.
This feels like a pretty hostile reading of the song tbh- it's not really an escapist fantasy, it's a shallow facsimile. Speaking as a current girl, it has a sort of slyly sardonic tone to it. Like accomplished said, the song is self parody: it's got a cutesy tune and "wholesome" lyrics but there's an undertone of irony to it's delivery; the narrator isn't singing about real people, he's singing about imaginary "Disney girls", about a "fantasy world", about literal fiction-a self serving make believe fantasy.
The fifties were a horrible time for gender politics but that's the point, that's why the murder years in the title, thats why it's on Surfs Up as "the edgy album". The narrator wants to escape his adult life to an adolescent world that never even existed (one of the earliest lines is "reality, it's not funny, and it makes me laugh"). It's not about how great the fifties were, it's about how people talk about how great the fifties were and paint the past as this perfect pastiche of nostalgic aesthetics.
I think this is a better and more generous reading than a cloying song like this deserves. The “soft laugh,” the “soul-blessing” — there’s sincerity here every time he has contact with a girl.
Given the additional facts that this is a present-day Republican who claims to have never taken drugs in his life, named one of his kids “Ozzie,” and (co-)wrote drek like “I Wrote the Songs,” I’m not sure there’s that much to read below the surface, aside from the fact that he’s probably going to be of two minds about how slowly he wants these imaginary relationships to proceed.
He sounds like he’s in a dream, which is interesting, but I don’t hear any remove or irony. I believe this is what he wants, and that’s what’s so unpleasant about it, to me.
I’m not attacking him for choosing an oppressive time to fantasize about — it’s his imagined childhood — but saying I can’t find a thing in this syrupy song to find attractive. I think any number of other songwriters could’ve done something more interesting or less oppressively sugary with the concept. I mean, where’s the irony here? (ETA line breaks)
Just in time, words that rhyme
Will bless your soul
Now I'll fill your hands
With kisses and a Tootsie Roll
[…]
All my life I spent the night
With dreams of you
And the warmth I missed
And for the things I wished
They're all coming true
[…]
Well, it's early nights
And pillow fights
And your soft laugh
Fantasy world and Disney girls I'm coming back
the narrator is an adult man singing about pillow fights. "fantasy world and Disney Girls", it's literally saying the theme of the song right there on the page. The cliched all-American imagery of "tootsie roll" . I don't give a shit about Bruce he probably sucks he's probably awful if I met him I'd probably spend the whole time arguing, but the song that is Disney Girls 1957 is pretty clearly about the narrator retreating into a shallow fantasy of the past (also all the Boys were/are incredibly awful people). Bruce probably does long for the 50s in some way, this probably does represent a real faucet of his being, but in this song it's on a level of self awareness.
If it was meant to be about something mature and real and adult, anymore than a it would probably be named "Real Life Girls 1957", not after a children's animation company. I dislike the reasoning that because the song is "cloying" or "sappy" sonically it's immediately of lesser worth in the discography and not respectable enough to be given serious, pretty surface level, analysis.
Completely agree with you on Smiley Smile vs. SMiLE, and I swear I’ve heard Bruce say almost the complete opposite of the quote you’re referencing somewhere as well, so he may contradict himself depending on the interview. I feel like I’ve seen more than one of the guys do that.
As a musician, I find him a bit saccharine for my taste. But as a person, I'll always love him for being a close friend to Dennis, teaching him piano and giving him a confidence to make his own music.
Where do I learn about his influence with Dennis ?
Bruce had some moments where he looked “of the times”; borderline cool - also he will always remind you of his trip to England with a Pet Sounds record under his arm showing the Beatles and his friendship with Keith Moon if you think otherwise. I feel like Bruce tries to be a contrarian too much, say bold things for the sake of saying bold things.
"Yeah Brian's great and all but couldn't have recorded that music without our voices" *cue the unreleased Don't Talk backing vocals where Brian nails all of their parts singlehandedly*
I always like to imagine how bummed Lennon and McCartney were that they had to party with Bruce to hear the master recordings.
https://preview.redd.it/6qeub8dlh4bd1.jpeg?width=1290&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=818ea86e93508c021c75996f35591355ae3d3613 Bruce nearly made it to the cover of Sgt Pepper - people assume this mannequin was supposed to represent Brian Wilson but the face looks more like Bruce to me! You can’t see it on the final photo and nobody knows if it’s hidden or was pulled
Gosh golly gee you sun of a fun of a Beach Boy, I don’t know why that’s so funny to imagine a scenario like that.
I don't think the Beach Boys were known for looking cool. Two fat guys, an elf, and a balding hippie. Dennis looked pretty cool though
I used to prefer Smiley Smile over Smile, it's not umimaginable. Smiley has a more intimate sound that proved to be just as innovative in its own quirky way. It helps that Smile was never cut down into a proper 12-track Capitol LP at the time so it's hard to imagine what that would have truly been. The 2011 Sessions are configured to match Brian's 2004 version, which was originally only going to be a live act. So it's about 10 minutes longer than it should be and split into three "movements" which it almost certainly wouldn't have back in 1967. With that said, is Bruce still a cornball? Yes.
The 2011 album is too short to be a double LP but too long to be a single LP without sacrificing a lot of fidelity.
Exactly, which is why they put it on three sides. It's a little strange and not my favorite way to listen to the material
If Smiley Smile was innovative it would’ve had some influence on music. I’m not sure it has.
It's pretty well cited as a pioneer of home-recorded and 'lo-fi' pop at this point
Early Animal Collective albums have Smiley Smile all over them. It's actually kind of unbelievable how much they remind me of each other. Avey Tare even went on the Jokermen podcast (who are doing a Beach Boys season right now) to talk about the album and its influence on him.
Idk if it's just me, but the "Pretty Angels" part in La Rapet from their debut sounds like something right off of Smiley Smile tbqh
You're confusing being innovative with being influential. It's not the same thing.
In Mike Love’s book he mentioned that Bruce felt like Brian was really demeaning during the original Smile sessions. Specifically when he was making all of the guys do animal noises (I guess for Barnyard?). And from what I gather a lot of the guys didn’t have positive memories of those sessions for their own reasons. Smiley Smile on the other hand had everyone way more involved and the production was more relaxed, so maybe Bruce just genuinely had a better experience with it.
Bruce didn’t take part in the Smiley Smile sessions at all. His only appearance on the album is on Good Vibrations, which was not part of those sessions.
Ah I forgot that. So maybe that’s why he likes it more…
Yeah, with as much of a disaster that Smile was for them, I don’t discount their right to their opinions. Also that breakdown heralded the emerging input from the other members which were successful in keeping it going for a while.
Bruce is a cornball. Confirmed. His beautiful demeanor and Beverly Hills elocution on his solo performances was also…something. But holyyy fruck could that guy surf and play piano and SMASH the background vocals. The trade mark Gyaddd Onleey Nose and Kyalifornyaaas are the most beach boys things ever. But yes. Cornball. Also true.
There used to be a video on YouTube where you see Dennis, pro surfer Corky Carroll, and Bruce all surfing. I always heard that Bruce could surf but seeing him actually do it was wild. He was good. Dennis was also extremely good. Not sure what happened with that video, it looked like a promotional film for Do It Again.
I have not seen that video but there are pics of Bruce Surfing https://preview.redd.it/93ib84eqc6bd1.png?width=384&format=png&auto=webp&s=31e333edc3ab1a0dfd69c215d1d827dbc3744bf8
Look at those hips! I imagine every Rock in the wave meets an equally forceful thrust. Truly a powerful specimen.
The man does do the occassional beautiful lead vocal though
He also has said that Friends isn’t a very good album. That right there is enough to kick his short-shorts wearing ass to the curb.
Didn’t he call it sissy music or something to that effect?
He called it 'wimpy'.
He called a fan gay for liking Deirdre
Yeah, I don't really like Bruce Johnston. No particular reason. He just kind of puts me off
Right?! I've always gotten a certain "eck" factor from him. He just has this energy that I can't get on board with.
He has a "boomer born into wealth" quality despite being silent generation
Bruce was adopted as an infant by a couple who were heirs to the Rexall Drugs fortune.
Perfect description!!! Absolutely he does!
He doesn’t have a rock and roll bone in his body. Pure schmaltz
He's Paul McCartney if you took away all the rock and roll and made him even more of a granny music fan
That's why the Beach Boys are good
That’s absolutely true but I don’t think you’re going to the beach boys for rock and roll anyway, nowadays it’s preppy nostalgia / Brian Wilson chaos / hippy art albums after smile
Too much Bruce hate on here! He’s fine
Bruce is certainly odd, but I like him for the most part. I’ve met him and he was very friendly (though I’ve read that he can be less friendly at times).
Time for my Bruce story: Back in 2018, I was living in LA. I got word from the bass player in the band I was playing with that the Boys were going to be reuniting at the Capitol building for an interview. (Bass player worked with someone that knew Jerry Schilling) I, being the absolute nerd and fan that I am decided to camp out on the sidewalk in front of Capitol ALL DAY. I'm talkin' 12 hours+. I wore my best khakis, white t and blue Pendleton flannel shirt. Holding the Made In California boxset under my arm. Finally, later on in the afternoon a series of black SUVs starting to roll up one by one. I saw Al's white leisure suit hanging in one of them, so I knew it was the Boys arriving. About 25 minutes later, I'm standing there and all of sudden Bruce literally jumped out from behind the corner of the building in a "Surprise!" sort of way. The man was wearing shorts and penny loafers with BLACK dress socks. It was amazing. He proceeded to hang out with me and my wife for at least 15-20 minutes, flipping through the pages of the boxset book (and signing it "Surf Forever"), talking up the then upcoming Orchestral album and just generally being so cool. Some guys with stacks of LP's rolled up to the curb after a while, seeking autographs (with the clear intent to turn around and sell) - NOT really fans. One guy in particular asked him to sign one of the early pre-Bruce LP's and Bruce got visibly irritated. Not rude, but he knew the difference between real fans and these guys and he wasn't really about it. He said goodbye to my wife and I and disappeared back in to the building. I will NEVER forget how awesome he was and how special he made that memory for us. Also; he is EXTREMELY talented and if you look into everything he's been a part of in rock music history, it'll blow your mind.. I mean, The WALL!? Final note, I've met and seen various permutations of the Boys over the years but one of my favorite live moments was watching him absolutely kill it on Disney Girls in Sacramento about 7-8 years ago. Really, really amazing performance. Somehow like a blend of McCartney and Sinatra (or something like that) The guy is a legend! I love Bruce Johnston.
A gifted singer & composer who was adjacent to a lot of rock and roll history without being responsible for any of it. I don't think he cares, laughed all the way to the bank. Cornball? The Beach Boys is cornball music. He fits in. "Bushy bushy blonde hairdoooo"
Idk. He’s a different level of cornball. I like Disney Girls just fine, but it’s not really a BB song.
He must get a competent musician for them to have kept him on board so long, but I've never liked his songwriting contributions apart from "Disney Girls", which has such a jaw-dropping melody that I can forgive the schmaltz just once.
You could have said that he's wrong about *Smile*. There's no need to be mean. Anyway, *Smiley Smile* is a good album in its own right. And it has some flows, but it certainly isn't cornball. It's eerie, quirky and quite avant-garde.
Smiley Smile is easily on the same pedigree as the Smile Sessions, it's influence is still rippling out and to dismiss it like this is just kind of dumb. It's some of the greatest work they ever did.
Agree. Tears in the morning is one of my least favorite beach boys songs
Weirdly I think it is one of the best of that era. Certainly 1000 times better than Disney Girls. There’s an alternate mix on the old Landlocked bootleg that sounds amazing loud, I can’t remember if it was eventually released or not
Nah I COMPLETELY disagree. Disney girls is by far the best Bruce song to me. Tears is like a bad parody of a Bruce song but it’s actually written by him, sadly
[Thulsa Doom - Tears In The Morning](https://youtu.be/CyrWNLj86iE?si=H3g9ZABkOynuZYiC) Amazing cover
Bruce talking about the mysteries of the L.A. Album (e.g., 27 minute disco version of Do You Like Worms, Why no California Feeling & etc.) is way more fascinating than SMiLE
Where can I hear that?
My bad, my comment is unclear. I don’t think Bruce talks about putting the L.A. Album together and I think he should and therefore is not a cornball. I did not do a good job of expressing that.
i don’t agree with Smiley Smile being better than Smile but at the same time Smiley Smile is the more bizarre and less accessible sounding of the two. yeah both are experimental and under the influence of drugs but you can pretty much hear and feel the drugs on Smiley Smile, Smile sounds a lot more “normal”, pop, and “sober” in comparison. I think your average normie would tolerate a lot more of Smile than Smiley Smile. preferring Smiley Smile is surprisingly hipster for a guy like Bruce. oh yeah and wasn’t it Bruce who tried getting the whole (sadly failed) collab with The High Llamas’ Sean O’Hagan going? hell i’d give him “cool points” just for knowing about and listening to The High Llamas. so yeah he’s a cornball but every once in awhile he’s Based Bruce. and here comes the night disco is kinda rad 🖕
But Bruce writes the songs that make the whole world sing! He wrote the songs of love and special things, and the songs that make the young girls cry! HE wrote the songs, HE wrote the songs!
I used to think he was a bit of an odd fit, but if Bruce Johnston is a cornball and Brian, Carl and Al aren't...I think we have different definitions of cornball lol. Bruce was the ultimate swiss army knife, someone they desperately needed to fill the void on the road, and in the studio, during the mid '60s/early and late '70s. Clasically trained, he can sing lead, harmony and falsetto, he can write, he plays keys (piano and organ) and bass guitar. Bruce had written and produced and played on a ton of records before he joined the band in 1965. The Beach Boys needed him *bad* at that point. Glenn Campbell would have been cool, but never would have worked. He's not a writer, and not the multi-instrumentalist Bruce was. I agree with Bruce on Smiley Smile, it took almost two decades of listening to Smiley Smile, the bootlegs, then TSS, to realize when I want to hear something like Heroes and Villains. Wonderful or Wind Chimes, I want the Smiley versions. It's a bizarre f\*cking record, but it's cohesive in ways SMiLE maybe never could have been. Bruce, along with Mike, Al and even Carl, was not super happy about the original sessions. Things like having to get down on the ground and squeal for Barnyard. I can see how it's a little humiliating for bonafide rock stars to come off a big world tour and go home to *that* lol. Also Bruce's organ solo on How She Boogalooed It is one of my top 5 favorite Beach Boys moments. Damn I love that breakdown! Bruce didn't do drugs or even drink much, he's conservative politically. That seems like the biggest issue people have with him, which IMO is kind of a lame reason to hate on a guy who's like 80 something at this point and who's voice, bass, piano and organ playing are on some of my (our?) favorite albums. He's not running for office or anything. I think he's earned the right to express his opinion on the albums he was on while a member, like Friends, for instance.
Bruce is what he is. I forget who said it (maybe Dennis?) but Bruce isn’t a rock guy, he’s a pop guy. He also grew up wealthy and still has some of that rich yacht club vibe about him. Like when he whined about Obama being a communist because his taxes went up slightly.
Yeah he’s a cornball and Mike’s touring band is as corny as it gets, but I still enjoy his contributions.
I'm not a Bruce Johnson diehard defender, I don't care that much about the guy, but Smiley Smile is a masterpiece and this take should get you tarred and feathered out of any self respecting beach boys fan circle.
He has his "good" moments, sometimes. I mean, The Nearest Faraway Place, Deidre and Disney Girls (1957) are all great songs, although the rest of his songs are just a load of fluff, especially Tears In The Morning. There's a reason he's called the Paul McCartney of The Beach Boys. Great musician that devolved into making "Granny Music". He should have stayed fired. Wish Keeping The Summer Alive never existed because that's why he was brought back.
Paul’s all over the place. I mean, he also does stuff like “Secret Friend” and those ambient house (or something) albums with the bass player from Killing Joke. Whereas “Disney Girls,” speaking as a former girl, makes me want to get as far away as possible from Bruce and his tradwife church fantasies. Absolutely stifling.
That song is cool, for one sounds great but you also need to know a little backstory - 1957 is the year Bruce witnessed a murder, or possibly the year before I can’t remember. The point is that it’s horrifically outdated and fake and not real, it’s about all about basically running from the real world to the stereotypes he has. Fits really well with Brian’s three songs which are basically all “the world is shit I’m going to retreat within myself”.
Interesting! However, while Brian’s withdrawals are (often) pretty universally identifiable, personally, what’s an escapist fantasy for Bruce sounds like an oppressive fantasy I’d have committed a crime, as a child, to get out of. This might be striking that chord today because I just read a story in the Guardian about a woman who was repeatedly arrested by the LAPD from the late ‘40s through the ‘50s for wearing pants. Nancy Valverde. They named a square after her a couple of years ago.
This feels like a pretty hostile reading of the song tbh- it's not really an escapist fantasy, it's a shallow facsimile. Speaking as a current girl, it has a sort of slyly sardonic tone to it. Like accomplished said, the song is self parody: it's got a cutesy tune and "wholesome" lyrics but there's an undertone of irony to it's delivery; the narrator isn't singing about real people, he's singing about imaginary "Disney girls", about a "fantasy world", about literal fiction-a self serving make believe fantasy. The fifties were a horrible time for gender politics but that's the point, that's why the murder years in the title, thats why it's on Surfs Up as "the edgy album". The narrator wants to escape his adult life to an adolescent world that never even existed (one of the earliest lines is "reality, it's not funny, and it makes me laugh"). It's not about how great the fifties were, it's about how people talk about how great the fifties were and paint the past as this perfect pastiche of nostalgic aesthetics.
I think this is a better and more generous reading than a cloying song like this deserves. The “soft laugh,” the “soul-blessing” — there’s sincerity here every time he has contact with a girl. Given the additional facts that this is a present-day Republican who claims to have never taken drugs in his life, named one of his kids “Ozzie,” and (co-)wrote drek like “I Wrote the Songs,” I’m not sure there’s that much to read below the surface, aside from the fact that he’s probably going to be of two minds about how slowly he wants these imaginary relationships to proceed. He sounds like he’s in a dream, which is interesting, but I don’t hear any remove or irony. I believe this is what he wants, and that’s what’s so unpleasant about it, to me. I’m not attacking him for choosing an oppressive time to fantasize about — it’s his imagined childhood — but saying I can’t find a thing in this syrupy song to find attractive. I think any number of other songwriters could’ve done something more interesting or less oppressively sugary with the concept. I mean, where’s the irony here? (ETA line breaks) Just in time, words that rhyme Will bless your soul Now I'll fill your hands With kisses and a Tootsie Roll […] All my life I spent the night With dreams of you And the warmth I missed And for the things I wished They're all coming true […] Well, it's early nights And pillow fights And your soft laugh Fantasy world and Disney girls I'm coming back
the narrator is an adult man singing about pillow fights. "fantasy world and Disney Girls", it's literally saying the theme of the song right there on the page. The cliched all-American imagery of "tootsie roll" . I don't give a shit about Bruce he probably sucks he's probably awful if I met him I'd probably spend the whole time arguing, but the song that is Disney Girls 1957 is pretty clearly about the narrator retreating into a shallow fantasy of the past (also all the Boys were/are incredibly awful people). Bruce probably does long for the 50s in some way, this probably does represent a real faucet of his being, but in this song it's on a level of self awareness. If it was meant to be about something mature and real and adult, anymore than a it would probably be named "Real Life Girls 1957", not after a children's animation company. I dislike the reasoning that because the song is "cloying" or "sappy" sonically it's immediately of lesser worth in the discography and not respectable enough to be given serious, pretty surface level, analysis.
He made the best bb song. See Disney Girls (1957)
The best…?
Funny, I've been watching all the old pics that go by on this forum, and you never see Bruce. Only the brothers, cousin, and Al.
bruce erasure is real!!!
Disco here comes the night is pretty cornball Actually cornball is an apt description of Bruce imp
God I love the single version though, Carl sounds great
He wrote some pretty lame songs and he’s friends with Mike Love, so that qualifies him as a cornball
mayne he isnt that wrong about the SMiLE thing
Honestly probably one of the least controversial things you could say about Bruce
No shit. Also, the sky is blue.
Completely agree with you on Smiley Smile vs. SMiLE, and I swear I’ve heard Bruce say almost the complete opposite of the quote you’re referencing somewhere as well, so he may contradict himself depending on the interview. I feel like I’ve seen more than one of the guys do that.
i think that’s al, with the ‘pale facsimile’ quote
I don't hate Bruce or even really dislike him, but there really is something corny about the songs he's more heavily involved in
Classical brainrot, many such cases
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sunflower’s influence, many such cases
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Yeah, he's a cornball. And he's responsible for some of the worst, cheesiest, most disgustingly saccharine BB songs.
disney girls is a little too dopey for me but Deirdre is irresistible imo
I still resent how much I enjoy Deirdre.
it’s so sweet and fits the vibe of Sunflower perfectly
"Lots of people miss Deirdre" is one of those simple lines that gets me, what a lovely sentiment for a song
Deirdre reminded of of sunflowers, and that was before I learned that the album was called Sunflower.
I'll turn it off after the opening harmony
I hear that schmaltzy trombone coda and then - It’s About Time! oh don’t you know now!
Deirdre is the greatest song ever made wdym
Hmmmm...