Beach Boys vs Velvet Underground

Backslapping time. Well done us. We are fantastic.

laaaa

Beach Boys
39
48%
Velvet Underground
42
52%
 
Total votes: 81

The Modernist

Re: Beach Boys vs Velvet Underground

Postby The Modernist » 31 Mar 2011, 19:35

Sir John Coan wrote:VICTORY!!


So how many of your aliases voted in the end? :lol:

User avatar
Your Friendly Neighbourhood Postman
Posts: 17966
Joined: 17 Oct 2010, 14:10
Location: Unrecognized Genius, Me.

Re: Beach Boys vs Velvet Underground

Postby Your Friendly Neighbourhood Postman » 31 Mar 2011, 19:42

Jeff K wrote:
Sir John Coan wrote:VICTORY!!


Lock the thread!

Quickly!


:lol:
On the whole, I'd rather be in Wallenpaupack.

User avatar
Matt Wilson
Psychedelic Cowpunk
Posts: 32510
Joined: 16 Jul 2003, 20:18
Location: Edge of a continent

Re: Beach Boys vs Velvet Underground

Postby Matt Wilson » 31 Mar 2011, 19:48

All the Velvets fans pouted and moaned for page after page about their favorite band's loss so much that we felt sorry for them.

User avatar
Your Friendly Neighbourhood Postman
Posts: 17966
Joined: 17 Oct 2010, 14:10
Location: Unrecognized Genius, Me.

Re: Beach Boys vs Velvet Underground

Postby Your Friendly Neighbourhood Postman » 31 Mar 2011, 19:58

Lance Matthew wrote:All the Velvets fans pouted and moaned for page after page about their favorite band's loss so much that we felt sorry for them.


Yeah. I saw that too. So I doubled as one 'Jeff K' and one 'John Coan' and God knows who else to help the suckers out of their misery. That us, sensitive souls and compassionate characters that we BBs idiots are.
On the whole, I'd rather be in Wallenpaupack.

sloopjohnc
Posts: 63924
Joined: 03 Jun 2004, 20:12

Re: Beach Boys vs Velvet Underground

Postby sloopjohnc » 31 Mar 2011, 20:19

Coan must be one of those players that wins a few hands then tries to leave the table.

Not so fast, buddy boy.
Don't fake the funk on a nasty dunk!

User avatar
Jeff K
The Original K
Posts: 32699
Joined: 16 Jul 2003, 23:08
Location: Pennsylvania USA
Contact:

Re: Beach Boys vs Velvet Underground

Postby Jeff K » 31 Mar 2011, 20:45

What a bunch of sore losers you Beach Boy fans are. The Velvets won clearly and therefore the better band of the two. If you can't accept that then go play in the sandbox with Brian or something.
the science eel experiment wrote:Jesus Christ can't save BCB, i believe i can.

User avatar
Your Friendly Neighbourhood Postman
Posts: 17966
Joined: 17 Oct 2010, 14:10
Location: Unrecognized Genius, Me.

Re: Beach Boys vs Velvet Underground

Postby Your Friendly Neighbourhood Postman » 31 Mar 2011, 20:47

Jeff K wrote:What a bunch of sore losers you Beach Boy fans are. The Velvets won clearly and therefore the better band of the two. If you can't accept that then go play in the sandbox with Brian or something.


Sure. By popular vote. That is why Justin Bieber is way better than both of them.
On the whole, I'd rather be in Wallenpaupack.

User avatar
Matt Wilson
Psychedelic Cowpunk
Posts: 32510
Joined: 16 Jul 2003, 20:18
Location: Edge of a continent

Re: Beach Boys vs Velvet Underground

Postby Matt Wilson » 31 Mar 2011, 20:53

Boy, he sure told us.

User avatar
Davey the Fat Boy
Posts: 24007
Joined: 05 Jan 2006, 02:55
Location: Applebees

Re: Beach Boys vs Velvet Underground

Postby Davey the Fat Boy » 01 Apr 2011, 07:03

Pages and pages ago....

Davey the Fat Boy wrote:Folks who come from a punk/post-punk/garage/Lester Bangsian perspective will probably favor the VU. Just about everyone else will more likely gravitate towards the Beach Boys.


Newsflash: VU winning poll at BCB. Film at 11.
“Remember I have said good things about benevolent despots before.” - Jimbo

Image

User avatar
bhoywonder
The Magnificent
Posts: 27391
Joined: 16 Jul 2003, 19:06
Location: Bristol, UK
Contact:

Re: Beach Boys vs Velvet Underground

Postby bhoywonder » 01 Apr 2011, 09:41

Here's how it goes:
The Beatles
The Beach Boys
Everybody else

I hope this helps xx

User avatar
Belle Lettre
Éminence grise
Posts: 16143
Joined: 09 Oct 2008, 07:16
Location: Antiterra

Re: Beach Boys vs Velvet Underground

Postby Belle Lettre » 01 Apr 2011, 11:42

Just been playing What Goes On, as it happens. This,I suspect,may not exactly be germane to the main point at issue, but I reckon I'd rather have carnal knowledge of a VU fan than a Beach Boys one. :D

Signed: N.Sequitur
Nikki Gradual wrote:
Get a fucking grip you narcissistic cretins.

User avatar
toomanyhatz
Power-mad king of the WCC
Posts: 29992
Joined: 07 Apr 2005, 00:01
Location: Just east of where Charlie Parker went to do some relaxin'

Re: Beach Boys vs Velvet Underground

Postby toomanyhatz » 02 Nov 2011, 08:19

So what would be the best songs of the others' for each of these bands to cover?

The Velvets (Cale era) could have done a great moody version of "Warmth of the Sun."

And I'd love to hear Brian's vocal arrangement for "The Ocean."
Footy wrote:
The Who / Jimi Hendrix Experience Saville Theatre, London Jan '67
. Got Jimi's autograph after the show and went on to see him several times that year


1959 1963 1965 1966 1974 1977 1978 1981 1988 2017* 2018 2020!! 2023?

User avatar
Quaco
F R double E
Posts: 47380
Joined: 16 Jul 2003, 19:41

Re: Beach Boys vs Velvet Underground

Postby Quaco » 02 Nov 2011, 18:47

Sir John Coan wrote:VICTORY!!

It's interesting that on page 1, I said I was voting for The Beach Boys, but somewhere along the way, I actually seem to have voted for the Velvets. I think I was so tired of hearing about The Beach Boys that I couldn't stand voting for them in the end. And it looks like that was the tie-breaker!
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

User avatar
Brian Wilson
Posts: 2439
Joined: 18 Jan 2004, 15:40
Location: USA
Contact:

Re: Beach Boys vs Velvet Underground

Postby Brian Wilson » 02 Nov 2011, 21:51

Good grief. How is this even close?
"I earned my famous name."

User avatar
Davey the Fat Boy
Posts: 24007
Joined: 05 Jan 2006, 02:55
Location: Applebees

Re: Beach Boys vs Velvet Underground

Postby Davey the Fat Boy » 02 Nov 2011, 21:59

Quaco wrote:
Sir John Coan wrote:VICTORY!!

It's interesting that on page 1, I said I was voting for The Beach Boys, but somewhere along the way, I actually seem to have voted for the Velvets. I think I was so tired of hearing about The Beach Boys that I couldn't stand voting for them in the end. And it looks like that was the tie-breaker!


I'll bet you are from Florida.
“Remember I have said good things about benevolent despots before.” - Jimbo

Image

User avatar
Jeff K
The Original K
Posts: 32699
Joined: 16 Jul 2003, 23:08
Location: Pennsylvania USA
Contact:

Re: Beach Boys vs Velvet Underground

Postby Jeff K » 02 Nov 2011, 23:26

Since this thread I've come around to Pet Sounds and as predicted, I got Smile. The latter album really has me hooked this week. Must be the hipster/ nerd in me. :lol: John, you are so wrong about Cabinessence!

I re-read the entire thread to see if I said anything foolish and would have to eat my words but thankfully, I still stand by most of what I said. I might have undermined Brian a little too much in regards to him having outside help in the studio. He may have had seasoned pro's at his disposal but he was the one with his finger on the trigger. He was truly gifted, much more than I gave him credit for.


Having said all that, it's still the Velvet Underground.
the science eel experiment wrote:Jesus Christ can't save BCB, i believe i can.

User avatar
yellowjacket
Posts: 4363
Joined: 28 Aug 2011, 03:44

Re: Beach Boys vs Velvet Underground

Postby yellowjacket » 03 Nov 2011, 00:47

Although the Beach Boys were way more commercial then the Velvet Underground their contribution to music in general is far greater in my opinion. All those classic surf songs that lasted generations along with their other work make them an American institution.
How would you like to be remembered? Oh I don't know. I suppose if we are remembered as a great little rock and roll band it would be fine.........

User avatar
Ghost of Harry Smith
Posts: 2550
Joined: 22 Jul 2003, 04:43
Location: shyddney, orstralia
Contact:

Re: Beach Boys vs Velvet Underground

Postby Ghost of Harry Smith » 03 Nov 2011, 06:51

yellowjacket wrote:Although the Beach Boys were way more commercial then the Velvet Underground their contribution to music in general is far greater in my opinion. All those classic surf songs that lasted generations along with their other work make them an American institution.


Those two sentences don't really speak to the same point. I don't see that the Beach Boys being an "American institution" justifies the claim that their "contribution in music in general is far greater".

Also I can't agree with that last sentence at all, given that the scope of influence of the VU is so much greater. "Contribution to music" means more than just who had the best songs or who had the most hits. The VU have directly inspired so many disparate musicians in such different ways, many of whom hugely influential in their own right, so have effectively changed the course of contemporary rock music a number of times through the decades. Wonderful as the Beach Boys are, I don't think they can match that.

While you could argue that the Beach Boys have a greater body of work perhaps - that'd be a fair debate - the truth is that the world would be much more changed, more lacking, if the VU had never got together when they did than if the Wilsons had taken up other hobbies than music.

(But who cares, the VU won the poll and the rest of you got your opinions and arguments off your chest months ago)

User avatar
Brian Wilson
Posts: 2439
Joined: 18 Jan 2004, 15:40
Location: USA
Contact:

Re: Beach Boys vs Velvet Underground

Postby Brian Wilson » 04 Nov 2011, 03:04

The Beach Boys influenced the greatest band ever.

They win.

:lol:

But seriously, they've influenced a countless number of artists.
"I earned my famous name."

User avatar
Ghost of Harry Smith
Posts: 2550
Joined: 22 Jul 2003, 04:43
Location: shyddney, orstralia
Contact:

Re: Beach Boys vs Velvet Underground

Postby Ghost of Harry Smith » 04 Nov 2011, 04:35

Brian Wilson wrote:The Beach Boys influenced the greatest band ever.

They win.

:lol:

But seriously, they've influenced a countless number of artists.


Well some, but no not in the same way. I just don't see that the BBs changed the pop/rock game to the same degree.

Sure, Macca was bigtime inspired by 'God Only Knows' and Pet Sounds, but I don't think you could say that The Beatles career would have been completely different, or majorly lessened, without Brian W. And of course loads of kids started singing about surfing etc after hearing the Beach Boys' but there were others doing vocal surf pop too, so it's not like the genre, briefly popular as it was, couldn't have survived without them. Ornate melodies, dense production, massed intricately-arranged harmonies... these are characteristics of the Beach Boys but they aren't uniquely "owned" by them in pop (despite the lazy journalism that describes every band that use harmonies, like Animal Collective, as being like the BBs). Everybody likes the Beach Boys but few have changed their playing, their sound, their writing to be like them.

Contrast the Velvet Underground: Reed's songs attempted to fuse literature with rock music, when few had attempted the same; but while literate, they also embraced primitivism, noise, deconstruction; Cale's avant-garde/contemporary classical influences pulled them down a completely different path to their peers; the Warhol/EPI art rock elements were unique to the VU. The sound of the band, from Maureen's minimal drumming, to the guitarists' use of distortion and feedback, Cale's viola and drones, all of it was incomparable for a pop / rock band in 1965. All that and catchy tunes too!

Think about the branches of influence that come off these groups/singers, all of whom were changed by what they heard the VU doing: David Bowie, Brian Eno, Patti Smith, Blondie, Jesus & Mary Chain, Spacemen 3, Rolling Stones (see Jagger's comments about 'Stray Cat Blues'), Roxy Music, Throbbing Gristle, Television, Joy Division, REM, Yo La Tengo, Suicide, Depeche Mode, Big Star, Orange Juice and most Postcard-era stuff, Nick Cave and the Birthday Party, Jonathan Richman and the Modern Lovers, The Triffids, Cabaret Voltaire, The Clean and most Flying Nun bands, Talking Heads, Echo and the Bunnymen, Pere Ubu, The Smiths, Galaxie 500, The Feelies, Cat Power, The Go-Betweens, Belle & Sebastian and practically every band from Scotland except Alex Harvey and AWB ;) And you know the list could go on, and on, and on...


Return to “Classic Threads & Treasury of Mirth”