9. GOOD VIBRATIONS: Mike Love Not War
Pocket Symphony: A Beach Boys Podcast
Release Date: 08/20/2024
12. WOULDN’T IT BE NICE: Why Did We Make a Podcast About the Beach Boys?
Pocket Symphony: A Beach Boys Podcast
Dedicated to (1946 - 2024) "In a perfect world, things would end when every piece lines up perfectly, making us feel okay enough to let go. But in reality —as is the case with The Beach Boys— things go on for too long. We overstay our welcomes. And we learn to look back on the highs, even if we spend a lot of our lives experiencing the lows. This is one of those rare times where we get to choose how it ends. And as cliche as it sounds, I think we need to end this podcast the same way we started it. By answering the question: Why make a podcast about The Beach Boys?" And just like...
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11. SAIL ON SAILOR: The Lost Years
Pocket Symphony: A Beach Boys Podcast
"Of course there's the surf rock years and Pet Sounds and their resurgence in the '80s, but contrary to popular belief, the Beach Boys did not just disappear when Brian retreated into his bedroom after the failure of SMiLE. In fact, some of the most provocative work that the band has ever done was released during this time." The seventies were tough on everyone: Nixon was president, the country was years-deep into an increasingly unpopular war, and… the Beach Boys were barely hitting the Billboard 200 (priorities, am I right?). But just because they were no longer the chart-topping chads of...
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10. SURF’S UP: The Legend of Brian Wilson’s SMiLE
Pocket Symphony: A Beach Boys Podcast
"For all of its legendary reputation, the one thing that's always bothered me about the SMiLE story was the image that it left behind: Brian, the sole genius, left tortured by his gifts and completely alone, his tribute to America left unfinished. But he was never really alone, was he?" Goodbye Surfing, Hello God! SMiLE was supposed to be the magnum opus of its 24-year-old “genius” creator Brian Wilson. But by 1967, the planned album had been scrapped and Brian left shattered by the experience. To most, the album would be known more in whispers than actual music until Brian was finally...
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9. GOOD VIBRATIONS: Mike Love Not War
Pocket Symphony: A Beach Boys Podcast
“Mike sees the Beach Boys’ ability to play for Republican and Democratic presidents as key to their longevity, but as the country becomes more divided, it's their biggest weakness. It's the reason why the Mike and Brian wars were always bigger than each of them. They're just Hawaiian-shirt clad symbols in a wider schism in American culture, but they're also two sides of the same coin.” We’ve been tough on self-proclaimed “Antichrist” Michael Edward Love all season. Maybe it’s time to give the old man a chance. channels her inner Maharishi to guide on the path to...
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8. DISNEY GIRLS: Making a Nostalgia Band
Pocket Symphony: A Beach Boys Podcast
“While Disney’s California Adventure abandoned the Golden State, Mike Love is reconstructing California in his mind.” Fasten your seatbelts and hold on tight, because this slow-moving dark ride through the history of California has sudden stops, drops, facts, a looooot of fiction, and a rock-n-roll soundtrack to boot! takes on an unsanctioned tour through the history of California’s own “Disneyfication” and how that process affects our boys today (goodbye nuance, hello uncritical Disney+ documentary!!). Special guest (and theme park expert) takes us behind the curtain of...
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The Beach Gals are BACK!!!
Pocket Symphony: A Beach Boys Podcast
“Much like Brian, we’ve been through a tumultuous time period that challenged us emotionally, mentally, and creatively. Our unexpected hiatus was much needed, though — partially to get our ducks back in a row, and partially to create an air of mystery around our disappearance. Where did they go? Maybe we’ll never know…” You may have doubted us but we never doubted ourselves. After a three year (mostly unplanned) hiatus, we’re back to finish out the season! But before diving back into our feature film, let’s catch up on what we missed. The titular beach gals discuss why they...
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7. LOVE AND MERCY: Brian & Britney
Pocket Symphony: A Beach Boys Podcast
"Kind of wild that every major public update on Brian’s well-being occurs on the Beach Boys’ album cycle, almost like the capitalist desire to keep him working overrides the desire to keep him healthy. Makes you think, huh?" CW: This episode deals with the subject of physical and mental abuse. The movie LOVE & MERCY details some of that abuse, and those scenes will be recapped in this episode. It's our mid-season finale, and we finally tackle the elephant in the room — Brian's fraught relationship with Dr. Eugene Landy. In order to paint the picture more clearly, we've dug into years...
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6. I JUST WASN’T MADE FOR THESE TIMES: Pet Sounds & the Cult of the Uncool
Pocket Symphony: A Beach Boys Podcast
“Rolling Stone is no longer like 50 Cameron Crowes, extolling the ‘never to be experienced again’ majesty of the 70s rock age to anyone curious about music history.” Today, Pet Sounds is widely considered to be one of the greatest albums of all time, but it was met with a lukewarm response from American audiences. Since then, there have been many theories as to why: band infighting, bad marketing, or that it “just wasn’t made for these times.” The album would fall into relative obscurity until it was reclaimed in the 90s as the holy grail of hipsterdom by cool older sisters and...
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5. GOD ONLY KNOWS: Who Owns the Beach Boys' Legacy?
Pocket Symphony: A Beach Boys Podcast
“We’ve come a long way from Hawthorne, California, and now the Boys are handing over their literal likenesses to a company that’s willing to give them the Tupac treatment so that Mike Love can finally put the band to rest.” Oh no! The podcast has gone on so long that we’re now in the later, more commercial stages of our career! 2021 marks sixty years of the Beach Boys and ongoing efforts to capitalize on the band’s legacy, even if that means… a future hologram tour? takes on a wild ride of “God Only Knows” covers that tell the commercial history of the band and the many...
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4. (OH!) DARLIN’: The Beach Boys vs. The Beatles
Pocket Symphony: A Beach Boys Podcast
“Resurrected like some Hawaiian shirt-clad phoenix every ten years or so, the Beach Boys became the act as synonymous to boomer nostalgia as the Beatles are to youth counterculture.” As soon as Beatlemania hit US airwaves, the Beach Boys were pitted against the mop-topped Fab Four… even though the Beach Boys formed first. Throughout the early 60s, the bands exchanged iconic albums like knock-out punches, with each release forcing the opposing group back to the studio to prepare for the next round. The rivalry between the Beach Boys and the Beatles gave us some of the most iconic music of...
info_outline“Mike sees the Beach Boys’ ability to play for Republican and Democratic presidents as key to their longevity, but as the country becomes more divided, it's their biggest weakness. It's the reason why the Mike and Brian wars were always bigger than each of them. They're just Hawaiian-shirt clad symbols in a wider schism in American culture, but they're also two sides of the same coin.”
We’ve been tough on self-proclaimed “Antichrist” Michael Edward Love all season. Maybe it’s time to give the old man a chance. Krista channels her inner Maharishi to guide Rosie on the path to enlightenment… a deep dive into the mind of her fellow Pisces, from his beginnings as sheet metal nepotism to his role as the money-minded frontman of America’s ultimate family band. At last, we’ve come to unleash the LOVE (pun always intended). Krista imagines which Transcendental Meditation retreats a young Mike Love would’ve shilled for if Instagram had existed in the 60s and Rosie goes deep on Beach Boys reddit to seek out other fans of “California Saga (Big Sur).” Both hosts agree that “Well, piss on you, Banana. I like it” is the standout quote of LOVE & MERCY.
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