Beach Boys

I've been spinning records for 88.1 KWVA FM in Eugene lately. Every friday morning, from 4 a.m. to 6 a.m. I pick a random selection of tracks from the stations collection and mine and run through the music. Every friday they have a show called "One Hour, One Band." It's a chance for DJ's to spin whatever they want for a while, and I decided to take on one of my favorite bands of all time: The Beach Boys.

Now wait! Don't run away yet! I've got to defend this band just a little bit here. They're more than those guys that sang about surfing and girls from california. In fact after a couple years of drug abuse and declining record sales they turned into a very introspective and thoughtful band. After 1966 (enter LSD abuse) they almost completely stopped singing about surfing at all. editors note... the staff of Discord/Harmony does not recommend in anyway musicians use LSD or other drugs to facilitate the music writing and recording process. Brian Wilson, we will note, turned into a reclusive nutjob after doing so despite making some freaking awesome music.

From 1966 to 1975 (ish) the Beach Boys cranked out some amazing music, and a few of their highlights are songs about spreading music throughout the world. The music is incredibly inspiring, and well suited to their distinctive vocal harmony styles.

My day started at 4 a.m. to do my radio show. I was dreading today before I fell asleep. My mind said "Aaron, you've got not enough sleep coming your way and too much work to do afterwards. It's gonna suck, but you just have to get through it." 3:30 a.m. my alarm clock goes off. 4:05 a.m. I'm running into the radio station, late. My day continued full of work of various kinds for another 22 hours (well, there were a few social hours in there, but there was still a decided lack of sleep). But with a one hour block in my day dedicated to sitting and listening to beautiful harmonies with sincere and thoughtful lyrics I made it through it all.

Maybe it sounds a little sentimental, but I don't just listen to music like the Beach Boys because I find it interesting, or because of the stories that go behind the music (of which there are many) but more than anything because I get a warm gooey feeling inside me when I listen to certain songs. Sometime give a listen to Brian Wilson's masterpiece, his greatest work EVER "Surf's Up." This song I remind you, is not a dumb surfing song, and the lyrics are about as cryptic as they come. This music Mr. Wilson has given us is, to me, as spiritual as the most revered sacred text. It hits something deep in my core.