The Beatles vs. The Beach Boys

[wesbonifay]

My friend and I have been arguing about the Beatles vs. the Beach Boys for over a week now. This debate has offered many great quotes, such as "The Beatles can suck my dick! I'll sell all of their albums right now!". It even crossed over to the basketball court, where we were on opposite teams and started singing Beatles and Beach Boys songs at each other.

So what do you guys think? Who's better, the Beach Boys or the Beatles?

[housepig]

I'll side with the Beatles. I can appreciate the Beach Boys from a variety of standpoints, as a musician and as a recordist, but the songs have never gripped me like the Beatles.

- housepig

[Rick Hunter]

The beatles have better songs, but nobody is as cool as brian wilson.

[jrsgodfrey]

First of all, that's 5 on 4, which ain't fair. And if you add in George Martin to even it out, ya gotta add in Murray, who, we all know, was a lot meaner.

[evan]

I'd say it's impossible to separate the two. Their existences played off of one another - for instance, Rubber Soul influenced Pet Sounds, which in turn influenced Sgt. Pepper's - and both of their sounds were so classic and prolific that it would be unfair to the other to say one were more important.

[CDSager]

The Beatles will always be in a class by themselves. no one else has ever sounded liek them or ever will. The beach boys had one maybe 2 good albums. pet sounds is sweet and smile is out of this world. but other than that the beach boys catalouge is really rather bland. On the other hand, the beatles are timless and they had a bunch of great albums. i dont know about voting on which band is better becasue that is a loaded question, but time will definitly show that no one can touch the beatles.


Rock and Roll

[housepig]

First of all, that's 5 on 4, which ain't fair.

oh, I think (with the exception of Brian Wilson) that any Beatle is worth a Beach Boy-and-a-half, at least... even Ringo.

slightly off topic - anyone familiar with the Theremin documentary, and the spazzed-out rant from Brian Wilson therein? If you haven't seen it, you ought to, his bit is worth renting the movie.

- housepig

[bobbydj]

I've seen that! Haha - Bri obviously was wrecked on peyote, LSD25, PCP and Angel Dust, then went meddling with a Theremin. The thing nicked his brain and left FEAR behind. Pisser! The Theremin went like this on his mind, leaving him looking like this .

Anyway, I think the Beach Boys are better at 'pop' (God Only Knows being a high point), while the Beatles are better at 'rock' (Tomorrow Never Knows being the best there).

[wardshorsehead]

My .02?

I'm broke...

I love certain things about both of them. If song writing were to be the sole deciding factor, I'd probably be on board with the Beatles...

But Pet Sounds sounds so awsome...

I'll say at their respective worst, both can put out some damn cheese-ola...but at there best...

Can't vote I guess.

Frank

[wing]

i like both, can't really seperate one as a favorite... but i'd say i enjoy and love more beatles songs. but i myself have found more interesting music spring out of influence from beach boys.

[chemicalpink]

weigh all the drugs they did and multiply that by pie squared plus
the sex off all +ringo x emc2=cool

[Rob Christensen]

I've got a friend who, when it come's to 60s bands, is only into the Beatles. He thinks they were the be-all and end-all. He doesn't get it when I say, "The Beatles were great, but they didn't do Gimme Shelter, Good Vibrations, or Waterloo Sunset." I love the Beatles, but no one band did it all. I love the Beach Boys, Who, Stones, and Kinks, too, and there's no way I can choose between them and say who's "best."

Okay, I vote Beatles because they got out before they could screw up too badly, unlike any of the other named bands.

[evan]

Of course, what about the Velvets?

[wesbonifay]

I just had to add the Beach Boys vs. Beatles quote of the night: "Yeah, she's cute...she has a really pretty face. But she likes "Kokomo" man..."