{"id":4906,"date":"2010-12-24T21:03:44","date_gmt":"2010-12-25T01:03:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/?p=4906"},"modified":"2010-12-29T12:32:51","modified_gmt":"2010-12-29T16:32:51","slug":"%e2%80%9cwhy-don%e2%80%99t-you-listen-to-the-beach-boys-anymore%e2%80%9d","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/%e2%80%9cwhy-don%e2%80%99t-you-listen-to-the-beach-boys-anymore%e2%80%9d\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cWhy don\u2019t you listen to the Beach Boys anymore?\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Not made for these times.<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cWhy don\u2019t you listen to the Beach Boys anymore?\u201d my wife asked me, as we watched an awkward,\u00a0white-suited, Brian-less lineup of the band play “Good Vibrations” on some “best of” the musical acts on The Ed Sullivan Show<\/em> that was playing on PBS. The question took me by surprise. In our 22 years together my wife, who’s appreciation of the Beach Boys<\/strong> can be described as “mild” and does not extend beyond that song and the two big songs off Pet Sounds<\/em> (“Wouldn’t It Be Nice” and “God Only Knows”), had never expressed concern for the well-being of my Beach Boys fandom.<\/p>\n

“You don’t listen to the Beach Boys anymore,” she continued, as I sat slightly stunned at this glaring lack of musical self-awareness.\u00a0“You used to listen to them all the time.”<\/p>\n

I guess I did. I remembered the early days of our relationship, when I’d spin Pet Sounds<\/em> frequently, often gracing (or so I thought) her return home from work with the album that I thought celebrated our love and gave her further insight, in case she was not certain, into just how sensitive I was. Side two headed downhill fast, but playing out this drama through spinning the album seemed kind of brave of me, like I was staring down another man’s failure while building off the best bits of Brian’s triumph of love.<\/p>\n

“You don’t like them now,” I looked up,\u00a0“do you?” As soon as that that question left my tongue I felt a little queasy, like she would take this opportunity to suggest we join a swingers’ scene.<\/p>\n

“No.”<\/p>\n

I was relieved and went back to contemplating\u00a0the full implications of her\u00a0question.<\/p>