Wednesday, March 26, 2008

GOING TO COURT IS NO DAY AT THE BEACH, BOYS!

You may have seen the announcement in the paper or online a few days ago, but if not, let me quickly inform you that former members of The Beach Boys have finally settled their on-going lawsuit without having to go to trial. I know, I felt the same rush of relief you did… For 5 long years they have been legally jousting over who gets to use the name Beach Boys as they tour in various combinations of former members and other musicians, giving news reporters a chance for some really dumb, predictable puns: “Beach Boys Lawsuit Could End Good Vibrations” and “Wouldn’t It Be Nice to End the Lawsuit.” Now, everything has been settled and the boys won't have to get their lawyers to beat up on each other for God Only Knows how long. (hey, dumb and predictable is contagious). So now they have figured out who gets to officially and legally use The Beach Boys when they perform. I really don’t know how I feel about that. Oh, I don’t mean the name usage thing. That’s all about money, and not being a former BB myself, I don’t have to care about that. I mean the sound. Nothing will ever really reproduce the total sound of the group in its glory days of the 60s. If I were to attend a concert by any of the aforementioned combinations touring today, I would just be going for a little piece of the history. Not that the music wouldn’t be good; I’m sure it would. It's..it's…just not the same. Though I’m a huge Beach Boys fan, I never saw them live, and that’s my unfortunate loss. But all’s well that ends well. At least I have plenty of CDs, a couple of DVDs, and a few old records, too. And the Beach Boys have no doubt done that shake-hands-with-a-one-shoulder-clasp, also known as the “man hug.” And now everyone can be Friends again…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tEDEu25XqUc

Lyrics included in the About This Video dropdown; they're worth checking out.

4 comments:

primecath said...

Life just gets better when you take the money out of all issues. It is the music, the history, the waves.

Deborah Godin said...

I think there's a lot of superannuated beach bums out there who would totally agree with you!

LK Hunsaker said...

The Bay City Rollers have been going through the same for years ... well, theirs was settled, also. But really, can't they just say, "Brian Wilson (etc)formerly of the Beach Boys"? It's not really the Beach Boys when they're split no matter who is fronting. Or as the Rollers did: Brian Wilson's Beach Boys, etc.

Deborah Godin said...

Amen to that! Simple is almost always better...