Five stars before they started taking drugs and Brian Wilson turned into a studio guru who couldn't perform in public. Their up to Good Vibrations is the best pop music of the 1960's.
The albums after that were self indulgent and not especially good. A few good hits from each decade to follow were about it. All the so called concerts have been little more than State Fair level performances. Carl Wison had a wonderful hit "God Only Knows" which was excellent, and contrary to other reviewers Dennis Wilson (the drummer) was not the genius behind The Beachboys, it was Brian Wilson.

This band continues to practice the "Lost Youth and Greed" tour..year after year. "Pet Sounds" is incredible...but they really need to enjoy the record royalties and move to the Bahamas.

One of my first concerts was seeing the Beach Boys at the NY State Fair w/my dad. I'm giving it 2 stars because I don't remember too much about the concert except the old women dancing.

The early music was fun, if juvenile, and some of the mid-period songs were mature and quite affecting (especially "In My Room"), if a tad pretentious, but the problem with this band is they've hung in there for 35 years after their prime shelf life expired.  They should bill themselves these days as "The Beach Wanks," or "The Beach Codgers."  Of course, two essential original members have joined The Big Kahuna In The Sky, and Dennis Wilson, the creative genius behind the outfit, has been seriously crispy for three decades now.  They were just adequate musicians, and they're overrated as singers.  And, they were quite fortunate in having quite a few prime L.A.-based studio musicians (Lyle Ritz, Glen Campbell, Hal Blaine) play on their records.  This explains why they always sounded so lame when they went out on tour.

I wasn't around during their heyday, but I was always inundated with Beach Boys music and I still listen to it whenever I'm driving up and down the coast here in California. I'm a California boy, and I'm not ashamed to say love listening to the Beach Boys (especially to hits such as 'God Only Knows', 'Don't Worry, Baby' and 'California Girls'). The Beach Boys are one of the legendary groups of all-time, and helped define rock in the 1960's.

This group probably supplied more feel-good songs than any other artist. The title "Fun Fun Fun" says it all. Of course, as with many artists, there was the flip side: The deaths of both Dennis and Carl Wilson, the battle that Brian Wilson had with his inner demons for many years. But he still created some wonderful music that has stood the test of time. "I Get Around", "Wouldn't It Be Nice?", "God Only Knows". The last song I mentioned is used at the end of the movie, "Love, Actually." I can't think of another song that would have worked as well.

These guys have their following. . .they have their apoligists. . .but I second the notion that their songs sound too similar.  Give them respect for "Pet Sounds" - an important album in rock, but I just could never get into these guys. . .

Please! No wimp rock....

I know they're revered as a classic, groundbreaking group, but I could never get into them, and gave up trying long before I left high school. To me, they were blandness personified. They always seemed like one of those cartoon musical groups you see on quirky TV-shows or cartoons like "The Flintstones" or "The Munsters"...only less compelling. Maybe if I had grown up in California, songs about surfin' and ridin' T-birds or bein' true to your school would have appealed to me. One of the few reasons, I suppose, I can be thankful I grew up in the NY-NJ area. I would be mildly interested in hearing the song Charles Manson supposedly wrote for them and which appears on the B-side of one of their singles. Manson apparently wrote it as a call to revolution; the record producers changed the lyrics around so that it was released as a more conventional, sappy love song. By most accounts, Manson was enraged and there's been some speculation that this was a leading cause of the Tate murders. Considering the quality of the Manson songs I've been unfortunate enough to have heard, the Beach Boys version is surely an improvement.

Different time, different era. The masters at what they did and a couple of their tunes like "Sloop John B" are pretty good. The surviving member that got up at the Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame induction ceremony several years ago, (correct me if I am wrong but I think it was Mike Love) and proceeded to use the whole thing as a platform to start childishly nyah-nyahing The Beatles and Stones and whoever else he felt like badmouthing struck me as being really immature and like some poor kid that didn't get picked for a team in the schoolyard until last. At least The Sex Pistols just didn't even show up.

Their early stripey shirts, mop tops and surf songs era was so annoyingly freshfaced and clean they made The Monkees come look like some depraved Finnish black metal combo. Besides, songs like Little Deuce Coupe, Fun fun fun and Surfin safari are both twee and formulaic. Fortunately, with drugs, booze and Brian Wilson going off his rocker they got a whole lot more interesting and made some classics e.g Sloop John B, Good vibrations and I can hear music.

Easy listening at its worst

Not even the sunniest day on the most glorious beach in the world could make me want to listen to this.

Even Sir Paul McCartney said that if it weren't for the Beach Boys' "Pet Sounds" album, there would not have been a "Sgt. Pepper's". Brian Wilson was a genius and ahead of his time.

While not my all time favorite, for the California beach sound, there was none better. If you have a beach theme party or just need some sunshine, you can't be without the Beach Boys.

Yes they lack testosterone, but they were great singers. 4 stars for Brian Wilson.

Underrated. Magnificent harmonies

They can sing, but they're lacking two things, rock & roll. This band is too perky and innocent. I'd bet they went to church before their concerts.

Brian Wilson is a musical genius

These guys rock!

You got that right Genghis. You said almost word for word, what I was going to say. I'm glad I looked.

You gotta be old enough to love that California Sound that just started in 1960 or 61. The Surfaris and Jan and Dean and others were also on the scene. It was great!

I have always enjoyed listening to the Beach Boys. When I feel like hearing some 1960s music, the Beach Boys is one of the groups I put on our CD player. they have a good blend of voices. I have my own personnal favorites of their music, Wouldn't it be nice?, FUn fun fun, Good Vibrations, and one of the later songs Kokomo.I think their music is so much a part of the 60s.

Brian Wilson is a musical genius, a rock composer on the level of Lennon/McCartney status, Pet Sounds and the new release of the long delayed Smile prove this. here's the problem. Brian Wilson was one fifth of a band. the rest of the guys, especially that leech, Mike Love, harmonious though they were, were no match for Brian's talent. they couldn't comprehend it and they didn't like it. so what you get is a mixed bag of brilliant teenage symphonies mixed w/slight pop songs that overall make the Beach Boys a singles band with a few choice albums, despite what your local indie-rocker or hipster tells you. and this is coming from a guy who thinks the world of Brian Wilson. albums to get: Pet Sounds, Sunflower, and get Brian's SMILE cd.

Absoultely one of the best groups of all time. Innocent, good-natured, upbeat songs with great vocals and instruments. Some of their best works include Kokomo, I Can Hear Music, and Good Vibrations. Their version of Peggy Sue is also better than the Buddy Holly original. Lives on with style through the solo efforts of Brian Wilson.

They deserve less than one star

Five stars for Pet Sounds and most of their output afterwards (with the possible exceptions of their version of Rock n Roll Music and Kokomo). Three stars for their more popular girls, cars, surf hits. Brian Wilson was a genius. And his brothers Dennis and Carl put down some wonderful tracks too when Brian was just too out of it in the late '60s/early '70s. Surfs Up, Holland and Sunflower are stellar records.

The Beach Boys rock! Their music is excellent sfalconer finally likes a good group and StanUzbeck doesn't

If Elvis was the King of Rock N Roll then the Beach Boys were the Crown Princes. They had a great sound and range. The Wilson brothers were awsome and it is amazing that the band in one form or another is still performing today after all the tragedies.

How could anybody not like the Beach Boys? Their harmonies were impressive. Those men could sing! And their songs harken back to a more innocent time.

NOBODY CAN FORGET THE BEACH BOYS. THEY LIRERALLY GAVE BIRTH TO A NEW TYPE OF MUSIC WITH THEIR "BEACHY" SONGS.

Brian Wilson had an immeasurable talent for melody and arrangement, but that doesn't change the fact that these guys were basically a tripped-out barbershop quartet. They had great voices but I hate their music, so they get two stars.

my grade four teacher was obsessed with them and all we lsitened to while we worked or in gym class while we ran laps was the damn beach boys. i think i am scarred for life!

They were the group that everyone followed, Brian Wilson is a true genius, and deserves respect

Who could possibly love this group? They had to have been some of the worst role models there were during their reign. UGH ! A bunch of dopers, drunks, and outright trash. AND don't even get me started on the crappy music. It makes me wince when I hear anything of theirs on the radio to this day...bleah.

I don't own any of this or listen to it frequently at all, but it's pretty catchy stuff.

very much overlooked produced a great sound.

The Beach Boys are delightful! Their music makes a person feel good! Love 'em!

The reason that the Beach Boys are even a category in this "Rate It" site is BRIAN WILSON. Brian Wilson is, in my humble opinion, one of the greatest songwriters and producers of all time. The rest of the Beach Boys should consider themselves lucky to have been associated with him.

the Beach Boys are great.

It's 2003 and The Beach Boys still sound fresh. One of the marks of great music is how well it holds up. "Pet Sounds" is one of the greatest albums of all time. It's like fine wine, it gets better ever year.

white poeple insist on claiming some type of influence on rock and roll. if this is it, well...whatever.

In many ways, I believe that the list on this site is, well, pathetic. It's mostly because we've got a lot of young-ins (I'm 13 years old myself) who don't know the difference between an older influential band that brought many new and ingenious things into the world, and a modern one that has sadly not accomplished much. On my list, they are full-fledged top ten band material. If you don't believe me, take a listening to Pet Sounds. These guys just rock.

Brian Wilson was and probably still is, a genius.

Their music makes you feel good, and there's nothing wrong with that.

I think Pet Sounds is one of the greatest LP's of all time.

Even though some people don't take them seriously, they had more influence on rock music than they get credit for. They were also one of the few rock bands producing music in America before the British Invasion.

Even though I only know a few songs, they are classics.

I wasn't alive in 62!

Great song writting.