Beach Boys - signature song?

Yep! the song has become a musical standard beyond it's original favourite status among fans.
So many people have covered it in different shapes and forms. It's a perfect composition in my eyes.
Well tributed too in this recent production:

 

Yes but on God Only Knows do we know who is singing the "Ahhhs"?

 

62-63: surfer girl, surfin safari,little deuce couple
64-65: fun fun fun, i get around,dont worry baby, please let me wonder, california girls
66-68:wouldnt be nice, god only knows, good vibrations
69-73: surfs up, forever, do it again
76-80:good timing, come and go with me, solar sister
85-2012:thats why god made the radio,kokomo, and that 85 hit that have video clip.

 

When I think of The Beach Boys, I think of a song that paints a musical picture in my mind and describes what was going on with "the scene" at that time.
Even though to someone like myself not living on "The Left Coast" that scene was hard to fathom.
A song that is from their early period, is uptempo and, if you've ever attended one of their concerts, will be stuck in your head long after you've left the concert.
Ergo... "Fun, Fun, Fun".

 

Outside of their fan base, I don’t think Surf’s Up is all that wellknown.

 

Absolutely! one of the best, but Yep, not 'That' well known.

 

Exactly. And I would say with little to no doubt that the general public immediately thinks of the "surfing era" Beach Boys. Before I got into them that was certainly me. I would pick something like Surfin' USA or I Get Around.

 

This.

 

God only knows.

 

"I Get Around". The amount of harmonic invention that we get in the first thirty seconds of that song alone is simply breathtaking. "Good Vibrations" would also be a strong contender.

 

Exactly. If we're going on casual fans that can name only 1 BB song.

Darryl

 

I think most could name CG whether old or young

 

Good Vibrations

 

Good Vibes and/or Cal Girls

 

The first song that came to mind...."Good Vibrations"

There ya go!

 

The Beach Boys, from my perspective of being born in 1972, didn't seem get their due as a creative force until the CD era.
I actually think Rolling Stone, at its inception, giving them the short-shrift, hurt them.
Holland album got accolades in the mag when the album was released but for years prior to that Wilson's talent was downplayed, even mocked!........co-founder Ralph Gleason, in 1968, referred to Wilson as the "logical extension of Pat Boone and Ricky Nelson"......which is also unfair to Nelson (who STILL doesn't get his due).

I know folks who were kids in the 60s (hell, even a lady who played with the Wilsons when she was a kid!----she was on the other side of the tracks) whose knowledge of the band seems to stop after Wouldn't It Be Nice (which many parents would not allow their kids to play because it was considered immoral to fantasize about 'living together').

It blew my mind in the late 80s to learn that Pet Sound's was the predecessor to Pepper or that Rubber Soul inspired Pet Sounds. The Beach Boys were almost a novelty act to me.......the soundtrack for Sunkist commercials.

I know there's an interview with Lennon where he says Pepper wasn't as developed as Pet Sounds (and by the mid-70s it was beginning to get its due)........but it seems like it was a very gradual process where this record took about 20 years before being widely held up as a classic.

In light of all this, I can't pin a signature tune on them........it's a reminder for me of how for many years their vast influence was downplayed (partly self-inflicted by Wilson's malaise for sure), at least from my perspective. On the other hand, uncovering all those late 60s gems was fun as hell!

 

Your picks are beach themed and in that regard I think they’r very appropriate. After all they’re The Beach Boys!

 

Good Vibrations is The Beach Boys signature song, whether or not it is their absolute best.

 

Gotta have California Girls in there but unlike your list

 

Murray’s would be Breakaway.

 

Based on what song gets the biggest reaction at the Love/Johnston BB concerts and IIRC at the 2012 50th anniversary show, it was Kokomo

 

I'm less than 30 and I got into The Beach Boys only recently. Before that, if you had asked me three tunes I associated The Beach Boys with I would have answered "Barbara Ann", "God Only Knows" and "Good Vibrations".

Slightly off topic, I was also familiar with "In My Room" because of Danny Gatton's excellent cover:

 

I'd go with "California Girls." Aside from being a beautiful record, it represents the sweet spot where Brian Wilson was really feeling his oats as a writer and arranger, but hadn't yet gone around the bend emotionally.

 

I think there is confusion on these threads---the distinction between a song most identified with an artist as opposed to the pinnacle of their work. For me, signature connotes the song most closely identified with an artist. Among a broad cross-section of people men & women and let's just say 18+, if someone didn't know who the Beach Boys are you'd have the best shot at jogging their memory by saying "You know, Good Vibrations!"

My daughter, aged 35 knows who they are and might be able to name a couple of song titles even though the BBs were played around the house while she was growing up. Her husband, also 35, may not have even heard of them and I seriously doubt he could identify any of their songs even if you played him a sample. Doesn't mean the music isn't wonderful or important, but for a number of factors their profile isn't as high as some of their contemporaries like the Stones & The Beatles.

 

To the common radio listener or common fan (the one who thinks that the Mike Love-led BB's touring show is actually the Beach Boys that they heard on all of the records), I would think that California Girls or Fun, Fun, Fun would be their signature song.

Meanwhile, let's enjoy probably their best performance of I Get Around. It's like an early Ramones blueprint. And before you say Mike Love looks like a ***** dancing, listen to the way the girls go nuts when he starts to get down. This is perfection.