Bonus Video: The Beach Boys Disney+ Documentary — Review
Added 2025-12-31 05:26:49 +0000 UTCHappy New Year everybody!
We're closing the year out with a long-requested video which is my review of The Beach Boys 2024 documentary on Disney+.
Hope you all enjoy and have a safe and happy end to 2025,
E.
Comments
Man I wish this was public honestly! I know it’s not too serious, but it still scares me how Mike keeps clinging to ruining the legacy of an already poor beaten down horse. I know we already have the beautiful love and mercy to help keep Brians true nature connected with the right people from the newer generations, but this really could have been big for them! But they fucked it all up with their horrific pride and ego!
Mister acidic
2026-01-29 06:14:46 +0000 UTCI have to disagree with a lot of your conclusions. The Beach Boys are a ‘60s band, but also not really. Their image has much more in common with the American High of the 1950s. An image that was never true to begin with and would ultimately lead to their downfall. The 1960s as a decade had the most rampant social change in American and British history. When people think of the 1960s, they usually think of the hippie movement from 1967–1969. The Beach Boys helped to usher in that change, but they failed to be a part of it. And that can be entirely attributed to the cancellation of SMiLE and consequently pulling out of the Monterey Pop Festival at the last minute. That was their ticket into the biggest pop culture movement of the 20th century, but they blew it. No matter how well or how poorly you think SMiLE would’ve sold, putting it out there would’ve been FAR better for them in the long run. It would’ve kept them in the cultural conversation and shown the world that they were capable of so much more. And they could never bounce back with Brian losing his creative ambition after his dream was shattered. Also, Mike didn’t cash in on the nostalgia too late, he cashed in too early! They were already a legacy act LONG before Summer in Paradise. 15 Big Ones was the moment they gave up on being artists. It was roughly only 10 years after they first began. Nostalgia is for 20 years ago, not 10. If they had waited until the ‘80s to get back to their summer fun roots, it would be more understandable.
Brendan J. Smith
2026-01-20 16:18:54 +0000 UTCMy problem with any attempt at doing a Beach Boys history is that it is beset by a person having to choose one of two sides: Brian or Mike. Brian's side, which holds that Mike was a talentless hack who contributed nothing to the band and is the biggest villain of their history. And that Brian did not contribute to the growing strife in the group due to him going off on his own thing and then forcing the band to tag along. Mike's side maintains that Mike was always supportive of Brian's work and never was a malcontent. Also, Brian would never have done anything without the rest of the band. I think that the truth is much more in the middle. Brian was a genius, but he did receive a lot of help that people love to downplay. Both Mike's and Van Dyke's contributions have only recently been fully acknowledged in the band's history, with Mike receiving songwriting credit for many songs and Van Dyke receiving full appreciation for his work on Smile. However, Mike was a malcontent who objected to the way Brian was going musically, starting with Pet Sounds. Telling the story that way would piss off Mike, as it does paint a complicated picture of him. But it would also piss off Brian stans who see him as a lone genius in the group and conveniently ignore the recording of Smile, in which Brian has written a bunch of songs with Parks without the knowledge of the rest of the group, forcing the band to record what was basically a Brian solo project. And to your point about why the Beach Boys suddenly fell off in cultural relevance after Smile. I think the biggest reason is that the Sixties were over, and, like most artists and bands of all eras, the Beach Boys could not weather the shifting cultural and musical tides. Only a select few artists or bands, like Paul, have remained culturally relevant throughout their entire careers. Mike understood this and believed that if he could just keep the band earning money, it could reemerge later, once nostalgia set in. Thus, the endless touring that kept the band financially solvent until the late 80s, when they reemerged with the rest of the Sixties acts that were still alive and together. Unfortunately for Mike, he cashed in the nostalgia chips too late and released the awful "Summer in Paradise," which sent The Beach Boys off to the land of legacy acts.
Drew Engel
2026-01-08 21:48:24 +0000 UTCmike love always at the scene of the crime
ovidiomedes
2025-12-31 18:23:57 +0000 UTCOf course the Mike Love-approved documentary would have genAI in it. He always was anti-creativity. Happy New Year, Elliot!
Mikaela Thorn
2025-12-31 16:46:13 +0000 UTC
