Note: I have produced two special editions of Attack Of The Cover Versions honoring the passing of Sly Stone and Brian Wilson that you can listen to below.
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Well, time marches on as usual and not be curt or insensitive but our old pal Mr. Reaper has been busy. This week we see the passing to two huge icons of music and more specifically, icons of the 1960s and the west coast sound. Sly Stone of Sly and the Family Stone and Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys.
In the modern era it is hard to understand just what mountains these two geniuses were to music of the 60s, 70s, 80s, and 90s. I certainly did not understand it in the 90s as a teenager obsessed with “oldies radio”. They never stood out beyond just being acts from the 60s.
But I would come to learn that many of my favorite acts of the 80s/90s site both bands as huge influences and many acts of the that period such as Joan Jett and David Lee Roth covered their songs to varying effect. I remember recording the song, “Good Vibrations” of the radio onto a mixtape because Wherehouse music was not selling “oldies” on CD. So I had to acquire this music in more DIY ways. I remember being struck buy the harmonies on that song and that alien sound at the end that I would later learn was a Theremin. And I’m pretty sure Sly and the Family Stone, some of San Francisco’s hometown heroes, had some hits that had gotten downgraded to TV ads by the time I was hip to them. And their work was equally hard to locate on CD.
But Sly and the Family Stone was not just a San Francisco band, they defined west coast funk for almost a decade. And much like CA where we can’t leave a pizza well enough alone. Sly and Co. took funk and combined with rock and psychedelic elements to create new musical cuisine. They were also groundbreaking for being an act that had not only male and female members but female members who were not just backup singers. It was also one of a handful of mainstream hit makers that was an integrated band in the 60s. Something that sadly would become less common in the U.S. in the 70s to the present.
Sly made songs that were equally danceable but also strong in message. With Stand! being one of the peak Summer Of Love and later 60s albums. Songs like “Everyday People”, “Dance To The Music” and the soul standard, “Family Affair” that has been covered by many and sampled countless times by hip-hop in the 80s and 90s and beyond. One cannot overstate just how revolutionary it was to have a band that was this integrated making this many hits. From one of the all time greatest, songs of summer, “Hot Fun In The Summertime” to a song that I have claimed has of one the most iconic bass lines in all music, “Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)”, another song routinely sampled by hip-hop in the 90s and beyond.
By the 1969 they were so huge that Sly and the Family Stone performed at both the legendary Woodstock and summer Or soul Harlem Cultural Festival.
In the mid 70s drugs started to overtake the band and they would miss gigs or outright refuse to play and so they split with members going off and working with such icons and Leon Russell, Roxy Music, Graham Central Station, & Pink Floyd. In 1979 Sly Stone riding on a lackluster solo career was released from his contract from Epic who then put out 10 Years Too Soon an album featuring corporate assembly line disco versions of the early hits. But despite this faltering and inability to have comeback in the 80s he remained a musicians musician, respected by people as diverse as; Jeff Beck, Ray Manzarek, Bootsy Collins, and Ann Wilson among many mothers.
And again the catalog of The Family’s peak 60s work was a treasure trove for hip-hop samples. But through all of this was the troubled and mythological genius of Sly Stone. Who like Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys was the conductor orchestrating collaborating with other musical geniuses to create works that were greater than the sum of the parts. Works that defined a generation reeling from the effects of the Vietnam war, race riots, and the deaths of JFK, MLK, Malcolm X and others.
If Sly and The Family Stone defined west coast funk. The Beach Boys defined west coast pop, specifically that shimmering and clean LA sound. The Beach Boys could never have been born in any other state. I have argued that The Beach Boys are the best band to ever come out of California. I certainly think if we have a “state band” like we do a “state bird” it would be The Beach Boys. Starting in the early 60s The Beach Boys invented the surf-pop sound and arguably launched the surf craze that lead to all those teen idol beach movies.
And while they may have been pretty boys in a vast sea of pretty boys they elevated the standard teen idol material and summer songs to almost high art before The Beatles ever landed on U.S. soil. Just listen to songs like, “I Get Around”, “Surfer Girl”, “Be True To Your School”, and one of my favorites, “Don’t Worry Baby”. On the surface these songs seem simple but they had so much working in background that just wasn’t present in many of the assembly line products coming out of the Brill Building in New York even the studios of LA. And as a sucker for tight harmonies The Beach Boys may have the greatest of all time.
Gradually they evolved to more mature lyrical content releasing one the most iconic singles of the 1960s, the aforementioned, “Good Vibrations”. A brilliant piece of pop and rock construction top to bottom that mixed that west coast sunshine ethos with psychedelia that filled dance floors. But prior to that iconic single in 1966 the world saw the release of one of the seminal albums of all music, Pet Sounds. An album that was basically Brian Wilson orchestrating the session musicians The Wrecking Crew to create a sparkling lush west coast sound symphony of pop. This was pop not for teens but for adults. It was also an album that had the audacity on pop/rock record to slip in an old folk tune (Sloop John B) among all of Brian Wilson other musings. That single would become a huge hit and part of the soundtrack to the anti-war movement. Pet Sounds was labeled a Beach Boys record but it was all Brian Wilson composing and arranging and directing The Wrecking Crew to perfect his vision. And Wilson would only get more mystical on later outings. And like Sly Stone, Brian Wilson became this mythological troubled music genius.
The band would go through lineup changes throughout their career and like a lot of acts from the 60s would have a comeback with an overproduced piece of pop sugar in the 80s. A song called “Kokomo” (that Brain Wilson had not part in). And so it became easy to dismiss the previous material as simple pop of a bygone era. “Surfin’ Safari” & “Surfin’ U.S.A.” are fun little ditties for sure but there is a reason we remember these songs and The Beach Boys and Brian Wilson, while others have been forgotten to history.
It’s the same reason we remember the “Everyday People” and “Family Affair” because even if you don’t know the names, you know the songs. The music stands on it’s own. And these artists stand as two monumental examples of California’s, and by extension, the U.S.A.’s contribution to 20th Century music and beyond.
And in true DJ Bear fashion to show the impact of these two legends, I give you two sets of music showcasing the impact they had on others through some great cover versions.
Etta James – If You Want Me To Stay
Tina & Ike – I Wanna Take You Higher
Animals – I’m An Animal
Lonnie Smith – Stand!
Barry White – Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Again)
Telex – Dance To The Music
Spongehead – Don’t Call Me Nigger, Whitey
Jeff Buckley – Everyday People
Joan Osborne – Everybody Is A Star
Slay and the Family Stone – Family Affair
Shannon and the Clams – I Just Wasn’t Made For These Times
Saint Etienne – Wouldn’t It Be Nice
Architecture In Helsinki – Pet Sounds
Wall Of Voodoo – Do It Again
She & Him – Melt Away
Wilson Phillips – Good Vibrations
The Queers – Be True To Your School
Fuzzy – Girl Don’t Tell Me
Michael Carpenter & The Cuban Heels – Love And Mercy
Sugarpie & The Candymen – I Get Around
Lisa Mychols & SUPER 8 – Don’t Worry Baby
Los Lobos – Sail On Sailor
The Beach Boys – Caroline, No
FAVORITES OF SET:
Tina & Ike – I Wanna Take You Higher
Lonnie Smith – Stand!
Joan Osborne – Everybody Is A Star
Wall Of Voodoo – Do It Again
Saint Etienne – Wouldn’t It Be Nice
Wilson Phillips – Good Vibrations
The Queers – Be True To Your School
Los Lobos – Sail On Sailor
