The Beach Boys

Americana: Meet the 2013 RFT Music Award Nominees

The 2013 Riverfront Times Music Showcase is a week and a half away! Think of it as St. Louis Music's own official holiday, and consider this the season. Throughout May we at RFT Music have been working hard to make our cases for all 130 bands and artists nominated for a Music Award this year, introd ... More >>

Sixteen Songs Forever Ruined By Their Commercial Parodies

Most people who meet me learn within about thirty minutes that I'm in a state of constant agony. Not because of some sort of tragic childhood or traumatic physical ailment, but because I have television commercials circa 1987 to 2000 stuck in my head at all times. The word "bucket" triggers the song ... More >>

Ten Songs To Get Busy To On Valentine's Day

Tomorrow is Valentine's Day, one of the most polarizing of all holidays. Do you enjoy taking this day as a reminder to appreciate your loved ones and get romantic? Or are you annoyed by a manufactured holiday that brings out candy-coated bullshit and makes the lonely feel lonelier? Either way, we a ... More >>

Songs for the First Day of Summer

Ah, summer in St. Louis. A time for tank tops, sunscreen, cold beers sweating in koozies, frying at music festivals, hooking up with randoms, slapping mosquitoes, listening to a member of the Buck family narrate and -- if you're lucky -- not dodging too many stray bullets. Today is the first offici ... More >>

The Beach Boys' New Album Has Leaked; How Do I Be A Good Fan?

I saw it on the message board where I'd followed everything else, from the early interviews to the speculation over the song titles to the release of the 30-second Amazon and (more excitingly) 90-second iTunes samples, and where we'd argued for months over autotune in live performances and which vag ... More >>

Six Most Overused Rhymes

You've been there, listening to a song for the first time, hearing the word at the end of one lyric and thinking "please don't end the next line with (insert predictable rhyme here)." Of course, nine out of ten times, the internalized wish is futile. Nobody expects songwriters to reinvent the wheel ... More >>

The Six Worst Songs On Great Albums

Even on a quote-unquote perfect album, one song has to be inferior to the others, just as one song has to rule the roost. Such is the yin and yang of nature. Here are the six worst songs on the best albums. 6. Wilco - "Heavy Metal Drummer" from Yankee Hotel Foxtrot Heavy Metal Drummer by Wilco on ... More >>

Beach Boys Pull Out All the Stops for Reunion Tour, Including Enlisting John Stamos

When it comes to the ever-subjective exercise of ranking the greatest bands of all time, The Beatles tend to be the default number one. Number two varies: Some would pick an obvious choice like the Rolling Stones or Led Zepplin, while others would pick a less universally popular band with great infl ... More >>

Van Dyke Parks

8 p.m. Thursday, April 5. The Luminary Center for the Arts, 4900 Reber Place.

Van Dyke Parks on His Invisible Career, Surviving the '60s and the Role of the Beta Male

Van Dyke Parks doesn't give interviews; he speaks in pull-quotes and aphorisms. If Mark Twain and Dorothy Parker had spent their formative years among rock & roll royalty, as Parks did as an arranger, songwriter and singer, they might have viewed that world with the same big-hearted verbosity that P ... More >>

The Beach Boys' Maroon 5 Grammy Collaboration and Four Other Fan Indignities

Beach Boys fans are resilient, and they'll get over it. I want to begin there, because it's important to remember that the news that recently broke about the Beach Boys' reunion performance at the Grammys is no more than the fifth most embarrassing thing Beach Boys fans have had to deal with in the ... More >>

The Six Best Key Changes In Pop Music

The key change is an essential device in the pop canon. Play song, move chords and melody up a half step or so, continue in new key until otherwise noted. It's simple, really, and often effective, which is why it has been employed to the point of abuse. Here are the six best key changes in pop music ... More >>

Dr. Dog

8:30 p.m. Saturday, November 5. The Firebird, 2706 Olive Street.

You have Smile by the Beach Boys in your hand: What to do with the rest of your life

​1. Kill yourself. If you've already bought your copy of The Smile Sessions, the Beach Boys collection that gets us as close as we'll ever come to a complete version of the most famous lost album of all time, you've probably been waiting for it--it just came out November 1, after all. And if ... More >>

Too Hot To Live Winter Music Mix: Ten Songs To Lower Your Temperature

Refreshing! ​Finally, we seem to be on the other side of this week's bout of soul-shredding heat. Summer's all well and good, but the Beach Boys weren't singing about an endless summer where it feels like 115 degrees. Their summers were a good 30 degrees cooler than what we've been experiencin ... More >>

Headin’ Out to the Highway

Record Store Day 2011: Hot Sellers, Highlights from St. Louis

​As we have already mentioned, Record Store Day 2011 was a massive success, with a couple local stores suggesting it may have been their biggest sales day ever. Most places did plenty to give back to their rabid patrons, offering free food, beer, live music and local celebrity DJ sets througho ... More >>

Last Collector Standing: Kevin Buckley on His Record Label, Being "Done" with Grace Basement and Why Vinyl Persists

Jon Scorfina​Kevin Buckley is best known about town for playing in his rock outfit Grace Basement and playing as a solo artist performing traditional Irish folk music. For a time, he worked behind the scenes at Euclid Records, managing their online store, and now he runs his own label, Eastern ... More >>

Magic Kids/Bosco Delrey

9 p.m. Wednesday, November 17. The Firebird, 2706 Olive Street.

Last Collector Standing: Jaime Lees on Cyndi Lauper, Music Blogs and the Rarest Vinyl LP She Covets

The number of chain record stores nationwide has dwindled. However, St. Louis has become an unlikely safe haven for indie record shops as well as for DJs who prefer to spin the black circle instead of scrolling their iPods. In this weekly column, we'll focus on personal portraits of St. Louis' recor ... More >>

Best Coast's Bethany Cosentino evokes lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer

Harlem

8:30 p.m. Saturday, May 8. The Firebird, 2706 Olive Street.

Caption This: Rockabye Baby!, Lullaby Renditions of Journey

The Rockabye Baby!: Lullaby Renditions of... series is self-explanatory. Each release focuses on making tunes from one rock band palatable enough for the naptime set. Past volumes have featured Metallica, Tool, Beach Boys, Coldplay, the Pixies and the Beatles. However, the latest one to cross my des ... More >>

The Ten Worst Christmas Songs. Ever.

Wikimedia Commons​Before we get to the list, I want to make clear that this is not a Christmas-bashing article, but simply a piece listing ten Christmas songs that are so awful they should never be played again for any reason. I love Christmas, I love the season and I love the spirit -- and th ... More >>

Tonight! The King Khan & BBQ Show at Off Broadway

Do you get off on original rockers like Buddy Holly, Chuck Berry, and the Beach Boys? Do you also rock out to Repo Man-style '80s punk like Agnostic Front, the Circle Jerks, and Black Flag?If you answered yes to any of the above questions, you will be dragged into the streets and shot if you are not ... More >>

Road Trip: Brian Wilson in Springfield, Illinois, Thursday, October 22

All credit goes to Jaime for tipping me off to this show: Beach Boy Brian Wilson is kicking off his U.S. tour tomorrow night at the Sangamon Auditorium in Springfield, Illinois. Tickets are still available, believe it or not. Although Wilson just signed to DIsney Records and plans to record two sol ... More >>

Abe Vigoda

RFT Music Awards Nominees & Showcase Performers

The Beach Boys

7:30 p.m. Wednesday, May 13. Powell Symphony Hall, 718 North Grand Boulevard.

Second Spin: Captain & Tennille, Dream

Artist: Captain & Tennille Album: Dream From: Vintage Vinyl Year: 1978 Label: A&M Records What it sounds like: Jimmy Buffett The Beach Boys Barbra Streisand Elton John/Scissor Sisters Diana Ross = Captain & Tennille.

The Year 2008 in Band Names, by the Onion's A.V. Club

This is probably my favorite round-up of the year: The A.V. Club's list of funny, asinine, ridiculous, awesome or just plain terrible band names. The entire list is well worth perusing, but my favorites include the following sections: REWORKING PROPER NAMES & TRADEMARKSSega GenocideWeird Al Qaed ... More >>

Second Spin: REO Speedwagon, Nine Lives

Pitchfork: Fleet Foxes Review, Photos

WAR's Suspect Originality -- and Seven Other Bands Like It...

The Modern Skirts

Straylight Run

7 p.m. Friday, December 7. Creepy Crawl, 3524 Washington Boulevard.

Homespun

The Pubes: Peat Sounds (Roadhouse Tunes)

The Alice Rose

9 p.m. Wednesday, April 18. Off Broadway (3509 Lemp Avenue).

Apples in Stereo

9 p.m. Friday, March 2. Blueberry Hill's Duck Room (6504 Delmar Boulevard, University City).

The Futureheads

News and Tributes (Vagrant)

Dick Dale

Thursday, November 10; Cicero's (6691 Delmar Boulevard, University City)

The Orange Peels

Tuesday, August 23; Way Out Club (2525 South Jefferson Avenue)

Wolf Eyes

Burned Mind (Sub Pop)

Various Artists | Various Artists

The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement (Walt Disney Records) | Garden State (Epic)

Child's Play

Twenty-five years ago, an idealistic freak recorded Canadian children singing pop songs. Newly reissued, the CD is an underground hit.

Brian Wilson with Paul Simon

Sunday, July 1; Riverport Amphitheatre

Apples in Stereo, the Golden Spiderz and the Fantasy Four

Saturday, May 19; Rocket Bar

Local Time

Our intrepid columnist wades into the hometown product and comes up with some winners

Dressy Bessy

The California EP (kindercore)

Essex Green with Apples in Stereo and Tinhorn

Friday, May 12; Side Door