This is the end of the Bee Gees , the Supremes and those others, too. At least we still have the Beach Boys and Bill Haley’s Comets.
That’s an odd comment. How many Beach Boys are there, and “Bill Haley’s Comets” - just who are they without Bill Haley?
Paul died.
...And Little Richard...
Death of Disco?
Sorry, half of the band is long dead. Although, Mike Love and Bruce Johnston made up a large part of the sound (Carl is still there also), Brian Wilson (the composer) is a zombie. The poor guy went mental back in the late 60's and never recovered. He shows up on Letterman or Leno sometimes and makes me sad to look at him. After decades, Brian finally finished his "Pet Sounds" remix and released it as "Smiles". Although better studio mix of same songs with some additional instrumentation, I don't think it's better than the original "Pet Sounds" tracks.
The poor guy spent his life trying to make that one album sound better. It was already a masterpiece, but poor obsessive Brian thought for decades that he could do better with the same songs. Listen to the original "Good Vibrations" as compared to the "Smile" version. Yes, it's longer, but to me, doesn't work as well.
I always thought it was like Led Zepplin trying to improve on any of their masterpieces.
I grew up with those guys in Hawthorne, CA. I surfed the very spot that Dennis Wilson (drummer) surfed in Redondo Beach (breakwater). He was the only surfer of the band. I talked to him one day at the the old abandoned Biltmore Hotel at 13th street in Hermosa Beach (my surf turf).
We were talking about Dick Dale or the Ventures or the Safaris or some other surf band playing there. Too far back to remember, but I do recall it was Dennis. Think he had a Jacobs or Dewey Webber surfboard. I had a 8'10' Bing surfboard back in the days of the long boards. When I started surfing again later while in the Navy and living in Imperial Beach, I had a 7'3" board. Even that is large for nowaday rippers.
What a privilege to grow up with the Beach Boys and hear their harmonies. They were an early soundtrack to my life before Motown and later, hard rock.