Don't miss Matt Welch's brilliant post on the Beach Boys and the California dream. (As so often in the blogosphere, the comments are far more interesting and well-written than the flimsy matter being commented upon-- in this case this book review.) I'm always amused whenever writers bring up the "ripping off Chuck Berry riffs" cliche-- it happens regularly in music writing, particularly from writers who know nothing about music. Anyone who thinks that noting that kind of "rip-off" is some sort of devastating indictment has never played guitar in a rock band. You play the E and the B string together. It sounds sort of like Chuck. It's supposed to. That's what rock and roll is. (If you're brilliant and tortured like Brian you can do other stuff too-- but it's not required.)
I knew Welch had to be a fellow Beach Boys fan; all the best people are, you know...
Posted by Dr. Frank at May 20, 2002 10:18 AM | TrackBack