Wouldn’t It Be Nice
The Beach Boys
1976

I’m going to go out on a bit of a limb and call The Beach Boys the most underrated band ever.  Or at least one of them.  Sure, they were huge.  But I think when most people think about The Beach Boys, they think about all the two-minute surfing songs.  For a long time I just associated them with Teen Wolf.

The reality is, this band had serious talent but were overshadowed by the lads from Liverpool and were never quite able to catch up after The Beatles released Revolver.  We recently watched, and loved, Love and Mercy, the Brian Wilson biopic, that really details Wilson’s genius in creating Pet Sounds and his lifelong struggle with mental illness (highly recommend this one).

It got tricky picking which song to select for the Top 100, but I went with the opening track to Pet Sounds over its excellent B-side, God Only Knows.  Both of these songs are amazing and you can’t really go wrong with either.  I’m also partial to In My Room and a few others.  But as for this one, there’s so much going on here that was so revolutionary for 1966.  The instruments.  The rhythm, and especially the harmonies (which apparently took forever to get right).  Songwriting brilliance.  And an instant panacea for turning a bad day into a good one.

Other Songs Considered:
God Only Knows, In My Room, Surfer Girl, Good Vibrations, California Girls