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Chris "SparkGuy" Downie regularly writes blogs on his personal SparkPage and it's about time we start sharing them on the main SparkPeople blog! Chris really cares about helping people reach their goals, and his blogs are another way he stays connected to members. Within these blogs, you'll find highlights from Chris's day, his thoughts on various health and motivational topics, and announcements about new activities and lessons on his Small Goals Commitment Challenge. We hope you enjoy! This is Part Two of a blog series from SparkPeople founder, Chris "SparkGuy" Downie. You can read Part One here. After the Beatles released "Rubber Soul" in 1965, Beach Boys songwriter was inspired. As one of the first full albums filled with strong songs, Wilson used the genius of "Rubber Soul" as fuel to create the Beach Boys album "Pet Sounds," an album with several classic songs brilliantly woven together. According to Mental Floss, though, the rivalry and friendly competition didn't quite end there. No, it ended with one of the most famous records recorded. The website writes: "Pet Sounds" was a hit in the UK, where it topped the charts. Before its release there, Brian Wilson's tour fill-in Bruce Johnston took two copies with him to London and managed—through Beach Boys fanatic Keith Moon—to arrange a meeting at a hotel with John Lennon and Paul McCartney to play it for them. They listened to it once through, paused, and immediately asked to hear the album again. Shortly afterward, the two began to work on "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band." According to The Beatles's producer, George Martin, "Without 'Pet Sounds,' 'Sgt. Pepper' never would have happened…'Pepper' was an attempt to equal 'Pet Sounds.'" For our final musical selection, here are three top songs from "Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band." Sheesh—picking only three from this album is nearly impossible. Another challenge is to find good videos because many Beatles songs aren’t available on YouTube. As you'll see, two of the selected songs are presented in one video, as a result: “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band" and "With a Little Help From My Friends” These two songs are featured in a fun recent live show with McCartney and Ringo Starr. “A Day in the Life” After researching this project, one point that really stands out, in addition to the benefits of friendly competition, is the incredible respect the Beatles and Beach Boys had for each other. We see this respect on display in this audio recording, which features McCartney and Wilson singing the Beach Boys classic "God Only Knows" from "Pet Sounds" together in 2002. The best news is that all of us still get to benefit from their friendly competition from more than 60 years ago that led to this amazing music! After writing these articles, I am inspired to work hard to do something really good. I’ll take that as a challenge, like Brian Wilson said. How about you? How can friendly competition motivate you to bring out whatever form of greatness is inside? SparkCheers and thanks for your support! Chris "SparkGuy" If you had to pick one, would you choose the Beatles or the Beach Boys? How about your favorite songs from one or both bands? Let me know in the comments below! |
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