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Can gravitational waves do work on matter?

Feynman answered this with a yes, using a thought experiment with a rod strung with beads that move with friction. He reasoned that a passing wave would result in the beads releasing friction heat.

Would it, though? The beads and the rod are in the same metric, wouldn't they (for lack of a better word) "move" together? 

On the other hand, if a gravitational wave set a Weber bar to ringing, there would certainly be energy dissipated.

One practical application for the question is Big Bang astronomy. The universe was opaque to electromagnetic radiation for its first 400,000 years. I have heard a hope that gravitational waves would allow probing those early years. But that would depend on them not coupling with matter.