Why did the 'Add Some Music To Your Day' single fail and what if it had not?

[Cabinessenceking]

I find this songs position in the Beach Boys cannon perplexing.

To me it sounds very accessible: it fits like a hand in the glove of contemporary music of that time (like the peace anthems of the counter culture) and was in many ways very similar to what other music stars were doing at the time (with a distinct Beach Boys flavour to it!).

I've heard the interviews concerning that the main radio stations in the US didn't want to play Beach Boys as they 'weren't hip anymore'. So it was recieved unfairly but Break Away didn't suffer the same problem. Why would one hinder ASMTYD given its obvious selling potential?

Furthermore, why did it fail internationally? Cottonfields had been huge just a few months earlier. Was this song really unlikeable to many? I must profess my enjoyment of it. The vocals, the lyrics, the tasteful backing track and superb production (thank you Stephen Desper); they are all beautiful.

It charted, but not highly, was rapidly forgotten and the resulting Sunflower album bombed. The failure of Sunflower can largely be attributed to no hit single. What were the reasons behind Add Some Music To Your Day's failure to recapture the audiences?  

[Mikie]

Same reason all the other Warner/Reprise singles failed in the early 70's. Sail On Sailor kinda gave Billboard a run for its money, but didn't really go up the chart until the second time it was released.

[Nicko1234]

Why do you say that Breakaway didn't suffer the same problem? Did it receive significant airplay as their chart performances are very similar?

The issue of why the group's records failed to sell outside the U.S. from 1970 onwards is an interesting one I think. Add Some Music wasn't a particularly catchy song to release as a single imo (nor were any others form Sunflower though) but it should still have fared much better than it did. I think the new record label must have seriously screwed things up.

[drbeachboy]

Living in Philadelphia at the time, and reading Fred's remark about WFIL not playing it because The Boys were so un-hip, I'm not sure that Break Away wasn't in the same boat. I bought the 45 in Woolworth's, but didn't buy it due to hearing on the radio. I had heard it a week or two before at their show on Steel Pier in  Atlantic City. I don't recall ever hearing it played on any Philly radio stations at the time, either. I Can Hear Music is the last Beach Boys song that I remember being in a rotation.

[Nicko1234]

It charted, but not highly, was rapidly forgotten and the resulting Sunflower album bombed. The failure of Sunflower can largely be attributed to no hit single. What were the reasons behind Add Some Music To Your Day's failure to recapture the audiences?  

Obviously not having a hit single was a big cause of Sunflower bombing but even in the U.K. where Cottonfields was included on the album it performed poorly. Much worse than the previous albums and worse than Surf's Up as well so again some record company responsibility perhaps.

[Dancing Bear]

ASMTYD was impressive for its stellar vocals. The composition was so-so even for an album track, and sounded nothing like a single.

[drbeachboy]

Had it been my decision, This Whole World would have been my pick as the first release. To me it is most radio friendly song on the album.

[EgoHanger1966]

The lyrics are downright saccharine. This song took a lot of warming up to by me before I really could enjoy it.
If they wanted to go with sweet, I'd have loved to see Deirdre as a single - now that's instantly accessible, love it or hate it!

[Cabinessenceking]

what I find so curious is that for once they had a good record, they managed to get it promoted and hyped, and then the public failed to deliver what was expected. for once it was the Beach Boys who did the right moves, and it failed them.

[Steve Mayo]

when long promised road was first released Deirdre was the flip side. local station back here played the heck out of Deirdre. it even got a fair amount of telephone requests so maybe you are right about Deirdre. for about a month i heard it quite a few times everyday.

[Nicko1234]

what I find so curious is that for once they had a good record, they managed to get it promoted and hyped, and then the public failed to deliver what was expected. for once it was the Beach Boys who did the right moves, and it failed them.

Was it promoted and hyped that much?

I had never thought about Deirdre before but maybe it would have been the best choice on that album.

[Steve Mayo]

hyped to the point, i think, it was at the time one of warner's largest prerelease/preorder singles. all that ending up meaning was it also became of warners largest returned singles....

[Mikie]

Can't believe Diedre got ANY airplay.

I remember Sail On Sailor on the radio in the early 70's. That's it. And it was on two different FM stations, not Top 40 radio.

Can't believe the Surf's Up single didn't do better. Other than Sail On Sailor, which was more commercial and maybe a little more accessable, Surf's Up was one of the best records The Boys ever made. THAT must have been a little disappointment to them. I still don't hear that song - only on Deep Tracks on XM radio. They knew Sail On Sailor should have done better the first time out, so they tried again and it did much better. Long Promised Road single was also released twice but received the same fate. And Suzie Cioncinnati! How many times was that released with the same result!!!! Ha Ha Ha! And Marcella! That record was more commercial too and should have done better than it did.

Warners seemed to have released a large quantity of the "Slip On Through" singles. They were ubiquitous, even in the 80's.

The Warner's singles I STILL need for my collection are U.S. stock copies of "Cool, Cool, Water" "Cuddle Up", and "Surf's Up". VERY difficult to find. I doubt they released many copies of those in the first place. I've seen MANY more promo copies than stock copies of those singles.

[Steve Mayo]

the local station that played Deirdre was wkee am out of huntington, wv. marshall university is there. wkee fm played SDT a lot when surf's up lp was released. and a local station (wiro-am) from ironton oh would play surf's up the single when it was released. being from a small city at least the stations would play the current singles back in the day. great memories.

[Nicko1234]

Can't believe the Surf's Up single didn't do better. Other than Sail On Sailor, which was more commerical and maybe a little more accessable, Surf's Up was one of the best records The Boys ever made. THAT must have been a little disappointment to them. I still don't hear that song - only on Deep Tracks on XM radio. They knew Sail On Sailor should have done better the first time out, so they tried again and it did much better. Long Promised Road single was also released twice but received the same fate. And Suzie Cincinnati! How many times was that released with the same result!!!! Ha Ha Ha!

Surf's Up isn't really a single type song though is it. A great song but not a single.

Carl or Dennis really should have sung Sail on Sailor to have given it a better chance.

[Mikie]

Well, The Boys and Warners thought it should be a single. They thought it should be on an album first and prepared it for release on an album. We're use to it being on an album, not really a single. But like Good Vibrations and Heroes & Villains, it fits. I can imagine playing the single over and over on a turntable or a juke box back then.

[Nicko1234]

Well, The Boys and Warners thought it should be a single. They thought it should be on an album first and prepared it for release on an album. We're use to it being on an album, not really a single. But like Good Vibrations and Heroes & Villains, it fits. I can imagine playing the single over and over on a turntable or a juke box back then.

Oh sure, in 1971 it had to be a single for them because they knew they weren't going to write a new hit and they knew that Surf's Up had had a few years of hype. Good Vibrations was commercial and Surf's Up wasn't so I don't think it fits in the same way.

[Freddie French-Pounce]

Add Some Music is my second least favourite song on the album, only being beaten to the post by Got To know The Woman. Love ya Dennis 

[Mikie]

Hey Steve, did you have those early stock Warner/Reprise U.S. singles before the fire? I picked up a new/mint "Cuddle Up" single at an old music store in the late 70's and then was stupid enough to trade it for the "Lord's Prayer" single (which I saw plenty of afterwards). Have promo copies and imports with sleeves of those singles, but not U.S. stock copies of 'em.  

[Mikie]

I always thought Marcella should have done better as a single too.

[Custom Machine]

Living in Southern California, I never heard Breakaway on the radio.  I only knew of it's existence when I saw it at Wallich's Music City on Sunset Blvd in Hollywood.  As a huge BB fan I bought it, unheard, it on the spot.  When I got home and listened to it my reaction was that it was a very nice, but not great record.

KHJ, Los Angeles, the most popular Top 30/40 station in Southern California, had Add Some Music to Your Day in heavy rotation when it was first released.  It's possible other So. Cal. stations added the song to their playlists, but I don't have any specific memory of hearing the song on any station other than KHJ.  

I went absolutely wild over Add Some Music and immediately bought the single, but I was disappointed when I flipped the record over and heard Susie Cincinnati, which I considered a lame throwback attempt at an earlier Beach Boys style, and totally unworthy of the early 70's hip music scene.  I was very pleased six months later when I found that the song had wisely been left off Sunflower.

Unfortunately, in 1970 the majority of radio station programmers and their audiences considered the BBs to be passé, resulting in a serious lack of airplay and sales in the US.   (And in fairness to Susie Cincinnati, I should add that I had friends who preferred that song to Add Some Music, but most of them were amazed that the Beach Boys were still making records and would have been embarrassed to admit to anyone that they might consider purchasing a new recording by the Beach Boys.)

Add Some Music remains one of my favorite BB songs to this day.  As far as promotion of Add Some Music, I seem to recall hearing that Warner Brothers put some very heavy duty promotion behind the single, and after the record made it only to number 64 on Billboard was forced to take back a large quantity of unsold copies.

One more thing - the sound quality of the Add Some Music promo 45 sent to radio stations is really subpar IMO, with an irritating tinny EQ that somebody must have felt would sound good on AM radio.  A number of years ago I asked Stephen Desper about this, and he said he was not responsible for EQing the promo copy, and said someone at Warner Bros must have done it.

[Steve Mayo]

Hey Steve, did you have those early stock Warner/Reprise U.S. singles before the fire? I picked up a new/mint "Cuddle Up" single at an old music store in the late 70's and then was stupid enough to trade it for the "Lord's Prayer" single (which I saw plenty of afterwards). Have promo copies and imports with sleeves of those singles, but not U.S. stock copies of 'em.  

yes i did, mikie. i knew the local record store owner. he would give me the old cash box magazines when the new one came out. i had to order those 1970-72 singles from him..they were not in stock. but he would order them (or anything i asked ) for me.

[Mikie]

Steve, isn't that something that most brick & mortar stores didn't stock the early 70's Warners singles? You had to order them. It's almost like they knew they weren't going to be strong sellers and there was low or no demand for them. I know Tower stocked them, but once they were gone, they were gone. Warners probably didn't bother to re-stock them (unless they hit big).

So that's probably what happened and that's why they are so hard to come by these days. If they didn't move withing a certain timeframe, they were pulled back by Warners and melted down, never to be seen again. And the promos are easier to find at swap meets and used record stores because the radio stations/DJ's hung onto them for awhile....

[BergenWhitesMoustache]

Warners seemed to have released a large quantity of the "Slip On Through" singles. They were ubiquitous, even in the 80's.

still is! This guy has been selling NOS copies for at least five years

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/BEACH-BOYS-Slip-On-Through-THIS-WHOLE-WORLD-UNPLAYED-NM-/360138198183?pt=Music_on_Vinyl&hash=item53d9e8cca7

[Fun Is In]

I was in high school at the time. There were only 2 people I would even mention the words "Beach Boys" to without receiving instant ridicule. One was a big fan of the BB and the with the other I had a long running argument about who was better the Beatles or the Beach Boys.

It was extremely unusual to hear anything from the BB more recent than Good Vibrations on the radio until Sail On Sailor came out.  I loved everything on Sunflower in those days....but it was a love that dared not speak the name of the band.