The Smiley Smile Message Board

Sure we love the guys! But this board is also a place to not only venerate our lovely boys but also make light of their less appealing attempts at being commercial.


I'll get this trainwreck started with this glorious clip from David Letterman in 1994, which I recently discovered (to my horror). Good grief what was the thinking?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aivrroKurUc (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aivrroKurUc)

No big deal.

July 5th, 1981, Long Beach. Caught with their pants down on national TV.

Good morning America with Joan lunden from December 1980 is a real train wreck!!

Anyone for a Beach Boys Huddle?  :thud

Full House. Don't care when.

I wouldn't say Letterman was embarrassing. That was purposely funny. Not amazingly funny, but funny.

The embarrassing moments are the ones where they weren't trying to be funny.

Brian's "Night Time" on Dick Clark's late night show (not the Letterman appearance around the same time) is pretty hilariously awful. Tight leather pants and pseudo-dance moves.

Full House was pretty bad too, especially the first one with the "huddle" as mentioned already.

If we're including stuff "caught on tape" but not broadcast, there's some other live stuff that sometimes gets pretty bad. Largo, MD '77 with Brian ready to murder his mic and mic stand is pretty bad. The Australia '78 tour, some of the shows anyway, are probably as bad if not worse than the Queen Mary '81.

The whole "Primetime Live" thing with Brian and Landy in 1991 was a low point of course, as was the fallout around the same time with Mike on "A Current Affair" and whatnot.

Mike's "Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous" is pretty jaw-droppingly ridiculous of course.

There used to be a quick circa 1978 clip on YouTube of an interview where someone asks Brian a question about Charles Manson and Al Jardine starts berating the interviewer. That was pretty awkward and weird.

Brian's Roller Skating Child 'interpretative dance'.....  :o

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j1EPXBQV3yM

There are lots of contenders, but not sure the Rock Hall of Fame speech can be topped...

I didn't actually see this myself but it was described to me by (of all people) my mother and grandmother. Dennis on  UK TV with Christine McVie, who was apparently finding it hard to keep her hands to herself....

The vocals to Salt Lake City

Eight words: HEY NOW (WELL IT'S A LOVE THANG BABY)

A fair chunk of the Queen Mary show is painfully bad. Brian's in possibly the worst condition I've ever seen him on video. From memory the low point is the intro to School Days (which for some reason Al says they wrote):
https://youtu.be/8Rs_kaSkNmU?t=913 (https://youtu.be/8Rs_kaSkNmU?t=913)

The ABC interview where Dennis is passing out.

All of the video appearances mentioned above.  Except the Letterman appearance. I always kind of enjoyed that one...

Recording / rehearsing the vocals to "Spring Vacation"

Is this one one of them sizzle reels? Trying to find it...

You guys are listing my favorite Beach Boys moments! And no mention of Crocodile Rock or Summer of Love videos? In my opinion the most embarrassing ones are pretty anything with Mike Love in the 90s. And this comes from someone who likes Mike Love and loves Summer of Love (the song-not video).

X2

Never saw the letterman one. It's nice. Thanks. Carl's voice is like butter.

The Letterman one...Matt's long hair, so great.

HILARIOUS!

25th Anniversary Special. Brian squinting and reading Mike's cue cards along with Love himself.

25th Anniversary Special. Belinda's dress.

25th Anniversary Special. Carl's pants

25th Anniversary Special. Joe Piscopo

25th Anniversary Special. Mike's outfit


This was watched by 8 million viewers.

It's hard to limit it to one, so I would say most of Brian's solo performances on TV. Many a night (early morning actually) I turned off the TV at 12:38 AM thinking, "Why did they put him through that?" and "Did they really gain anything from that?"

You forgot when Brian waves to Ray Charles.

And Mike's line, "Don Ho, what are YOU doing here?"

The 25th Anniverary special also had some weird "bumpers" to go in and out of commercial breaks that aired on TV, but weren't included on the home video releases (which I think may have only come out in Japan, but are probably some of the common sources for versions that float around today). One "bumper" had Brian "pumping iron."

This bit is always pretty embarrassing, and exists in some 90s concert videos:

(http://www.thewareaglereader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/Screenshot-2015-09-18-16.40.47.png)

Future OSD or TRBB avatar? >:D

i  agree...the absolute nadir of any tv offerings.

What's wrong with Carl's pants? They weren't Bruce's shorts! And I liked Belinda's dress - kept hoping it was gonna fall off (she probably had a swimsuit underneath).

I believe it was part of a news report at the time the album was being released. I think it was Russian news actually..

Hi Ian - I remember seeing that GMA segment, when it aired and getting the feeling that Dennis really needed help.  In 1980 Dennis still looked pretty healthy.

The way it was set up was that it aired between 7 - 9 am Eastern Standard time, in New York, and the cutaway was in Los Angeles which was three hours behind.  So they would have been in that studio at maybe 4 am or earlier in their time zone.  So, if Dennis was on an all-nighter, he had not slept.  

My biggest problem was and is that it was apparent Dennis was not in any shape to be interviewed by Joan Lunden, who was just starting out as an anchor on GMA, and that they didn't re-focus the camera on the other side of the couch where Al and Mike were, and "get Dennis out of Dodge" and discretely remove him from the interview. There was concert footage.  It was left to Carl, whom Dennis was attempting to use as a pillow and instead discretely and more professionally handling that bi-coastal interview.  They could have directed the interview and the camera to Al on the other side of the couch and walked Dennis off-camera.  

That interview imploding, gave a tabloid presentation of the band.  Shame on ABC. Someone was in trouble and they chose to focus on misery instead of the music.
  
It looks worse than it was because of the lack of discretion on the part of the network and speaks more to them rather than the band, with a band member in the middle of an addiction struggle. And, who took advantage of that struggle in an unprofessional manner, no better than the worse tabloid.  It still makes me angry.
 
JMHO.  ;)

I guess I was always the nerd pouring water on everyone's hopes; I remember realizing that the 25th TV special was clearly pre-taped and not live, so whatever they left in of Belinda Carlisle was not going to result in her dress completely falling off.

Not quite embarrassing, but perplexing, was Carl's weird duet with Gloria Loring. I know she had a hit right around the time of the TV special, but I remember thinking "Who the F is this, and why are people singing their own songs on a BB special?" Of course, I now realize that clearly a small selection of guest stars (including Carlisle) most likely only agreed to appear on the show if they could plug their own thing too.

At least on the Loring song, Carl sang it with her.

Not seen it for a good few years, but as I recall, Brian gave one of his very finest deer-in-the-headlights performances too. Neither of them should have been there.

I think it's the GMA interview from 1980 where I came away not sure if Jerry Schilling should be lambasted for booking the interview in the first place, or commended for coming out with the band on camera and trying to hold the thing together.

If I recall, there is a funny moment where in the midst of all the chaos, Lunden asks Brian what he's listening to lately, and he 100% deadpan answers "Be My Baby", and you can tell the other guys aren't sure if they should find that funny or be beyond annoyed.

To cut the guys a tiny bit of slack, I've talked to people who have done TV interviews via satellite, and it *is* extra disorienting when you're doing an interview and can't see anything and can only hear the interviewer through an ear piece.

Hey Jude - Just re-watching again, Dennis asked if "this was ABC?" (It was.) And, "Say hi to David." That would be David Hartman, who was the co-host, so Dennis, though impaired, had some focus and was not so out-there that he did not acknowledge the absent co-host.  But she started with Dennis which I think was dumb (unless Dennis was Joan's favorite?)  Looks as though Dennis may have stepped on his mic.

But they had Gerry sit next to Dennis, who jumped in to add some commentary.  I was under the impression that they could "see" each other because it was a live broadcast, but it played later in the other time zones.

GMA - 1980  -  8:46 a.m. EST - it would have been 5:46 Pacific time.

http://youtu.be/aaQWQ7Zc4cQ

Hope is copies. 

I can't say for certain whether the band had a "visual" of the other side of the conversation. But often, especially back then (and I would guess often still now), even in live interviews, an interview subject who isn't in the studio with the interviewer will only have audio; no video. Probably a lot of reasons for that. Technical limitations. Avoiding the delay between audio and video via satellite. Also, making sure the interview subject looks at the camera and not at the monitor.

Help Me Rhonda sessions

Australia '78

Hey Little Tomboy

plenty of Dennis footage

almost any Mike Love vocal after the 6os, some before

almost any live performance footage of Mike, ever

basically just about anytime Mike has ever opened his mouth or appeared on camera. honestly... is there anyone more cringe-inducing than Mike?? he's right up there with Ted Cruz, Bill Cosby, etc.

I did play "Hey Little Tomboy" for a non-fan once, someone who knows plenty about the BBs because of me, and I think they nearly vomited.

And I was playing the "MIU" commercial version, not the unreleased version with the even more epic dialogue bit in the middle. I tried playing that one and they made me shut it off by the time the talking part ended.

it's just so damn catchy. I never said I don't love it, just that it's embarrassing

The “Can’t Stop Talking ‘Bout American Girls” tape is really awful. I know someone posted some time back that they believed that tape had had the vocal purposely pitch-altered as a joke to sound flat. While I think such a “practical joke” would have been awfully convoluted and obscure regardless of who it was intended for, even if I acknowledge that that’s what it is, it’s still really embarrassing for someone who just stumbles across it with no context.

They probably need to do an intense studio-centric "Love & Mercy" style film solely on the recording of "Hey Little Tomboy." Someone needs to depict Carl trying to avoid throwing up while he sings his parts, as well as Al (or whomever made the decision) deciding that *that's* the song they needed to pull from the vaults and put on the new album with new overdubs. Not "Can't Wait Too Long" or "Live Again" or even a "15 Big Ones" oldie outtake, but "Hey Little Tomboy."

For more embarrassing moments, please check out Endless Bummer: The Very Worst Of The Beach Boys, available now at various torrent sites for the low price of $0.00. Also available in 2 disc special 'Love Thang' edition!

and how has no one mentioned Bruce and his f@cking shorts??

or Here Comes the Night '79?

or Tears in the Morning?


ugh. the list goes on and on folks

Has a famous band ever, ever had a live televised performance, where one lone band member is wearing shorts, while all the other band members are dressed up nicely, in suits or similar? WTF?!  :lol

Bruce just might own as many pairs of shorts as Mike has baseball hats in his closet.

Tears isn't that bad...

I have to agree, Bruce's parachute shorts in that Letterman clip are unbelievable - even for that day and age.   :o

Mike introducing himself and girlfriend Shannon Lee at the start of the July 4th 1985 Liberty Bell show.

"Together we're Lovelee! Get it?"

 :thumbsup :thumbsup :thumbsup  especially the last three entries.

I remember when this clip came out. I'm unsure of if "That's Why God Made The Radio" had been released yet as a single, so hearing "spring vacation, good vibration" was a bit disconcerting. While it was cool to see Brian and Mike singing together in the studio, hearing those lyrics brought about visions of Summer In Paradise Part Deux.

Anyways, funny enough, the album comes out and was actually pretty frickin' great. And truth be told, "Spring Vacation" is a really nice, if slightly cheesy song after all.

When that short clip of Brian and Mike doing vocals for what turned out to be "Spring Vacation" made it into one of the "Sizzle Reel" EPK things, I don't think anything had been released from the album at that point. The "TWGMTR" "single" was put out pretty late in the game, but I'm not sure if that had come out yet. But nothing else from the album had made it out, and we didn't even know the title "Spring Vacation" at that point.

My recollection is that they didn't even have in-line audio for that short clip of Brian and Mike; it was just the camera mic picking up their voices, and it was only two lines from the song with very slightly alternate lyrics, something like "we like to get around, get up and hit up every hot spot in town." They didn't sound too hot, but it also didn't have any context. It was only two parts of a multi-part harmony, and it sounded like more of a run-through/rehearsal. It was one of the few tracks where Mike would have been there to demo lyrics and vocals from the get-go instead of just replacing Brian & Foskett parts from demos (or, in the case of his flown-in solo track, just adding intermittent BB backing vocals).

I wouldn't bet my life on it, but I think we'd heard at least a tease of the title track by then, maybe even the full track streaming? I recall that being the first thing out, followed by that Spring Vacation studio clip ... which I HATED. It was sung poorly and, as you said, not really in a full context. I still don't necessarily love the song, but it's far, far better than that clip made it appear. (Kind of surprising that was included in any promo materials, actually. "Hear the aging Beach Boys sing badly together! Buy now!")

No question, that "Spring Vacation" studio clip was not a well-chosen clip to demonstrate that they've "still got it!"

I know that TWGMTR was released some time in early April, and if I remember right, Spring Vacation got leaked some time several weeks before the album came out. I remember hearing it on tumblr some time in May and thinking it was a great song.

I think it was either Dutch or German radio that aired "Think About the Days" and "Spring Vacation" some time before the album came out, perhaps a month or more. I think it was probably that airing (and subsequent ability to stream the broadcast) that led to those two tracks "leaking", though "leaking" is probably not the best term to use since the songs were aired. It's not as if they "snuck" out via some private source.

Surprisingly, I don't think promo copies of the album "leaked" until less than two weeks or so before the album's release date.

Other than the closing trifecta, "Spring Vacation" is my favorite song on TWGMTR. I love the intro, the melody, the flow, and just that "Beach Boyish" sound/feeling. I thought it was a better choice for a single than the title track, and I wish it would've been given a shot...in the SPRING of 2012.  

Tears is schlock, but it's not embarassing

They really should have left those songs out of the special, but I suppose the network thought more people would tune in if the show featured some contemporary artists singing recent hits.

when your favorite band records schlock and includes it on an otherwise solid album, it's embarrassing.

Yeah, I think that's the thing. Sometimes things aren't internally embarrassing. I may not be embarrassed by "Tears in the Morning" and may enjoy listening to it, but presenting it to some other non-fan to prove the progressiveness and genius of the Beach Boys may be embarrassing, sort of like sitting in a room watching a movie with your Mom in the room and then a sex scene comes on the screen.

Good analogy, and I agree completely… Although the identical sex scene analogy you mention might be more accurately applied to All I Want to Do's fadeout :)

I have them in my archive dated as May 14th, 2012 so they probably aired a couple of days before that max.

Found it!  Here it is, in all its glory:

https://youtu.be/1K7h7IICAs0?t=1m16s (https://youtu.be/1K7h7IICAs0?t=1m16s)

Yikes. Not a whole lot in that promo that's aged well.  :(

Love the Roller Skating Child clip & a few others.

"In the Still of the Night"

"Blueberry Hill"

15 Big Ones

There was a time when I thought that, but had things gone the way they should have, this would've been an interesting time out in the manner of Dylan's Good as I Been To You. I think it's the quirkier cousin of Love You (though I still hate Everyone's In Love... and I'm still not a fan of Blueberry Hill. I actually love In The Still of the Night, however...)

Sunflower is one of the dorkiest albums ever made. It's great.

That little five second excerpt! Can't imagine how anyone chose that five second clip for this promo!

This one is pretty embarrassing. The Beach Boys of 1990 lip syncing to the "unplugged" version of Barbara Ann from the "Party!" album, complete with a drummer playing to a track that doesn't have any drums, and people playing electric guitars that are nowhere to be heard on the "Party!" version. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ntntpYY-7vA

I wouldn't call Long Beach 1981 necessarily "embarrassing". It's more tragic and sad than anything else. They weren't fit to be anywhere near a stage at that point.

Geez that clip is almost unwatchable.....  :-\

It might be the most "classic beach boys" sound on the album. Only shame that the lyrics are clunky.

That's my feeling about it--great sound and melody, but the lyrics are a bit questionable...  they sound a bit forced.

Really, though, I like the whole album, except for maybe 'Beaches in Mind.' 

I hope you're joking because that audio was clearly added to the video by the uploader...

It is? if so then why is Bruce acting "Confused" at the part where the lyrics go clunky? unless they did the clunky lyrics on the live performance I don't see why Bruce would do a "Confused" act.. also notice that Carl isn't there, if they are lip-synching maybe Carl didn't want to do it because he didn't want to be embarrassed, I can see him doing that for some reason..lol...also who is singing lead?  it seems inconsistent as to who is singing Deans part. I thought it was Bruce at first but he doesn't sing all of it neither does Al.....

I haven't been able to watch the clip with sound yet. But I do believe Carl missed a tour of Spain in 1990, so if that clip is from Spain television, that probably explains his absence.

Carl participated in plenty of awful TV appearances over the years. Remember the "Little Old Lady From Pasadena" clip where Brian looks genuinely confused about WTF the "old lady" on stage is doing? Carl was at that one.  :lol

Just listened to the Barbara Ann video. It sounds like the studio version has been dubbed onto it by someone for YouTube, as the fidelity and ambience of the applause at the end doesn't match.

But it's also clear they were miming. We just don't know what they were miming to. Their performance does sync up surprisingly well to the studio Party take. It's not impossible that they were miming to it, and someone dubbed the sound from the CD for simply better sound quality.

that's what I was thinking..maybe the original video had bad sound and the uploader decided to put a better quality sound to it,,,

I heard that Mike and Bruce used to do some sort of rap segment during their shows in the 2000s? I haven't seen any footage of it, but if it's true, I would love to see it.

They did Wipeout in the late 80s and early 90s with Billy Hinsche rapping, is that what you mean?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=84sajqiWUo8

Wipeout, Smart Girls, and Summer of Love are all low points.  The Beach Boys rapping??  Why??  Their attempt at disco was bad enough. 

I wonder if Smart Girls was a bit of an intentional attempt at a sequel to the successful Beach Boys Medley single.

If Brian had been more involved in the Beach Boys in the early 90s, could Smart Girls have wound up being released on Summer in Paradise? Serious question. (Shudder)

CD, that's a scary though. 

It is indeed. But if Wipeout and Summer of Love were released (with the former being somewhat of a hit), I could see a scenario where Smart Girls could have been released as a BB song around 1991/92 with some BB overdubs, or with some more actual song samples crammed in there.

Talk about dodging a bullet.

Wow, a possible scenario where Brian's input on SIP could've actually made the album worse.   

That's some Twilight Zone stuff. 

Most embarrassing to me is the overly smarmy Everyone's In Love With You. I would list Brian's Lazy Lizzie, but I like the melody too much.

Yeah, totally. As horrid as Smart Girls is, I don't see how Mike would say it was a terrible idea (seeing as he kept pushing Smart Girls as late as 1995). I think Mike must have *really* legitimately thought the Boys could have a crossover pseudo rap hit without the Fat Boys, and I imagine he might have supported the song being released as a BB song if the idea would have been floated. Yuck.

For that matter, I wonder if Smart Girls would have been recorded/conceived whatsoever if not for Wipeout's success.

Anthrax had a minor rap hit with "I'm the Man' before they did their collaboration with Public Enemy.  I'm not sure how aware Mike was about the metal scene, but that's one possible example. 

I wonder if Wipe Out was an attempt to pull an Aerosmith (when they did Walk This Way with Run DMC) to get relevant again. 

Quick question - which is the worse version of "Smart Girls": the one with the actual BB samples, or the one with Brian doing them all ?

I know everyone hates smart girls, but I thought it was very clever how they blended the BB samples with the song.
I like it just for that alone, and not sure which version now, but it was cool to hear Brian do some of those falsetto parts again.
I think there are more concert recordings over the years that are more embarrassing (late 70's - early 80's)

People may call me a stick in the mud, but I detest rap. 

And I think the only thing I hate worse than real rap is when people from the rock world do rap (ie. Brian, Beach Boys, Ozzy Osbourne, Aerosmith, etc).

I'm also not a fan of when they do EDM (***cough***Runaway Dancer***cough**)

I also liked how they did the samples.  The original version I heard was the one with Brian doing the snippets, which was also cool  ;D

There's a version with Brian doing the snippets? Haven't heard that. Maybe it's more tolerable.
I might be able to give in and enjoy the version with samples as a stupid piece of fluff (like I do with the rest of Sweet Insanity) if it weren't for what happens halfway through. The moment "Good Vibrations" starts fading in out of absolutely nowhere is one of the most fascinatingly awful moments in the entire Beach Boys canon.

Perhaps this moment?

(https://i.ytimg.com/vi/u410Cf-WyT4/maxresdefault.jpg)

Well, whenever we Beach Boys fans ask the eternal question "Why don't The Beach Boys get more respect?"  This picture is the answer. 

They are the rock equivalent of Rodney Dangerfield...

An incredibly accurate analogy. Unfortunately so.

God Bless Carl Wilson...smart enough and cool enough to avoid this session like the plague.

The version of "Smart Girls" with the samples is IMO better, because at least it's more creative and not just a bunch of Brian's singing the background like the other version without the samples. By the way "Smart Girls" was "released" (if you want to call it that), on the Dr. Demento show back in the 90's over the air, and maybe even could have been on one of his basement tapes cd releases although I'm not sure if it was or not, but I know for a  FACT it aired on his show because I used to have a cassette tape with it on it, it was the version with the samples.. I like the flute Swoops (or piccolo or whatever it is) on it...

Yes. The only time he's seen in the video is his face on a surfboard.

Could be sheer coincidence. I was at a concert where there happened to be a loud booming feedback sound at one point. And at the time of the feedback, Dennis was on the screen, he started smiling at the camera and then rolled his eyes as if he was commenting the sound flub.

Do we actually know that Carl didn't turn up for the "Wipe Out" video shoot because he thought the song (and/or video) sucked? Or was it just a scheduling issue?

It's easy to romanticize the idea that members of the band actually objected to and didn't participate in questionable things, and that most certainly was the case in some instances ("Here Comes the Night", etc.). But Carl also participated in plenty of lame 80s and 90s BB projects (remember the "Crocodile Rock" video?).

Carl wasn't on that tour as he was recovering from an appendicitis operation. He wasn't there because he wasn't there. He'd missed the preceding three day Tahoe engagement as well. Nothing to do with making a point.  :)

Mike : "For some reason, people want to see us all together."
Brian : "They sense that we love each other, you know..."

NOT CONVINCED!

I know I'm late to this discussion, but Carl certainly participated in other promotion for "Wipe Out":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ij_-l8xkz7w

Yep, that's an interesting TV appearance, most notable for being the same "session" where they shot the "Kokomo" music video that aired on MTV and VH1 a million times.

Certainly Carl never actually protested "Wipe Out", they (unfortunately) added it to their setlist for a number of years after that. I love Billy Hinsche, but that was never one of his finer moments doing that one on stage. They should have just had him sing "Sail on Sailor" or "I'm Waiting for the Day."

Hey Jude - Wipe Out was one of my kids' favorites.  It is generational.  They loved that The Fat Boys were with The Beach Boys.  IIRC it was on side B of the  Still Crusin' tape, and a blast to hear them singing in the back of the soccer mom Caravan after school.  Sometimes we all need a little levity, and that is just the thing to make the serious aspect of the BB's a part of our kids lives.  It is goofy and fun, and not "heady" as The Trader but nonetheless, part of the BB menu.

Embarrassed?  Waah-waah-waah!  Never!   :lol

I think there was plenty of "light" fare thematically in a circa-1989 BB setlist. They hadn't done "Trader" in around 15 years by that point.  "Wipe Out" is obviously embarrassing in retrospect (both the studio recording and the live iterations), and I recognize some stuff that is still "good" might be embarrassing in retrospect. But I felt "Wipe Out" was embarrassing and a big waste of time at the shows back when they were going on in the late 80s and early 90s. It was especially grating back then when their typical setlist wasn't the 40 or 50 songs we often get from both touring bands now, but the typical 90 minute, 28-30 song sets they were often doing back then. Even "Barbara Ann" was less grating.

But yeah, having just skimmed the "Stamos" thread from a couple years ago (someone on another thread asked about it), I'm not interested in another "Such-and-such was embarrassing for the Beach Boys" debate. Insert "Wipe Out" in place of Stamos; it's the same basic argument. Some people would have been fine if Ringling Bros. literally came on stage in the middle of "Sloop John B" while Ronald McDonald handed burgers out to all the kids in the audience. I get it.

Wipe out is the lowest the BBs name ever went in a period of lows (still cruisin to SIP). The BBs totally lost the plot until the box set tour.

I'd nominate Summer of Love as their lowest. 

Wipe Out was a lame attempt at a rap crossover with The Fat Boys.  For me that's #2.  And that actually had a rap group on the song. 

Summer of Love however......there's just no excuses. 

Wipe Out was contemporaneously embarrassing.

I never liked Wipe-Out, but then I never felt embarrassed by it either. Why do you all use that term so much? It's like everything the Beach Boys do, you take so seriously, so personally. Some of their best work has been overlooked for years. But stuff like Wipe-Out & Kokomo put them back in the limelight. Both songs did well on the charts, so for many listeners it was anything but embarrassing.

Honestly, almost nothing can embarrass me now. At the time, I was an adolescent, the peak embarrassable age. And I did worry about my peers' opinions about my taste or my 'coolness'. Perhaps I should be embarrassed for that, but I don't get embarrassed anymore!

But, at the time, I didn't like Wipe Out. I secretly liked Kokomo.

Personally, I find nothing embarrassing about Kokomo.  I think it's a fun late-80s summertime song.  And, like it or not, it really helped to introduce people from my generation (I'm born in 1980) to The Beach Boys. 

Maybe embarrassing is the wrong word.  As a fan of The Beach Boys, I'm not personally embarrassed about anything they've done. 

If you think it was bad then to be Beach Boys fan, you should have been in my shoes from 1968-1971 and even some time after that. I took crap and got teased about them unmercifully. I never allowed it to deter me from the enjoyment of the music.

Luckily, I can't say I ever got teased for the music I liked. 

If anything, I got crap for the music I don't like.  As a late teen early adult in the late 90s / early 2000s, if you tell somebody you don't like Nirvana, Weezer, or rap, people look at you like you have a horn growing out of your head. 

Me neither. I like Kokomo a lot. I'm not real hip on Mike's soft nasal lead vocal, Carl is just terrific and so are the background vocals.

Carl on Kokomo goes a long way for me. It's one of his nicest vocal moments.

It's true, I think "embarrassing" is being misinterpreted. In its adjective form, "embarrassing" means something that "causes embarrassment." I suppose it doesn't specify who should or would be embarrassed.

Typically, when I say something the BBs did is or was embarrassing, it's kind of all-encompassing word meant to say that, objectively, it's an "embarrassment" to the band or its name or legacy, etc.

I'm not personally embarrassed by something the BB's do. I'm more likely to feel the band *should* be embarrassed, and/or an objective third party (say, a music critic) would find that something embarrasses the band.

I suppose we could substitute another word, but sometimes that might tend to make the whole thing sound more serious and impactful (or maybe less) than one means it to be. Travesty, abomination, lamentable, ignominious, on down to more base/slang terms.

But I'm fine with the term as used. To me it's something different than "awful", and indicates that it reflects to some degree on the public perception/reputation/legacy of the band. It doesn't mean one cheesy moment ruined their careers. And indeed, some folks think no amount of "Full House" appearances and Stamos figuratively and literally latching onto Mike in concerts will ever hurt any aspect of the BBs perception among critics. Some disagree. That's all.

"Wipe Out" kind of faded into oblivion, especially in the US. Perhaps it's remembered more (whether fondly or not) in the UK because it surprisingly was a hit there. But among folks who do make fun of the BBs and point out their cheesy moments in the 80s and 90s, I don't often hear "Wipe Out" cited. It's usually "Kokomo" and "Full House" and whatnot.  

I got teased for the band that I liked. They all at one point or another liked some of the music, once they heard it.

That's what I meant.  I got teased more for bands I don't like.  Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Weezer, The Killers, etc etc. 

"Kokomo" is a catchy song. Not a great song, but not a bad song as a composition. The lyrics and the overall production/arrangement make it a novelty song to some degree. But compositionally it's far from the worst thing they ever did.

As with other things like Stamos, it's more emblematic of more general perceptions and ideas and characterizations of the group, by both fans and the mass media and music critics.

It sounds like you were more confident and secure than I was.
Also, there's an added embarrassment of possibly being hypocritical: as a girl, I had other girls point out the cheerleaders, and bikini-wearers and leering old guys, which was pretty hard to defend.

I like Kokomo and just about every "new" song that appeared on Still Cruisin (except for Wipe Out).  Personally, I'd rather listen to that album than 15 Big Ones, Love You, Keeping the Summer Alive, and BB 85. 

I bring it up because I have to read it. I don't use the term in the same fashion as you, so I appreciate the explanation. For me it is like when I hear that phrase "That was dope". In my head I translate it as "That was dopey". Growing up, dope either meant drugs or someone who acts stupid. I'm old, what can I say. ;)

I suppose saying "that was embarrassing" and referring to that not meaning "I'm embarrassed" is a bit like how people say "I'm sorry" when they're not apologizing for having done anything, but rather basically substituting that phrase in place of "I feel bad for you" or "I objectively realize that's a bad situation", etc.

I guess I can't judge how "such-and-such song was embarrassing" is interpreted by others. I usually don't take it to mean the speaker (e.g. a fan) is personally embarrassed by it, like they would be embarrassed for having a "kick me" sign on their back or whatever. I tend to take it that the phrase means such-and-such was an embarrassment to the BBs as a group. Such a construction is technically at the very least presumptuous, as we can't say what the band collectively or individually found embarrassing.

I wouldn't call that promotion for Wipeout--it was July 1988, a full year after the single hit and went off the charts. It was more the promotion for Kokomo as others have said.  As for Carl's opinion of Wipeout, who knows, but we do know he was not at the recording session or in the video.

Was anybody else there other than Brian? He is the only one that I can hear.

I can't remember where I read it, but I'm pretty sure Brian was the only actual Beach Boy to appear on Wipe Out. 

I don't know if anyone has ever nailed down hard evidence that it's only Brian. I think it's mainly that it very much sounds like a stack of Brians that leads most to deduce it's only him. I don't often listen to the song these days, but whenever I have, it certainly sounds like stacks of Brian.

There are certainly cases even in the 80s where the BBs were happy (or time crunched, or just found it convenient) to just leave a stack of Brians on an ostensibly "Beach Boys" recording. The Barbie flexdisc is one example. I'd even say it's interesting to note that while they added Carl and Al lead vocal lines to "In My Car", all of the backing vocals are all Brian as well. In that case, given all of the logistical and political moves involved to even get Brian with any of the guys, it was probably easier to just get Carl and Al on the song that way as opposed to getting all three (or all five) Beach Boys to re-do backing vocals Brian had already done.

Per The Wilson Project...Gary Usher produced the BB's vocal session in LA.  Present at the session were Mike, Bruce, Al and Brian. Usher stated he was impressed that Brian had come in to the session with fairly well crafted vocal arrangements for the guys. For whatever reason, I think it is pretty well undisputed that on the finished version, Brian is the only identifiable BB vocal.

It couldn't have been that good. I can't hear anyone else, but Brian. Usually, I can hear Bruce right away. His vocals always stick out in the blend.

Wasn't "In My Car" an outtake from BW88 that was borrowed to have a Brian song on Still Cruisin?

I dunno if it was literally an outtake from the BW '88 sessions, but yes, it certainly is a "solo Brian" track that was given to the "Still Cruisin'" BB project, and they appear to have done as little as they could to get the most "group" sound they could, namely having Carl and Al sing the choruses on top of everything else done by Brian outside of the group.

The song was given a little slot in the '89 syndicated "Endless Summer" TV show. It featured a "live" version during Brian's solo set during a BB concert (backed by the BB touring band, but with no other BBs), and while the actual lyrics were all or mostly the same, the melody line on the verses was completely different from what ended up on the "Still Crusin'" album. Intercut with the live version were interview clips with Brian and a bit of studio (control room) footage of Brian and Landy (and I believe Mark Linett can also be seen briefly), where little bits of presumably an early studio/demo version of the song can also be heard.

So I guess I can't rule out the possibility that Brian had it earmarked potentially for the BBs from an early date. But either way, he effectively recorded the thing as a solo track, and then only had Carl and Al add some lead vocal lines. If nothing else, it gives a bit of a taste of what BW'88 would have sounded like with Carl and Al singing some lead parts.

Hey Jude - reading this, brought back one of those videos with Brian (at the behest of Landy) doing that song, In My Car, because of the way it came about, now creeps me out.  It isn't a quality-of-song issue but more the inappropriate involvement of Landy at that time, as a therapist.  And, for me it goes well beyond anything that cold be construed as goofy or light-hearted as is Wipe Out.  I can still watch it and have a chuckle.  The video had a lot of play on MTV and VH1.  (Wipe Out)  ;)

The first thought that came into my head straight away after reading the subject heading was the Brian and Mike argument on stage from the Largo concert in 1977.

Somebody recently posted "In My Room" from Knebworth 1980, where Brian is in his own world playing a boogie boogie piano riff during the first verse. That's pretty embarrassing.

Oh man, that incident is basically the best visual representation of Mike and Brian's relationship.

Indeed it was what their relationship was like at that time. Brian was in a bad place at that time don't forget. But hey, at least they're all okay now!  :3d

COMMENT:  Not caught on tape exactly, but Dennis was quite embarrassed right after the tape stopped as he came around the upturned violin riser in Capitol Studio A after f * c k i n g the chick he found on the street for the ending of All I Want To Do. While doing the deed in the studio, rumors spread like wild-fire up-&-down the tower, unbeknown to Dennis. So when he appeared, still dressing himself, and entered the control room, he was greeted by a gaggle of executive types that had assembled to hear what Dennis was "recording" :thumbsup. Some of the men in black suits were cheering him on, while others were questioning this use of the same studio that had recorded such notables as Nat King Cole and Frank Sinatra. Dennis was indeed embarrassed, mutating to his impish persona as he realized his seeming mischievous antics were not covert and had quickly become the talk-of-the-tower. An oops moment !!   ~swd    

 :lol :lol

You mean this? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iuoy0CvT3VM

Were none of the executive types concerned about the exploitation of the woman? God.

They're executives in the late 60's. I doubt they cared.

One can always hope that a tiny subset of the population has some basic human empathy. Though one will often be disappointed if one does.

Dennis had already doled out enough empathy for the hole crowd

Wow.

I know, how could he forget that W?  :P

COMMENT:  After being paid, she signed a release giving The Beach Boys the royalty-free right to use whatever was captured in the "recording session." Much the same as a session side-man or background singer would sign. All professional. Think of her as a singer using the method-actor system. ~swd

As I've previously theorized, this would most likely make Dennis both the creator of and participant in the world's first celebrity sex tape (and almost certainly so if judging by the context of creating content that is intended for mainstream media). Some fans might cringe a bit at that designation (I don't)... but in reality, I think one could legitimately call Dennis a pioneer in terms of that form of media. I'm not sure that any other celebrity could be claimed to have done anything remotely of the sort at an earlier date.

I've wondered when, chronologically-speaking, exactly it was that it came to light publicly (fans knowing) that these sex sounds were both on the song, and were performed by Dennis (with an assist from the lady  ;D). Is it correct in assuming that since a bunch of executives in the building were apparently in the know, that this knowledge just spread as a bit of an underground secret, little by little for years, until it finally trickled into the knowledge base of BB fans themselves?

Did she know she would walk out to a room of smirking suits?
I hardly think it's analogous to a professional musician being hired to perform on a recording.
Does anyone know who she was? Are there interviews with her?

I'm not saying it's right or wrong, Emily, but it was a completely different time.  Free love, and all that jazz. 

I know this is an unpopular position here, which I think is a shame, but even then plenty of women were pointing out that 'free love' amounted to many women feeling a lot of cultural pressure to have sex with men they didn't particularly want to have sex with.  You can read Marianne Faithfull's autobiography for one example, but there are many. I'm not saying this woman didn't want to have sex with Dennis Wilson, she most likely did; but she also very likely felt pressure to do it under conditions she didn't understand or fully anticipate until it had happened.

I honestly think that has this woman really felt exploited, then she and her lawyers would've come out of the wood work by now to try and cash in. 

Wasn't she a sex worker that was located at the spur of the moment down on Sunset? I could imagine that the event may have just been par for the course if that was her profession at the time. Who knows if she even heard the final product, or knew what song or what media whatsoever it would have eventually been used for.

If she did, she could've used it to raise her......um...rates.

COMMENT:  First let me say how sorry I am to hear that Prince has passed on. He was a multi-talented musician and fantastic song writer. His passing was too early, yet he leaves us with 39 albums and some great songs still in the vault. God Bless.

---

---

I have written a couple of times about the Dennis All I Want To Do segment. So here are some comments to again address your concerns. Please try to find my previous descriptions if you need more detail. It's out there.

Capitol Tower is located on Vine Street, between Hollywood Blvd. and Sunset Blvd. At the time of this session the City of Hollywood had taken a stance to rid both Boulevards of all the hookers that were hanging out there. So when they did their sweep of the prostitutes, they all moved to the street between Hollywood and Sunset, named Selma. You may recall Wally Hiders was on Selma. Anyway, the back door of Studio One at Capitol opened out to Vine which was a short 1 1/2 block walk down to Selma. Now Dennis was well aware that this street would yield many prospects for his idea. So he told me his idea, walked out the back door and soon was back with a chick. He had told her what was going on, her role, her pay, that she must sign a release, and that she would only come in the back door and then afterward leave the same way. This is what happened. She and Dennis did the performance, she signed a release, was paid in cash, and left out the back door. Her name is on the release which is in Capitol files somewhere. Who knows. Emily please understand that no one was taken advantage of, in fact, the hired girl was paid a very handsome sum for the time she spent doing what she did every day. Dennis' idea was to finish the song with this sex act being in-time or in-tempo with the song, so both of them wore headphones and heard the song so that thrusts could be in tempo with the song, and verbal reactions would be in time with the song's tempo. There was an overdub by the way, so Dennis had double the morns and gowns that he wanted. He later told me he interviewed several gals, and found the one who he thought would produce the best verbal reactions or vocalization while being pleasured. Only I saw the girl when I got her signature on the release. She was a modest little lady, quite pleasant, but quickly left. She was paid in advance of the session. None of the executives know who she was or saw her. If you consider prostitution a profession, then this was all handled in a professional way. In hindsight, I suppose you could have hired an actress to make some sexy sounds and used those, but Dennis wanted it to be real, so it was. ~swd

Wasn't the song in question "All I Want To Do" (although there are also banging sounds on the "Do It Again" fade).

Yep, although both songs have someone hammerin' away in the fadeout  ;D

COMMENT:  Thanks Alan Smith, you are so right. I have corrected my mistakes. Too many songs to keep track of ...

PS:  The "banging sounds" at the end of Do It Again are from the "fire tapes" or the session wherein Brian had all the musicians playing construction equipment.  ~swd

Thank you, Mr. Desper, for clarifying and for taking my concerns seriously. I appreciate it.

Hey Mr. Desper while we're on the subject of Do it Again, may I ask you why the guys decided to include the "Workshop" ending in Do it Again?  It just seems so odd and I've always wondered why they included it.

COMMENT to Uncle Jesse:  It was Carl's idea. At the time he was involved in reviewing all the so-called "fire tapes" and it was keen in his thinking. So I really can't say what his motive was other than he told me that he thought we should use it because we had it ... and why not, rather than just put it back in the vault. I know it makes little musical sense, but Carl thought "workshop" being a famous segment unto itself might never find an outlet, so rather than letting it wither on the shelf and never be heard by the fans, gave it an everlasting place as the closing tag of a soon to be published song. No gain, no harm. ~swd

Go, Carl!!!  Personally, I've always enjoyed the fade, originally (ie, as a young teen not knowing a thing about Smile and it's myriad pieces) thinking akin it was a collection of clocks - thus evoking the passing of time similar to themes addressed in the lyrics.

Still evocative stuff and a good link to SD's metallic processed drum sound in the intro - an added dimension to a kick- ass number.

Very interesting! Thanks for sharing that information, Stephen!

COMMENT to Emily:
I thought I should further clarify the events of that day for you since you may not have read other posts on this subject that were posted over a year or more ago.
Just to set the scene, The studio used that day at Capitol is their largest and can house a symphonic orchestra, to give you an idea of the size. We were there to add some percussion (I think) and thought we would be using Studio D, one of the smaller rooms, but it was already in use so they put us in the big room. Since events turned out as they did, Dennis found himself in an ideal spot to realize the idea he had been considering for some time.
I won't restate what I wrote before, but when I wrote that Dennis told me what he wanted to do -- I'll describe it from there. He went off to find a girl, a street girl. Meanwhile, I went to the back of the studio and moved four string risers out and close to the control room window. These risers are about 18" high by 4 feet by 8 ft. Large enough to accommodate two string players. I upended three risers to form a visual barrier between the control room window and the studio. Then I took a dozen quilted packing blankets (like movers use), which are used in the studio for isolation, and placed them on the remaining forth riser that was left in a flat position and behind the barrier risers. It served as a bed, and was actually rather comfortable. So when viewed from the control room, nothing could be seen but the upturned risers sticking up eight feet high by 12 feet wide. This provided complete privacy -- visual privacy.  Then I found four large production booms (like you find on movie sets) and mounted four Newmann microphones on them. I suspended them about three feet above the bedding surface. Two headphones were placed on the bedding surface. When Dennis returned all was ready. I kept the mics off while he and the girl dis-robbed. He wanted to be naked with her and not do this in a sleazy way by lifting up a skirt or something like that. After a ten-minute "warmup," Dennis peered around the end riser and caught my attention, signaling he was ready to start. I spoke over the studio talkback speaker "put your headphones on and the music will start in about ten seconds." After ten seconds I started the tape and away we went -- or Dennis went.  So the dignity of all concerned was respected -- at least as much as possible while still getting the sounds required. Just so you know.  ~swd

Stephen, thanks for all the info.

Was there a reason why the sounds captured from this section are largely buried and barely audible in the mix? I am assuming that was a creative choice made in order for the true nature of the sounds to slip under the radar of the record company? I'd imagine if they were louder, it could have been a problem for releasing?

And do you think it was Denny's intention for the sounds to be a hidden "easter egg" for only his (and his friends/bandmates) to know about? Or was he perhaps hoping that this would be a subliminal sound that the detail-oriented listener might discover on their own upon close listening?

Finally, do you recall how the other band members and other people in the know within the BB organization reacted to these sounds being on the song?

I'm pretty sure it was meant to be an easter egg. I think I recall that somewhere, maybe the liner notes, it said "turn up the volume for an x-rated surprise" or something along those lines.

Once again, Mr. Desper, thank you. Perhaps you'd be surprised how rare it is for this sort of concern to be taken seriously, so perhaps you won't understand how much I appreciate that you did. You've eased my concerns, and made me much more comfortable with the song and Dennis Wilson in the process.

This makes me wonder if there aren't any other as yet undiscovered "easter eggs" of this sort, or of other sorts, that are buried on other BB songs.

Listen closely during the fadeout in I Know There's An Answer and you'll hear Mike berating Brian for fucking with the forumla  ;D

 :lol

 :lol

 :lol

"Wrinkles" and "Mt. Vernon and Fairway".  That moments, but, oh well.

Yes
No.

Some brilliant music on Mt. V & TF. 8)

The intro is ethereal, I could listen to it all day.

We need a BW album of ambient music!

Without a doubt! Eno, Llanois, Fripp, or Roach could be interesting.

Or maybe Aphex Twin and Brian Wilson Present: Selected Ambient Works Vol. III

I'll check AT out later today. Thanx

Quite frankly, I'd have loved to have been a fly on the wall when Brian presented the Mt. Vernon piece.

Imagine Dennis, Carl, Al, Mike, Blondie, and Ricky have this great collection of songs ready to go, and Brian Wilson, the leader, the genius, gives them this? 

There's something so nostalgic-feeling and beautifully innocent about that intro, I just don't know how to describe it. Brian really outdid himself with this one when it comes to evoking emotions out of me!

Magical is a pretty good way to describe it I'd say.

You'll LuHv it, trust me.

It's BW tapping into the same mystical plane SMiLE was on. :hat

(http://www.funnymeme.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/Funny-memes-that-moment-when-the-music-is-so-good.jpg)

I got my selection...this may not be THE most embarrassing, but my God 'Lucy Jones' is awful..almost as bad as Speed Turtle.

Right speed turtle. :lol

Holy crap, I just googled Speed Turtle.  I thought that title was a joke...until I realized it was a real song.  

Wow, that is truly terrible.  When was it recorded?  Sounds like early to mid 1990s.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SZ_O9OjGfyw

Apparently that song featured on a kids album. 

It was on a CD that accompanied a kids book.  Brian didn't write it.