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In re-reading the great book, "50 Sides to the BBs", I came to wonder what longtime BB fans thought (at the time, in 1988) when Kokomo hit number 1?
I'm sure Mike Love was most happiest and most surprised of all, but how much of a trip was it to be a big BB fan for many years, and to see the band having a #1 at that late date?
Were the hardcore BB fans losing their sh*t out of being happy for the Boys having a massive success like that? Or was the attitude more happy for the band, but wishing it was for a more introspective and "worthy" song? And when did the backlash start?

Personally, I totally dig Kokomo, cheesy as it is. It's sort of not really a BB song in how it sounds, even though it technically most certainly is. For me, it's really not cringeworthy, it's just plain fun - one of Mike's best vocals (I love his laid back vocal sound on this, similar to his parts on From There to Back Again - he should have sung far more in this voice), and Carl totally elevates it by miles - had Brian been on it (and he most certainly is missed on it), I wonder how BB history (or the song itself, for that matter) would have played out differently...

I wasn't a BB fan (or alive, for that matter) when Kokomo came out, but I can't imagine that anyone was particularly thrilled about it. I mean, it pretty much epitomizes everything wrong with Mike at that point in time, and as far as their really big hits go, it's really about the bottom of the barrel (even if it does have a bit of a cheesy, infectious quality to it that I actually kind of like). When I think about it, I can hardly fathom how it became a hit at all; no one I've ever met has had anything positive about it. I guess the late 80s were a pretty strange time!

I was ok with it but was pretty disappointed when word got out that Brian was invited to play on it and didn't, couldn't, wasn't told etc. Who knows where the blame lies? Its water under the bridge, but the fact was it was another lost opportunity in Beach Boy history.

I remember the first time I heard "Kokomo". It was on some TV show broadcast at Walt Disney World. I had no idea it was their new single or from a movie soundtrack. I thought it might be among the worst Beach Boys' songs I ever heard; I was sad. It started to get radio airplay and I still didn't like it. Then, gradually people who knew I was a Beach Boys' fan kept telling me how much they liked it, and MTV started to play it. I gave it another chance and right around the time it was No. 1 and it started to grow on me. That was probably my peak of liking it.

I think I was more happy that the band was back in the spotlight than actually liking the reason why. I remember thinking, "Please follow this up with something good. You're getting another chance. Don't blow it...again." Well, we know what happened. I acknowledge now that it's a good song, Mike and Carl sing it well, but it never became one of my favorites. When I made BB greatest hits comps - tapes and CD's - if the comp was for a friend, I included "Kokomo". If the comp was for me, I excluded it.

In the few interviews that I've seen Brian comment on "Kokomo", I got the impression that he wishes he was on the record, more because of its success than its musical merits. We know how Mike Love feels about it...

As a fan of 16 or 17 years at that time I was thrilled to pieces. I got so many comments from friends and acquaintances who knew of my fandom. All very positive. Kokomo is a radio friendly song and plainly the general public lapped it up.

I ran into Mike in December that year and he kept asking me how Kokomo was doing in New Zealand and Australia. 

I had been a fan for about 8 years at that point, and always listened to hear their new songs on the radio, so I was thrilled - but surprised - when it went to #1. This song just kind of snuck out, in fact I bought the 45 probably the week it was released, then nothing seemed to happen for the first month or so, all the attention was on Brian and his solo album. Then "Kokomo" slowly started climbing the charts. I wasn't surprised that Brian wasn't on it, he was kind of estranged from the band at that point. I was surprised that Brian's album didn't do better.

I was 18 when Kokomo came out and I'd only been a "hardcore"-ish type since I was twelve, so not as much mileage as many here.

However, I recall being disgusted, revolted and disenfranchised BB-speaking, by Kokomo, a reaction further worsened by it's association with a Tom Cruise puff piece.  I walked away and did not come back when  until the '91 twofers came out.

I was seriously disturbed by the amount of people (at the Melbourne, AU C50 gig) who shook their heads, giggled and went WTF? to Brian's routine during Sail On Sailor, but got up and danced like merry fools to Koko, BJ's beckoning aside...

I was pleased as punch.  I had NO idea that the Beach Boys were going to release a new song.  I was walking along Yonge St. in Toronto and I heard this song on the speakers over the front door of 'some' store and I immediately recognized the sound.  [or at least I thought I did]  I stopped, stood and listened and said to myself..."That's Carl.  Those are the Beach Boys.  There's Mike.  It's gotta be them.  NOBODY else sounds like that.  I LIKE that song."

At that time I was working at an 'oldies' station so I wasn't paying attention to what was brand-spankin' new.  THAT one got my attention in a New York second.  "My band is back on the radio with a new song?  Excellent."

I never did 'get' the disdain for Kokomo.  It created positive attention for the group.  It gave them exposure to a whole NEW set of fans and it reaffirmed that the Beach Boys were pretty darned great at what they did/do.  Then it went to # 1.  The general public had voted. :hat

Subsequently I purchased a copy of the John Phillips version.  What Mike and the boys did to it MADE it.  Otherwise?  Eh!!!  Not so much. ::)

--------------------------------------------

By the way...just because Brian wasn't a part of it didn't bother me.  I was plenty used to the Beach Boys doing things w/o Brian.  That was par for the course by then.  Considering that...I think they did pretty well.  Make that extremely well. 8)

I liked it the minute that I heard it. It was great to hear the Beach Boys on the radio again. To watch it climb up the charts was fun. Something I hadn't done in quite a while, especially as it made it's way to the top. While I never liked Mike's super nasal vocals from the mid-70s onward, Carl's vocals on the chorus and the band vocals throughout the song are just terrific. As someone else posted, everyone I knew were coming up to me talk about the group and song. Most everyone at the time liked it. It was/is a catchy little ditty and was lightening in a bottle.

I wasn't a hardcore Beach Boys fan yet when it came out, so I didn't notice it at all. I think I heard it first consciously when I bought the GV box set in about 1995/6, and it didn't sound familiar to me, even though I do remember having seen the Cocktail movie at the cinema. Somehow I can't get into the tune.

Two years ago I was playing BB tunes to the guitar at a friend's birthday, and one of the women actually asked me if I could play "Kokomo". (I couldn't.) Another one then asked: "That's by the Beach Boys?!?" Obviously they knew the song better than I did. :-D

I was in high school and had been trying to convince the hippies and freaks (the only people who had an'open mind' back then) that the bb were amazing artists, way out there and willing to push musical boudaries....
whoops, here comes kokomo, crapping all over my story!
I was NOT into it.
bw's solo album was way better and i was happy to hear brian had nothing to do with krapamo!
i kinda like it now though!

Wasn't a fan, not a fan, of this one by the Boys. Not a fan of Brian's solo album either. The group was not in my wheelhouse then.

Many people agreed with me on Brian's solo album but most everyone disagreed with me on Kokomo and it was a big success, loved by many, and one of the group's iconic hits in that rarefied air of #1.

I was 12 and not yet what you'd call a Beach Boys fan, with my familiarity limited to Endless Summer, a copy of which my parents owned (and to which I listened a lot in my youth). Oh, and I was very familiar with DLR's version of "California Girls," if that counts, and I think it should because it's really telling of where my head was in the mid-to-late '80s. Van Halen. Poison. Motley Crue. Whitesnake. Guns 'n' Roses. I could go on, but if you don't get the point by now, well, a few dozen other bands' names won't help you.

So I saw the video--which was how my generation heard music in those days--and thought, "This is the Beach Boys? They look nothing like the guys on that record my parents have. They're old. And gross. And fat. Why is he wearing a cap? What's Uncle Jesse doing here? I wonder if there are boobs in that movie... Why isn't there a guitar solo?" For the next 8 years or so, while my taste in music quickly and radically changed (thank goodness), my entire concept of the Beach Boys was stained by 12-year-old-me's seeing and hearing of "Kokomo." I even "heard" the music I had known and liked earlier through that visual and aural lens, cheesing up those earlier works in a sleight of mind.

Now? I think it's fine. Definitely catchy. Nowhere near my favorites, but I have nothing against it, really. It doesn't matter much to me. (The video is still atrocious. Why wasn't Tawny Kittaen rollicking on a car? That's how you make an '80s video, damnit.)

I had kind of lost track of the Beach Boys by the time Roth's remake of Cali Girls and Kokomo came along. I knew that Brian wasn't with the group, but didn't know why. I knew Dennis was gone, and frankly wasn't expecting to ever hear anything new from them.

When Roth's version of Cali Girls became a hit, I had some heated words with some teens who said his cover was better than the original. "Are you nuts! No one is better than the original. Besides, that's Carl Wilson doing those harmonies!" As outraged as I was about that, I was actually glad they were getting some recognition and airplay through another artist.

The first time I heard Kokomo on the radio, I had the top  down on the car. The tropical vibe and the Beach Boys harmonies were perfect for crusin' on a summer day, and more importantly, the Beach Boys were back on the charts! For that reason, I've always liked Kokomo.

It's not a masterpiece. It didn't inspire or influence the direction of pop music.  It's  just a fun, catchy pop song that people still like to sing along to, today.  And on a sunny afternoon with the top down on the car, that's enough.

When Kokomo came first came out, I wasn't quite a BBs fan yet.  The seeds had been planted over the years, and I was starting to take note of some of their older songs thanks to movies like Good Morning Vietnam.  I liked Kokomo, and the fact that it was playing everywhere reinforced my interest in it.  My first wife was a huge fan of it, so to me it was cool that there was yet another thing we had in common.  Even my old school, classical music loving, rock hating father liked Kokomo!  He said it reminded him of a particular song from the 50s that he liked. 

Today, for me, Kokomo is ok....not a great song, but not terrible.  I think the fact that it was wayyyy overplayed in these parts kinda ruined it for me. 

I like Still Crusin' much better!  It's a bit schlocky, and that 80s production is a bit cringe-worthy, but it's a catchy song.  In my book, that should have been the hit....but then I'd probably be burned out on that one!

Not a target of the topic of this thread. I wasn't a fan by then. But it turned me into one. I was 12, I loved the sound of those voices, and I thought it was kind of heroic that these guys were still going seemingly strong.

Guilty pleasure. Is there such a thing as a 'bad' #1 ?

Apparently the band asked Brian to take part, but the invite never got past Landy's in tray.

Surely if Brian had known, and gotten involved, Landy would have made his own presence known in the sessions.  I wonder how that would have gone!

Two words that ought never be used together, if you ask me. (Which you didn't.)

Let me introduce you to the year 1990. I think we can all agree the answer is yes. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Billboard_Hot_100_number-one_singles_of_1990

Pleased as punch! Yes! Came out on a great day in July of 1988! And, really took off with the Cocktail movie, but the frosting on the cake was when one of my Pre-K (4 year olds) kids came into my class singing it! As this little girl was singing the rest of the kids joined in! And the happiest teacher on the planet!  :lol

This little girl was a BB "convert" from Full House! This is why I just love Stamos - because the music came right into my classroom!  And I was able to find "easy" sheet music,  written in a key recommended, for their young voices.  And it was exactly the correct tempo for them learn to skip to. (A motor skill they needed to master.)

The absolute coolest! Jackpot!

If BW had been involved, he probably would have had a hand in arranging the harmonies. Frankly, that would have made the song better from my point of view, because the one thing the song really lacks is the classic Beach Boys harmony blend.

Otherwise, yes it's cheesy. But it's undeniably a hit song. It just sounds like one. And it's a credit to both Mike and Terry that they didn't overthink or overwork it. There's a bit of the novelty record to it, which means it doesn't necessarily lend itself to hundreds of listens, but that's okay.

Keeping in mind how anemic music was at that time, it's not wholly surprising it somehow did well on the charts. A fan from the beginning, I chose to shut it out, even at  the supermarket who drove it into the ground.  ::)

Well, Andrew gave you the one word answer to the reason why. Landy.  It is not as though there were not four formidable composer/lyricists in John Phillips, Scott McKenzie, Terry Melcher and Mike Love.  Hit makers - all.

On EH, it is abundantly clear from Brian's own mouth that he would have participated had he known.  And we can reasonably infer that it was the hand of the not-so-good doc.  

Cheesy? Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

This has been discussed before but does no one but me remember Bruce saying they were fooling around with the song and then Carl got involved and changed things around and knocked into the shape it is? I can not find it on the 'net and I'm wondering if it wasn't on the British or Male Ego message board. If I didn't dream it.

You do understand that the only reason for no Brian was due to Landy, right? Landy made sure Brian was a part of the Spanish version, though. Did your hippie and freak friends love Wipe Out? Brian is all over that gem. I wasn't even aware that hippies existed in the late-80s. We'll always have freaks no matter what the era. ;)

My take at the time: Mike at his cheesiest, with Carl's brilliant chorus lead saving the day. Despite all the tumult (and, man, was there tumult in '88!!), I was really happy to see the BBs back on the charts and hoped (ultra-naively, as BB fans are still wont to do...) that all this would signal some kind of "grand renaissance" for them (ahem).

In the world of #1 singles, "Kokomo" is probably around the sixtieth percentile quality-wise. In the world of BB songs, it's probably in the high forties. IMO Carl's work on the song made all the difference, both quality-wise and chart performance-wise. Without that chorus, no one would have wanted to go to "Kokomo."

Would still love to hear the story behind Spanish Kokomo, and Brian's involvement, however no one seems to know anything about that.

Boy, do I learn a lot, here! Thanks! I didn't know there was a version in Spanish. And, you can hear Brian.  Mike always had a good grasp on Spanish, even doing an intro for Bluebirds, on Live in London, in Spanish. Carl is pretty good as well.

You learn something new every day!  ;)

I think part of the problem with the whole Kokomo thing was that there was a tremendous amount of publicity leading up to Brian's solo album and it tanked. Kokomo hits #1 without Brian and if anybody thinks Mike didn't do a Jagger inspired jig you don't know Mr. Love very well. Mike also likes to say that Kokomo was their first #1 since Good Vibrations, surreptitiously putting it on par with the latter . You know, a #1 is a #1 is a #1.

As a fan from the beginning, I was stoked the first time I heard Kokomo.  It was really cool to hear the BBs on the radio in 1988 with an instantly accessible, upbeat song where all the elements fit perfectly together, including Carl's classic "Ohh, I wanna take you down to Kokomo" lines.  As Kokomo advanced up the charts I figured it had a good chance of making it to number 1 on Billboard, and I was ecstatic when it did so, especially when listening to Casey Kasem announcing it as the number one song in the nation on American Top 40.  

Brian spoke Spanish too.  I'm not sure it matters to anyone but you and me though, beach girl...

Thanks, Debbie, for that info on Brian.  Makes perfect sense.  But, I had no idea that there was a Spanish version which I found on YouTube.  Great stuff! 

I remember, at the time, being entirely focused on Brian's solo LP.  When I bought the Kokomo 45, I thought, well, OK, kind of catchy, not very ambitious, and didn't pay much attention to it.  After it took off, I listened again and it grew on me.  Today I think Kokomo is a classic Beach Boys song, perfectly updating their sound to contemporary radio (for 1988), without being even remotely nostalgic.  A perfect blend of Al, Carl and Bruce at that time, on the chorus, one of Mike's strongest, most iconic lead vocals.  I am also very fond of harmony lines from Bruce against Mike's lead on the second and third verse.  And when it hit number one, I was thrilled.

I was a huge fan at the time and would immediately buy anything they put out. So the day the  "Kokomo" single hit the shelves, I snatched up my copy, took it home with great excitement, and put it on the stereo and took a listen.

I remember very clearly that my first reaction was "well, here's another one that's going to bomb." Then of course, much to my surprise, it climbs to #1. I remember hearing people comment on how the song just took them away to a sort of tropical vacation state of mind - people that weren't really hard core fans.

In hindsight, Carl's part has become one of my all-time favorite Carl Wilson vocal phrases. It makes the song.

I love Carl's part on "Kokomo," and it still bugs me to this day that the video would always cut away to movie footage when his part came on. I wanted to see closeups of CW singing, dammit! Yeah, Tom Cruise was eye candy, but so was Carl and he was (imo) a great live performer to boot -- hhhmmpf!

Re Brian and Spanish: ¡Muy bueno!

It still bugs me to this day that the guys could get a #1 record in 1988, and have no clue how to follow it up! They should have had another single out just as "Kokomo" fell off the chart. By the time "Still Cruisin" came out the next summer, a lot of the momentum had gone. I was really hoping that having a hit record would inspire them to do something really creative, a new album, not just another compilation.

This is all water under the bridge by this point of course but I wish they would've followed it up with an album comprising the best of BW88, Kokomo, maybe one or two Al or Carl compositions... I think this might've turned out really great.

I 2nd. Why show the movie scenes AND the band singing & playing "Kokomo"? It's featured there, but that's like they want to emphasize the song became a hit because of that movie. It helped boost the song charting, but "K" is good on its own terms. Wirestone otm re smash sound.

What I'm most curios about is, what did the band(particularly Mike) think of the song before it became a hit? Was it considered just another "throwaway song"?

I was pleased to see the song do so well - it may well have increased the fanbase, but I think a lot of people had been alienated long before then. As a song - meh. Brian's album was the thing.

It wasn't an immediate hit  - released mid-July, didn't chart until early September.

I'm with AGD, it was a #1 hit, how bad could it be?  I was in high school, it was played constantly and I remember the video on MTV being played a lot.  It's the Beach Boys Caribbean style.  I don't have any problem with it.  When I took my brother to a C50 show, he did mention that he felt Kokomo was the only song in the show that didn't fit with the rest of the material.  I thought that was pretty cool, the song that Brian wasn't involved in stood out among 40+ songs.  Granted, there may have been a couple of others Brian didn't really get involved with, but all ended up sounding like the BB.   Kokomo sounds more Jimmy Buffet, Christopher Cross, "Yacht Rock", New Kid In Town-ish.

here's my experience with it... it seems,for some reason which baffles me, that people who AREN'T huge Beach Boy Fans really seem to like it, the casual listener, you know the kind those who think "Wouldn't it be nice" is a great song from "50 First dates" and know nothing about Pet Sounds, those who say that "Good Vibrations" is too "weird" but Kokomo is a great song, Those who call them a "Surfing Band" and that's all they sang, those who think that BB1985 is a great album (like my ex wife did) and that Pet Sounds is too spooky or sad. also I seem to notice that Females seem to be drawn more to it than males,, of course this is my experience. when I first heard it I thought it was good, then I saw the video looking for Brian and he was nowhere to be found so I figured he just didn't show up for the video, then I got the actual cassette tape and looked at the songwriting credits and saw that Brian had nothing to do with it, I still thought it was a nice song although nothing great, then I bought "MIU" and thought to myself that MIU sounds like a bunch of "Kokomo's" and didn't like the song as much after that because I thought to myself that really wasn't much different than what they did on MIU, that it was basically a fluke, so now after 20 years of this experience it's just a song that is pleasent but nothing great it's just there, like background music..

also I wanted to say why I thought Brian may have been on kokomo when it came out..because not long before that he was on the movie "Disorderlies" with the Fat Boys and was not only on "Wipe Out" but was also on the Barbie record that came out around the same time...so wen Kokomo came out I assumed he was on it,,but alas he wasn't

There's an alternate Kokomo video that show Carl singing his part:

http://youtu.be/Ij_-l8xkz7w?t=4m34s

Well, I'd only been a fan for 25 years at the time, and after the last album was not paying that much attention - since I didn't (and don't)  listen to the radio music stations - and so my wife told me she thought she'd heard a new Beach Boys song, my ears perked up, oh, terrific, hope it's something good, I heard it a couple of days later, and loved it. Still do. Never did understand all the commotion about it. Enjoyed hearing it live in the C50 show. That's all.

I was 8 years old when the song came out and loved it. I remember seeing the video quite a lot on VH1. So that Christmas I asked for the Cocktail soundtrack and got it. Being that young, I didn't bother looking any deeper into their music and didn't become a fan until 22 years later.

I agree with the few people that mentioned Carl's vocal is what made the song for them. I still enjoy listening to the recorded version of this song for Carl's voice. Every live version I've heard (from youtube and live at two of the C50 shows) since Carl's passing has done absolutely nothing for me. I remember hearing it at the C50 shows and thinking that the song is actually pretty terrible without Carl.

Kokomo is the perfect example where the performance makes a so-so song into #1 hit.

Oh, I thought it was sheeee-ite. But I thought that was true of everything by the Beach Boys in 1988.

...except maybe, if anyone had thought to ask me, the surly, troubled 17 year-old that I was that year, if I remembered dancing when I was five to a live recording of an ancient album track called 'God Only Knows' (I mean, it was already 22 years old then, way older than me... from back when people only existed in black and white!) on the day my pet cat's tail got shut in the glass door to the garden and had to have it mostly amputated...

...and if I remembered another track from that same live album, that started with a staccato organ that, for some reason, reminded me of fishbones, and then featured a strange, wailing instrument and a catchy chorus about vibrations. And there was a third track that I never forgot: one where all the singers just sang, without any instruments. A track called 'Their Hearts Were Full Of Spring', which I always loved and which slept in my memory until 1995, when I listened to the version on the Smiley Smile/Wild Honey twofer, and shivers went right up my back in the most extraordinary of ways, and I knew... that I wanted to know more about this band, and that I was going to give them a lot of my money if they had more music like that in their back catalogue.

Yes, the seeds of my future obsession were already there, even when Kokomo ruled the airwaves in 1988, and I regarded the Beach Boys as a greying load of sad-sacks wearing faded hawaiian shirts over their slowly expanding bellies, has-beens of the worst kind, perpetrators of the crime against good taste that was 'Wipe Out' with the Fat Boys.

I've still got no love for Kokomo itself. I can't shake the feeling of high-80s schlock that permeates the track from the moment that hideous plastic percussion starts. I mean, I *like* cheesy drumboxes and pittery-pattery rhythm machines, but the start of Kokomo is just so bad, *so* shot through with essence of fermenting Gorgonzola, that I have to switch it off. No amount of Carl Wilson emoting over it can rescue it for me. And that guy could sing.

And yet, *my* BB guilty pleasures are 'She Believes In Love Again' from the 85 album and 'Make It Big' from Still Crusin' and they're *ultra* high-80s schlock too. So go figure. Cut *those* tracks in two and you see that there are little cameos of a mullet-wearing Peter Cetera and Tom Cruise flashing a pearly grin with a head full of StudioLine hair-gel carved all the way through them. Crockett & Tubbs are there too, wearing penny loafer beach shoes and those primary coloured jackets with permanently rolled up sleeves that were big for about six months in 1987-88. There's a cameo of, uh, Cameo as well. And Sly Fox, Glen Frey, Molly Ringwald and Harold Faltermeyer. All dancing to Yello's 'Oh Yeah' in a video directed by John Hughes.

PS: When my father passed away, I inherited the same Live In London vinyl album I was dancing to God Only Knows from when I was five. That's where it all started for me with the Beach Boys (...and I still think the version of Barbara Ann on there with the horns is the sole acceptable version of that song).

I remember finding that Mike/Bruce harmony surprisingly pleasant listening to the song at the C50 show I attended. I'm embarrassed to admit that had Brian sung that part instead of Bruce on the record I might have gotten into the track.

I went to buy the Cocktail soundtrack because I heard about the Jimmy Cliff tune that was on it ("Shelter of Your Love"), but alas that song was only in the film, not on the soundtrack.  However, I was overjoyed to discover that my fave band was on the soundtrack.  I LOVED "Kokomo" the moment I played it for the first time.  Shortly thereafter it could be heard on every speaker in America.  Loved it then and I love it now.  Those of you with your noses up in the air should drop the pretense and live a little.  It was a NUMBER ONE for a reason.

I agree that Carl's vocal simply makes the song. I've never heard a live version sans Carl that I particularly cared for or connected with at all. Carl was THE man, he brought an air of legitimacy to so many otherwise so-so (or worse) BB songs from that era. I wonder if Carl had done some guest vocals on a song from BW88, if a hit could have possibly been had form that record.

What do you guys think would have happened if Brian had in fact sang some and added some writing contributions to Kokomo? Do you think BB history would have played out any differently if Mike couldn't proudly claim he wrote a #1 without Brian? Probably Mike's ego would have been a tad, just a tad, more in check, but maybe not much else would be different is my guess. I do wonder if Brian really was invited late on purpose to avoid his appearing at all on the song, if Landy had to be involved, or if it really was a case of Landy and/or Brian blowing off the Boys. Maybe a little of both is true.  I do imagine that Mike is happy that he had a #1 without Brian's involvement, and while nobody could have predicted it would have hit #1, I doubt that Mike in hindsight wishes Brian had in any way contributed to the original track.  I can be happy for Mike that he got to prove himself in the way that he did, I just wish there'd have been a helluva lot less self-boasting from 1988-on about it.

Just the fact that they had a hit, let alone a #1 hit in 1988 was a big deal. They went 22 years without a #1, so I think Mike can/should be proud of that accomplishment. Having a hand in writing it makes him even more proud.

I remember this very well. I went to vegas around the 2nd week of july in 1988. while at a record store there I saw the single for sale. I bought all 7 copies they had (what I did back then and before the fire. anything beach boy related I grabbed). didn't think much about it, esp seeing it was yet another song from a movie. much more interested in brian's lp at that time. billboard had a chart back then with a list of around 50 songs titled hot album tracks or something like that. I watched love and mercy while it was on that chart. around august suddenly I notice kokomo was on it. then the following month it was on the 45 chart. then it seemed to explode. was happy for the group. I went to vegas again in last week of October 1988 to see them at Caesar's. I taped one of the shows, I think it was the 28th. I was in the front row in front of mike. he announced kokomo was going to be #1 the next week in billboard. he really seemed happy announcing that. I was glad for the group, the song sounded ok on the radio, people seemed to dig it and carl's singing made it for me. nice for the time. got sick of it later but at the time, for me, it was a nice success.

No, I totally get that. It just becomes off-putting (and I'm sure I'm not alone) to continually be specifically reminded by Mike that he wrote it sans Brian, the fact of which if not outright stated as such, at the very least gets alluded to in interviews quite a bit.  It's hard to stomach IMHO, but is what it is, ultimately. Regardless, guilty pleasure or not, I do dig me some studio Kokomo.

I'm pretty sure in my case it isn't pretense or my nose up in the air that prevents me from liking it. That same year I bought an LP by another band, and I liked all songs on it but one which I thought was terrible. Couldn't even stand listening to it. That song was issued as a single the following January and went to #1. :o I can stand listening to Kokomo! :)

Writing it without Brian is the truth. Not off-putting in the least. It's Mike's story to tell, one all his own, at least within band itself. It really is the one and only time they did it without Brian.

Again, I'm speaking from just my opinion, and I'd hope you would also feel that what your stating is merely your opinion as well. IMO, you're right about all of your statements  in your last post, with the exception of that the specific Brian-less fact has been driven home by Mike and into the heads' of people reading/seeing interviews just a few too many times, past the point of which it becomes slightly ridiculous - and thus becomes less about stating a simple informative fact that it *happened* to have been written without Brian, and comes off more as somewhat egotistical bragging (ad naseum). If you do not see it as egotistical bragging, I do question what repeated actions/words a given musician would have to do/say for you to quantify their actions as such.  

Hell, maybe it's an indirect result of Mike being legitimately screwed over for credits for so long, and if that's the case, I can "get" the guy's Kokomo self-boasting actions a bit more, but nevertheless I still find them a bit ridiculous and over-the-top.

My second sentence is strictly my opinion, but everything else is pure fact. You are entitled to feel anyway you want. I am not trying to get in another pissing match of Brian vs Mike. This thread is to talk about Kokomo and how we reacted to it in 1988.

I was heavily into Brian's first (and best, imo) solo album when Kokomo came out. I thought the song was great, catchy as hell and this whole negative association with the song among Beach Boys fanatics today didn't exist back then. There was, of course, a pocket of hardcore fans who didn't like ANYTHING Brian wasn't involved in. I guess they tolerated the Spanish version.

Pretty much everyone agreed that the Still Cruisin' album was a wet fart.

I think the Still Cruisin' album is better than a wet fart; I'd argue it's a legit guilty pleasure, for me at least. Or maybe about 5 songs are. But not sure how I'd have felt if I'd been into the band at the time. I find that appreciating a subpar BB album (as best you can, with a product that has some major flaws but still a good amount of decent stuff) like the Still Cruisin' album or MIU Album is easier in hindsight, if the listener discovers the album years later without the weight and disappointment of expectation of what could've been at the time of release.

drbeachboy: Not trying to get in another pissing match of Brian vs Mike either, and what I was stating really has nothing to do Brian either, so it's not a "versus" situation at all; I just find it legitimately surprising to hear another fan say that Mike does not sound egotistically bragging when for 25+ years continually specifically bringing up the Brian-less nature of the song... so my honest, non-inflammatory question (which remains unanswered) to you was, what would a person who believes this, such as yourself, actually think a hypothetical example of egotistically bragging would be? Whether by Mike or someone else? Or maybe you're of the mindset that egotistical bragging is a concept that simply does not exist by anyone ever - I don't know. I'm curious.

Feel free not to answer again if you really don't want to, but just know that I was not trying to start a pissing match, and truly was just trying to understand the logic and mindset of your opposing viewpoint.  When we calmly can discuss why we feel the ways that we do, we can understand each other a bit better, even if we ultimately won't agree.

(I should add that the original topic of this thread, which I started, was in fact what I intended to discuss, and there was no "ulterior" motive, in case you somehow think there was - but if, in conversation, another question/tangent is posed, I don't see why some imaginary "rules" about what a thread is initially about have to be strictly adhered to. I do get that many threads have been derailed by Mike "bashing", but please trust me when I say that's not my intention.  

"if the listener discovers the album years later without the weight and disappointment of expectation of what could've been at the time of release."  Ain't that the TRUTH.  To come in after the fact is to look at the situation and to hear the music entirely differently.  There can be no comparison.

The music can be evaluated in terms of what it was ... compared to what actually existed at that given time.

To judge it without that key perspective will, though, be the reality going forward...forever and a day.  Our 'geezer' perspective is accurate and correct...and DATED.  So what?  Art or fun?  In 1988 we had both...and the public?  They wanted fun.  Kokomo delivered...and succeeded.  The old time fans, by and large, wanted art.  Brian delivered.  The success rate was BIG with the 'geezers'.

  Having Jeff Lynne along for the ride didn't hurt.  One For the Boys was terrific.  Our Prayer...1988 style.  Melt Away?  Oh ya.  Rio Grande?  We hadn't heard anything THIS adventurous since Holland, Carl and the Passions, Surf's Up and Sunflower.  Kokomo was nice.  It was terrific that the BOYS were riding another wave.  Brian Wilson delivered a whole lot more though.  He still does. 8)

Honestly, I like that all of the Beach Boys are different from each other. People have personalities. Mike tends to brag, Brian tends to understate his genius. Carl was thoughtful and gave measured responses. Al has a down to Earth, every guy quality. Dennis was cool, tough, but tender hearted. This is what makes them fascinating to me. It makes them human. It is why I love learning about the band, as well as the music. They are not cookie cutter, stepford men. They are real people, with real issues and real gifts.

I don't remember "bragging" about Kokomo anymore than any other of the group's #1s. I don't remember Mike hogging the credit either. He has careful explained what specifically he did and what others did as far as I remember. I think you have exaggerated that in your memory.

Yeah, sure.  :3d

Really? The man still brings up "Kokomo" every chance he gets. It's been.....what....26 years!

Shoot, that would be like Steve Winwood, spending the last quarter century sayin', "yeah he was big in the '60s, but guess what guys....I wrote and recorded 'Higher Love' in '85, and IT WAS A HUGE HIT! Can you believe it?! Without The Spencer Davis Group or Traffic or Blind Faith! Just me baby! And oh yeah, did you know I wrote 'Back in the High Life' too? How 'bout that?"

Thing is, those were big fuckin' hits. Steve Winwood is a '60s rock legend, and he basically reinvented his sound to have a soul-pop '80s sheen (and I dig it honestly). However, you don't see Steve Winwood going everywhere telling people he wrote "Higher Love". First off because that's nearly thirty years ago. And even more likely because he's secure in himself. Unfortunately, Mike Love is most likely very, very insecure. At least judging by the fact that he won't take off his hat in public because he's embarrassed of his baldness, the fact that he wears ballcaps with his own bands name on it, and  the fact that he nearly always mentions The Beatles even when talking about his oh-so-sacred commitment to meditation. Not to mention he always seems to have to remind us what songs he co-wrote. I don't know. I don't see Mick Jagger pestering everybody saying, "hey....psst, hey...I wrote 'Satisfaction' and 'Honky Tonk Woman', you know that right? I'm a big deal."

Shame. But no...Mike never talks about "Kokomo", and definitely wasn't insanely egotistical after it became a hit in the late '80s. And no, there's not any evidence on YouTube of how batshit he was during this era.

Calm down. That's not what he wrote. Getting upset about this won't get you anywhere or do you any good.

Hahah. Cute. Calm down? Yeah, I'm sooo worked up about this. Veins just poppin' out my forehead.

Check it. Dude said he didn't remember Mike bragging. I pointed out that this wasn't exactly the case.

So chill out. Okay? Please just settle down. Don't get worked up about all this stuff. Where's it gonna getcha?

The way you phrased it makes it seem he said Mike didn't bragg at all. In fact he said:


See? Cam admits that Mike bragged about Kokomo - and I say Mike will bragg about it in interviews as long as he lives. And as you pointed out in one of your posts, that is part of the reason he is not as respected as other artists who don't bragg. Or not as much at least; I remember a Paul McCartney interviews many years ago where I thought "Now he's bragging a little", but admittedly not as obstinately as Mike does.

Mike's bragging doesn't bug me that much though. Let him try to get his piece of the cake.

I don't know. It just ultimately bugs me because it makes me feel like even The Beach Boys themselves consider themselves second-class.

Like, why does this guy gotta always bring up The Beatles? Why bring up the 1966 poll? Why bring up a fluke '80s hit in so many interviews. You're one of the two main recognizable voices in The Beach Boys, and everybody knows who your group is. We don't need all this outside garbage to convince us, Doctor Love. It's too bad that he doesn't realize that a lot of the world already gives him props. He's got a big piece of "the cake" as you say. Why can't he be happy with being the lead singer, and sometimes lyricist of the greatest American band ever. How is that not good enough?

Meh. It's too late. I feel that Mike's attempts at gaining "relevance" or "cool points" usually ends up with him and/or the group usually looking even tackier.

I was about 17 when this song came out and was already a die hard fan.. I tried really hard to like it.. but ultimately the song did nothing for me.  I could never get into the whole "tropical" thing at all.  And that sax solo made me want to gag.  Basically the song was too wimpy for me.

I was much MUCH more excited when I heard Getcha Back on the radio back in 85.  With the crashing drums and soaring falsetto..  now THAT got me going.  I really thought the Boys were back.  How did  Getcha Back only go to 20 something and Kokomo to number one?  I'll never understand.

That being said I do enjoy Carl's part and I was secretly happy they got a number one out of it.  And probably lots of new fans.  But to this day the song still does nothing for me and I have never placed it on any personal compilations.

Although I have stated my love for Kokomo at the time and now, I do have to agree here...I was really into the Getcha Back/R&R To the Rescue/California Dreamin' run.  It seemed like the band was working well again.

I was foolish enough back then to think the guys would be motivated to come up with an all new album of the same quality of BW88 or Holland...or even LA. I was so young and naïve...but I learned real fast after Still Cruisin' came out.

Too late in the day to keep posting or too late to change Mike? The latter thing is correct, I think.



Because Kokomo was in a big movie and Getcha Back wasn't? I like Getcha Back much more, even though it is musically less sophisticated and Mike's vocal has a creepier nasality than on Kokomo.

First time I heard Getcha Back on the radio was on a Sunday morning oldies show where new songs were NEVER played, but the DJ made an exception for this one, and yes, it felt like the Boys were back in a big way. I expected that song to go top 10.

I apologize if someone else mentioned this already (I didn't wade through the entire four-page thread).  Many of us obviously believe that Carl's vocals are what made this song memorable.  Those who do (or don't, for that matter) should watch this 1996 youtube video of the Boys on Live with Regis & Kathy Lee.  Listen to the shortened performance of Kokomo and I know you'll savor Carl's live vocals.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ySCOM9UeOE