The Smiley Smile Message Board

alright, i dont know when stamos became a touring beach boy, assuming it was before full house was aired...and it seems like a subtitle approach to bring them back (the concert episode, later in a early season), the SIP poster in Jessie's bedroom, advertising for them on their radio station, etc...

so why didn't the beach boys do the theme song? it seemed appropriate

because Stamos did it by himself

wow, i didnt even realize it was him

John Stamos sang the Full House theme song? Or did I misinterpret that?

Despite how easy it sometimes can be to dislike John Stamos, I have to give him props. Being the big Beach Boys fan that he is, he got to do the one thing that all of us want to do: play with the Beach Boys. Not only that, he also recorded with them, appeared in their music videos, and toured with them (and sometimes still does). He also was given a lead vocal, to sing the remake of "Forever", which suggests that he is a true Beach Boys fan, selecting a song from Sunflower. Sure the remake was definately a slice of processed cheese, but so was everything else recorded by the Beach Boys at the time period.

His presence in the Beach Boys touring band also added a spark to the slowly, dulling BB's concert scene. At least Mike Love could say during the concerts, "We got John Stamos from Full House on drums tonight!". Unknowingly, some people, including me when I was younger, would have thought that Stamos was there from the beginning.

Now that Carl is gone, Al is out, and Brian is doing his own thing, the Beach Boys need something to keep the concerts alive. Apart from the musc, which should be the main draw, I think if Stamos came back to tour with the BB's, they would see a bigger concert draw (this is in case that a "reunion" never happens).

Now as far as the Full House episode with the concert, that was definately my first intro to the Beach Boys, and later lured me into the fan that I am now.

By the way, does Brian get royalties from the Beach Boys concerts, even if he is not performing witht them?

They might as well put Stamos on guitar since no other original members are with the band. He can take Al or Carls place. I always thought it was hilarious that Stamos was seen as the replacement for Dennis.

Ed Roach has a good story about the Stamos-Dennis connection (so to speak).  I guess Stamos always wanted to be Dennis Wilson, and the time he actually met Dennis at a party, let's say that Dennis was less than impressed!  Ed can tell it in more detail and better I am sure.

Does he post on this board ?

Jabba2 wrote...
I always thought it was hilarious that Stamos was seen as the replacement for Dennis.

...didn't Stamos do the drums in the "Hot Fun In The Summertime" adult/child theme associated video?  :lol

He did?!?

I was a pretty big Full House fan back in the day (had a crush on Candace Cameron) and as I recall the theme was sung by some unknown that also did themes for other ABC shows of that vintage  (Family Matters, maybe Step By Step, etc)

Of course I've been wrong before, but I don't think I'm wrong about this.  Someone must have the DVDs and watch the end credits

I agree with what you wrote, Matt. Stamos is an easy target, I guess. But I'm not going to criticize him. Any celebrity, especially a young hip one, who would stick his neck out and get the Beach Boys on his TV shows (remember they were also on the show he had with Jack Klugman) has guts. And, IMO, I didn't think the Beach Boys appearances were that bad.

He was also able to carry on a relationship with the guys off the stage. I think he got along with all the guys. I know he invited the group to his wedding, and I believe his first dance with his wife (now ex) was to "God Only Knows". And like it or dislike it, he put his heart and soul into the TV movie.

Another thing that works against him is the unfortunate time he came around to the Beach Boys. He will be associated with the "Kokomo" and Summer In Paradisde era. BTW, he directed the "Hot Fun In The Summertime" video. 

I never minded his concert appearances either, but I can see how he could make some of the Beach Boys uncomfortable. Compare John Stamos' movements and enthusiasm on stage, with those of Carl, Al, Bruce, and even Mike. Next to those guys, he did kind of attract attention, didn't he...

He tried to be cool but Dennis WAS cool. He is so obvious a Dennis imitator. He made even a classic like Forever kind of geeky. He is the Scot Biao of The Beach Boys world.  Please tell us the Dennis Stamos tale. Btw in 1988 Brian said on Stern he did like Stamos after Howard made fun of him. I wonder if Brian still likes him after the TV movie thing.

I never held Stamos accountable for the sound or quality of his versions of "Forever". Was he the producer (I really don't know)? Actually, I thought he elevated the status of "Forever". While I always thought "Forever" was a great track, it was just lingering as a song from Sunflower, basically unheard of outside of Beach Boys' fandom. After Stamos featured it, a lot of people "discovered" the song and The Beach Boys. And subsequently, Dennis. I give Stamos credit for featuring the song, especially since it wasn't a hit.

According to the "Summer in Paradise" liner notes, Terry Melcher produced everything on the album except "Forever", which is noted as "Produced by John Stamos/Gary Griffin/Lanny Cordola." So I suppose some of the blame for the production, if one chooses to place any blame, would lie with Stamos. Frankly, I don't think the sound quality on that song is any more offensive than anything else on that album. I guess there are credits for "drums" on the album, but most of it sounds like drum machines. The early instance of using ProTools on an Apple Macintosh is probably a prime example of why many artists back in the early 90's were still wary of that mode of recording and stuck to analog. Now, they make all sorts of peripherals for the computer-based recording to get it sound more and more like analog (sometimes somewhat successfully).

I'm actually not quite as hard on the album as many fans. The production is horrendous on the whole thing. Most of the songs are dreck, but there are a few that, despite questionable lyrics, are decent pop compositions (such as "Lahaina Aloha" and "Strange Things Happen").

As for Stamos, my thoughts on Stamos have always been mixed at best. I mean, it is really easy to poke fun at him given the cheesiness of "Full House" and the apparent lack of any "hit" vehicles since.

He did champion the group (although, I think the producers of "Full House" were probably open to putting the group on the show the first time more because of the then-current breakout success of "Kokomo" single than any string-pulling from Stamos). I think Stamos, given his affinity for a song like "Forever", probably had more interest in the non-surf/car/summer songs in the group's back catalog than some of the actual group members at that time.

On the downside, his 2000 TV miniseries (okay, I guess he was only one of several producers, right?) was overall not only not very good, but I felt it really did a disservice to telling the group's story. Setting aside the obvious inaccuracies and questionable nature of some but not all group members being some sort of "authenticity advisors", the whole thing about Brian calling Dennis "a clubber" and being dismissive of Dennis' talent may have been a good tool to set up Dennis' triumphant writing of "Forever" in the film, but it seemed to be the total opposite of how Brian really felt at the time. I believe some "insiders" even mentioned that Brian was really upset at seeing it portrayed that way in the movie. (Not to mention the fact that the movie makes no sense in portraying the group as surprised that Dennis could write a song when he did "Forever", considering he had already written and recorded a number of songs and put several of them on the previous two albums). I vaguely recall, though, that Stamos said in directly in an interview or it was indicated indirectly through an interview with somebody else that after the movie Stamos did make some comments in retrospect that he wasn't completely happy with how the movie came out. It seemed there were a number of people who at various points were on board helping the movie out in some fashion, and ended up not being big fans of the movie.

I caught a recent re-airing of the movie on VH1 Classic, and it was probably the first time I watched the thing since it originally aired, so the film is pretty fresh in my mind. VH1 Classic made the whole thing worse by having a group of people during commercial breaks sitting in a fake living room watching the movie comment on it. It was clear they all knew nothing about the group. One guy said his favorite Beach Boys song was "Surf City" (and he said this *after* the film depicted Jan & Dean recording the song and everybody getting mad at Brian for it), and his favorite song off of "Pet Sounds" was "Good Vibrations" (again, this was *after* the film portrayed the song being cut after the release of "Pet Sounds").

Anyway, back to Stamos. He gets pluses for being an apparent true fan of the band and, in some small way, helping to promote the band. He gets some negatives for continuing to brown-nose the current touring band (that's just my opinion of course), (his appearance with Mike and Bruce on a 2000 TV talkshow to promote the TV miniseries was particularly nauseating, with Stamos kneeling before Mike and Bruce and doing the "I'm not worthy" thing) and allowing the debacle that was "The Beach Boys - An American Family" to take place. His idolization of Dennis Wilson, that doesn't really put me off or impress me. I do hope someone can relate Ed Roach's story about Stamos trying to meet Dennis. I don't remember all the details, but I remember that it was a pretty funny story.

Ok choosing the song Forever was kind of cool but the video and episode just kind of made it look goofy. If it led one person to discover Dennis though then its ok.

OK, sorry, the Full House theme song "Everywhere You Look" was written and performed by Jesse Frederick, not John Stamos.

Except the title-track Stamos did write all the original music for that series...At least this is what I have been told

I wasn't aware that there were any videos from SIP songs.. .???

I know that Hot Fun was a single - were there any other singles?

Personally, I thought their version of Under the Boardwalk was good and I had heard it that summer on the satellite radio in the store where I worked.

The episode of FullHouse was I believe the first season as it was the fall of 88 when Kokomo was a hit.  I think that the season is out on DVD and I would like that momento, but I don't know if I can stomache having a whole season of that show...

Given that there were Beach Boys appearances in 4 different "Full House" episodes, perhaps a BB-themed single DVD release is in order. Of course, I'd probably have to order that online because I don't want to be seen in a story carrying a "Full House" item. :)

There were a few videos for the "SIP" album. Besides "Hot Fun...", there was a video for "Summer in Paradise", I believe it was a live version. They used live footage from Concord Pavilion in Concord, CA (although the audio is from some other live version, Wembley?).

There are all sorts of videos the BB's did that didn't seem to get much airplay, like "Problem Child", "Crocodile Rock", "Somewhere Near Japan", etc. Meanwhile, VH1 Classic still shows the "Kokomo" video all the time.

what's sad is when people my age (early 20s area), i'll talk to them about dennis wilson...and they'll say, who? and i'll have to go through the motions of, he wrote Forever, yes, that song uncle jessie sang on full house    ::)

It ain't easy being a Beach Boys diehard in your early 20's , is it? It's almost like a dues paying period every true fan has to go through. How many tapes/CD's have you snuck into your friend's car stereo, or on the boom box during the family cookouts on Memorial Day and the 4th of July?

Back to Stamos' version of "Forever"... that high wailing vocal part from Carl Wilson near the end of the song is one of his greatest vocal parts - ever!

Yes,as one of the partners in "Beach Boys,Inc." (or whatever it's called),Brian gets a percentage for use of the name.

I never knew there was a video of "Forever" 'til I found it on YouTube by accident/mistake.  Since I don't own the album, it was the first I'd heard it.  Carl and the other guys also have cameos in the video. 

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rVxy1srqbGY&search=stamos (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rVxy1srqbGY&search=stamos)

Kinda makes me sick.

they used it when Stamos was promoting the song in "Full House". not sure if the music video came before or after that episode.

I enjoyed it. Thank you, forget marie, for sharing it.

I wouldn't have associated the song "Forever" with little babies, but....I didn't see Al in the video; was this that period when he was temporarily asked to leave. And seeing Carl again, damn...

I know I have the (double) episode of Full House somewhere on VHS where uncle J.  is getting married. During the ceremony he walks over to the piano and starts playing Forever as well, complete with a choir (no double rock baptist choir btw).
 
Makes me realise again I really have to make some work of digitalising all that vhs stuff onto dvd...

While on the suject of Stamos....Ooch !


Family matters

Tunes & Tix column by Tim Shellberg

BY TIM SHELLBERG
Times Correspondent

This story ran on nwitimes.com on Friday, July 21, 2006 12:50 AM CDT

 

ADVERTISEMENT



 
 
It's been nice watching the tables turn on Beach Boy torch carrier Mike Love the last couple years. For decades, he kept the family trademark alive with a truncated version of the Beach Boys while his cousin and the band's genius, Brian Wilson, battled personal demons that would kill lesser men and forged his own solo career. In 2004, Wilson shocked everyone by finishing "Smile," the album long credited for doing him in, which he first started in 1966. Even more shocking is that it was worth the wait; as much a classical piece as it is pop, look for "Smile" to be on many a "best of '00s" decade overview a little more than three years from now.

Ever the weasel, though, Love managed to wrangle himself a songwriting co-credit on the album, a result of a mid '90s lawsuit giving Love questionably deserved props on the band's back catalog. Even worse, Love sued Wilson last November for, according to an article in the Associated Press, "shamelessly misappropriat(ing) (Love's) songs, likeness and the Beach Boys trademark, as well as the 'Smile' album itself." If Love didn't look like a jackal for milking his cuz out of past songwriting credits in the '90s, he sure looks like one now for kicking Wilson when he's finally up.

Despite a nice little photo op on the steps of Capitol Records last month featuring the surviving original B-Boys to mark the 40th anniversary of their landmark "Pet Sounds," Wilson is thankfully remaining clear of his former band on the road. In his place at Ravinia Monday, however, will be their longtime chum, former "Full House"-r John Stamos, showing both how far Wilson has come in the last few years and how little the band's artistic integrity means to Love.

The Beach Boys | 8 p.m. Monday, Ravinia Festival, 200 Ravinia Park Road, Highland Park. $50 pavilion (lawn seats sold out).

Very possibly one of the most inept music videos I've ever seen. Truly awful.

On one show of Full House I saw, one of them (can't remember) was writing a jingle for something.  He brought 3 guys to the house to sing the jingle he had wrote, and one of the guys looked to me like Jeff Foskett, but much thinner.  Was he thin back then? (I know he is again now).

Also, on either Full House or Home Improvement, the BB's showed up on one of the episodes, and Brian sang Carl's cool part in 'Kokomo'.... am i just imagining that, or did he really steal Carl's big moment there? 

Being British, i've never even heard of Full House, was it any good? or just a pile of cheese like some of the trash that gets put on in the small hours here: ie: Everybody loves Raymond, Hope and Faith?

Worse. But I think it was aimed at a kids-audience.

I think most here would agree "Full House" was worse than something like "Everyone Loves Raymond". "Raymond", while not good, at least attempted situational humor based on comic characterizations; the "Full House" approach was to have a show filled with attractive, normal-acting folk (i.e. Stamos) who try to get laughs by doing and saying cute things. This kind of thing would never generate laughs with a live audience, so a heavy laugh track was smeared over every episode (you know you're in for a treat when a character opens the front door to say "hello" and is greeted by roars of laughter from the fake audience!).

Full House was my favorite show when I was a kid. It was primarily "family oriented", with some kind of moral or lesson at the end. The show had a sort of "Three Men and a Baby" type premise, except it was three men trying to raise three girls. John Stamos' role in this was the part of Unlce Jesse, the rebel rocker who moves in with the family to help raise the girls. Enter in the cheese. Now that I am older, I can only stand about a minute of it. It's very cheesy, with bad acting and a lot of corny jokes. The only good thing to come out of it was the career of twins Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen (each played the same role, since it is easier to cast twin babies to play one role) who have made a fortune starring in b-movies geared towards preteen girls. They have since grown up and are focusing much of their attention on fashion.

You might be able to download a few episodes off of file-sharing networks, but I wouldn't spend your hard earned cash on the DVD's unless you just have to have the episode with the Beach Boys on it.

I hope, with "good", you mean "worst".

I once saw a birth announcement card with the lyrics to the first verse of God Only Knows on it, which I thought was just perfect. Many of the BB's ballads could just as well be about children/babies as about women.

I'm thankful that I haven't seen it.

I guess I agree !

No I meant good. Both of them are hot.   ;D

I see your point, Mr. Humbert.

 ;)

I'm not sure if I get the reference, "Mr. Humbert".

It´s a reference to the book "Lolita", with it´s main character named Humbert Humbert (no typo), who fells in love with a young girl.

Nice reference, JRauch.

I am only 19 though, so technically I have a crush on two older girls.

I guess it´s ok then.