The Smiley Smile Message Board

How many people here like this song? Hate it? Hate it but end up singing it anyway?

Embarrassingly, I fall into the latter category.  ::)

I like it...  Carl never sounded better and Mike sounds quite good too (is that him doing the bass parts?)...  Nice chord progressions... Good to sing along with the aunties who only know that one Beach Boys song :)

I dig it. Nice song, great chorus.

I like the song alright, but it irritates me when people say they like the Beach Boys and then they say that's their favorite song. The processing and 80's production make it sound absolutely TERRIBLE, though. It's one of the most terribly produced songs from that generation of music.

I think there are worse examples of 80's production, but it's pretty bad.
Yes, people who only know Kokomo need a razor blade (That's for you, Luther!).

I like it. Catchy lil' sucker, great singing, pretty fun in general, worth it for the Carl moments.

It's hard to believe Kokomo is 18 years old already, and I still have mixed feelings about it. The first time I heard it was on a TV special about Disney World or something. I thought it was the WORST Beach Boys' song I had ever heard. I didn't know it was gonna be a single, or about the movie Cocktail.

Shortly after that TV show, it was all over the radio (the people at work kept telling me that they liked it, not knowing anything about the history of the Beach Boys) and I warmed up to it a little bit. I liked it the most probably around the time it went to No. 1.

Right after it faded from the radio, I started to hate it again. Now, whenever I hear it on the radio, I turn it off! But I will say this about it. Whenever I make a Beach Boys' Greatest Hits mix CD for somebody, I break down and include Kokomo. And as much as I don't care for Kokomo, Carl and Mike's vocals are outstanding, it is catchy "summer" atmosphere music, and if Brian had written and/or produced it, I would probably love it and say "See, he still has it!"  It used to bug me when Beach Boys fans would hammer Kokomo and then say how great "South American" was.

Don't worry, I hate Kokomo so much I didn't even read this thread. Wait...DAMNIT.)

I think it says a lot about the status of this song that this discussion isn't included in the Beach Boys forum.

I hate "Kokomo." It reminds me of being 14 and having to sit through "Cocktail" and Elizabeth Shue not showing nipple.

(http://members.aol.com/suesisler/graphics/shue/shueburgerking.jpg)

YOU CAN'T HAVE IT YOUR WAY!!!!

Lucky you. I had HBO (at my grandma's) and scrambled porn at home. Count your blessings.  :D

anyone heard Bob & Tom's C@mel Toe song that uses the tune to Kokomo?

I remember being in like second grade or something and a group of us at a birthday party harassing some fat kid by singing a "Kokomo" parody ("Ooh, you got big boobahs" or something like that). I couldn't've told you at that time who did it or what vintage it was. I suspect the same goes for most of my generation, moreso the latter than the former. I want to hate it, but I just can't. I like what Sheriff John Stone said about "if Brian had written it", but at the same time it does feel quite a bit contrived. I warmed up to the song a lot earlier this year when I went to a strip club and got me first lap dance to it.

Being a youngster myself (18), the first version I heard of this song was the Muppets version (complete with the double-kid-friendly lines that went something like "bodies in the sand, crabs crawling up your hand, we'll be grooving to the rhythm of a steel drum band". I didn't know it was a Beach Boys song until a year or two ago! I like it alot, though. I would get that t-shirt and wear it all the time, if only it wasn't spelt with a C.

I can't say that Kokomo is one of my favorites, but I don't dislike it either.  But really bugs me is when I mention the Beach Boys and people only are aware of the song "Kokomo"..  ::)

I think it's a nice tunesmith song, but you feel caught up in a holiday resort hell whenever you listen to it. More a catchy rhythm than a catchy melody. The songwriting approach is pretty similar to "Still Cruisin"  from the same period.

Søren

I like it. I don´t love it, but I like it. Let´s be honest, there are MUCH worse BB-songs out there. But I HATE what the song stands for.

Like it. It's well-written. 'Kokomo' doesn't affect me so much emotionally, as I have a more clinical appreciation for it, partly, possibly, because of the lack of Brian and the overall "Brian-Sound" theft. It's still stuffed with smart melodic moments.

Kokomo will always have a place in this Beach Boys fan's collection. I like the Spanish version better.

The faint, distorted Rockabilly guitar part that appears for seconds towards the end of the choruses is really out of bad taste.

OK, I've been forced. I listened to the song for the first time in who-knows-how-long...quite possibly since it came out, other than incidental, partial listenings.

It isn't as bad as I remember. It's still fvcking terrible, don't get me wrong. I despise the production now even more than I did then. But there is a certain sort of vague pleasantness about it. And Carl sings beautifully, no matter what he's singing. Mike's bass singing annoys the hell out of me on the song, but oh well.

I guess I was the target audience of this song when it came out (7 at the time) and my class actually danced to it every day, led by the teacher. I don't hate the song, but I hate people dismissing the Beach Boys because of it. Sort of like Student Demonstration Time!

Haha, I read this clockwise instead of left-to-right and therefore misread that your class would dance to SDT. What a silly mental image.

If you really want to get this song, you must hear Ian Wagner's brilliant LP Kokomo My House

YES!
Until you've heard my "Can't Stop Talking About American Girls/Uncontrollable Urge/Leaving On A Jet Plane" medley, you haven't lived, man!

Koko-mOH-NO!!
Can't-- stop... can't-- stop...

So that's how you snagged Linda Blair.

No, man, the album is ABOUT Linda Blair.

"You were born innocent, girl, and baby that ain't all ... "

That's right, man.
We love the Kross.

I like Carl's vocal on the song and as I recall, John Phillips helped pen that song.


Kokomo.  My sister-in-law bought it new and brought it to my house for me to hear.  She was also a fan of the Pina Collada Song(Escape).  That pretty much says it.


But it gave the band top 40 cred again and was a commercial shot in the butt for them.

It's great when you have no clue who they are. When you become hardcore, you realize how much it truly sucks.

I'm as hardcore as Henry Rollins and I dig it.