The Smiley Smile Message Board

Alternative music blog Stereogum listed Mike’s remake of “Do It Again” featuring John Stamos and Mark McGrath as one of the 40 worst songs of 2017.  Can’t say I disagree.  Just an awful borderline unlistenable recording.  Learn to leave well enough alone, Mike.

https://www.stereogum.com/1976914/the-40-worst-songs-of-2017/franchises/2017-in-review/

It's not awful, to be honest the original is way overrated anyway.

I went to leave a comment on the official YouTube version and commenting was disabled. Mike must know he was gonna get flamed to death. All I was gonna say was that Mike looks younger and more alive than Mark Mcgrath these days.

A well deserved award for phony baloney myKe luHv. Hopefully, Unleash The LuHv, from his non creative, warped mind will be in competition for the coveted Worst Slop Ever Recorded award. So good to observe that it was rightfully ignored in the rock press as well. 

It's bad, but I don't think it's so bad that it deserves 40 worst songs of 2017. It's at least written by Brian (originally), and it's certainly better than lots of horrible new songs I heard and forgot at the same time on the radio or TV.

Agree! It's laughably bad. DIA remake is destined to be epic fail, ha.

well deserved. the song is fine, but this remake is not. it sh!ts all over the original.

and thanks to the video it's also one of the worst things to look at too. they're really just three of the worst guys in show biz.

so bad

Someone dont know what music is! Easily should be in the top 40!

It is. Top 40 Worst Songs.

Imagine if he'd made it to no.1 worst song. He'd have been crowing about it for years to come.

Glad I'm not alone. People act like Do It Again was the second coming of the BB. I always hated it.

In all seriousness, for his age, Mike looks pretty great in the new video.

I can see how folks nowadays may say that, but back in the day when your only opportunity to hear hits was on the radio as the songs came out, it deserved the high ratings it received. Our local radios stations let us call in to request songs, so what we heard was usually what was demanded by the audience of those stations.

And as members of the radio audience were concerned, The Beach Boys were just coming off of the head-scratching Pet Sounds album after a string of career-defining feel-good songs; most recently Barbara Ann. Wouldn't it be Nice was played quite a bit, but the rest of Pet Sounds didn't really make the radio waves in my area. Probably Sloop John B,  but I do not remember.

Of course, Smiley Smile had Good Vibrations and Heroes and Villains (to a lesser degree); Wild Honey had Darlin'; and Friends had - maybe Friends? - but I do not recall hearing Friends on the radio much growing up. That is not exactly a string of hits from a band that was putting out 2-3 albums per year and producing hits on every album.

Then you put 20/20 on the turntable and cue up Do It Again. The unique drum sounds kick off the track and the background chatter made the song feel more intimate and loose. Do It Again did exactly what the title said. It immediately brought you back to the mystique of the California sound and was a welcome return to form for a lot of fans who grew up with the fun-in-the-sun songs.

As beautiful as the other songs from those albums were - and they were (and still are, of course) - it is usually as one grows older and lives through more of life's scenarios that you really appreciate them. A song like Do It Again comes along and grabs you immediately, draws you in and gets you singing along. It was at a time in our history where a nostalgic song was needed.

So I will have to respectfully say I disagree with the statement that Do It Again is overrated. I think that in this case they Beach Boys chose wisely.

I do however agree that Mike's rendition and the ANNOYING 'Do It's" from McGrath are cringeworthy. Mike chose... poorly.

Yeah, take away the botox and the hat and he'll look like a 105 year old clown.  :smokin

Compare him to the mucn younger Mark McGrath 🤣

This is not meant as ML bashing, but who would seriously want to listen to this? 
It's pandering pablum that does nothing, says nothing and means even less. 
What if ML had done a solo project where he covered some old r&b stuff he loves?  Maybe wrote/cowrote some things in that vein,
or just simply did something unexpected, creative, genuine and real?  Would it really sell less than this (probably) did?  It might have garnered (at least some) critical favor
 and possibly sold as well if not better.   It might actually have been "good" and something I and a lot of other people would want to put on and listen to. 
Maybe this sounds harsh, sorry to any who feel wounded by it, but it's how I feel. 

Its pretty awful.  But one could turn on Top 40 radio and easily find 40 worse songs.   

I agree with Stereogum's assessment.

I think that’s what makes it so bad though - Mike turned a Brian Wilson co-penned tune into a pile of rotting excrement. Like you have to try super damn hard to completely destroy a classic Brian Wilson tune.

I have heard a ton of bad stuff this year - google ‘Gucci Gang’ and read the lyrics, it’s 5 minutes of your life you’ll severely want back, and it’s been a top song for a while now. But the fact that Mike put so many godawful elements into one song that was once a hit makes me think his version should be at the top of the “worst” list.

Please. Gucci Gang is NO worse than a dumb songike My Ding A Ling or The Bird is the Word. It is music for young people, unless you are very young, you won't appreciate it.

Thank you for this reminiscence and for providing this context for those of us who weren’t around when it came out.  I have always loved Do It Again and completely agree with your assessment that it is not overrated.  I think even Brian says that it’s one of his favorite collaborations?  The drum sound is wildly ahead of its time, the tune is super catchy, has a great groove, the bridge is beautiful, and the lyrics evoke a lovely nostalgia.  I could go so far as to say it’s a perfect pop song.