Getcha Back is such a tease!

[EgoHanger1966]

I know it got to #26, but for anyone who was alive at this time, how much of a hit was Getcha Back really? Radio airplay on Top 40 stations? Young music fans/record buyers purchasing the single?

[Aegir]

I never saw Brian playing bass guitar, only in photos.   

WHAT?!

that Getcha Back video is the first time you saw a video of Brian playing bass? REALLY?

That's almost impossible. but here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FgDApIGvFxA full Beach Boys set from the early 60s, 9 songs.

[Banana]

The line "He may have money and a brand new car" is terrible.  It almost sounds like if his voice gets any more processed you won't be able to understand what he's saying.  Such a shame because at the core it's not a bad song.  I've always wondered if it was a case of Mike wanting to sound younger??  The whole LP has some decent songs...but they're just ruined with processed 80s goo.

[Jonathan Blum]

I know it got to #26, but for anyone who was alive at this time, how much of a hit was Getcha Back really? Radio airplay on Top 40 stations? Young music fans/record buyers purchasing the single?

I was 13 when it came out, in Washington DC, and I seem to remember it being pretty big at summer camp.  First time I'd really paid attention to a new song from those Beach Boy guys, at any rate -- there was a sense of it being a comeback after Dennis' death made the news.

I have vague memories of a group of us at camp miming to it as a comedy skit -- with shtick like the bass player wandering off in a daze halfway through and the guitarist having to corral him, then the drummer falling off his stool dead and the guitarist having to run back there and play guitar and drums at the same time.  Ah, the glorious tastelessness of youth...

Cheers,
Jon Blum

[I. Spaceman]

The video for Getcha Back was played in regular rotation on the major outlets of the day, including MTV, Friday Night Videos, etc. I heard the song on regular Top 40 radio and adult contemporary formats as well. That said, it came and went fairly quickly.

[Banana]

The video is awful...but that was typical of the era.  I think on YouTube you can watch "Getcha' Back" and "It's Gettin' Late" back-to-back.  They're hard on the eyes...though I do like the scene where Brian shows up in the delivery van!  Classic!

Steve Levine did mention in Mark Dillon's book that Mike did want his vocals speeded up so that he sounded younger...but come on...there is a limit before it sounds fake.  He also seemed to indicate that the falsetto is, in fact, Brian...though I think it was looped.

[southbay]

I remember hearing Getcha Back on my car radio in 1985.  Within a matter of days, I had the then new album, All Summer Long and the new edition of the David Leaf book. I was 17 and didn't know any better, but my life would never be the same.  If only car radio had been on a different station...

[Bean Bag]

I believe foskett is credited in the two-fer...for at least being "on the album," so I just assumed it was Foskett's doing the falsetto.

But...hey...maybe it is Brian.  I'm going to listen to it again.... I don't mind listening to this song looped 4 or 5 times.  I really hooks me!!

[Bean Bag]

By golly...it does sound like Brian!  I would agree that it sounds "looped."  Man, it sounds really great.  I like Brian's latter-day, forced falsetto.  I wish he would do it more.  It's still got so much power and beauty and pain.  He was the best at this type of singing.  Everyone else always sounded like a cheap knock-off.

[filledeplage]

Never really understood why Mike never handles the lead on this song anymore.  In recent years he's been handing it off to his song Christian.  Mike really does the best job with this song.  Marks' voice just isn't well suited for this song. 

My agreement is closer to LdC in that Marks does a more than pretty good job, with Getcha Back, from early to mid June sound check rehearsal to my last C50 show at the end of June.  I find it more "lead neutral" where it is not identified to one lead singer, such as GOK, or Surfin' USA.  Dave brings kind of a visceral and gritty soulful quality, as he gets into the desperately wishful lyrics.  He is getting back more, into what I would characterize as  "the inimitable blend" of the BB brand. 

Dave sounded more as a "solo" when I saw him in Foxwoods, in 2010, with the Touring Band.  Now, he has worked so hard, that he sounds as though he barely missed a beat during his absence.  No doubt the exacting taskmaster skill of Scott Totten has assisted this transition as well as Dave's hard work is to credit. But, I found Dave's performances are better each time. 

Christian does a great interpretation as well.  And, I find that is the key here, as it impresses me as a BB song that is "lead neutral" meaning that whomever sings the lead, interprets the lyrics in his own context.  It's cool that the BB brand, is not just painted with the proverbial "broad brush."   

[Jon Stebbins]

Mike had said in a recent interview (conducted by Howie Edelson) that he always felt Getcha Back suffered because it needed a grittier lead vocal (he mentioned Bryan Adams as an example) and that's why he thought Dave would be a good choice to do it on the tour because he gets into that soulful mid-range a little more naturally than any of the other principals.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uioR_7auEiY

[Ron]

TBH I don't know how anyone can think that's NOT Brian.

Agreed.  And it is not an especially high falsetto.  Compare it to Surf's Up next time you are singing along with it in the car.

I've never understood it either.  It sounds like nobody alive except Brian... and not really for all good reasons.  It's got all Brian's strengths, but also his voice's weaknesses in it (shrill sounding, kind of that wacky sound he had later on, etc.) 

BTW, if you listen to the acapella break in "Love & Mercy", just a few years later, he's certainly singing everything.... and there's some falsetto lines in there that melodically are really similar to the stuff going on in "Getcha Back".  Sounds very similar.

[Ron]

Since we're in that area, too, I think it's Brian doing the falsetto on "Wipe Out", which again sounds about like whoever's doing falsetto on Getcha Back.


I've also got to say, I'm very proud of my ability to love this song and represent it as great.  People come around, we're talking about the Beach Boys, this would be one of the 100 or so songs I would point at for why they're great.  Sure, they made a bunch of great songs in the 60's, and 70's, but the 'dork' image was always there and they've fully embraced it in cheese like this. 

I don't see what the problem is.  It sounds like it was produced in the 80's because it was.  Mike's voice sounds nasal because Mike's voice IS nasal.  Brian sounds a little off because he IS a little off.  It's a fun song meant to be taken lightly, you don't have to be ashamed of allowing yourself to enjoy it.  Drop all your notions of what people expect from music or what people will agree with you is good, and just enjoy what you enjoy.  You dont' have to hide in a closet to listen to Getcha Back   One of the best things about the Beach Boys was the feel, that warmth you get when you listen to those harmonies, and even through all the fighting, through the illness, through the robotic nature of the song, the warmth still shines through to these ears.

The video is one of their best, in my honest opinion.  Stupid storyline, silly lyrics, etc. but damn there's so much great going on in it.  When Brian pulls up in that van at the end, looking healthy, waving at the camera.... how is that not awesome?  The first time I saw it, I literally laughed out loud at him!  I think my exact words were "HELL YEAH!!!!"  Carl at the party as the security guard or whatever... there's this great part where he turns to the camera and just Smmmmillllleeeessss.  When I hear the name "Carl Wilson" I think it's that smile from this video that I remember the most.  Mike.   Kind of awkward... kind of cool... kind of like he always is. 

I'm not pitching you on the idea that the song is as good as Good Vibrations or Surf's Up.  It's certainly not.  It is a good song though, I love it. 

[Banana]

It is a good song.  No apologies needed!  I still think Mike sounds a bit too goofy (again, according to Steve Levine he wanted his voice sped up to sound younger).  As far as later day BB songs go...this is still a winner...and I'm glad they're doing it live right now.

[Ron]

The vocal is definately messed up, but it's indicitave of the mistakes the Beach Boys have always made (and continue to!)... so to me it seems natural in that way.

It's like finding a painting that Van Gogh messed up.  The proportions are all wrong, he accidentally dripped paint on it, and somebody ripped a hole in the canvas. 


HANG IT ON THE WALL AND MARVEL AT THE GREATNESS

[Bean Bag]

Getcha Back is really good.  The fact that it hails from arguably the boys LOWEST period just makes it better.

Ah yes...the lowly 80s.  Denny was gone.  Brian was trapped in some sort of mental limbo -- a strange, purgatory-state, somewhere between Alan Thicke and totally bananas.  The fact that he looked "better" somehow just enhanced the unsettling nature of it all.

Musically, times were a-changing.  The Beach Boys were screwed.  Pop music was going in some strange new directions, and really didn't welcome an oldies act.  They had to make some tough choices in the studio.  If they were rock (or hard rock) things would have been easier.  But pop is always subject to the whims of the moment.  And in the 80's the moment was... um ...different.

[Banana]

Mike just looks creepy in that photo!  I think it's the creepy smile.  Whenever I see it...I hear "Hey, little tomboy..." in my head!

[drbeachboy]

Also one of the few posed stills with Carl actually smiling (you can see his teeth). Generally, they are either non-smiles or grins.

[Banana]

Looks like Al is sporting some spiffy Velcro shoes, as well!

[Aegir]

Getcha Back is my least favorite song on BB'85.

[EgoHanger1966]

I can see how people get turned off by the production values of the single (and album), but if you spend some time with it, there's a lot to like. The production values are what they are but The Beach Boys were setting out to make something that would be current and sell albums. Getcha Back is a GREAT song that isn't a great record.

[Sheriff John Stone]

To me, "Getcha Back" was an optimistic time. Just two short years earlier, Brian was 350 lbs, Dennis died, the group's last studio album was 1980's KTSA, and the group didn't have a record contract.

Next thing you know, as mentioned above, "Getcha Back" is all over the radio, the video was played on MTV, and there was even an appearance on the Solid Gold TV Show - with Brian holding a Fender bass! Yes, it was lipsynched...

I respectfully disagree with a post above. I think "Getcha Back" is a better record than song. The song was a fairly simple one, but the track had the cool drum intro, Brian Wilson on "Hushabye" falsetto, and really good harmonies. True, it wasn't Mike Love's shining hour vocally,  but it was neat to hear that classic Beach Boys' - dare I say - formula again.

Brian looked great, the group sounded refreshed, they looked happy, and a new studio album was on the way with a hot producer. And, the rest was history....But, for that fleeting moment, "Getcha Back" was a welcome surprise.

[CosmicDancer]

I wonder if the boys decided on Mike singing the lead, despite it possibly being out of his range or better suited to someone else, in order to have that classic BB vibe that most casual fans were familiar with.  Most everyone is familiar with the Beach Boys, but not to the same level that we are.  The songs that most casual fans associate with them are the early songs that feature a Mike Love lead vocal.  If they were trying to recapture the pop music spotlight with a nostalgic or retro sounding tune, then why not have Mike sing the lead coupled with Brian's soaring falsetto. 

I think it's a nice enough tune even though it isn't groundbreaking and is formulaic.  Mike's vocal is definitely bad though.  Personally, I think Al could have knocked that song out of the park.

[filledeplage]

Mike just looks creepy in that photo!  I think it's the creepy smile.  Whenever I see it...I hear "Hey, little tomboy..." in my head!

Banana - if you google "Bob Harris Brian Wilson Interview 1976" you'll find a rare 2 parter with Brian excitedly discussing Hey Little Tomboy.  It should come right up.  There is so much negative connotation with that song.  One can see, clearly, what Brian's concept was, at the time of it's inception. 

Enjoy!   

[Banana]

I will check it out!  I've always considered it to be an okay song...but it's so much fun to playfully poke fun at Mike Love!