Why did the 'Add Some Music To Your Day' single fail and what if it had not?

[OneEar/OneEye]

I must be hearing a different song, because to me it is totally hit worthy and well in line with what many other artists were doing at the time.  As far as "sleepy" goes, I'll just say, "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" by Roberta Flack, to name one.   The 70's saw plenty of hits which were soft, sleepy, saccharine, poppy, etc.   The band had lost favor and weren't being afforded much notice, and that's why perfectly good material such as this song weren't charting higher.   It works in the reverse of course too - If you're hot and radio is pushing you then even a crap song can become a major hit.  

[oldsurferdude]

The world would have embraced a hit from the boys, but when I first heard it my initial thought was corn ball lyrics-"the  world can come together as one...". The song seemed to drag on and on and on and shift direction and come back to the original premise. It sounded contrived even tough it got numerous plays on FM. In fact, along with that, TITM, CCW, and IAT got decent airplay as well but ASMTYD was not what  they or the public wanted at this point.

[Cam Mott]

Everything about the song was/is cornball imo and that's why it didn't do much.

[Custom Machine]

I have never been able to find Cool Cool Water / Forever.  I have a promo of Cool Cool Water, but have never seen the stock copy.

Back in the day, I was able to buy stock copies of Cool Cool Water / Forever in Aug. 1971, April 1973, and Feb. 1974, all at the same record store in San Diego, which kept back-stock of well known artists.  But having no thoughts concerning future collectability, I wrote my name in large letters in ink on the labels, and etched the date of purchase on the inner grove area of the vinyl.  In looking at my purchase dates, it's apparent that prior to Aug. 1971 I was unaware that the single even existed.  

DAMN IT!  How could you do that???   

That record store wasn't by chance "Blue Meanie Records" in San Diego, was it? I did some business with them way back when. And "Rockaway" in L.A. And "Music Man Murry". And the Capitol Records swap meat in L.A. And one other in Downey where I got my Surfin' on the 'X' label - can't remember the name now.

No, I got the Cool Cool Water / Forever singles at Ratner's in downtown San Diego.  Before I started buying records on my own, when I was a little kid (and I'm definitely showing my age here!) I recall going there with my dad and they had these listening booths with turntables where you could pick records to listen to and decide which ones to buy.  One entire wall was stocked with back catalog 45's, alphabetically by artist.  But this wall was behind a long counter so you couldn't check the records out yourself, instead having to ask for them by title and artist. 

Yeah, Blue Meanie in El Cajon, just east of San Diego, was a cool store for many years, catering to collectors as well as the general public, with a lot of new and used records at collector prices.  In those pre-internet, pre-eBay days the owner, Gary Shrum, would often travel to Europe to bring back rare stuff.  Don't recall exactly when Blue Meanie opened, but probably sometime around 1974 to 76.

[Bill Ed]

"Add Some Music" (which I love) got two weeks of airplay on FM-100 in Memphis, then promptly dropped off the playlist. I think it was a little too lightweight to compete with the other music that got heavy airplay at the time. FM-100 played a wide diversity of music at the time. Surf's Up was their album of the week when it was released and fared a bit better on air.

I too love "Add Some Music" and can't figure out why some folks here consider it a weak song.

I really wasn't paying much attention to music in 1970, but I remember that some Holland cuts got airplay on FM 100 a few years later. I remember that they played "The Trader", "California Saga", and of course "Sail on Sailor".  (But not as much as they should have.)

[Generation42]

ASMTYD was impressive for its stellar vocals. The composition was so-so even for an album track, and sounded nothing like a single.

+1

I mean, not being born until 1975, I wasn't there, of course, but from my outside perspective, this seems fairly sound to me.

[Custom Machine]

I find this songs position in the Beach Boys cannon perplexing.

I find Joe Knott's credit perplexing.

Yeah, who exactly is Joe Knott?  Did he come up with the idea for the song?

[bgas]

I have never been able to find Cool Cool Water / Forever.  I have a promo of Cool Cool Water, but have never seen the stock copy.

Back in the day, I was able to buy stock copies of Cool Cool Water / Forever in Aug. 1971, April 1973, and Feb. 1974, all at the same record store in San Diego, which kept back-stock of well known artists.  But having no thoughts concerning future collectability, I wrote my name in large letters in ink on the labels, and etched the date of purchase on the inner grove area of the vinyl.  In looking at my purchase dates, it's apparent that prior to Aug. 1971 I was unaware that the single even existed.  

DAMN IT!  How could you do that???   

That record store wasn't by chance "Blue Meanie Records" in San Diego, was it? I did some business with them way back when. And "Rockaway" in L.A. And "Music Man Murry". And the Capitol Records swap meat in L.A. And one other in Downey where I got my Surfin' on the 'X' label - can't remember the name now.

No, I got the Cool Cool Water / Forever singles at Ratner's in downtown San Diego.  Before I started buying records on my own, when I was a little kid (and I'm definitely showing my age here!) I recall going there with my dad and they had these listening booths with turntables where you could pick records to listen to and decide which ones to buy.  One entire wall was stocked with back catalog 45's, alphabetically by artist.  But this wall was behind a long counter so you couldn't check the records out yourself, instead having to ask for them by title and artist. 

Yeah, Blue Meanie in El Cajon, just east of San Diego, was a cool store for many years, catering to collectors as well as the general public, with a lot of new and used records at collector prices.  In those pre-internet, pre-eBay days the owner, Gary Shrum, would often travel to Europe to bring back rare stuff.  Don't recall exactly when Blue Meanie opened, but probably sometime around 1974 to 76.

Don't remember frequenting any really cool stores here in St Louis MO, tho I did find The Honeys- Swanee 45 in a mom/pop store after  several collectors told me they had picked the place clean; owner almost didn't sell it to me, as she didn't like to sell her last copy of anything.  Best score  here: Ordered 25 copies of Child Of Winter when I first heard about it, and when they came in the store manager gave them to me free.  Still have, I think, 3 copies.  Bucket list: Steamboats for  Cool Cool Water and SOS/OWY

[Mikie]

I find this songs position in the Beach Boys cannon perplexing.

I find Joe Knott's credit perplexing.

Yeah, who exactly is Joe Knott?  Did he come up with the idea for the song?

Joe Knott was a friend of Brian’s. He wasn't a songwriter but contributed a couple of lines of lyrics to "Add Some Music" (but Brian can't remember which ones). Probably contributed lyrics like Bob Burchman did. There's an alternate version of "Add Some Music" floating around that I think would be a neat candidate to include on the new MIC box.

By the way, Warner’s rejected the initial song selection for Sunflower because it was too weak. Six of the songs were replaced by ‘stronger’ ones. Mo Ostin and Lenny Waronker had major input to that. And I'm sure the album came out much better because of it. Mo even went up to Brian's house and heard Cool, Cool Water and insisted that it be included on the album.

[Mikie]

Don't remember frequenting any really cool stores here in St Louis MO, tho I did find The Honeys- Swanee 45 in a mom/pop store after  several collectors told me they had picked the place clean; owner almost didn't sell it to me, as she didn't like to sell her last copy of anything.  Best score  here: Ordered 25 copies of Child Of Winter when I first heard about it, and when they came in the store manager gave them to me free.  Still have, I think, 3 copies.  Bucket list: Steamboats for  Cool Cool Water and SOS/OWY

You git the sleeve to the Swanee River single? That's half the value of the thing - probably more than the 45 itself!

I picked up my Child Of Winter single back in the late 70's from someone posting in this here thread.  Darn good deal too! 

[Cabinessenceking]

The world would have embraced a hit from the boys, but when I first heard it my initial thought was corn ball lyrics-"the  world can come together as one...". The song seemed to drag on and on and on and shift direction and come back to the original premise. It sounded contrived even tough it got numerous plays on FM. In fact, along with that, TITM, CCW, and IAT got decent airplay as well but ASMTYD was not what  they or the public wanted at this point.

Even though the backing track is very pleasant, it sure could you some variation. For instance I feel the repeating guitar riff should've been done on piano or rhodes similar to how ASMTYD was performed during the C50. Also they could've had maybe something like a quiet organ insert during the 'theyll play it on your wedding day' part. Small changes like this would perhaps make it less monotome and more adventurous. However the basic song structure, lyrics and vocal delivery is superb and could certainly be hit material given the right circumstances. Not neccessarily #1 material but top 20 for sure.

[Cabinessenceking]

Don't remember frequenting any really cool stores here in St Louis MO, tho I did find The Honeys- Swanee 45 in a mom/pop store after  several collectors told me they had picked the place clean; owner almost didn't sell it to me, as she didn't like to sell her last copy of anything.  Best score  here: Ordered 25 copies of Child Of Winter when I first heard about it, and when they came in the store manager gave them to me free.  Still have, I think, 3 copies.  Bucket list: Steamboats for  Cool Cool Water and SOS/OWY

You git the sleeve to the Swanee River single? That's half the value of the thing - probably more than the 45 itself!

I picked up my Child Of Winter single back in the late 70's from someone posting in this here thread.  Darn good deal too! 

I've heard the single version is better than the one in the re-released christmas album. Is there any way someone could post a link so I may be able to hear the original?

[bgas]

Don't remember frequenting any really cool stores here in St Louis MO, tho I did find The Honeys- Swanee 45 in a mom/pop store after  several collectors told me they had picked the place clean; owner almost didn't sell it to me, as she didn't like to sell her last copy of anything.  Best score  here: Ordered 25 copies of Child Of Winter when I first heard about it, and when they came in the store manager gave them to me free.  Still have, I think, 3 copies.  Bucket list: Steamboats for  Cool Cool Water and SOS/OWY

You git the sleeve to the Swanee River single? That's half the value of the thing - probably more than the 45 itself!

I picked up my Child Of Winter single back in the late 70's from someone posting in this here thread.  Darn good deal too! 

I think you can pick up the 45 these days fro around $100; the sleeve is probably in the neighborhood of $1000 or more. 

Sounds like your Child purchase is straight out of Back To the Future!

[filledeplage]

The world would have embraced a hit from the boys, but when I first heard it my initial thought was corn ball lyrics-"the  world can come together as one...". The song seemed to drag on and on and on and shift direction and come back to the original premise. It sounded contrived even tough it got numerous plays on FM. In fact, along with that, TITM, CCW, and IAT got decent airplay as well but ASMTYD was not what  they or the public wanted at this point.

It is a great song, but it seems that during that time, Chicago Transit Authority (Chicago) was introducing a sort of jazz fusion/progressive rock-type style.  And, Soulful Old Man S(h)unshine was recorded at that general time.  It has that opening "up sounding punch" that grabs your attention, almost like WIBN, in the first few bars.  GOK was on the flip of WIBN, but gradually grew its own wings, becoming one of the most beloved songs of all time.  GOK - Side B.

Do you think that might have been plausible, if Soulful Ole Man Sunshine had been released as Side A, with Add Some Music to Side B, that it might have played out differently?  That brassy sound Chicago introduced at that time, caught fire and, sort of cultivated a new style.  "Soulful..." always reminded me of something that Chicago could have done really brilliantly with the Boys.

I have to qualify that I don't care much for "coulda, woulda, shoulda" revisionism, but am just thinking out loud...It also seems that after GV, it was a tough aspiration to try to equal or supercede it.

[oldsurferdude]

The world would have embraced a hit from the boys, but when I first heard it my initial thought was corn ball lyrics-"the  world can come together as one...". The song seemed to drag on and on and on and shift direction and come back to the original premise. It sounded contrived even tough it got numerous plays on FM. In fact, along with that, TITM, CCW, and IAT got decent airplay as well but ASMTYD was not what  they or the public wanted at this point.

It is a great song, but it seems that during that time, Chicago Transit Authority (Chicago) was introducing a sort of jazz fusion/progressive rock-type style.  And, Soulful Old Man S(h)unshine was recorded at that general time.  It has that opening "up sounding punch" that grabs your attention, almost like WIBN, in the first few bars.  GOK was on the flip of WIBN, but gradually grew its own wings, becoming one of the most beloved songs of all time.  GOK - Side B.

Do you think that might have been plausible, if Soulful Ole Man Sunshine had been released as Side A, with Add Some Music to Side B, that it might have played out differently?  That brassy sound Chicago introduced at that time, caught fire and, sort of cultivated a new style.  "Soulful..." always reminded me of something that Chicago could have done really brilliantly with the Boys.

I have to qualify that I don't care much for "coulda, woulda, shoulda" revisionism, but am just thinking out loud...It also seems that after GV, it was a tough aspiration to try to equal or supercede it.

With the bulk of their "hit" writing behind them, I just enjoyed most of the forthcoming lps. Upon first listenings of ASM or SOMS, I knew they weren't gonna be hits although I thought SOS got an undeserved bad rap from the radio programmers and the label. Yeah, hits do sell albums, but singles were kind of passe by then, at least to me.

[Dave Modny]

Honestly, I don't think that there is a hit single in waiting on Sunflower....perhaps with the exception of Forever...

The one track on the album that always sounded like it had single potential to me was "Our Sweet Love."

Many acts were still doing "light and breezy" in 1970 (or saccharine to its detractors), though with varying degrees of success. Would the Beach Boys past and image preclude it from becoming a hit? I honestly don't know. In terms of structure, I do know that it had a fairly hum-able hook (i.e. the "Our sweet love...could last forever" part), was perhaps a slightly derivative cousin to something like "God Only Knows," and mentioned "Love" in the title  -- which you could rarely go wrong with back then. It doesn't surprise me that it made the '93 box or the Summer Love Songs comp. It's both commercial and catchy, and it just might have made a great "summer love song." Terrific vocals, too.

[Cabinessenceking]

Honestly, I don't think that there is a hit single in waiting on Sunflower....perhaps with the exception of Forever...

The one track on the album that always sounded like it had single potential to me was "Our Sweet Love."

Many acts were still doing "light and breezy" in 1970 (or saccharine to its detractors), though with varying degrees of success. Would the Beach Boys past and image preclude it from becoming a hit? I honestly don't know. In terms of structure, I do know that it had a fairly hum-able hook (i.e. the "Our sweet love...could last forever" part), was perhaps a slightly derivative cousin to something like "God Only Knows," and mentioned "Love" in the title  -- which you could rarely go wrong with back then. It doesn't surprise me that it made the '93 box or the Summer Love Songs comp. It's both commercial and catchy, and it just might have made a great "summer love song." Terrific vocals, too.

imo OSW is failed harshly by it saccharine lyrics. Great chord progression and well-produced backing track. Lyrics make it one of the lesser songs on Sunflower, but that doesn't mean it's bad.

[Dave Modny]

Honestly, I don't think that there is a hit single in waiting on Sunflower....perhaps with the exception of Forever...

The one track on the album that always sounded like it had single potential to me was "Our Sweet Love."

Many acts were still doing "light and breezy" in 1970 (or saccharine to its detractors), though with varying degrees of success. Would the Beach Boys past and image preclude it from becoming a hit? I honestly don't know. In terms of structure, I do know that it had a fairly hum-able hook (i.e. the "Our sweet love...could last forever" part), was perhaps a slightly derivative cousin to something like "God Only Knows," and mentioned "Love" in the title  -- which you could rarely go wrong with back then. It doesn't surprise me that it made the '93 box or the Summer Love Songs comp. It's both commercial and catchy, and it just might have made a great "summer love song." Terrific vocals, too.

imo OSW is failed harshly by it saccharine lyrics. Great chord progression and well-produced backing track. Lyrics make it one of the lesser songs on Sunflower, but that doesn't mean it's bad.

I don't know. Personally speaking, I don't find the lyrics nearly as saccharine as something like ASMTYD - which borderlines on treacle to me in places (though I still love the song itself). More like sunshine pop. In fact, I think the whole "pretty things like incense and flowers" wouldn't have been terribly out of place in the summer of '70. Put together a promo film with a willowy blonde swaying in a field...and who knows? The whole thing just invokes warmth and summertime to my ears. Also, I'm not sure if those strings are real, or rather, some sort of Mellotron/Chamberlin concoction, but they also sound "very 1970" to my humble ears.

But...that's just me. 

[Heysaboda]

Honestly, I don't think that there is a hit single in waiting on Sunflower....perhaps with the exception of Forever...

The one track on the album that always sounded like it had single potential to me was "Our Sweet Love."

Many acts were still doing "light and breezy" in 1970 (or saccharine to its detractors), though with varying degrees of success. Would the Beach Boys past and image preclude it from becoming a hit? I honestly don't know. In terms of structure, I do know that it had a fairly hum-able hook (i.e. the "Our sweet love...could last forever" part), was perhaps a slightly derivative cousin to something like "God Only Knows," and mentioned "Love" in the title  -- which you could rarely go wrong with back then. It doesn't surprise me that it made the '93 box or the Summer Love Songs comp. It's both commercial and catchy, and it just might have made a great "summer love song." Terrific vocals, too.

imo OSW is failed harshly by it saccharine lyrics. Great chord progression and well-produced backing track. Lyrics make it one of the lesser songs on Sunflower, but that doesn't mean it's bad.

I respect your opinion CK, but to me Our Sweet Love is a gorgeous piece of music.  I've only gotten into Sunflower in the last few years and this song OSL seems like a bolt out of the blue.  The tune and the LP shoulda been #1.

[filledeplage]

Honestly, I don't think that there is a hit single in waiting on Sunflower....perhaps with the exception of Forever...

The one track on the album that always sounded like it had single potential to me was "Our Sweet Love."

Many acts were still doing "light and breezy" in 1970 (or saccharine to its detractors), though with varying degrees of success. Would the Beach Boys past and image preclude it from becoming a hit? I honestly don't know. In terms of structure, I do know that it had a fairly hum-able hook (i.e. the "Our sweet love...could last forever" part), was perhaps a slightly derivative cousin to something like "God Only Knows," and mentioned "Love" in the title  -- which you could rarely go wrong with back then. It doesn't surprise me that it made the '93 box or the Summer Love Songs comp. It's both commercial and catchy, and it just might have made a great "summer love song." Terrific vocals, too.

(quote)

OSW is a great song. Perfect.  And got a lot of "replays" on the CD as well as rewinds on the car cassette player. I do get your semantic read as to "saccharine v. light and breezy" which characterizes it perfectly.  But, I often think of Sail On, Sailor, which I think had two releases a couple of years apart, and grew by degrees and not via the Hit Parade.  The slow burn rather than the forest fire, which I guess sums up their career, with the ebb and flow, alongside the constancy. 

And, I do get OSD's comment about the singles.  I bought Add Some Music, single, as it came out before the LP.  Singles got to be a pain, as you needed those dumb plastic spindle inserts.  And, they were an extra buck; LP's at $3 were more cost-effective.  But, that's what we do.     

[Don Malcolm]

I think this is all interesting stuff...it's good to hear people's theories if only to see how many different viewpoints there are, even if it's a moot issue.

One of the strengths of the board (IMO) is when it discusses the merits of the songs, which is why I like the "Rank the Tracks" threads and spent some spare time collating most of 'em (all from Smiley Smile to Holland). The consensus rankings are quite interesting, and actually make sense (most of the time) when they are grouped en masse, even though the song rankings are internal to individual albums.

Looking at Sunflower, this is how the song rankings break down:

This Whole World (8.5)
----------------------------------8
All I Wanna Do (7.4)
----------------------------------7
Forever (6.9)
Add Some Music (6.4)
Slip On Through (6.2)
Cool Cool Water (6.1)
----------------------------------6
Our Sweet Love (5.2)
----------------------------------5
It's About Time (4.7)
Dierdre (4.41)
At My Window (4.38)
----------------------------------4
----------------------------------3
Got to Know the Woman
(2.4)
Tears in the Morning (2.3)
----------------------------------2

Now, we will each have significant disagreements with the details of this consensus, but it's revealing. "This Whole World" is universally seen as a great, great track (it ranks fifth overall when I consolidate all the album lists that I've compiled), but it was not released as an "A" side. We seem to think (those who voted, at any rate...looks like close to 50 voters thus far) that "This Whole World" is the likely hit. (I have to go back and do some of the early albums where there were real hits to see if what we think were the best songs in the "hits" era were the actual hits...I suspect there is a pretty solid correlation.)

I think the problem with Sunflower from a commercial standpoint was simply that there wasn't a truly up-tempo track with enough edge to cut through what was perceived as "hip" at that point. Crosby, Stills and Nash (prior to Neil Young's joining them) had stolen the BBs thunder and had concocted a record (CSN) that was more or less a "hip BBs" sound (one part Byrds, one part Holliies, one part Buffalo Springfield...that's two thirds "hip" from folk-rock and folky-blues and one-third a semi-reverent cop of the BBs harmony sound) and there simply wasn't any room for the BBs at that time. A lot of folks had hits copping something from the BBs sound, but they could have hits because, paradoxically, they weren't the BBs.

Don't think any of the songs could have hit in 1970, alas. Just wasn't gonna happen. We'll never know if "This Whole World" could have been pushed up the charts higher, but I don't think it had the right "sound" to be a real hit, at least not in '70.

Sunflower wasn't a total loss career-wise. CCW got a certain amount of airplay and kept the "arty" aura alive. And the LP did very well in the UK, staying right up there with the sales figures for 20/20. It was the American "hipoisie" that was remaining intractable, but as filledeplage said, the BBs kept grinding it out and things began to edge forward, and the pendulum started to shift.

Something analogous happened in '72 when they failed to just go out that summer and push "Marcella." The thought must have been that they would get further 'hip" from where they'd gone with Surf's Up, but "Mess of Help" (as much as some of us love it) was too confusing to the mainstream audience..."THAT's the Beach Boys?" they said collectively, and that question flushed the song right down the toilet. They finally put "Marcella" out in late July, but it was too late, and CATP the LP had already been panned just about everywhere (which is what happens when you release it in tandem with Pet Sounds, for Crissakes!!). "Marcella" was the grown-up "surf" sound, and while it could have been a beat or so faster, it still cooks and it's recognizably the BBs.

[Nicko1234]

Sunflower wasn't a total loss career-wise. CCW got a certain amount of airplay and kept the "arty" aura alive. And the LP did very well in the UK, staying right up there with the sales figures for 20/20.

Really? Do you know what the sales figures in the U.K. were at all? 20/20 reached number 3 and stayed on the charts for 10 weeks. Sunflower meanwhile reached number 29 and only stayed on the chart for 6 weeks so it would be curious if they sold similar amounts.

I agree with that table in ranking This Whole World and All I Wanna Do as the stand out songs on the LP. Got to Know the Woman and Tears in the Morning are the weakest efforts as well.

[Don Malcolm]

Thanks for the correction, Nicko. I was going by faulty memory about Sunflower's performance on the charts in the UK...I remember reading the books about the critical reception for it there, which has universally been described as rapturous, and conflated the two. I should have re-checked the data.

The UK charts show that 20/20 was a solid rebound from Friends, which was something of a downturn from Wild Honey, which had been in the Top 10 there for five consecutive weeks and was on the charts for fifteen. Smiley Smile was in the UK Top 10 for four weeks, possibly on the strength o GV and H&V being on the album, which didn't do much for its US performance (though one could argue that it could have a good bit worse without GV on the record).

After Sunflower, Surf's Up did a little better (getting into the Top 20 for a couple of weeks), but CATP (released as a single LP) and Holland performed rather tepidly. So the Brits did not particularly embrace the "new sound" of the BBs; and they didn't have much to do with 15 Big Ones when it came out--though that LP couldn't have been helped by the fact that the 20 Golden Greats hits package had been released just a few weeks earlier. That went straight to #1 and remained there for ten weeks.

[Nicko1234]

Thanks for the correction, Nicko. I was going by faulty memory about Sunflower's performance on the charts in the UK...I remember reading the books about the critical reception for it there, which has universally been described as rapturous, and conflated the two. I should have re-checked the data.

The UK charts show that 20/20 was a solid rebound from Friends, which was something of a downturn from Wild Honey, which had been in the Top 10 there for five consecutive weeks and was on the charts for fifteen. Smiley Smile was in the UK Top 10 for four weeks, possibly on the strength o GV and H&V being on the album, which didn't do much for its US performance (though one could argue that it could have a good bit worse without GV on the record).

After Sunflower, Surf's Up did a little better (getting into the Top 20 for a couple of weeks), but CATP (released as a single LP) and Holland performed rather tepidly. So the Brits did not particularly embrace the "new sound" of the BBs; and they didn't have much to do with 15 Big Ones when it came out--though that LP couldn't have been helped by the fact that the 20 Golden Greats hits package had been released just a few weeks earlier. That went straight to #1 and remained there for ten weeks.

Entirely understandable that you should misremember as I've read several comments myself about Sunflower supposedly receiving a great reception in the U.K. and being a success. I can only assume that the new record label messed something up badly at this time. The group toured the U.K. for a solid month at that time promoting the album (and presumably Dennis' single) but to little avail. They only played one more tour in the U.K. over the next 5 years so understandable that the following albums wouldn't have done much maybe.

You are right that 20 Golden Greats probably didn't help 15 Big Ones and a re-release of Good Vibrations also outperformed Rock and Roll Music in the charts in 1976. A rare example of good judgment from the British public.

[EthanJames]

I think it failed due cause of 2 reasons.

1. People thought the Beach Boys were un-hip.
2. The single was in competition with Bridge Over Troubled Water, Thank You Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin and Travelin' Band