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Author Topic: Mike's leadership of the band  (Read 59834 times)
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« Reply #200 on: January 09, 2017, 11:15:51 AM »



And there you have the reason Brian said 'I don't write songs that way now'.

I know this has been mentioned in the past with the Problem Child music video, but is it a coincidence that Carl started wearing dark glasses all the time (perhaps out of embarrassment) right at the same time that the band's music started getting reallllly sketchy? Probably just a coincidence, but one can wonder.
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« Reply #201 on: January 09, 2017, 05:16:07 PM »

Brian's facial expression reaction describes my thoughts on the mid and late 90s BB.
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« Reply #202 on: January 09, 2017, 06:48:07 PM »



And there you have the reason Brian said 'I don't write songs that way now'.

I know this has been mentioned in the past with the Problem Child music video, but is it a coincidence that Carl started wearing dark glasses all the time (perhaps out of embarrassment) right at the same time that the band's music started getting reallllly sketchy? Probably just a coincidence, but one can wonder.


 Classic.
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« Reply #203 on: January 09, 2017, 11:13:45 PM »

Capitol's order was 3 "hit singles", not just new songs. The band obviously failed to deliver. Capitol bailed. Here is the original article from when the iron was red hot...

LA Times
The Beach Boys' New Splash
May 26, 1989|STEVE HOCHMAN

The Beach Boys are riding their biggest wave in two decades. They're coming off their first No. 1 single in 22 years ("Kokomo"), "genius" Brian Wilson is back in the fold, they've re-turned to Capitol Records and are on the road with Chicago for a hot-ticket summer tour.

You'd think these purveyors of good vibrations and endless summer fun, fun, fun would be coasting along quite comfortably. But the mood at a Culver City sound stage during the band's final rehearsal for the Chicago tour was anything but light.

The tension seemed to mirror the band's determination to take advantage of the current resurgence and re-establish itself as a contemporary hit-maker--or be doomed to a life as nostalgia merchants.

Carl Wilson, who had spent much of the night before working on new songs in a recording studio, declined to be interviewed. And Wilson, Bruce Johnston, Mike Love and Al Jardine seemed pretty businesslike as they worked out choreography steps to "Barbara Ann" with the six bikinied surfer girls who are decorating the stage on this tour (which includes shows Saturday at the Pacific Amphitheatre and Sunday at the Hollywood Bowl).

Explained Johnston, who joined the Beach Boys in 1965 after Brian Wilson gave up full-time touring: "I don't want the Beach Boys to be the futile endless road show of 'The King and I' or 'I Love Lucy' reruns. I live, eat and breathe getting on the radio. I just think, 'How can we get back on the radio?' "

Johnston didn't pause before answering himself: "With great songs, that's how!"

An odd question, coming not long after the band's "Kokomo," a song from the "Cocktail" movie score, became the Beach Boys first No. 1 single since 1966's "Good Vibrations."

And that was only one highlight from what was the group's best year in eons. It began with its induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, built through the attention focused on the solo album debut of Brian Wilson--the architect of the Beach Boys' often-imitated sound--and crested with "Kokomo."

The new Capitol release will be the band's first album in four years. Titled "Still Cruisin' " and due this summer, the record will be a combination of movie-related tracks including "Kokomo" and "Wipe Out" (a pairing with the rapping Fat Boys) and several new songs. After that, the contract contains an option for an album of all new material. Johnston calls it "the album of doom."

"Just because you've had a No. 1 doesn't mean you're automatic," Johnston said during a rehearsal break, acknowledging that the Beach Boys could go on forever recreating the endless summer with its stockpile of old hits. But that isn't good enough for him.

"It's records that matter," he said. "There's no point in touring without new records. It's just huge payments to me. We've got to be better than that."

David Berman, president of Capitol Records, was pleased to hear that the Beach Boys are going into their new arrangement with the label with that attitude.

"I think it's a pivotal point in their career," he said. "I hesitate to say with them that it's ever make or break. As a touring entity so continually successful, I wouldn't say that if this record doesn't happen it's the end of them as a recording entity. They're too good and represent too much so that they won't ever be dated. But on the other hand, I'm glad they feel that way because it bodes well for the record."

It's clear to the Beach Boys what Capitol expects from them.

"Three hit singles, to tell you the truth," Jardine said. "That's what they told us."

"That's fair," Berman said. "That's what I would hope for."

But even one hit, coming on the heels of "Kokomo," would pay double dividends for Capitol, which still owns the Beach Boys' '60s catalogue, some of which is now on CD, with the much-anticipated and much-delayed CD release of the hailed "Pet Sounds" 1966 album still to come.

Said Berman: "We do anticipate that a new hit Beach Boys record will help us exploit the catalogue, including but not limited to a 'Pet Sounds' CD."

Much is being made of Brian Wilson's role with the group. He will play only selected dates on this tour, including the Southland shows, with a four-song solo set included. But he will be working throughout the summer in the studio creating new songs for the band, which is essentially the role he has played for the past 25 years.

"We're going back to the original formula," said Dr. Eugene Landy, Brian's controversial therapist, guide and co-writer who hovered around while Brian was being interviewed. "Brian is most valuable to the Beach Boys using his time in the studio."

Still, many are perceiving this as a return to the fold for Brian, given his solo activities and the fact that he was not involved with "Kokomo." That impression was heightened last year when Love said in interviews that "Kokomo's" commercial superiority over Brian's solo album might prove to Brian that he needed the Beach Boys.

And Brian himself spoke of being accepted back into the Beach Boys.

"I'm very happy about it," he said. "And Mike seems to be happy for me being in the Beach Boys."

In any case, Brian's presence is paramount to Capitol. "Brian's involvement on this record is extremely important," Berman said. "But the fact that Mike Love and (producer) Terry Melcher came up with 'Kokomo' on their own without Brian means you've got a tremendous amount of talent there. I'm confident we can have quality material from all the Beach Boys."
You can't have hit singles without good promotion. Capitol did next to nothing to promote the singles from the album. I remember going to Tower Records looking for Still Cruisin', and all they had was the cassette single. No vinyl. The song was getting a lot of play on the local A/C, but none of CHR or top 40 stations played it. Ditto for Somewhere Near Japan. It probably didn't help, though, that the album came out so long after Kokomo had peaked. If the guys had had it together in 1988/89, there would have been a new single out just as Kokomo was heading down the charts. Maybe they didn't have anything new ready, but they could have dusted off or remixed an older track - California Dreamin', Rock 'N' Roll to the Rescue, It's Gettin' Late - and put it out as a single.
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« Reply #204 on: January 10, 2017, 06:29:44 AM »

Vinyl as a preferred format was already on its way out in Summer/Fall 1989, even for new hit singles. I remember when the first batch of Beatles UK reissue CD's came out, Please Please Me and the lot, big promotions, large Beatles posters and displays in the stores for the CD campaign - There was a guy in Sam Goody in line in front of me, King Of Prussia mall, giving the cashier an earful because there was no vinyl of the Please Please Me album, only CD. He wanted vinyl, lol. That was just the way the business was, vinyl was getting phased out and it shifted to CD and cassette.

So I personally don't recall when a single like "Still Cruisin" was new that there was much available overall, not just this single, in terms of new singles being released on 45rpm as the primary format. It was CD, cassette, and those hideous "cassette singles" - that's the business, not lack of promotions.

Capitol made a video for the song too, which wasn't cheap - If the public didn't get into it, the video wouldn't get much airplay, so it's not like they left the song hanging with no video to push it.

And that may be one of the deeper keys too: Kokomo had a major hit movie Cocktail behind its promotion, along with a video with Tom Cruise and scenes from that movie. It was also driven by the Cocktail soundtrack, which was also a huge seller that spun off another unlikely smash hit from that time, "Don't Worry Be Happy" by Bobby McFerrin. That song had been a minor charting song, but with that movie and soundtrack it became a smash. Did Bobby McFerrin ever have another pop radio smash hit that charted anywhere close to that song? No. Nor did the Beach Boys for that matter after Kokomo.

Lot more to discuss on that, but I wanted to chime in about the promotions and the lack of vinyl: As I remember it, that was around the time when vinyl in general was getting phased out, and Capitol did make a video for the Still Cruisin single, it just didn't click with the same audience who put Kokomo onto the top-10 charts.
« Last Edit: January 10, 2017, 06:30:25 AM by guitarfool2002 » Logged

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« Reply #205 on: January 10, 2017, 06:49:59 AM »

The band not striking with another hit in 1989 was surely a confluence of events.

A big part of it may just be that, at that moment in time, "Kokomo" was just a fluke; an anomaly. Catchy song at a precise moment in time where it was able to be a hit (and even then, it wasn't like the hit-to-end-all-hits; didn't it stay at #1 for only a single week?).

Also, maybe the public felt the "Still Cruisin'" material wasn't as good. Even I would have to admit, that as "catchy" singles go, "Kokomo" is easily better than the song "Still Cruisin'." I like "Somewhere Near Japan" more, but that "type" of Beach Boys sound (as Mike would say in concert, a mix of Mams and the Papas, Fleetwood Mac, etc.) maybe would have struck more a chord a few years later, in the mid 90s, and with less of an "80s" sound to it. Also, the single mix of "Somewhere Near Japan" is strangely more limp for some reason, dropping the punchier sound of the drums, as if they were trying to downplay the "power pop", "Fleetwood Mac-esque" sound of the song and make it more of an "AC" track.

The band was also pretty late to the party in trying to ride the coattails of "Kokomo." If they had struck with a quickie album before the end of 1988, perhaps that would have worked.

I think any BB album from this time, especially one that was going to be at all rushed, was always going to be a Frankenstein mess that was all over the place. Unless they had outsourced to a hot producer and recorded everything from scratch, it was always going to be a mess of old soundtrack songs, solo Brian rejects, and a few new songs with no discernible "style" to all of them collectively (are we going retro with "Still Cruisin'", or Jimmy Buffet style with "Island Girl", or are we trying to go a little more rock/pop with "Somewhere Near Japan"?).  

I think "Make It Big" is a nice enough little song, but it already sounded dated in 1989. "Wipe Out" was a failed novelty track, despite getting traction in the UK for some reason. "In My Car" sounded completely out of place, and sounds like kinda what it is, which was a Brian solo album outtake.

The fact that the album still went gold is probably a miracle rather than a failure. Even the '85 album had a more unified sound.

I'm not sure what Capitol was angling at in 1989 in signing them. The Capitol exec in that article sounds like he actually wants *quality* material from the band and not just a quickie cash-in on "Kokomo", yet I would imagine a cash-in on "Kokomo" is why Capitol signed them.

I've always been fascinated that Mike said in contemporary interviews that the album was watered down, but he felt it was the *new* songs watering the soundtrack "concept" down, rather than old previously released tracks watering down the simple concept of a *new* album of *new* material.
« Last Edit: January 10, 2017, 06:52:48 AM by HeyJude » Logged

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« Reply #206 on: January 10, 2017, 07:05:33 AM »

The type of song "Still Cruisin" was versus Kokomo was another point I was going to raise as well, strip away for a moment the fact that Kokomo got a major push from a box-office hit movie, Tom Cruise, and a video with all those elements being pushed to promote the movie with the song in tow:

Kokomo as a song may have had more appeal to the audience who drove it to the top of the charts. Whatever opinions of the song are in retrospect, it was a new sound that fit well on MTV and pop radio and the song itself had a universal theme in the words and the concept overall - Fun and sex on the beach with booze flowing on an island paradise.

Was there any, and I mean any "nostalgia" or retro feel to that song? I say a firm "no". It was new. There was nothing in that song that longed for the days of the malt shop or "Oldies But Goodies".

Now move ahead to the follow up "Still Cruisin". Again, no Tom Cruise or Cocktail to boost it, but the band (Mike? Capitol? both/all?) went nostalgia again.

"we're still cruisin, baby, after all these years..." Yeah, but Mike...those people who were cruisin with you and the car songs back in the 60's were in their 40's when that song came out.

Not the same audience, not at all the same demographic listening to pop/top-40 radio in 1989, watching "Dance Party USA" after school, and watching MTV to drive these hits.

I agree and have said before that the Cocktail film drove Kokomo's success - But I also think it was a genuinely new sound for the Beach Boys with a song that had universal appeal beyond the expected demographic, sure as hell beyond the "oldies but goodies" crowd who were in their 40's and early 50's in 1989.

The nostalgia route didn't work, it wasn't the same demographic as those who were into Kokomo.

And the song itself wasn't as good. The main hook was lifted from Dick & DeeDee's "The Mountain's High" and the lyrics are clumsy.
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« Reply #207 on: January 10, 2017, 04:02:49 PM »

Vinyl as a preferred format was already on its way out in Summer/Fall 1989, even for new hit singles. I remember when the first batch of Beatles UK reissue CD's came out, Please Please Me and the lot, big promotions, large Beatles posters and displays in the stores for the CD campaign - There was a guy in Sam Goody in line in front of me, King Of Prussia mall, giving the cashier an earful because there was no vinyl of the Please Please Me album, only CD. He wanted vinyl, lol. That was just the way the business was, vinyl was getting phased out and it shifted to CD and cassette.

So I personally don't recall when a single like "Still Cruisin" was new that there was much available overall, not just this single, in terms of new singles being released on 45rpm as the primary format. It was CD, cassette, and those hideous "cassette singles" - that's the business, not lack of promotions.

Capitol made a video for the song too, which wasn't cheap - If the public didn't get into it, the video wouldn't get much airplay, so it's not like they left the song hanging with no video to push it.

And that may be one of the deeper keys too: Kokomo had a major hit movie Cocktail behind its promotion, along with a video with Tom Cruise and scenes from that movie. It was also driven by the Cocktail soundtrack, which was also a huge seller that spun off another unlikely smash hit from that time, "Don't Worry Be Happy" by Bobby McFerrin. That song had been a minor charting song, but with that movie and soundtrack it became a smash. Did Bobby McFerrin ever have another pop radio smash hit that charted anywhere close to that song? No. Nor did the Beach Boys for that matter after Kokomo.

Lot more to discuss on that, but I wanted to chime in about the promotions and the lack of vinyl: As I remember it, that was around the time when vinyl in general was getting phased out, and Capitol did make a video for the Still Cruisin single, it just didn't click with the same audience who put Kokomo onto the top-10 charts.
If there was a formula to concoct a hit single, Mike would have learned it ages ago. There may not have been anything in the new songs that was as immediately catchy as Kokomo, but if they had put something out as a followup while Kokomo was riding down the charts, I don't see how they could have missed making the top 40. Timing is everything in "the biz", and the Beach Boys blew it by waiting so long to put out a followup. I think a re-issued "California Dreamin" could have done well, it didn't get all that much airplay in 1986 except at AC radio. The overall production sound of "California Dreamin" is similar to "Kokomo", right down to the tempo, the drum sound, and the sax solo. I don't see how they could have missed with that one, even without a movie tie-in. And i'm sure it didn't help cd/cassette sales to have an album cover that wasn't instantly recognizable as "The Beach Boys". The first time I saw it, I kinda just went "what?" Then I figured out, "oh, it's the front of a car", yeah, pretty bland, pretty generic. A generic group shot would have been better than that - everybody knew what the guys looked like in the late 80's, and clothing styles aside, they looked a lot better than some of their contemporaries.
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« Reply #208 on: January 10, 2017, 05:27:27 PM »

Vinyl as a preferred format was already on its way out in Summer/Fall 1989, even for new hit singles. I remember when the first batch of Beatles UK reissue CD's came out, Please Please Me and the lot, big promotions, large Beatles posters and displays in the stores for the CD campaign - There was a guy in Sam Goody in line in front of me, King Of Prussia mall, giving the cashier an earful because there was no vinyl of the Please Please Me album, only CD. He wanted vinyl, lol. That was just the way the business was, vinyl was getting phased out and it shifted to CD and cassette.

So I personally don't recall when a single like "Still Cruisin" was new that there was much available overall, not just this single, in terms of new singles being released on 45rpm as the primary format. It was CD, cassette, and those hideous "cassette singles" - that's the business, not lack of promotions.

Capitol made a video for the song too, which wasn't cheap - If the public didn't get into it, the video wouldn't get much airplay, so it's not like they left the song hanging with no video to push it.

And that may be one of the deeper keys too: Kokomo had a major hit movie Cocktail behind its promotion, along with a video with Tom Cruise and scenes from that movie. It was also driven by the Cocktail soundtrack, which was also a huge seller that spun off another unlikely smash hit from that time, "Don't Worry Be Happy" by Bobby McFerrin. That song had been a minor charting song, but with that movie and soundtrack it became a smash. Did Bobby McFerrin ever have another pop radio smash hit that charted anywhere close to that song? No. Nor did the Beach Boys for that matter after Kokomo.

Lot more to discuss on that, but I wanted to chime in about the promotions and the lack of vinyl: As I remember it, that was around the time when vinyl in general was getting phased out, and Capitol did make a video for the Still Cruisin single, it just didn't click with the same audience who put Kokomo onto the top-10 charts.
If there was a formula to concoct a hit single, Mike would have learned it ages ago. There may not have been anything in the new songs that was as immediately catchy as Kokomo, but if they had put something out as a followup while Kokomo was riding down the charts, I don't see how they could have missed making the top 40. Timing is everything in "the biz", and the Beach Boys blew it by waiting so long to put out a followup. I think a re-issued "California Dreamin" could have done well, it didn't get all that much airplay in 1986 except at AC radio. The overall production sound of "California Dreamin" is similar to "Kokomo", right down to the tempo, the drum sound, and the sax solo. I don't see how they could have missed with that one, even without a movie tie-in. And i'm sure it didn't help cd/cassette sales to have an album cover that wasn't instantly recognizable as "The Beach Boys". The first time I saw it, I kinda just went "what?" Then I figured out, "oh, it's the front of a car", yeah, pretty bland, pretty generic. A generic group shot would have been better than that - everybody knew what the guys looked like in the late 80's, and clothing styles aside, they looked a lot better than some of their contemporaries.

What about "Good Vibrations '88" featuring that same wailing sax (replacing the outdated theremin sound), and done in the classic "Florida Keys" tropical style of "Kokomo"?
« Last Edit: January 10, 2017, 05:28:19 PM by DonnyL » Logged

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« Reply #209 on: January 10, 2017, 07:22:36 PM »

Vinyl as a preferred format was already on its way out in Summer/Fall 1989, even for new hit singles. I remember when the first batch of Beatles UK reissue CD's came out, Please Please Me and the lot, big promotions, large Beatles posters and displays in the stores for the CD campaign - There was a guy in Sam Goody in line in front of me, King Of Prussia mall, giving the cashier an earful because there was no vinyl of the Please Please Me album, only CD. He wanted vinyl, lol. That was just the way the business was, vinyl was getting phased out and it shifted to CD and cassette.

So I personally don't recall when a single like "Still Cruisin" was new that there was much available overall, not just this single, in terms of new singles being released on 45rpm as the primary format. It was CD, cassette, and those hideous "cassette singles" - that's the business, not lack of promotions.

Capitol made a video for the song too, which wasn't cheap - If the public didn't get into it, the video wouldn't get much airplay, so it's not like they left the song hanging with no video to push it.

And that may be one of the deeper keys too: Kokomo had a major hit movie Cocktail behind its promotion, along with a video with Tom Cruise and scenes from that movie. It was also driven by the Cocktail soundtrack, which was also a huge seller that spun off another unlikely smash hit from that time, "Don't Worry Be Happy" by Bobby McFerrin. That song had been a minor charting song, but with that movie and soundtrack it became a smash. Did Bobby McFerrin ever have another pop radio smash hit that charted anywhere close to that song? No. Nor did the Beach Boys for that matter after Kokomo.

Lot more to discuss on that, but I wanted to chime in about the promotions and the lack of vinyl: As I remember it, that was around the time when vinyl in general was getting phased out, and Capitol did make a video for the Still Cruisin single, it just didn't click with the same audience who put Kokomo onto the top-10 charts.
If there was a formula to concoct a hit single, Mike would have learned it ages ago. There may not have been anything in the new songs that was as immediately catchy as Kokomo, but if they had put something out as a followup while Kokomo was riding down the charts, I don't see how they could have missed making the top 40. Timing is everything in "the biz", and the Beach Boys blew it by waiting so long to put out a followup. I think a re-issued "California Dreamin" could have done well, it didn't get all that much airplay in 1986 except at AC radio. The overall production sound of "California Dreamin" is similar to "Kokomo", right down to the tempo, the drum sound, and the sax solo. I don't see how they could have missed with that one, even without a movie tie-in. And i'm sure it didn't help cd/cassette sales to have an album cover that wasn't instantly recognizable as "The Beach Boys". The first time I saw it, I kinda just went "what?" Then I figured out, "oh, it's the front of a car", yeah, pretty bland, pretty generic. A generic group shot would have been better than that - everybody knew what the guys looked like in the late 80's, and clothing styles aside, they looked a lot better than some of their contemporaries.

What about "Good Vibrations '88" featuring that same wailing sax (replacing the outdated theremin sound), and done in the classic "Florida Keys" tropical style of "Kokomo"?

Now we're talking! Don't forget replacing the jewelry percussion break under the organ with a conga solo so Stamos has a spotlight during the live shows where he can jam out.
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« Reply #210 on: January 10, 2017, 07:37:10 PM »

Vinyl as a preferred format was already on its way out in Summer/Fall 1989, even for new hit singles. I remember when the first batch of Beatles UK reissue CD's came out, Please Please Me and the lot, big promotions, large Beatles posters and displays in the stores for the CD campaign - There was a guy in Sam Goody in line in front of me, King Of Prussia mall, giving the cashier an earful because there was no vinyl of the Please Please Me album, only CD. He wanted vinyl, lol. That was just the way the business was, vinyl was getting phased out and it shifted to CD and cassette.

So I personally don't recall when a single like "Still Cruisin" was new that there was much available overall, not just this single, in terms of new singles being released on 45rpm as the primary format. It was CD, cassette, and those hideous "cassette singles" - that's the business, not lack of promotions.

Capitol made a video for the song too, which wasn't cheap - If the public didn't get into it, the video wouldn't get much airplay, so it's not like they left the song hanging with no video to push it.

And that may be one of the deeper keys too: Kokomo had a major hit movie Cocktail behind its promotion, along with a video with Tom Cruise and scenes from that movie. It was also driven by the Cocktail soundtrack, which was also a huge seller that spun off another unlikely smash hit from that time, "Don't Worry Be Happy" by Bobby McFerrin. That song had been a minor charting song, but with that movie and soundtrack it became a smash. Did Bobby McFerrin ever have another pop radio smash hit that charted anywhere close to that song? No. Nor did the Beach Boys for that matter after Kokomo.

Lot more to discuss on that, but I wanted to chime in about the promotions and the lack of vinyl: As I remember it, that was around the time when vinyl in general was getting phased out, and Capitol did make a video for the Still Cruisin single, it just didn't click with the same audience who put Kokomo onto the top-10 charts.
If there was a formula to concoct a hit single, Mike would have learned it ages ago. There may not have been anything in the new songs that was as immediately catchy as Kokomo, but if they had put something out as a followup while Kokomo was riding down the charts, I don't see how they could have missed making the top 40. Timing is everything in "the biz", and the Beach Boys blew it by waiting so long to put out a followup. I think a re-issued "California Dreamin" could have done well, it didn't get all that much airplay in 1986 except at AC radio. The overall production sound of "California Dreamin" is similar to "Kokomo", right down to the tempo, the drum sound, and the sax solo. I don't see how they could have missed with that one, even without a movie tie-in. And i'm sure it didn't help cd/cassette sales to have an album cover that wasn't instantly recognizable as "The Beach Boys". The first time I saw it, I kinda just went "what?" Then I figured out, "oh, it's the front of a car", yeah, pretty bland, pretty generic. A generic group shot would have been better than that - everybody knew what the guys looked like in the late 80's, and clothing styles aside, they looked a lot better than some of their contemporaries.

What about "Good Vibrations '88" featuring that same wailing sax (replacing the outdated theremin sound), and done in the classic "Florida Keys" tropical style of "Kokomo"?

Now we're talking! Don't forget replacing the jewelry percussion break under the organ with a conga solo so Stamos has a spotlight during the live shows where he can jam out.

Good god I can hear that cheesefest in my head and it's awfui....yet so believable.
« Last Edit: January 10, 2017, 07:37:36 PM by rab2591 » Logged

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« Reply #211 on: January 10, 2017, 08:00:14 PM »

It got so bad that even the most wild parody of musical ideas could very well have been considered by Mike fishing for a smash hit.
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« Reply #212 on: January 10, 2017, 08:11:42 PM »

Donny: It would probably be an EWI and not even a real sax...
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« Reply #213 on: January 10, 2017, 08:32:21 PM »

He needs "SAXual Healing"...
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« Reply #214 on: January 10, 2017, 08:39:03 PM »

I thought the Kokomo video was the prime example of Mike miming a fake sax part on TV, but lo and behold there he was a few years earlier on Solid Gold pretending to play the sax solo on "California Dreamin".

The man was addicted to sax, what else can be said...
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« Reply #215 on: January 10, 2017, 09:49:53 PM »

He's a sax machine.
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« Reply #216 on: January 10, 2017, 11:02:17 PM »

I thought the Kokomo video was the prime example of Mike miming a fake sax part on TV, but lo and behold there he was a few years earlier on Solid Gold pretending to play the sax solo on "California Dreamin".

The man was addicted to sax, what else can be said...
I wonder how many Kokomo BB's fans were disappointed when they saw the band in concert and Mike didn't play the sax? And Bruce didn't play the bass?
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« Reply #217 on: January 10, 2017, 11:08:15 PM »

I thought the Kokomo video was the prime example of Mike miming a fake sax part on TV, but lo and behold there he was a few years earlier on Solid Gold pretending to play the sax solo on "California Dreamin".

The man was addicted to sax, what else can be said...
I wonder how many Kokomo BB's fans were disappointed when they saw the band in concert and Mike didn't play the sax? And Bruce didn't play the bass?

I wonder who's idea the fake sax thing was for Mike to be playing in the video? Director? Mike?

In an alternate universe, imagine if Mike cared enough to take lessons and really get good with the instrument, and actually performed that sax solo on the Kokomo recording? And separately, imagine Mike's Shut Down sax "solo" performed on Kokomo?
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« Reply #218 on: January 11, 2017, 04:53:30 AM »

Mike played a fake plastic sax live during Kokomo while a backing band member really played the solo!
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« Reply #219 on: January 11, 2017, 06:32:53 AM »


Fake Beach Boys, fake sax. Makes perfect sense to me.  Cheesy
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« Reply #220 on: January 11, 2017, 04:26:13 PM »

IIRC, Mike also 'plays' the sax for the videos of Problem Child and Hot Fun in the Summertime.

I have no problem with most of the 80's/90's BB's tracks, I grew up hearing that kind of production sound on the radio 24/7, so it doesn't bother me as much as it does some of the purists. But those videos! Apart from Getcha Back and California Dreamin' and Somewhere Near Japan, they're embarrassingly bad!
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« Reply #221 on: January 13, 2017, 11:07:36 AM »

"Mike's leadership of the band" is worth approximately an ounce of horse piss.
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« Reply #222 on: January 13, 2017, 07:50:13 PM »

If Mike's leadership of the band is so terrible, then maybe Brian, Al, and the estates of Dennis and Carl should revoke his license.
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« Reply #223 on: January 13, 2017, 08:48:32 PM »

If Mike's leadership of the band is so terrible, then maybe Brian, Al, and the estates of Dennis and Carl should revoke his license.

What do you mean "if"?  Huh
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« Reply #224 on: March 12, 2017, 11:20:52 PM »

If Mike's leadership of the band is so terrible, then maybe Brian, Al, and the estates of Dennis and Carl should revoke his license.

IMO they definitely should. It's a tough call, and it is good that the music is being kept alive in live performance by the touring band, but the minuses outweigh the pluses, again IMO. The ongoing cheapening of the brand is sad to behold (no classic rock band worth its salt would ever tour under their original name when the other surviving original members are willing to join them for at least part of their touring itinerary, as Al and Brian probably would). The 25% of revenues that Brian receives from live shows will probably make the issue a non-starter though.
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