gfxgfx
 
Welcome, Guest. Please login or register.

Login with username, password and session length
logo
 
gfx gfx
gfx
680601 Posts in 27601 Topics by 4068 Members - Latest Member: Dae Lims March 29, 2024, 10:26:27 AM
*
gfx*HomeHelpSearchCalendarLoginRegistergfx
gfxgfx
0 Members and 2 Guests are viewing this topic.       « previous next »
Pages: 1 [2] 3 4 Go Down Print
Author Topic: The BB fanbase's reaction to Kokomo's success at the time in 1988  (Read 16119 times)
Don Malcolm
Smiley Smile Associate
*
Online Online

Posts: 1108



View Profile
« Reply #25 on: December 13, 2014, 11:17:57 AM »

My take at the time: Mike at his cheesiest, with Carl's brilliant chorus lead saving the day. Despite all the tumult (and, man, was there tumult in '88!!), I was really happy to see the BBs back on the charts and hoped (ultra-naively, as BB fans are still wont to do...) that all this would signal some kind of "grand renaissance" for them (ahem).

In the world of #1 singles, "Kokomo" is probably around the sixtieth percentile quality-wise. In the world of BB songs, it's probably in the high forties. IMO Carl's work on the song made all the difference, both quality-wise and chart performance-wise. Without that chorus, no one would have wanted to go to "Kokomo."
Logged
Matt H
Smiley Smile Associate
*
Offline Offline

Posts: 1300



View Profile
« Reply #26 on: December 13, 2014, 11:26:58 AM »

If BW had been involved, he probably would have had a hand in arranging the harmonies. Frankly, that would have made the song better from my point of view, because the one thing the song really lacks is the classic Beach Boys harmony blend.

Otherwise, yes it's cheesy. But it's undeniably a hit song. It just sounds like one. And it's a credit to both Mike and Terry that they didn't overthink or overwork it. There's a bit of the novelty record to it, which means it doesn't necessarily lend itself to hundreds of listens, but that's okay.
Well, Andrew gave you the one word answer to the reason why. Landy.  It is not as though there were not four formidable composer/lyricists in John Phillips, Scott McKenzie, Terry Melcher and Mike Love.  Hit makers - all.

On EH, it is abundantly clear from Brian's own mouth that he would have participated had he known.  And we can reasonably infer that it was the hand of the not-so-good doc.  

Cheesy? Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

Would still love to hear the story behind Spanish Kokomo, and Brian's involvement, however no one seems to know anything about that.
Logged
filledeplage
Smiley Smile Associate
*
Offline Offline

Gender: Female
Posts: 3151


View Profile
« Reply #27 on: December 13, 2014, 11:27:46 AM »

I was in high school and had been trying to convince the hippies and freaks (the only people who had an'open mind' back then) that the bb were amazing artists, way out there and willing to push musical boudaries....
whoops, here comes kokomo, crapping all over my story!
I was NOT into it.
bw's solo album was way better and i was happy to hear brian had nothing to do with krapamo!
i kinda like it now though!
You do understand that the only reason for no Brian was due to Landy, right? Landy made sure Brian was a part of the Spanish version, though. Did your hippie and freak friends love Wipe Out? Brian is all over that gem. I wasn't even aware that hippies existed in the late-80s. We'll always have freaks no matter what the era. Wink
Boy, do I learn a lot, here! Thanks! I didn't know there was a version in Spanish. And, you can hear Brian.  Mike always had a good grasp on Spanish, even doing an intro for Bluebirds, on Live in London, in Spanish. Carl is pretty good as well.

You learn something new every day!  Wink
Logged
Gerry
Smiley Smile Associate
*
Offline Offline

Posts: 352


View Profile
« Reply #28 on: December 13, 2014, 11:28:11 AM »

I think part of the problem with the whole Kokomo thing was that there was a tremendous amount of publicity leading up to Brian's solo album and it tanked. Kokomo hits #1 without Brian and if anybody thinks Mike didn't do a Jagger inspired jig you don't know Mr. Love very well. Mike also likes to say that Kokomo was their first #1 since Good Vibrations, surreptitiously putting it on par with the latter . You know, a #1 is a #1 is a #1.
Logged
Custom Machine
Smiley Smile Associate
*
Offline Offline

Posts: 1294



View Profile
« Reply #29 on: December 13, 2014, 11:38:21 AM »

As a fan from the beginning, I was stoked the first time I heard Kokomo.  It was really cool to hear the BBs on the radio in 1988 with an instantly accessible, upbeat song where all the elements fit perfectly together, including Carl's classic "Ohh, I wanna take you down to Kokomo" lines.  As Kokomo advanced up the charts I figured it had a good chance of making it to number 1 on Billboard, and I was ecstatic when it did so, especially when listening to Casey Kasem announcing it as the number one song in the nation on American Top 40.  


Logged
Debbie Keil-Leavitt
Guest
« Reply #30 on: December 13, 2014, 12:04:52 PM »

I was in high school and had been trying to convince the hippies and freaks (the only people who had an'open mind' back then) that the bb were amazing artists, way out there and willing to push musical boudaries....
whoops, here comes kokomo, crapping all over my story!
I was NOT into it.
bw's solo album was way better and i was happy to hear brian had nothing to do with krapamo!
i kinda like it now though!
You do understand that the only reason for no Brian was due to Landy, right? Landy made sure Brian was a part of the Spanish version, though. Did your hippie and freak friends love Wipe Out? Brian is all over that gem. I wasn't even aware that hippies existed in the late-80s. We'll always have freaks no matter what the era. Wink
Boy, do I learn a lot, here! Thanks! I didn't know there was a version in Spanish. And, you can hear Brian.  Mike always had a good grasp on Spanish, even doing an intro for Bluebirds, on Live in London, in Spanish. Carl is pretty good as well.

You learn something new every day!  Wink

Brian spoke Spanish too.  I'm not sure it matters to anyone but you and me though, beach girl...
« Last Edit: December 13, 2014, 12:14:26 PM by Debbie Keil-Leavitt » Logged
filledeplage
Smiley Smile Associate
*
Offline Offline

Gender: Female
Posts: 3151


View Profile
« Reply #31 on: December 13, 2014, 01:20:21 PM »

I was in high school and had been trying to convince the hippies and freaks (the only people who had an'open mind' back then) that the bb were amazing artists, way out there and willing to push musical boudaries....
whoops, here comes kokomo, crapping all over my story!
I was NOT into it.
bw's solo album was way better and i was happy to hear brian had nothing to do with krapamo!
i kinda like it now though!
You do understand that the only reason for no Brian was due to Landy, right? Landy made sure Brian was a part of the Spanish version, though. Did your hippie and freak friends love Wipe Out? Brian is all over that gem. I wasn't even aware that hippies existed in the late-80s. We'll always have freaks no matter what the era. Wink
Boy, do I learn a lot, here! Thanks! I didn't know there was a version in Spanish. And, you can hear Brian.  Mike always had a good grasp on Spanish, even doing an intro for Bluebirds, on Live in London, in Spanish. Carl is pretty good as well.

You learn something new every day!  Wink
Brian spoke Spanish too.  I'm not sure it matters to anyone but you and me though, beach girl...
Thanks, Debbie, for that info on Brian.  Makes perfect sense.  But, I had no idea that there was a Spanish version which I found on YouTube.  Great stuff! 
Logged
Steve Latshaw
Smiley Smile Associate
*
Offline Offline

Posts: 566


View Profile
« Reply #32 on: December 13, 2014, 01:41:22 PM »

I remember, at the time, being entirely focused on Brian's solo LP.  When I bought the Kokomo 45, I thought, well, OK, kind of catchy, not very ambitious, and didn't pay much attention to it.  After it took off, I listened again and it grew on me.  Today I think Kokomo is a classic Beach Boys song, perfectly updating their sound to contemporary radio (for 1988), without being even remotely nostalgic.  A perfect blend of Al, Carl and Bruce at that time, on the chorus, one of Mike's strongest, most iconic lead vocals.  I am also very fond of harmony lines from Bruce against Mike's lead on the second and third verse.  And when it hit number one, I was thrilled.
Logged
Gregg
Smiley Smile Associate
*
Offline Offline

Posts: 176


View Profile
« Reply #33 on: December 13, 2014, 01:55:41 PM »

I was a huge fan at the time and would immediately buy anything they put out. So the day the  "Kokomo" single hit the shelves, I snatched up my copy, took it home with great excitement, and put it on the stereo and took a listen.

I remember very clearly that my first reaction was "well, here's another one that's going to bomb." Then of course, much to my surprise, it climbs to #1. I remember hearing people comment on how the song just took them away to a sort of tropical vacation state of mind - people that weren't really hard core fans.

In hindsight, Carl's part has become one of my all-time favorite Carl Wilson vocal phrases. It makes the song.
Logged
Emdeeh
Smiley Smile Associate
*
Offline Offline

Posts: 2980



View Profile
« Reply #34 on: December 13, 2014, 10:30:41 PM »

I love Carl's part on "Kokomo," and it still bugs me to this day that the video would always cut away to movie footage when his part came on. I wanted to see closeups of CW singing, dammit! Yeah, Tom Cruise was eye candy, but so was Carl and he was (imo) a great live performer to boot -- hhhmmpf!

Re Brian and Spanish: ¡Muy bueno!
« Last Edit: December 13, 2014, 10:32:33 PM by Emdeeh » Logged
Lonely Summer
Smiley Smile Associate
*
Online Online

Posts: 3932


View Profile
« Reply #35 on: December 14, 2014, 01:43:26 AM »

It still bugs me to this day that the guys could get a #1 record in 1988, and have no clue how to follow it up! They should have had another single out just as "Kokomo" fell off the chart. By the time "Still Cruisin" came out the next summer, a lot of the momentum had gone. I was really hoping that having a hit record would inspire them to do something really creative, a new album, not just another compilation.
Logged
phirnis
Smiley Smile Associate
*
Offline Offline

Gender: Male
Posts: 2594



View Profile
« Reply #36 on: December 14, 2014, 01:55:08 AM »

It still bugs me to this day that the guys could get a #1 record in 1988, and have no clue how to follow it up! They should have had another single out just as "Kokomo" fell off the chart. By the time "Still Cruisin" came out the next summer, a lot of the momentum had gone. I was really hoping that having a hit record would inspire them to do something really creative, a new album, not just another compilation.

This is all water under the bridge by this point of course but I wish they would've followed it up with an album comprising the best of BW88, Kokomo, maybe one or two Al or Carl compositions... I think this might've turned out really great.
Logged
RangeRoverA1
Smiley Smile Associate
*
Offline Offline

Posts: 4336


I drink expired tea. wanna sip or spit?


View Profile
« Reply #37 on: December 14, 2014, 01:58:02 AM »

I love Carl's part on "Kokomo," and it still bugs me to this day that the video would always cut away to movie footage when his part came on. I wanted to see closeups of CW singing, dammit! Yeah, Tom Cruise was eye candy, but so was Carl and he was (imo) a great live performer to boot -- hhhmmpf!
I 2nd. Why show the movie scenes AND the band singing & playing "Kokomo"? It's featured there, but that's like they want to emphasize the song became a hit because of that movie. It helped boost the song charting, but "K" is good on its own terms. Wirestone otm re smash sound.
Logged

Short notice: the cat you see to the left is the best. Not counting your indoor cat who might have habit sitting at your left side when you post at SmileySmile.

Who is Lucille Ball & Vivian Vance Duet Fan Club CEO? Btw, such Club exists?

Zany zealous Zeddie eats broccoli at brunch break but doesn't do's & don't's due to duties.
Jay
Smiley Smile Associate
*
Offline Offline

Posts: 5985



View Profile
« Reply #38 on: December 14, 2014, 02:18:52 AM »

What I'm most curios about is, what did the band(particularly Mike) think of the song before it became a hit? Was it considered just another "throwaway song"?
Logged

A son of anarchy surrounded by the hierarchy.
Smilin Ed H
Guest
« Reply #39 on: December 14, 2014, 02:53:55 AM »

I was pleased to see the song do so well - it may well have increased the fanbase, but I think a lot of people had been alienated long before then. As a song - meh. Brian's album was the thing.
Logged
Andrew G. Doe
Smiley Smile Associate
*
Offline Offline

Gender: Male
Posts: 17767


The triumph of The Hickey Script !


View Profile WWW
« Reply #40 on: December 14, 2014, 06:31:26 AM »

It still bugs me to this day that the guys could get a #1 record in 1988, and have no clue how to follow it up! They should have had another single out just as "Kokomo" fell off the chart. By the time "Still Cruisin" came out the next summer, a lot of the momentum had gone. I was really hoping that having a hit record would inspire them to do something really creative, a new album, not just another compilation.

It wasn't an immediate hit  - released mid-July, didn't chart until early September.
Logged

The four sweetest words in my vocabulary: "This poster is ignored".
Ram4
Smiley Smile Associate
*
Offline Offline

Gender: Male
Posts: 336


View Profile
« Reply #41 on: December 14, 2014, 09:27:14 AM »

I'm with AGD, it was a #1 hit, how bad could it be?  I was in high school, it was played constantly and I remember the video on MTV being played a lot.  It's the Beach Boys Caribbean style.  I don't have any problem with it.  When I took my brother to a C50 show, he did mention that he felt Kokomo was the only song in the show that didn't fit with the rest of the material.  I thought that was pretty cool, the song that Brian wasn't involved in stood out among 40+ songs.  Granted, there may have been a couple of others Brian didn't really get involved with, but all ended up sounding like the BB.   Kokomo sounds more Jimmy Buffet, Christopher Cross, "Yacht Rock", New Kid In Town-ish.
Logged
joshferrell
Smiley Smile Associate
*
Offline Offline

Posts: 1634



View Profile
« Reply #42 on: December 14, 2014, 10:38:35 AM »

here's my experience with it... it seems,for some reason which baffles me, that people who AREN'T huge Beach Boy Fans really seem to like it, the casual listener, you know the kind those who think "Wouldn't it be nice" is a great song from "50 First dates" and know nothing about Pet Sounds, those who say that "Good Vibrations" is too "weird" but Kokomo is a great song, Those who call them a "Surfing Band" and that's all they sang, those who think that BB1985 is a great album (like my ex wife did) and that Pet Sounds is too spooky or sad. also I seem to notice that Females seem to be drawn more to it than males,, of course this is my experience. when I first heard it I thought it was good, then I saw the video looking for Brian and he was nowhere to be found so I figured he just didn't show up for the video, then I got the actual cassette tape and looked at the songwriting credits and saw that Brian had nothing to do with it, I still thought it was a nice song although nothing great, then I bought "MIU" and thought to myself that MIU sounds like a bunch of "Kokomo's" and didn't like the song as much after that because I thought to myself that really wasn't much different than what they did on MIU, that it was basically a fluke, so now after 20 years of this experience it's just a song that is pleasent but nothing great it's just there, like background music..
Logged
joshferrell
Smiley Smile Associate
*
Offline Offline

Posts: 1634



View Profile
« Reply #43 on: December 14, 2014, 11:29:17 AM »

also I wanted to say why I thought Brian may have been on kokomo when it came out..because not long before that he was on the movie "Disorderlies" with the Fat Boys and was not only on "Wipe Out" but was also on the Barbie record that came out around the same time...so wen Kokomo came out I assumed he was on it,,but alas he wasn't
Logged
metal flake paint
Smiley Smile Associate
*
Offline Offline

Gender: Male
Posts: 1376


This harmony kick


View Profile
« Reply #44 on: December 14, 2014, 03:08:08 PM »

I love Carl's part on "Kokomo," and it still bugs me to this day that the video would always cut away to movie footage when his part came on. I wanted to see closeups of CW singing, dammit! Yeah, Tom Cruise was eye candy, but so was Carl and he was (imo) a great live performer to boot -- hhhmmpf!

There's an alternate Kokomo video that show Carl singing his part:

http://youtu.be/Ij_-l8xkz7w?t=4m34s
Logged

"Quit screaming and start singing from your hearts, huh?" Murry Wilson, March 1965.
NHC
Smiley Smile Associate
*
Offline Offline

Gender: Male
Posts: 529


View Profile
« Reply #45 on: December 14, 2014, 04:19:03 PM »

Well, I'd only been a fan for 25 years at the time, and after the last album was not paying that much attention - since I didn't (and don't)  listen to the radio music stations - and so my wife told me she thought she'd heard a new Beach Boys song, my ears perked up, oh, terrific, hope it's something good, I heard it a couple of days later, and loved it. Still do. Never did understand all the commotion about it. Enjoyed hearing it live in the C50 show. That's all.
Logged
lee
Smiley Smile Associate
*
Offline Offline

Gender: Male
Posts: 401



View Profile
« Reply #46 on: December 14, 2014, 04:38:55 PM »

I was 8 years old when the song came out and loved it. I remember seeing the video quite a lot on VH1. So that Christmas I asked for the Cocktail soundtrack and got it. Being that young, I didn't bother looking any deeper into their music and didn't become a fan until 22 years later.

I agree with the few people that mentioned Carl's vocal is what made the song for them. I still enjoy listening to the recorded version of this song for Carl's voice. Every live version I've heard (from youtube and live at two of the C50 shows) since Carl's passing has done absolutely nothing for me. I remember hearing it at the C50 shows and thinking that the song is actually pretty terrible without Carl.
Logged
drbeachboy
Smiley Smile Associate
*
Offline Offline

Gender: Male
Posts: 5214



View Profile
« Reply #47 on: December 14, 2014, 04:50:14 PM »

I was 8 years old when the song came out and loved it. I remember seeing the video quite a lot on VH1. So that Christmas I asked for the Cocktail soundtrack and got it. Being that young, I didn't bother looking any deeper into their music and didn't become a fan until 22 years later.

I agree with the few people that mentioned Carl's vocal is what made the song for them. I still enjoy listening to the recorded version of this song for Carl's voice. Every live version I've heard (from youtube and live at two of the C50 shows) since Carl's passing has done absolutely nothing for me. I remember hearing it at the C50 shows and thinking that the song is actually pretty terrible without Carl.
Kokomo is the perfect example where the performance makes a so-so song into #1 hit.
Logged

The Brianista Prayer

Oh Brian
Thou Art In Hawthorne,
Harmonied Be Thy name
Your Kingdom Come,
Your Steak Well Done,
On Stage As It Is In Studio,
Give Us This Day, Our Shortenin' Bread
And Forgive Us Our Bootlegs,
As We Also Have Forgiven Our Wife And Managers,
And Lead Us Not Into Kokomo,
But Deliver Us From Mike Love.
Amen.  ---hypehat
Matt Bielewicz
Smiley Smile Associate
*
Offline Offline

Posts: 648


View Profile
« Reply #48 on: December 14, 2014, 05:35:12 PM »

Oh, I thought it was sheeee-ite. But I thought that was true of everything by the Beach Boys in 1988.

...except maybe, if anyone had thought to ask me, the surly, troubled 17 year-old that I was that year, if I remembered dancing when I was five to a live recording of an ancient album track called 'God Only Knows' (I mean, it was already 22 years old then, way older than me... from back when people only existed in black and white!) on the day my pet cat's tail got shut in the glass door to the garden and had to have it mostly amputated...

...and if I remembered another track from that same live album, that started with a staccato organ that, for some reason, reminded me of fishbones, and then featured a strange, wailing instrument and a catchy chorus about vibrations. And there was a third track that I never forgot: one where all the singers just sang, without any instruments. A track called 'Their Hearts Were Full Of Spring', which I always loved and which slept in my memory until 1995, when I listened to the version on the Smiley Smile/Wild Honey twofer, and shivers went right up my back in the most extraordinary of ways, and I knew... that I wanted to know more about this band, and that I was going to give them a lot of my money if they had more music like that in their back catalogue.

Yes, the seeds of my future obsession were already there, even when Kokomo ruled the airwaves in 1988, and I regarded the Beach Boys as a greying load of sad-sacks wearing faded hawaiian shirts over their slowly expanding bellies, has-beens of the worst kind, perpetrators of the crime against good taste that was 'Wipe Out' with the Fat Boys.

I've still got no love for Kokomo itself. I can't shake the feeling of high-80s schlock that permeates the track from the moment that hideous plastic percussion starts. I mean, I *like* cheesy drumboxes and pittery-pattery rhythm machines, but the start of Kokomo is just so bad, *so* shot through with essence of fermenting Gorgonzola, that I have to switch it off. No amount of Carl Wilson emoting over it can rescue it for me. And that guy could sing.

And yet, *my* BB guilty pleasures are 'She Believes In Love Again' from the 85 album and 'Make It Big' from Still Crusin' and they're *ultra* high-80s schlock too. So go figure. Cut *those* tracks in two and you see that there are little cameos of a mullet-wearing Peter Cetera and Tom Cruise flashing a pearly grin with a head full of StudioLine hair-gel carved all the way through them. Crockett & Tubbs are there too, wearing penny loafer beach shoes and those primary coloured jackets with permanently rolled up sleeves that were big for about six months in 1987-88. There's a cameo of, uh, Cameo as well. And Sly Fox, Glen Frey, Molly Ringwald and Harold Faltermeyer. All dancing to Yello's 'Oh Yeah' in a video directed by John Hughes.

PS: When my father passed away, I inherited the same Live In London vinyl album I was dancing to God Only Knows from when I was five. That's where it all started for me with the Beach Boys (...and I still think the version of Barbara Ann on there with the horns is the sole acceptable version of that song).
« Last Edit: December 14, 2014, 05:41:10 PM by Matt Bielewicz » Logged
Micha
Smiley Smile Associate
*
Offline Offline

Gender: Male
Posts: 3133



View Profile WWW
« Reply #49 on: December 14, 2014, 11:06:14 PM »

I am also very fond of harmony lines from Bruce against Mike's lead on the second and third verse.

I remember finding that Mike/Bruce harmony surprisingly pleasant listening to the song at the C50 show I attended. I'm embarrassed to admit that had Brian sung that part instead of Bruce on the record I might have gotten into the track.
Logged

Ceterum censeo SMiLEBrianum OSDumque esse excludendos banno.
gfx
Pages: 1 [2] 3 4 Go Up Print 
gfx
Jump to:  
gfx
Powered by SMF 1.1.21 | SMF © 2015, Simple Machines Page created in 1.659 seconds with 21 queries.
Helios Multi design by Bloc
gfx
Powered by MySQL Powered by PHP Valid XHTML 1.0! Valid CSS!