Most embarrassing Beach Boys moment caught on tape?

[HeyJude]

Do we actually know that Carl didn't turn up for the "Wipe Out" video shoot because he thought the song (and/or video) sucked? Or was it just a scheduling issue?

It's easy to romanticize the idea that members of the band actually objected to and didn't participate in questionable things, and that most certainly was the case in some instances ("Here Comes the Night", etc.). But Carl also participated in plenty of lame 80s and 90s BB projects (remember the "Crocodile Rock" video?).

[Andrew G. Doe]

This one is pretty embarrassing. The Beach Boys of 1990 lip syncing to the "unplugged" version of Barbara Ann from the "Party!" album, complete with a drummer playing to a track that doesn't have any drums, and people playing electric guitars that are nowhere to be heard on the "Party!" version. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ntntpYY-7vA
 

I hope you're joking because that audio was clearly added to the video by the uploader...

It is? if so then why is Bruce acting "Confused" at the part where the lyrics go clunky? unless they did the clunky lyrics on the live performance I don't see why Bruce would do a "Confused" act.. also notice that Carl isn't there, if they are lip-synching maybe Carl didn't want to do it because he didn't want to be embarrassed, I can see him doing that for some reason..lol...also who is singing lead?  it seems inconsistent as to who is singing Deans part. I thought it was Bruce at first but he doesn't sing all of it neither does Al.....

Carl wasn't on that tour as he was recovering from an appendicitis operation. He wasn't there because he wasn't there. He'd missed the preceding three day Tahoe engagement as well. Nothing to do with making a point.  

[Toursiveu]

When that short clip of Brian and Mike doing vocals for what turned out to be "Spring Vacation" made it into one of the "Sizzle Reel" EPK things, I don't think anything had been released from the album at that point. The "TWGMTR" "single" was put out pretty late in the game, but I'm not sure if that had come out yet. But nothing else from the album had made it out, and we didn't even know the title "Spring Vacation" at that point.

My recollection is that they didn't even have in-line audio for that short clip of Brian and Mike; it was just the camera mic picking up their voices, and it was only two lines from the song with very slightly alternate lyrics, something like "we like to get around, get up and hit up every hot spot in town." They didn't sound too hot, but it also didn't have any context. It was only two parts of a multi-part harmony, and it sounded like more of a run-through/rehearsal. It was one of the few tracks where Mike would have been there to demo lyrics and vocals from the get-go instead of just replacing Brian & Foskett parts from demos (or, in the case of his flown-in solo track, just adding intermittent BB backing vocals).

I wouldn't bet my life on it, but I think we'd heard at least a tease of the title track by then, maybe even the full track streaming? I recall that being the first thing out, followed by that Spring Vacation studio clip ... which I HATED. It was sung poorly and, as you said, not really in a full context. I still don't necessarily love the song, but it's far, far better than that clip made it appear. (Kind of surprising that was included in any promo materials, actually. "Hear the aging Beach Boys sing badly together! Buy now!")

No question, that "Spring Vacation" studio clip was not a well-chosen clip to demonstrate that they've "still got it!"

Found it!  Here it is, in all its glory:

https://youtu.be/1K7h7IICAs0?t=1m16s

Mike : "For some reason, people want to see us all together."
Brian : "They sense that we love each other, you know..."

NOT CONVINCED!

[Marty Castillo]

Do we actually know that Carl didn't turn up for the "Wipe Out" video shoot because he thought the song (and/or video) sucked? Or was it just a scheduling issue?

It's easy to romanticize the idea that members of the band actually objected to and didn't participate in questionable things, and that most certainly was the case in some instances ("Here Comes the Night", etc.). But Carl also participated in plenty of lame 80s and 90s BB projects (remember the "Crocodile Rock" video?).

I know I'm late to this discussion, but Carl certainly participated in other promotion for "Wipe Out":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ij_-l8xkz7w

[HeyJude]

Yep, that's an interesting TV appearance, most notable for being the same "session" where they shot the "Kokomo" music video that aired on MTV and VH1 a million times.

Certainly Carl never actually protested "Wipe Out", they (unfortunately) added it to their setlist for a number of years after that. I love Billy Hinsche, but that was never one of his finer moments doing that one on stage. They should have just had him sing "Sail on Sailor" or "I'm Waiting for the Day."

[filledeplage]

Yep, that's an interesting TV appearance, most notable for being the same "session" where they shot the "Kokomo" music video that aired on MTV and VH1 a million times.

Certainly Carl never actually protested "Wipe Out", they (unfortunately) added it to their setlist for a number of years after that. I love Billy Hinsche, but that was never one of his finer moments doing that one on stage. They should have just had him sing "Sail on Sailor" or "I'm Waiting for the Day."

Hey Jude - Wipe Out was one of my kids' favorites.  It is generational.  They loved that The Fat Boys were with The Beach Boys.  IIRC it was on side B of the  Still Crusin' tape, and a blast to hear them singing in the back of the soccer mom Caravan after school.  Sometimes we all need a little levity, and that is just the thing to make the serious aspect of the BB's a part of our kids lives.  It is goofy and fun, and not "heady" as The Trader but nonetheless, part of the BB menu.

Embarrassed?  Waah-waah-waah!  Never!   

[HeyJude]

I think there was plenty of "light" fare thematically in a circa-1989 BB setlist. They hadn't done "Trader" in around 15 years by that point.  "Wipe Out" is obviously embarrassing in retrospect (both the studio recording and the live iterations), and I recognize some stuff that is still "good" might be embarrassing in retrospect. But I felt "Wipe Out" was embarrassing and a big waste of time at the shows back when they were going on in the late 80s and early 90s. It was especially grating back then when their typical setlist wasn't the 40 or 50 songs we often get from both touring bands now, but the typical 90 minute, 28-30 song sets they were often doing back then. Even "Barbara Ann" was less grating.

But yeah, having just skimmed the "Stamos" thread from a couple years ago (someone on another thread asked about it), I'm not interested in another "Such-and-such was embarrassing for the Beach Boys" debate. Insert "Wipe Out" in place of Stamos; it's the same basic argument. Some people would have been fine if Ringling Bros. literally came on stage in the middle of "Sloop John B" while Ronald McDonald handed burgers out to all the kids in the audience. I get it.

[SMiLE Brian]

Wipe out is the lowest the BBs name ever went in a period of lows (still cruisin to SIP). The BBs totally lost the plot until the box set tour.

[KDS]

Wipe out is the lowest the BBs name ever went in a period of lows (still cruisin to SIP). The BBs totally lost the plot until the box set tour.

I'd nominate Summer of Love as their lowest. 

Wipe Out was a lame attempt at a rap crossover with The Fat Boys.  For me that's #2.  And that actually had a rap group on the song. 

Summer of Love however......there's just no excuses. 

[Emily]

Wipe Out was contemporaneously embarrassing.

[drbeachboy]

I never liked Wipe-Out, but then I never felt embarrassed by it either. Why do you all use that term so much? It's like everything the Beach Boys do, you take so seriously, so personally. Some of their best work has been overlooked for years. But stuff like Wipe-Out & Kokomo put them back in the limelight. Both songs did well on the charts, so for many listeners it was anything but embarrassing.

[Emily]

I never liked Wipe-Out, but then I never felt embarrassed by it either. Why do you all use that term so much? It's like everything the Beach Boys do, you take so seriously, so personally. Some of their best work has been overlooked for years. But stuff like Wipe-Out & Kokomo put them back in the limelight. Both songs did well on the charts, so for many listeners it was anything but embarrassing.

Honestly, almost nothing can embarrass me now. At the time, I was an adolescent, the peak embarrassable age. And I did worry about my peers' opinions about my taste or my 'coolness'. Perhaps I should be embarrassed for that, but I don't get embarrassed anymore!

But, at the time, I didn't like Wipe Out. I secretly liked Kokomo.

[KDS]

I never liked Wipe-Out, but then I never felt embarrassed by it either. Why do you all use that term so much? It's like everything the Beach Boys do, you take so seriously, so personally. Some of their best work has been overlooked for years. But stuff like Wipe-Out & Kokomo put them back in the limelight. Both songs did well on the charts, so for many listeners it was anything but embarrassing.

Personally, I find nothing embarrassing about Kokomo.  I think it's a fun late-80s summertime song.  And, like it or not, it really helped to introduce people from my generation (I'm born in 1980) to The Beach Boys. 

Maybe embarrassing is the wrong word.  As a fan of The Beach Boys, I'm not personally embarrassed about anything they've done. 

[drbeachboy]

I never liked Wipe-Out, but then I never felt embarrassed by it either. Why do you all use that term so much? It's like everything the Beach Boys do, you take so seriously, so personally. Some of their best work has been overlooked for years. But stuff like Wipe-Out & Kokomo put them back in the limelight. Both songs did well on the charts, so for many listeners it was anything but embarrassing.

Honestly, almost nothing can embarrass me now. At the time, I was an adolescent, the peak embarrassable age. And I did worry about my peers' opinions about my taste or my 'coolness'. Perhaps I should be embarrassed for that, but I don't get embarrassed anymore!

If you think it was bad then to be Beach Boys fan, you should have been in my shoes from 1968-1971 and even some time after that. I took crap and got teased about them unmercifully. I never allowed it to deter me from the enjoyment of the music.

[KDS]

I never liked Wipe-Out, but then I never felt embarrassed by it either. Why do you all use that term so much? It's like everything the Beach Boys do, you take so seriously, so personally. Some of their best work has been overlooked for years. But stuff like Wipe-Out & Kokomo put them back in the limelight. Both songs did well on the charts, so for many listeners it was anything but embarrassing.

Honestly, almost nothing can embarrass me now. At the time, I was an adolescent, the peak embarrassable age. And I did worry about my peers' opinions about my taste or my 'coolness'. Perhaps I should be embarrassed for that, but I don't get embarrassed anymore!

If you think it was bad then to be Beach Boys fan, you should have been in my shoes from 1968-1971 and even some time after that. I took crap and got teased about them unmercifully. I never allowed it to deter me from the enjoyment of the music.

Luckily, I can't say I ever got teased for the music I liked. 

If anything, I got crap for the music I don't like.  As a late teen early adult in the late 90s / early 2000s, if you tell somebody you don't like Nirvana, Weezer, or rap, people look at you like you have a horn growing out of your head. 

[drbeachboy]

I never liked Wipe-Out, but then I never felt embarrassed by it either. Why do you all use that term so much? It's like everything the Beach Boys do, you take so seriously, so personally. Some of their best work has been overlooked for years. But stuff like Wipe-Out & Kokomo put them back in the limelight. Both songs did well on the charts, so for many listeners it was anything but embarrassing.

Personally, I find nothing embarrassing about Kokomo.  I think it's a fun late-80s summertime song.  And, like it or not, it really helped to introduce people from my generation (I'm born in 1980) to The Beach Boys.  

Maybe embarrassing is the wrong word.  As a fan of The Beach Boys, I'm not personally embarrassed about anything they've done.  

Me neither. I like Kokomo a lot. I'm not real hip on Mike's soft nasal lead vocal, Carl is just terrific and so are the background vocals.

[Emily]

Carl on Kokomo goes a long way for me. It's one of his nicest vocal moments.

[HeyJude]

It's true, I think "embarrassing" is being misinterpreted. In its adjective form, "embarrassing" means something that "causes embarrassment." I suppose it doesn't specify who should or would be embarrassed.

Typically, when I say something the BBs did is or was embarrassing, it's kind of all-encompassing word meant to say that, objectively, it's an "embarrassment" to the band or its name or legacy, etc.

I'm not personally embarrassed by something the BB's do. I'm more likely to feel the band *should* be embarrassed, and/or an objective third party (say, a music critic) would find that something embarrasses the band.

I suppose we could substitute another word, but sometimes that might tend to make the whole thing sound more serious and impactful (or maybe less) than one means it to be. Travesty, abomination, lamentable, ignominious, on down to more base/slang terms.

But I'm fine with the term as used. To me it's something different than "awful", and indicates that it reflects to some degree on the public perception/reputation/legacy of the band. It doesn't mean one cheesy moment ruined their careers. And indeed, some folks think no amount of "Full House" appearances and Stamos figuratively and literally latching onto Mike in concerts will ever hurt any aspect of the BBs perception among critics. Some disagree. That's all.

"Wipe Out" kind of faded into oblivion, especially in the US. Perhaps it's remembered more (whether fondly or not) in the UK because it surprisingly was a hit there. But among folks who do make fun of the BBs and point out their cheesy moments in the 80s and 90s, I don't often hear "Wipe Out" cited. It's usually "Kokomo" and "Full House" and whatnot.  

[drbeachboy]

I never liked Wipe-Out, but then I never felt embarrassed by it either. Why do you all use that term so much? It's like everything the Beach Boys do, you take so seriously, so personally. Some of their best work has been overlooked for years. But stuff like Wipe-Out & Kokomo put them back in the limelight. Both songs did well on the charts, so for many listeners it was anything but embarrassing.

Honestly, almost nothing can embarrass me now. At the time, I was an adolescent, the peak embarrassable age. And I did worry about my peers' opinions about my taste or my 'coolness'. Perhaps I should be embarrassed for that, but I don't get embarrassed anymore!

If you think it was bad then to be Beach Boys fan, you should have been in my shoes from 1968-1971 and even some time after that. I took crap and got teased about them unmercifully. I never allowed it to deter me from the enjoyment of the music.

Luckily, I can't say I ever got teased for the music I liked.  

If anything, I got crap for the music I don't like.  As a late teen early adult in the late 90s / early 2000s, if you tell somebody you don't like Nirvana, Weezer, or rap, people look at you like you have a horn growing out of your head.  

I got teased for the band that I liked. They all at one point or another liked some of the music, once they heard it.

[KDS]

I never liked Wipe-Out, but then I never felt embarrassed by it either. Why do you all use that term so much? It's like everything the Beach Boys do, you take so seriously, so personally. Some of their best work has been overlooked for years. But stuff like Wipe-Out & Kokomo put them back in the limelight. Both songs did well on the charts, so for many listeners it was anything but embarrassing.

Honestly, almost nothing can embarrass me now. At the time, I was an adolescent, the peak embarrassable age. And I did worry about my peers' opinions about my taste or my 'coolness'. Perhaps I should be embarrassed for that, but I don't get embarrassed anymore!

If you think it was bad then to be Beach Boys fan, you should have been in my shoes from 1968-1971 and even some time after that. I took crap and got teased about them unmercifully. I never allowed it to deter me from the enjoyment of the music.

Luckily, I can't say I ever got teased for the music I liked.  

If anything, I got crap for the music I don't like.  As a late teen early adult in the late 90s / early 2000s, if you tell somebody you don't like Nirvana, Weezer, or rap, people look at you like you have a horn growing out of your head.  

I got teased for the band that I liked. They all at one point or another liked some of the music, once they heard it.

That's what I meant.  I got teased more for bands I don't like.  Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Weezer, The Killers, etc etc. 

[HeyJude]

"Kokomo" is a catchy song. Not a great song, but not a bad song as a composition. The lyrics and the overall production/arrangement make it a novelty song to some degree. But compositionally it's far from the worst thing they ever did.

As with other things like Stamos, it's more emblematic of more general perceptions and ideas and characterizations of the group, by both fans and the mass media and music critics.

[Emily]

I never liked Wipe-Out, but then I never felt embarrassed by it either. Why do you all use that term so much? It's like everything the Beach Boys do, you take so seriously, so personally. Some of their best work has been overlooked for years. But stuff like Wipe-Out & Kokomo put them back in the limelight. Both songs did well on the charts, so for many listeners it was anything but embarrassing.

Honestly, almost nothing can embarrass me now. At the time, I was an adolescent, the peak embarrassable age. And I did worry about my peers' opinions about my taste or my 'coolness'. Perhaps I should be embarrassed for that, but I don't get embarrassed anymore!

If you think it was bad then to be Beach Boys fan, you should have been in my shoes from 1968-1971 and even some time after that. I took crap and got teased about them unmercifully. I never allowed it to deter me from the enjoyment of the music.

It sounds like you were more confident and secure than I was.
Also, there's an added embarrassment of possibly being hypocritical: as a girl, I had other girls point out the cheerleaders, and bikini-wearers and leering old guys, which was pretty hard to defend.

[KDS]

I never liked Wipe-Out, but then I never felt embarrassed by it either. Why do you all use that term so much? It's like everything the Beach Boys do, you take so seriously, so personally. Some of their best work has been overlooked for years. But stuff like Wipe-Out & Kokomo put them back in the limelight. Both songs did well on the charts, so for many listeners it was anything but embarrassing.

Personally, I find nothing embarrassing about Kokomo.  I think it's a fun late-80s summertime song.  And, like it or not, it really helped to introduce people from my generation (I'm born in 1980) to The Beach Boys.  

Maybe embarrassing is the wrong word.  As a fan of The Beach Boys, I'm not personally embarrassed about anything they've done.  

Me neither. I like Kokomo a lot. I'm not real hip on Mike's soft nasal lead vocal, Carl is just terrific and so are the background vocals.

I like Kokomo and just about every "new" song that appeared on Still Cruisin (except for Wipe Out).  Personally, I'd rather listen to that album than 15 Big Ones, Love You, Keeping the Summer Alive, and BB 85. 

[drbeachboy]

It's true, I think "embarrassing" is being misinterpreted. In its adjective form, "embarrassing" means something that "causes embarrassment." I suppose it doesn't specify who should or would be embarrassed.

Typically, when I say something the BBs did is or was embarrassing, it's kind of all-encompassing word meant to say that, objectively, it's an "embarrassment" to the band or its name or legacy, etc.

I'm not personally embarrassed by something the BB's do. I'm more likely to feel the band *should* be embarrassed, and/or a objective third party (say, a music critic) would find that something embarrasses the band.

I suppose we could substitute another word, but sometimes that might tend to make the whole thing sound more serious and impactful (or maybe less) than one means it to be. Travesty, abomination, lamentable, ignominious, on down to more base/slang terms.

But I'm fine with the term as used. To me it's something different than "awful", and indicates that it reflects to some degree on the public perception/reputation/legacy of the band. It doesn't mean one cheesy moment ruined their careers. And indeed, some folks think no amount of "Full House" covers and Stamos figuratively and literally latching onto Mike in concerts will ever hurt any aspect of the BBs perception among critics. Some disagree. That's all.

"Wipe Out" kind of faded into oblivion, especially in the US. Perhaps it's remembered more (whether fondly or not) in the UK because it surprisingly was a hit there. But among folks who do make fun of the BBs and point out their cheesy moments in the 80s and 90s, I don't often hear "Wipe Out" cited. It's usually "Kokomo" and "Full House" and whatnot.  

I bring it up because I have to read it. I don't use the term in the same fashion as you, so I appreciate the explanation. For me it is like when I hear that phrase "That was dope". In my head I translate it as "That was dopey". Growing up, dope either meant drugs or someone who acts stupid. I'm old, what can I say.

[HeyJude]

I suppose saying "that was embarrassing" and referring to that not meaning "I'm embarrassed" is a bit like how people say "I'm sorry" when they're not apologizing for having done anything, but rather basically substituting that phrase in place of "I feel bad for you" or "I objectively realize that's a bad situation", etc.

I guess I can't judge how "such-and-such song was embarrassing" is interpreted by others. I usually don't take it to mean the speaker (e.g. a fan) is personally embarrassed by it, like they would be embarrassed for having a "kick me" sign on their back or whatever. I tend to take it that the phrase means such-and-such was an embarrassment to the BBs as a group. Such a construction is technically at the very least presumptuous, as we can't say what the band collectively or individually found embarrassing.