Beach Boys: One last hurrah in the ‘80s

Tom Cruise and his buddy Brian Brown were working side by side mixing drinks and entertaining patrons. They were having a blast tossing around bottles and shakers, and it was all set to the sounds of the song “Kokomo”.

Although they are incredibly prolific and seemed to be around forever, that is my first real memory of the Beach Boys.

Yesterday, I read that Brian Wilson, the leader of the band, has been diagnosed with dementia and his family is petitioning for conservatorship.

It reminded me of when the Beach Boys covered a song by another classic band, recorded an unlikely duet, and the summer of 1988 when they were back in vogue.

That’s when I really learned more about their history, music, and so much more.

The years before
The Beach Boys were turning out hit records for 20 years before the dawn of the 1980s. Their first top 20 song was “Surfin’ Safari” in 1962 which peaked at number 14 on the Billboard Hot 100. In 1963, “Surfin’ U.S.A.” hit number three; “Surfer Girl” hit number seven; “Little Deuce Coupe” hit number 15; “Be True to Your School” hit number six; and “In My Room” hit number 23.

The hits just kept coming. In 1964, “Fun Fun Fun” hit number five; and “I Get Around” went all the way to number one, their first chart topping single. In 1965, “Help Me Rhonda”, became the Beach Boys’ second number one single; “California Girls” peaked at number three; and “Barbara Ann”, went all the way to number two. In 1966, “Sloop John B", went all the way to number three; “Wouldn’t it be Nice” peaked at number eight; and “Good Vibrations” became the Beach Boys’ third chart topping single.

The Beach Boys had a lot of other songs in the 1960s, but these are the ones I recall hearing when I was growing up. They kept on performing in the 1970s and 1980s, but had nowhere the success of their first decade of hits.

As I got into music, the only Beach Boys songs I heard were the classics on the radio.

Until one day, I saw something different on TV.

Covering a classic
It was 1986, and I was watching “Entertainment Tonight”. I had stepped away from the TV for a minute, probably to go to the bathroom, when I heard “California Dreamin’,” a classic song by he Mamas and the Papas that I just loved. However, it sounded slightly different.

When I settled back on the couch I discovered why. The Mamas and the Papas weren’t singing “California Dreamin’”.

No, the Beach Boys were.

They had recorded a cover version of the classic. It sounded really good too, for a cover. The video also included John Phillips, Michelle Phillips, and Roger McGuinn, three members of the Mamas and the Papas.

Unlike the original song, which peaked at number four on the Billboard Hot 100 for the Mamas and the Papas in 1966, the Beach Boys’ version got as high as number 57, but did peak at number eight on the Billboard Adult Contemporary chart in 1986.

The Beach Boys would have greater chart success the next year with another interesting collaboration.

The Boys
The Beach Boys teamed up with another “Boys Band” – The Fat Boys – in 1987 to record “Wipeout”. The Surfaris first recorded and performed “Wipeout” in 1963, peaking at number two on the Billboard Hot 100.

The version by the Fat Boys featuring the Beach Boys was released in July of 1987 and peaked at number 12 on the Billboard Hot 100 almost 25 years later. “Wipeout” came out in the summer after I graduated high school, when I was focusing on getting ready for university. Then it hit the top 20 when I started university and wasn’t listening to much music.

That’s why I didn’t hear it as much as the Beach Boys’ earlier stuff.

The Beach Boys steady improvement on the charts from 1986 to 1987 peaked in 1988, with a soundtrack song.

In the movies
I returned home from university in the summer of 1988, just in time to see a new theatre complex was opening in Lethbridge, at the brand new Park Place Mall. It opened up the world to more movie-watching possibilities, and I took full advantage going to see movies with my friends Chris Vining, Mat and Bill.

One of the movies I went to see with Bill in late July or early August was “Cocktail”. It starred Tom Cruise opposite Australian actor Brian Brown and Elisabeth Shue, best known at the time as the love interest for “The Karate Kid”. Cruise and Brown played professional bartenders while Shue was Cruise’s love interest.

The Beach Boys recorded a song for the movie soundtrack called “Kokomo” that had come out in the middle of July. Among the people who wrote the song was John Phillips of the Mamas and the Papas. “Kokomo” had a tropical, beach kind of feel to it, and the song fit the movie perfectly.

“Kokomo” went all the way to number one on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart. The song was also nominated for a Grammy for Best Song Written Specifically for a Motion Picture or Television, and a Golden Globe for Best Original Song.

Wikipedia reveals “Kokomo” was the Beach Boys’ first original top-20 single in 20 years and their first number-one hit in 22 years.

Tragedy
The Beach Boys were made up of the Wilson brothers – Brian, Dennis, and Carl, their cousin Mike Love and friend Al Jardine.

Dennis was the drummer and only true surfer in the group. In later years he struggled with alcohol and drugs and his relationships were strained.

On Dec. 28, 1983, Dennis Wilson drowned to death.

Pretty much everything I know about the Beach Boys came from a 1990 TV movie called “Summer Dreams: The Story of The Beach Boys”. The movie actually started with the drowning of Dennis Wilson then went back and told the story of the band. Canadian actor Bruce Greenwood played Dennis Wilson, and he was excellent.

I have also heard the death of Dennis Wilson referred to as part of the “drummer curse” – along with Keith Moon, drummer for The Who, and John Bonham, drummer for Led Zeppelin, who also died in their prime.

Family affair
There is another interesting connection between the Beach Boys and the Mamas and the Papas. John and Michelle Phillips’ daughter Chynna Phillips and Carnie and Wendy Wilson, the daughters of Brian Wilson, formed the band Wilson-Phillips in 1989.

Wilson Phillips would go on to have five songs hit the top 15 on the Billboard Hot 100. “Hold On”, “Release Me”, and “You’re in Love” all reached number one, while ”Impulsive” peaked at number four, and “The Dream is Still Alive” peaked at number 12.

Parting thoughts
The Beach Boys were always a ‘60s band to me, spoken in the same breath as the Beatles and the Rolling Stones of that period. They had a huge string of successful songs from that period, then were never able to match that level.

However, for a three-year period in the 1980s they were back.

Not only had they released a solid cover of a classic song, and teamed up with a unique group to record another surfing song but, improbably, they had a number one hit on the Billboard Hot 100 more than 20 years after their last one.

The 1980s gave he Beach Boys one last hurrah, and I was glad I was there to hear it.