Songoftheday 4/4/16 - Aruba, Jamaica, oh I want to take ya Bermuda, Bahama, come on pretty mama...

"Kokomo" - The Beach Boys
from the albums Cocktail (Original Soundtrack) (1988) and Still Cruisin' (1989)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #1 (one week)
Weeks in the Top-40: 15

Today song of the day comes from the veteran surf-rock band the Beach Boys, who had outlasted all their competition from back in the early-60s teen-pop days to enjoy a wave of nostaglia that would see them continue to pack arenas and sell records as late as in the 80s. They even scored a smattering of radio hits, including their novelty collaboration with rap group The Fat Boys for a remake of "Wipe Out" in 1987. That single even tied their also-novelty-esque "Beach Boys Medley" for their highest charting song of the decade up to that point at #12. But running on oldies circuits and rehashing material wasn't going to cut it much longer in the American music scene. Their original music didn't quite click with the younger audiences yet, save for a moderate success in the middle of the decade with the breezy "Getcha Back", which won people over with Brian Wilson's vocal part carrying the emotional heft of the record over Mike Love's nasal blandness.

Brian would depart from his obligations with the group shortly thereafter, recording his own solo album in 1988. Meanwhile, Disney's Touchstone Pictures studio commissioned the Beach Boys for a contribution to the soundtrack to their upcoming Tom Cruise flick, Cocktail. Set partly in Jamaica, the band came up with the Caribbean name-check lite-reggae of "Kokomo". Written by Mike Love with "flower children" legends John Phillips (from the Mamas and Papas) and Scott McKenzie along with producer Terry Melcher, and again dominated by Mike Love's creepy half-whispered vocal verses, I feel the song was saved by brother Carl Wilson and his warm tenor on the chorus (and his bearish hotness sure didn't hurt). And Full House tie-in John Stamos fills in for whatever star power he can provide since Brian is MIA...

"Kokomo" ended up being the Beach Boys' fourth #1 pop hit in the U.S. in November of 1988. It was their first since 1966's "Good Vibrations". Considering the long-time popularity of the band and the laid-back vibe of the song, the single only made it to #5 on Billboard's Adult Contemporary (or "easy listening") radio chart. Internationally, the record topped the singles chart in Australia, reached #10 in Canada, #6 in France, and #7 in Germany, while is did top-ten business in Switzerland (#8), New Zealand (#5), and the Netherlands (#6), but over in England stopped short down at #25. "Kokomo" would earned nominations for a Grammy and Golden Globe for movie song, losing both to Phil Collins.

Trying to ride the wave of success from the single, The Beach boys released their Still Cruisin' album a year later, but by then the momentum had slowed, and while the title track cruised to #9 on the adult contemporary chart, "Still Cruisin'" stalled out at #93 on the American Hot 100 pop list even after being used in the franchise hit Lethal Weapon 2. They re-emerged in 1996 on yet another re-hash collaboration, this time with British rockers Status Quo on "Fun, Fun, Fun", which went to #24 on the UK chart and was actually more "fun" than it deserved to be. Later in the year the Boys made an entire album of remakes, this time with mostly country artists in Stars and Stripes, Vol 1. Three of the tracks from the set spent a week on the Country chart, while their duet with Christian pop singer Kathy Troccoli, "I Can Hear Music", made it to #16 on the Adult Contemporary list in Billboard. Sadly, Carl Wilson, who originally wrote and sung lead on that song, would be dead within a year from lung cancer. As the glue who often mediated the dynamics of the band, the remainder found themselves acrimoniously fracturing, with lawsuits and competing acts being thrown around. They wouldn't reunite until 2012, when they got together for the top-3 album That's Why God Made The Radio, with the title track going to #30 on the Adult Contemp chart. That reunion did not last long, with a tour splitting them up yet again. It seems like this one is the big one, but you never know, do you?

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...and here's the boys (along with Stamos) performing on their 50th anniversary reunion tour (before it all went wrong) in 2012...

Up tomorrow: Jersey Boys dispense some shady pills.