FEATURE:
Too Good to Be Forgotten: Songs That Are Much More Than a Guilty Pleasure
The Beach Boys - Kokomo
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WHEN we think about the classic songs…
IN THIS PHOTO: Mike Love, David Marks, Brian Wilson, Dennis Wilson and Carl Wilson of The Beach Boys in 1962/PHOTO CREDIT: Michael Ochs Archive/Getty Images
from The Beach Boys, God Only Knows, or Good Vibrations springs to mind. I know that there are people who like Kokomo, but I have seen it appear on many lists of guilty pleasures – and it is a song that I really like. I admit that it is not one of the best songs the American band ever recorded, but I feel it has been unfairly maligned by many. I am going to grab a bit from Wikipedia when it comes to providing a bit of information on Kokomo:
"Kokomo" is a song written by John Phillips, Scott McKenzie, Mike Love, and Terry Melcher and recorded by American rock band the Beach Boys. Its lyrics describe two lovers taking a trip to a relaxing place on Kokomo, an invented idea of an island off the Florida Keys. It was released as a single on July 18, 1988 by Elektra Records and became a No. 1 Hit in the United States, Japan, and Australia (where it topped for about two months). The single was released to coincide with the release of Roger Donaldson's film Cocktail and its subsequent soundtrack.
It was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Song Written Specifically for a Motion Picture or Television in 1988, but lost to Phil Collins' "Two Hearts" (from the film Buster). "Two Hearts" and Carly Simon's "Let the River Run" from Working Girl jointly beat it for the Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song”.
Although Kokomo has done well in regard to sales, it is a track that has split critics. On the surface, the song is perfectly harmless and there are no lyrics that make you cringe or that stand out as being particularly bad. Maybe it is just the general sound of the song that has led people to give it some bad press or see it as a guilty pleasure. I have been a fan of The Beach Boys since I was a child, so I am pretty broad-minded and open when it comes to their songs. Even though I have a lot of time for Kokomo, others have not been so kind. Returning to the Wikipedia article, and one can see that Kokomo has won success and derision:
"Kokomo" has received mixed reviews. In 1989, the song received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Original Song – Motion Picture in 1989. Conversely, it has been included in lists of poorly received songs, such as VH1's "40 Most Awesomely Bad No. 1 Songs" and Blender magazine's list of the "50 Worst Songs Ever”.
I want to introduce an article from Stereogum from 2018 - as they looked back at Kokomo thirty years after its release. They highlight the fact that The Beach Boys, by 1988, were almost a spent force. However, despite the state of the band, Kokomo is a song that resonated at the time and still gets played to this day:
“We’ll start with the most obvious thing: there is no Kokomo. Not off the Florida Keys, anyway. Sure, a couple places staked claims, but only after the occurence of the least obvious thing: a has-been pop act, minus their creative engine, scoring a #1 hit off the soundtrack to a forgettable film about bartending. “Kokomo” — released 30 years ago this month — was the Beach Boys’ first original Top 20 single in 20 years, and their first chart-topper in 22.
The state of the Beach Boys in 1988 was, in a word, shitty. Their last record, 1985’s digitally crispy The Beach Boys, performed middlingly despite contributions from Culture Club, Ringo Starr, and Stevie Wonder. A couple clues to their malaise appear within the record. On the back, there’s a dedication “to the memory of our beloved brother, cousin and friend”; Dennis Wilson, the band’s drummer and only true surfer, had drowned in the water off Marina Del Rey in December of 1983. And on the label, there are three songwriting credits for E. E. Landy.
The result was ruthlessly catchy: a combination of dreaminess and insistence, like a tank disguised as a cloud. The “Aruba, Jamaica” bit was bumped to the beginning for maximum effect; Love managed to work in a reference to cocktails, and possibly (in the line “that Montserrat mystique”) a reference to Baron Tennant’s island folly. Van Dyke Parks parachuted in to arrange the steel pans and play accordion, despite (allegedly) being stiffed by Love on plane fare. Studio saxophonist Joel Peskin (whose professional relationship with the Boys stretched back to 1979’s L.A.) contributed the oddly poignant solo. One name was notably absent: Brian was unable to attend the sessions, possibly due to his doctor’s interference. When he first heard the song on the radio, he didn’t even recognize it as a Beach Boys tune. His solo record had just dropped — deliciously, the opening lines are “I was sittin’ in a crummy movie/With my hands on my chin.”
In time, though, “Kokomo” fever faded, and the men responsible for it are starting to pass on. Carl Wilson died in 1998, John Phillips in 2001, Terry Melcher in 2004, Scott McKenzie in 2012. Mike Love, who has long enjoyed the exclusive rights to tour under the Beach Boys name, is the sole living writer. Last fall, he released a double album, with the second half devoted to re-recordings of Beach Boys classics. “Kokomo” is nowhere to be found. Presumably, he decided not to mess with perfection”.
I am a big fan of The Beach Boys’ earlier ‘surf’ period and the work they were producing in between 1962 and 1964. That said, I feel that Kokomo has received some unwarranted flack as it is a catchy song that gets into the head! It is not as sophisticated as what we heard on the masterpiece, Pet Sounds, in 1966; it does not have the same sort of timelessness as their classic cuts. Even so, have a listen to the song as it cannot fail to lift the mood. One can hear the layered sound and great vocals The Beach Boys were known for but, perhaps, without Brian Wilson injecting his songwriting genius, Kokomo was never going to be an all-time great song from The Beach Boys. I think it is much more than a guilty pleasure and, if you need some sunshine and escapism, Kokomo has you covered and will get you singing along! If you have been resistant to Kokomo and have not heard it for a while then I must offer a warning: as soon as you start to listen to it, the song will…
PHOTO CREDIT: ABC Photo Archives/ABC via Getty Images
RATTLE around the brain for ages!