Post by erik on Oct 16, 2021 17:21:29 GMT -5
Even the Beach Boys were not immune to the brief fad of "melody" hits that came in the wake of Stars On 45; but they got a sizeable hit from it. It is this week's Pop Music Hits Spotlight single.
BEACH BOYS MEDLEY (The Beach Boys; Capitol; 1981)—With an eclectic “genius” like Brian Wilson at the helm, his brothers Carl and Dennis in tow, and several other friends of theirs, the Beach Boys, some sixty years after having formed out of a garage in Hawthorne, California in 1961, remain one of the few bands in rock and roll to survive for half a century or more. The group, naturally enough, epitomized the twin obsessions of teens in the Southern California of the early 1960’s: surfing, and hot-rod racing. Indeed, they were also one of the few American groups to persevere in spite of, or maybe because of, the onslaught that was the British Invasion in general, and the Beatles in particular. Though some of the group’s attempts to ape the Beatles’ psychedelic phase fell on deaf ears in the latter years of the 1960’s, due to the mental problems that Brian Wilson was having, they recovered much of that lost popularity later in the 1970’s, with their good-natured cover of Chuck Berry’s “Rock ‘N’ Roll Music” in 1976. And five years after that, with the “Stars On 45” medley craze in full effect, Capitol Records, their long-time record label, made the admittedly (at that time) quixotic decision to combine parts of eight of their classic hits into a hit medley. The songs in question were: “Good Vibrations” (which hit #1 in December 1966, and was their last #1 hit for 22 years); “Help Me Rhonda” (#1, May 1965); “I Get Around” (#1, July 1964); “Shut Down” (#23, June 1963); “Surfin’ Safari” (#14, October 1962); “Barbara Ann” (#2, February 1966); “Surfin’ U.S.A.” (#3, June 1963) ; and “Fun Fun Fun” (#5, March 1964). Through the sheer force of the fact that, by 1981, the group had already been in business for twenty years, a basic eternity in the rock and roll world, the “Beach Boys Medley” would be a substantial hit on the radio, peaking at #12 on the Hot 100 for the week ending October 3, 1981. But there would be trying times for the band, including Dennis Wilson’s drowning death on December 28, 1983; Carl Wilson’s death from lung cancer on February 6, 1988; and Brian’s continuing mental issues. There would also be some more amusing things, including the group being banned from the annual Fourth of July concert on the Capitol Mall in D.C. because then-Interior secretary James Watt deemed them to be an “unwanted” influence on American youth. The band would score their final #1 hit in late 1988 with “Kokomo”, co-written by the Wilsons’ cousin Mike Love and long-time Beach Boys producer Terry Melcher (for the Tom Cruise film Cocktail).
BEACH BOYS MEDLEY (The Beach Boys; Capitol; 1981)—With an eclectic “genius” like Brian Wilson at the helm, his brothers Carl and Dennis in tow, and several other friends of theirs, the Beach Boys, some sixty years after having formed out of a garage in Hawthorne, California in 1961, remain one of the few bands in rock and roll to survive for half a century or more. The group, naturally enough, epitomized the twin obsessions of teens in the Southern California of the early 1960’s: surfing, and hot-rod racing. Indeed, they were also one of the few American groups to persevere in spite of, or maybe because of, the onslaught that was the British Invasion in general, and the Beatles in particular. Though some of the group’s attempts to ape the Beatles’ psychedelic phase fell on deaf ears in the latter years of the 1960’s, due to the mental problems that Brian Wilson was having, they recovered much of that lost popularity later in the 1970’s, with their good-natured cover of Chuck Berry’s “Rock ‘N’ Roll Music” in 1976. And five years after that, with the “Stars On 45” medley craze in full effect, Capitol Records, their long-time record label, made the admittedly (at that time) quixotic decision to combine parts of eight of their classic hits into a hit medley. The songs in question were: “Good Vibrations” (which hit #1 in December 1966, and was their last #1 hit for 22 years); “Help Me Rhonda” (#1, May 1965); “I Get Around” (#1, July 1964); “Shut Down” (#23, June 1963); “Surfin’ Safari” (#14, October 1962); “Barbara Ann” (#2, February 1966); “Surfin’ U.S.A.” (#3, June 1963) ; and “Fun Fun Fun” (#5, March 1964). Through the sheer force of the fact that, by 1981, the group had already been in business for twenty years, a basic eternity in the rock and roll world, the “Beach Boys Medley” would be a substantial hit on the radio, peaking at #12 on the Hot 100 for the week ending October 3, 1981. But there would be trying times for the band, including Dennis Wilson’s drowning death on December 28, 1983; Carl Wilson’s death from lung cancer on February 6, 1988; and Brian’s continuing mental issues. There would also be some more amusing things, including the group being banned from the annual Fourth of July concert on the Capitol Mall in D.C. because then-Interior secretary James Watt deemed them to be an “unwanted” influence on American youth. The band would score their final #1 hit in late 1988 with “Kokomo”, co-written by the Wilsons’ cousin Mike Love and long-time Beach Boys producer Terry Melcher (for the Tom Cruise film Cocktail).