KoKomo Played on the "oldies" station

[TexasTom]

KISM, KJR and KZOK-stick to Fun Fun Fun if you want to play Beach Boys oldies. Once again, 1988 is NOT oldies.

1988 is 24 years ago -- I'd say that's old enough to qualify as being an oldie.  Really, if the oldies stations that came on the air in the 1980s had applied that sort of age rule, they would have been playing music from the 40s and 50s, since the 60s would have been "too new" to be considered oldies.  Obviously, that wasn't the case, since these stations generally played music from the mid-50s to the end of the 60s.  So at that time, their "newest" oldies were around 15 years old.

Time keeps moving on.

[firepoint525]

The bigger problem is that the Beach Boys think of a city in northern Indiana as "tropical paradise"!    I knew we had a geography problem here in the states, but I didn't know that it was that bad!

The Beach Boys have explained the song isn't about a real place and obviously Kokomo, IN isn't even close to a tropical paradise nor was it the inspiration for the song.  "Kokomo" just seemed to rhyme.

It only took a little less than an hour for someone NOT to realize that that was a joke!  Even a former co-worker of mine (from Indiana, no less) got that one! 

Since "Kokomo" was #1 almost 22 years after their last #1 ("Good Vibrations"), then they should have had another #1 in 2010!  (That was a joke, too.  )

I think the problem with "Kokomo" is that's it's a cheesy "ear-worm" song. 

"Kokomo" was an "outlier" among Beach Boys hits, in that it came so late in their career (long after many folks had written them off), Brian Wilson had nothing to do with writing it, and was in no way involved with it, and it didn't appear on any Beach Boys album (at first), only on the Cocktail soundtrack.  Because of that, there was a rash of Beach Boys compilation albums issued, or reissued, to contain "Kokomo" on them.  Nearly all Beach Boys compilation albums since then, if they even claim to be a comprehensive career retrospective of the band, contain "Kokomo" on them.  They had had several minor, mostly AC hits during the '80s, and most compilations prior to "Kokomo" had to contain those, like the out-of-print Made In the USA, which contained "Getcha Back," "Rock and Roll to the Rescue," and their cover of "California Dreamin'."

[LITTLEBOYBLUE]

Same deal with their mid-70's "Sail On, Sailor".  Strong chart performance but not included on very many of the retrospective or collection albums (and in my opinion was better than the early 60's stuff where they were still learning their sound).  Tough to get a release right when a band has been around 50 YEARS and has a big catalog of stuff!  Kind of same deal with Beatles ... couple of attempts at getting the retrospective right (red/blue version, then the 3-part Anthology version, etc.).

[Bongwater]

Same deal with their mid-70's "Sail On, Sailor".  Strong chart performance but not included on very many of the retrospective or collection albums (and in my opinion was better than the early 60's stuff where they were still learning their sound).  Tough to get a release right when a band has been around 50 YEARS and has a big catalog of stuff!  Kind of same deal with Beatles ... couple of attempts at getting the retrospective right (red/blue version, then the 3-part Anthology version, etc.).

In my collection of 45s, I have a copy of "Sail On Sailor". At the time, The Beach Boys were on their Brother Records label which was distributed by Reprise. On this copy, they likely ran out of the Brother labels and this was printed on the stock '70s gold US Reprise label. It was one of a few hundred copies. Heard it was worth about $275-400......But you're right, "Sail On Sailor" WAS pretty different from the sound they had in the '60s (they seemed to be taking a few cues from the Eagles and other '70s SoCal rock bands......)

It's another song I wonder why it doesn't get played as much as it should.....

[Lonely Summer]

Sail on Sailor was released twice as a single; first time, in 1973, it peaked at 60-something; second time, after the phenomenal success of Capitol's Endless Summer and Spirit of America albums, it did somewhat better, peaking at 49. Judging by the amount of airplay it got/gets in the NW, though, I'd say it was much more popular up here. Probably top 10 on KJR or KING.

[toonces2u]

Sail On Sailor is my all time favorite Beach Boys record. Perhaps it is because it was not overplayed  originally, and still isn't played much on oldies stations. Radio, while essential in turning the records into hits back in the day, have also become the reason so many are so sick of some of the oldies like Old Time Rock and Roll, Good Vibrations, Oh Pretty Woman and anything by Billy Joel or The Steve Miller Band and on and on. The list it too long to post here.

[semoochie]

Would you rather hear "Help Me Rhonda" everyday or "Wild Honey" once a week or even once a month, for the rest of your life?  I'll take the first option.

[toonces2u]

Would you rather hear "Help Me Rhonda" everyday or "Wild Honey" once a week or even once a month, for the rest of your life?  I'll take the first option.

Unfortunately, we aren't talking once a week or once a month for some of the most overplayed oldies.

[semoochie]

Statistically, people don't listen all the time and when the do, they want to hear their favorite songs.

[landtuna]

Statistically, people don't listen all the time and when the do, they want to hear their favorite songs.

Statistically, that is unreasonable and impossible.  And the larger the audience the less possible. 

The answer is to put together entertainment, including music, that gives the majority of listeners reason to tune in and don't worry about those you can never satisfy. 

An alternative in smaller markets with more limited outlets might be a return to the so-called "full service" programming of years past.  Oldies fading into Classic Hits/Rock fading into deep cuts with stories about the artists and even perhaps some Disco on Friday/Sat nights.  This same method could also work for more current music if there were enough listeners with interest.  It is kind of what AFRTS did back in the 60's (although they were not music-centric and offered much more than just music variety).  Of course they were a one-man band in most of their "markets".