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Post by The Cincinnati Kid on May 27, 2022 19:32:47 GMT
I saw that the Boys version of California Dreamin' is featured in season four of Stranger Things. I think it could fit that show very well. Part of the new season was just released today, so I'll be sure to check it out soon. It got me thinking though, what are you favorite appearance(s) by their music or the band members themselves? Honestly, I thought the appearance on Home Improvement as Wilson's cousins was pretty good.
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Post by Sheriff John Stone on May 27, 2022 23:08:23 GMT
TV has not been kind to the Beach Boys. Awkward is how I would describe most of their...performances. I'm having a hard time coming up with some instances where their music has been featured prominently. "All Summer Long" was pretty effective playing over the credits on the movie, American Grafitti. I guess this was a TV highlight:
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Post by Kapitan on May 27, 2022 23:50:34 GMT
Here is one I always loved. Maybe it's my particular vintage...
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Post by kds on May 29, 2022 0:09:14 GMT
My favorite is probably when All Summer Long plays at the very end of The Simpsons Season 7 finale Summer of 4 Ft 2, an episode that sees the Simpsons vacation at the Flanders' beach house.
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Post by Sheriff John Stone on May 29, 2022 11:19:25 GMT
Oh, that Dr. Landy era...
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Post by Kapitan on May 29, 2022 11:56:27 GMT
I want to expand on the specific question more toward the thread title.
To me, pop culture doesn't have to mean just appearances on TV shows or in movies, but being in the broad national interest, being a topic of conversation among more people than just your typical audience. Getting noticed.
During my lifetime, there are a couple of examples that spring to mind as when the Beach Boys were most prominent in pop culture.
One was in 1983, the infamous Interior Sec. James Watt 4th of July moment, when he banned rock groups from the Washington Mall concert and specifically called out the Beach Boys by name. (In the secretary's defense he mentioned drug use and alcoholism ... was he wrong?) Of course, Watt was given a plaster foot symbolizing that he'd put it in his mouth. (Watt resigned only a few months later, having made statements about affirmative action deemed offensive.)
The other was five years or so later, with "Kokomo." Nobody my age in 1988 cared about the Beach Boys, or even knew them, other than in that vague way young teens know there parents had some stupid world full of stupid stuff people used to stupidly like. All of a sudden, they're on MTV, they're in a Tom Cruise movie (probably the biggest, certainly the coolest, star of the time), they're showing up on a hit sitcom.
Those are the two times in my life that the Beach Boys really had their moments in pop culture that I can recall. Yes, BWPS and the C50 reunion got a lot of press, but by that time the media was so splintered, and everything got such a promotional push, that it was tough to tell the difference between real, universal discussion and just your universe being clogged with hype. I don't think Joe Public knew of those two in the same way he did the previous two I mentioned.
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Post by Sheriff John Stone on May 29, 2022 12:38:18 GMT
Other than the albums, the Beach Boys' music and their appearances in other pop culture have had almost zero influence or effect on my fandom. Now, the band's appearances on TV shows like American Bandstand, The Midnight Special, Entertainment Tonight, Solid Gold, Live Aid, and other televised performances like that have provided significant enjoyment to me, especially in my earlier years of following the group. But, the TV shows (mostly comedies), the movies (I've never even seen Cocktail ), the MTV videos, and in other "news" - no, those appearances, that pop culture, didn't mean much to me or bring much enjoyment to me. Also, surprisingly, the Beach Boys on the radio wasn't significant to my fandom either. I was too young to appreciate the group on AM radio in their heyday, and by the time I was a fan (the mid-70s), the band's appearance on AM/FM radio was sporadic to say the least. Yes, it was very exciting when a Beach Boys' single did make its way onto the radio, but it was so rare that, again, it wasn't significant to my fandom.
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Post by Kapitan on May 29, 2022 12:42:55 GMT
I absolutely am in that boat: none of this influenced my fandom in the slightest. (In fact, the two I mentioned preceded my fandom by more than a decade.) As a rule, I'm actually turned off by things being a big part of pop culture just because they're part of pop culture. I tend to hate "everybody's talking about..." topics, whether movies, bands, or whatever. (Not that I hate the thing itself, but the aspect of it being a "must-see/hear/etc" phenomenon. I hate that. There are movies and shows I've intentionally not watched for decades because of that. Yes, that's dumb and weird. I can be dumb and weird.)
But the things I mentioned, I do think those were the moments that the BBs were more in pop culture than at other times in my life.
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Post by kds on May 29, 2022 18:56:13 GMT
I'm a little too young to remember the Watt incident in real time. But, I do remember the Kokomo / Full House thing.
I can relate with Sheriff and Kapitan in that it didn't really affect my fandom. I was eight and nine, so I hadn't really formed any strong preferences anyway, outside of the hard rock that was on the radio at the time.
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Post by Sheriff John Stone on May 29, 2022 20:50:57 GMT
The James Watt "situation" was an interesting one. The guy was half right, I'll give him credit for that. When Watt talked about The Beach Boys attracting the wrong element, I had to chuckle. I mean, yeah, here were The Beach Boys, a band who had a member who lived with and recorded Charles Manson's music. At that point in time (1983), they probably had about a half dozen divorces among them and almost as many bankruptcies. The drummer was married to his cousin's daughter. A few years' previous, their lead guitarist fell over on stage due to some kind of substance abuse. If The Beach Boys would've performed in Washington on that infamous 4th of July, there's a very good chance that Dennis would've been drunk and who knows what Brian was on. They were a train wreck.
But, of course, on the other hand, Watt was wrong. Of all the major rock bands around, The Beach Boys probably would've attracted the...cleanest element...you could bring to a 4th Of July concert. Just look at the music, the songs that would've been performed. Poor Wayne Newton...
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Post by kds on May 31, 2022 13:17:59 GMT
Somewhat random. I saw on Facebook over the weekend that the BB version of California Dreamin appears in the new season of Stranger Things on Netflix.
I'm just curious, does anyone here watch the show? Everything I've ever heard about the show consists of "(80s song) appears on new episode" or "(80s movie) Easter Egg on new episode." I've always gotten the impression that the show is comprised of mostly 80s pop culture references, with a bit of a plot build around it.
EDIT - Sorry TCK, I somehow missed your post.
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Post by Sheriff John Stone on May 31, 2022 13:40:45 GMT
I stumbled upon Vegas Vacation the other day and caught this surprise. Never saw it before:
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Post by kds on May 31, 2022 13:47:59 GMT
I'd forgotten about that opening scene. While, it's not nearly as good as the original or the Christmas installments, that's not a bad movie.
Speaking of Good Vibrations, that reminded me that the Brian Wilson Presents Smile version was used at the end of the 2007 comedy Wild Hogs. I found this a bit strange. Released three years after the BWPS album, I don't think that version would've been used to push the album. It just seemed very, very out of place.
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Post by bellesofparisstan on May 31, 2022 15:21:48 GMT
Somewhat random. I saw on Facebook over the weekend that the BB version of California Dreamin appears in the new season of Stranger Things on Netflix. I'm just curious, does anyone here watch the show? Everything I've ever heard about the show consists of "(80s song) appears on new episode" or "(80s movie) Easter Egg on new episode." I've always gotten the impression that the show is comprised of mostly 80s pop culture references, with a bit of a plot build around it. EDIT - Sorry TCK, I somehow missed your post. well the show is set in the 80s and mainly follows a group of Younger stereotypically nerdy teens obsessed with the pop culture of the time. So yes there is a lot of 80s Easter eggs in it, but it certainly doesn’t take away from the plot and the characters which are the main focus… for the most part. Season three, which was set in the summer of 1985, did get a bit carried away with the 80s pop culture references where it started to become almost a parity, but luckily they’ve been able to avoid that this season. Usually as I’ve said the plot and characters are the most important parts of the show, the 80s pop culture just sets a nice backdrop.
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Post by kds on May 31, 2022 15:27:32 GMT
Somewhat random. I saw on Facebook over the weekend that the BB version of California Dreamin appears in the new season of Stranger Things on Netflix. I'm just curious, does anyone here watch the show? Everything I've ever heard about the show consists of "(80s song) appears on new episode" or "(80s movie) Easter Egg on new episode." I've always gotten the impression that the show is comprised of mostly 80s pop culture references, with a bit of a plot build around it. EDIT - Sorry TCK, I somehow missed your post. well the show is set in the 80s and mainly follows a group of Younger stereotypically nerdy teens obsessed with the pop culture of the time. So yes there is a lot of 80s Easter eggs in it, but it certainly doesn’t take away from the plot and the characters which are the main focus… for the most part. Season three, which was set in the summer of 1985, did get a bit carried away with the 80s pop culture references where it started to become almost a parity, but luckily they’ve been able to avoid that this season. Usually as I’ve said the plot and characters are the most important parts of the show, the 80s pop culture just sets a nice backdrop. Thanks. I just curious because, every single time it's been recommended to me, the person says "You like the 80s, you'll love this show." And, I've seen a few clips, but haven't really been interested enough to dig deeper.
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