The Huge ’80s Comeback Hit Voted One of the Worst Songs Ever
The Beach Boys' 1988 hit single "Kokomo" marked a major success story in the California-based band's history — but not everyone shared that sentiment, especially music critics.
Based on a demo by The Mamas & the Papas' John Phillips and Scott McKenzie, best known for the song "San Francisco (Be Sure to Wear Flowers in Your Hair)," the single was released as part of the soundtrack for the Tom Cruise film Cocktail, released the same year.
Mike Love, who had spent the last two decades positioning himself over Brian Wilson as The Beach Boys' primary songwriter and supposed creative nucleus, created the chorus for "Kokomo" and changed the lyrics pre-written by Phillips and McKenzie from past to present tense. Brian was also the sole member of the group not to be involved in the recording for the track.
The last few years for The Beach Boys were marred by tragedy, creative struggle, and commercial failure. Their first two albums under their new recording contract at CBS failed to turn the tide, and they struggled to break the Top 100 on the Albums Chart. In 1982, Eugene Landy was hired as a business partner and a psychologist for Brian, which would later be revealed as a toxic coercion over the songwriter, who had struggled for years with profound mental health issues.
This eventually led to a subsequent conservatorship of Brian, which was later legally terminated, and Landy was stripped of his license by the State of California. In a freak incident, Dennis Wilson drowned after diving off his yacht in Marina Del Rey. This significant change in line-up and songwriting process birthed "Kokomo," which would be the group's first #1 hit in 22 years, and their first Top 20 single in 20.
"Kokomo," a tale of a fictional beach paradise off the Florida Keys, with its soft yacht rock sound and holiday resort vibe, sold over two million copies and was nominated for a Grammy and Golden Globe award. Its attached album, Still Cruisin', was Certified Gold by RIAA upon release and sold a million records. However, success, nor nostalgia, has failed to sway critics, who cite Brian's absence as a key element missing from the Beach Boys' magic formula.
A 1989 Rolling Stone album review said the single "sets the pattern for the new, passion-free songs," and their recent creative shift proved "the middle-aged Beach Boys will do anything for a hit," with or without Brian's guidance. Entertainment Weekly, in 2004, described the record as by "the Beach Boys... and yet, not the Beach Boys."
Far Out Magazine ranked "Kokomo" #6 on their list of the worst songs to ever reach number one. Blender went one step further, ranking it #12 on their list of the worst songs ever recorded, calling it "perhaps most kindly described as a Beach Boys–influenced song with the Beach Boys singing on it."
In a slightly more diplomatic retrospective, Stereogumsaid that "the antipathy toward 'Kokomo' has more to do with Mike Love than with the song itself," adding that "Brian, battling drug problems and schizoaffective disorder, spent years under the control of an opportunistic therapist, as Mike Love took charge of the group and used it to tour state fairs and to make ever-chintzier music." So, mixed reviews?