The Beach Boys: BEST OF THE 80s

Summary

Jokermen Podcast: The Beach Boys – BEST OF THE 80s

October 20, 2025
Hosts: Evan and Ian

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Episode Overview

In this special "Looking Back With Love" episode, Jokermen tackles the formidable task of identifying and celebrating the best music the Beach Boys, and their extended universe, released throughout the 1980s. This decade was a turbulent, transitional period for the band; the hosts reflect with humor, candor, and surprising affection on a body of work often maligned or overlooked—even by diehard fans. Through witty banter and deep-cut knowledge, Evan and Ian piece together a “best of” playlist, drawing from both group albums and solo records by Brian, Carl, and Mike, as well as collaborations and rarities.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Challenge of the 80s Beach Boys

• The Decade in Context:
  The hosts acknowledge upfront that the Beach Boys’ 80s era is seen as a creative low point—making this retrospective more daunting than previous “Looking Back” episodes.

  “Even if, you know, as in this case, maybe there isn't a whole lot to look back with love upon.” (01:28 – Ian)

• Expanding the Net:
  Evan points out that the "Best Of" playlist is only possible by combining group tracks with solo output and side projects:

  “If it was just the Beach Boys, we'd be in some hot water. But I think, you know, expanding the aperture out a little bit… I think we can get 20 songs. That's doable.” (01:51 – Evan)

• The AI Playlist Gag:
  Ian jokes about using Spotify to build the playlist, only to get the same two Carl Wilson suggestions repeatedly, highlighting the scarcity of praised 80s tracks:

  “It only had two suggestions, just. Heaven and the Passing Lane, presumably.” (03:05 – Evan)

2. Reevaluating and Contextualizing Maligned Tracks

• Still Cruisin’ Revisited:
  Ian confesses that after editing the previous episode, songs from “Still Cruisin’” became stuck in his head—he begrudgingly finds them memorable and contextually charming (05:28).

  “I kind of have a space in my mind that just been along. The Island Girl for the last week in my car.” (05:25 – Ian)

• Film Connections Add Charm:
  Discovering “Make It Big” was used in the film Troop Beverly Hills with animation by John K. (of Ren & Stimpy), rescues the song from the trash heap, adding appreciation through pop culture context (06:05).

• “Somewhere Near Japan” – A Dark Origin:
  The hosts share Patreon listener info: the story behind this song is darker than they knew, recounting Mackenzie Phillips’ real-life plea to her father from “somewhere near Japan” (08:00).

3. Celebrating Unexpected Highlights

• “Kokomo” – A Divisive Classic:
  Universally panned by critics, “Kokomo” is staunchly defended as a legitimate highlight. Birdesing the gap between fans and haters, they argue that animosity is often rooted in its association with Mike Love, not the song’s actual quality.

  “If you had Brian's name on this, people would be jumping over themselves to say, like… you don't think there was any good Beach Boys music in the 80s?” (11:14 – Ian)

• Solo Albums: Mike Love vs. Carl Wilson:
  Looking Back With Love, Mike's 1981 solo record, is surprisingly praised for being more lively and memorable than Carl’s solo albums, which Ian calls “boring, dry, like eating dry chicken” (13:59).

• Brian Wilson’s 1988 Comeback:
  Brian Wilson is hailed as the decade’s saving grace, providing several genuinely excellent pop songs—a recurring well for their playlist picks.

4. Associative Acts and Lost Gems

• Lindsey Buckingham Collaboration:
  Brian’s collaboration with Lindsey is declared a top-tier moment for its inventive pop sensibility (39:03).

  “He's just got like a really sharp ear for hooky, like non boring stuff. Lindsay Buckingham is like the exact opposite of Carl Wilson…” (40:42 – Ian)

• Bruce Johnston’s “Endless Harmony”:
  Recognized as a weird, but touching tribute to the band’s legacy, and another outlier that earns a spot on their list (46:13).

• Honorable Mentions & Streaming Gaps:
  Van Dyke Parks’s Tokyo Rose would have featured heavily if available; the hosts lament its absence from streaming and praise its inventive arrangements and lyrics (57:16).

5. Reflection on Legacy and the Power of Music

• Brian Wilson’s Solo Legacy:
  “Love and Mercy” stands as a rare example of a solo song by a band leader that becomes an artist-defining classic.

  “Make no mistake… everyone who's ever stepped away from a band to make a solo record [dreams of this]… and he did it.” (44:02 – Ian)

• The Drive of Mike Love & the Nature of Legacy:
  A philosophical discussion on Mike’s compulsion to continue touring:

  “There is something that does make him have to do this… music is good for you… part of the thing that has kept this person going is just the fact that music is good for you.” (49:50 – Ian)

• Brian on the Source:
  The episode closes with Brian Wilson’s spoken-word reflection on art, love, and spiritual connection—a rare and moving coda to the playlist (54:03/59:19).

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On the Struggles of AI to Find Good 80s Beach Boys:

  “Even all of the Nvidia graphics chips, all the data centers across the world, the processing power is still not there to tell you anything other than Heaven.”
  — Evan (03:36)

• On “Still Cruisin’” and Emotional Labor:

  “It reminded me that you've got to bring some extra emotional imaginative work to the task… to really find there are ways in which these things can be maybe less depressing to encounter.”
  — Ian (06:14)

• “Kokomo” Defense:

  “If you had Brian's name on this, people would be jumping over themselves to say… 'You don't think there was any good Beach Boys music in the 80s?' Come on.”
  — Ian (11:14)

• On “Melt Away” and Brian’s Genius:

  “You can hear doo-wop and Motown stuff in there. You can hear Phil Spector in there … but you can also hear that he takes that and runs with it in a way that is … more indebted to classical music… the essence of Brian Wilson, musically, is that he's able to bring those two things together.”
  — Ian (25:58)

• On Mike Love’s Relentlessness:

  “He doesn't have to do it economically speaking … There is something that does make him have to do this.”
  — Evan (48:48)

• Brian Wilson on Music and Art (Closing):

  “People are being loved under the disguise of a record … art is intangible … So we wanted somebody, somewhere, to understand what we'd gone through. And at the same time, they could say, well, I do too.”
  — Brian Wilson (59:19)

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Timestamps for Major Segments

• 00:34–04:11: Context — Why the 80s Beach Boys is a challenge for a “Best Of”
• 04:50–07:21: Revisiting “Still Cruisin’” and context improving appreciation
• 08:00–08:59: “Somewhere Near Japan” and real-life troubled inspiration
• 10:30–12:13: The Case for “Kokomo”
• 13:37–15:11: Mike Love’s Looking Back With Love, and “Paradise Found”
• 16:33–18:00: “Meet Me in My Dreams Tonight”—Brian’s solo peak
• 24:55–26:57: “Melt Away” and how Brian bridges pop and classical
• 39:03–41:20: Lindsay Buckingham and Brian Wilson—unexpected synergy
• 43:19–45:19: “Love and Mercy” as solo mission accomplished
• 46:13–47:42: “Endless Harmony”—Bruce Johnston and enduring legacy
• 54:03–54:43, 59:19–59:51: “Brian on the Source”—Brian’s spoken-word outro

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The Beach Boys: BEST of the 1980s — Final Playlist

(Not all may be available on streaming, as lamented by the hosts)

1. Somewhere Near Japan
2. Still Cruisin'
3. Kokomo
4. Looking Back With Love
5. Paradise Found
6. Meet Me in My Dreams Tonight
7. Santa Ana Winds
8. Melt Away
9. Giving You Up
10. One for the Boys
11. Male Ego
12. Keeping the Summer Alive
13. I’m So Lonely
14. He Couldn't Get His Poor Old Body to Move
15. Time
16. Love and Mercy
17. Endless Harmony
18. Rio Grande
19. Let's Go to Heaven in My Car
20. Brian on the Source (spoken word)

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Closing Reflection

The episode closes with an acknowledgment that, thanks to Brian’s solo work and a few overlooked gems, it’s possible to assemble a rewarding and representative playlist from this difficult decade. The hosts’ good-natured ribbing, personal anecdotes, and musicological insights make this rundown essential for Beach Boys completists and curious listeners alike. While the 1990s may prove an even greater challenge, here the spirit of "looking back with love" triumphs—even if it’s love found in unexpected, sometimes bizarre places.

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For more playlists and in-depth dives, follow the Jokermen Podcast on Patreon and social media @jokermenpodcast.

Transcript

[A]

This could be considered a track.

[B]

Not really, though. We don't want to do that.

[A]

This is a little intro, you know.

[C]

All right, here we go. Countdown time. One, two, three, go.

[B]

Okay, boys, do it.

[C]

Welcome, Ian.

[B]

Thank you.

[C]

I'm Evan. Yeah, we're here and we're. We're. This is a one time only edition of Jokerman called this is. This is the Looking Back with Love Episode Spectacular. Yeah, spectacular. Yeah. I mean, we had an episode about that particular record, but it's one only fitting that we resurrect that beautiful turn of phrase to mark the auspicious occasion of the episode in which we look at the best of the beach boys in the 1980s.

[B]

That's right.

[C]

This is, this is also. I just want to, you know, we're not going to. We don't have to do anything different. We. It. We can still say the best of the beach boys in the 1980s. That's what it is.

[B]

That is, that is what it is. You know, this is, this is tradition. This is what we do. And when we reach the end of a decade, we mark it with a look back with love. Even if, you know, as in this case, maybe there isn't a whole lot to look back with love upon. It may in fact be the biggest challenge we've had yet with one of these. But, you know, I think we can, we can figure something out. There's some good music in the 1980s from the beach Boys and associated acts. If it was just the Beach Boys, we'd be in some hot water. But I think, you know, expanding the aperture out a little bit. Beach Boys, solo Records. You know, I think we can get, we can get 20 songs. That's doable.

[C]

Yeah, yeah. And that is. You're not kidding when you say that because like I was putting together a list on the. The streaming service Spotify, and this, this happened, which has never happened before, where I, I put, you know, two songs by the Beach Boys on the list. And I was trying to think of the rest of the eighties Beach Boys songs I could put on there. And it kept just giving me, as, you know, it'll. It'll feed you. Like, you can also add these and it'll be like another. Yeah, yeah, like another half dozen or so. But it kept just giving. The only suggestions it had was like, you could also add Heaven from the album Heaven by the Carl Wilson album and Heaven and one other song that I forget. And I kept saying refresh. And it only had two suggestions, just.

[B]

Heaven and the Passing Lane, presumably.

[C]

Yeah, I have to imagine there's some kind of AI the right lane.

[B]

The right lane, that's right. Excuse me.

[C]

Maybe, like, there's AI kind of shenanigans going on now where it's just like scrambling for, like, what is the most critically acclaimed thing in this specific category. And it's only able to come up with, like, a couple options of anything that anyone's ever written positively about on the entire Internet.

[B]

Well, they're still working out the kinks, you know, AI Big, big industry these days. A lot of evolution from month to month, the different models that are coming up. But the beach boys in the 80s poses such a profound and perplexing problem. What is this good music? Is there good music? Even all of the Nvidia graphics chips, all the data centers across the world, the processing power is still not there to tell you anything other than Heaven.

[C]

Carl Wilson, which is a song that is not gonna be on my list.

[B]

Yeah, me neither.

[C]

It's overrated.

[B]

Snoozer.

[C]

It's a snooze.

[B]

I do understand. I mean, so we're gonna do the best we can here. Typically, we limit these lists just to what's available on SP and streaming services, and usually that's not an issue. In this case, it is gonna pose a bit of a problem here because of course, as we documented recently on the Still Cruisin' episode, all of that record is lost to time besides Kokomo and the other songs that were just shunted onto that record from previous releases. But from what I gather, you're having sort of a come to Jesus moment with this album and some of the music on it since our episode. You seem to be singing a different tune these days.

[C]

I don't know about like, that. I think that you could call it a Come to Jesus thing. As. As. But it might be more accurate to say it's like come to Carl. Like a. Like a curse, like from the devil. Like, I am just. These songs are just like, they exist three dimensionally in my head now and like, I know them now. And so I no longer have that thing of like, oh, this sucks. I'm never going to think about it again. I. I kind of have a space in my mind that just been along.

[B]

The Island Girl for the last week in my car.

[C]

Island Girl. These songs exist in there. I really didn't think that would happen, but maybe it was, you know, editing the episode. I had to spend some extra time in their presence. And I also found out some extra stuff about that record. Like, I didn't realize that Certain of the songs were featured in films. I didn't know that there was like for, for, in particular, make It Big.

[B]

From Troop Beverly Hills that has a.

[C]

Crazy credits, opening credits sequence accompanying it for that movie.

[B]

Sort of like a Tex Avery knockoff type thing.

[C]

No, it's literally, it's John K. From Ren and Stimpy.

[B]

Oh, I didn't realize that.

[C]

Okay, now that Spumco, the now very canceled John K. But you know, you can't deny his particular exuberant animated stylings with the brush. Yeah, I mean, I, you know, I, I love that stuff. And so I was kind of like, charmed to see, like, okay, like in, in a context where it's being used with like a sense of humor and that it's, it's essentially a comedy. I have no idea what that movie's about, but I was like, okay, this, this makes me kind of see the, the charm in this song. But when you're just listening on that release with no other. Yeah, it's, well, you know, look, sometimes it, it reminded me that you've got to bring some extra emotional imaginative work to the, to the task here, to the table to really find there are ways in which these things can be maybe less depressing to encounter.

[B]

That's fair. I appreciate that. You know, looking on the bright side type of thing. Not that there's much bright side to look there upon.

[C]

Well, speaking of that, I found out about an even darker aspect of the story to a different song on still Cruisin of somewhere near Japan. Somebody on the Patreon commented with like, further assorted details. Did you see that comment?

[B]

I did, yes. I, I, I think we, we gestured at this a little bit. We just were talking about it, gestured.

[C]

At it, but I don't think that we had the goods at the time. So, I mean, while we're here, I'm just kind of clear in house getting some of these cobwebs down, apparently. See, where is it? Yeah. Mackenzie Phillips and her new husband, both serious substance abusers, flew to Guam. And when the money and drugs ran out, she made a late night phone call to her father begging him to send money for drugs. Money or drugs? Preferably both. When he asked where she was, the reply was somewhere near Japan. So we, we did sort of gesture at that. But I, I didn't really know that it was like a real, like lawyers, drugs and money, like in real life.

[B]

Type of pulled from reality.

[C]

Yeah.

[B]

Well, you know, still good song. Very, very fucked up history. But it's good music.

[C]

Let's Start there. I'll just say that one makes the list.

[B]

Yeah. Yeah, I think, I think, I think there's songs from Still, I think Still Cruisin, the song and somewhere near Japan. I think both of those would deserve to make it onto this.

[C]

Yeah.

[B]

List if they were available for us to stream, which of course they're not.

[C]

They're not sad. I mean, honestly, the guitar in Still Cruisin we talked about, when we talked about it, but I, I really like that sort of jangly, like somewhat unconventional for the, you know, it's not like just butt rock 80s junk. It. That that particular performance and recording has some charm to it and I, I enjoy it.

[B]

Absolutely. Well, consider those on the list, even if you won't see them on the streaming list, at least now maybe, maybe, you know, coming 2029, the special 40th anniversary deluxe re release of Still Cruisin' Hope all this beautiful music can be brought back to the adoring public after decades of inaccessibility. But let's, I guess, kick this off formally with a song that is on Still Cruisin and a song that. I don't think it's like the free, free space for, for this episode, for this playlist.

[C]

I think Kokomo, we should save that for the end.

[B]

Well, I mean, it's not like that's gonna. We can't save it for the end because we always get to the end and there's always like, oh, we gotta put this one on there and this one on there and this one on there. And then you end up putting like Bells of Paris on there. And that prevents us from putting like, you know, shorten and Bread or something.

[C]

Well, we're not gonna have the problem of too many options this time.

[B]

That's true.

[C]

So I figure we. All right, well, you already blew the load there.

[B]

It's on there. Come on. It's not like people were going to be surprised about that one.

[C]

Well, you'd be surprised maybe that people might be surprised.

[B]

It's been pretty. I think we've been aligned with most of our, you know, audience and listeners. It seems to be mostly generally pro Kokomo crowd out there.

[C]

Procomo. I've seen some people saying actually like, oh, I didn't put. I didn't have a full throated praise of Kokomo on my Jokerman bingo card. But yeah, I mean that, that is. Put that to bed, of course. Music.

[B]

Come on. Easy.

[C]

Someone put it best, I think when they said, you know, in like some Twitter exchange, it was like Somebody going, the only reason people don't like this song is because of, I don't know, some stupid reason. And then someone else said, like, no, the only reason people don't like it is because it's written by Mike Love and Brian Wilson. And that is the truth. Like, if. If you had Brian's name on this, people would be jumping over themselves to say, like. And you don't think there was any good Beach Boys music in the 80s? Like, come on.

[B]

Yeah, I don't think it particularly sounds like a Brian Wilson composition.

[C]

Well, it's not, and it doesn't. But I do think that it's kind of like neither does in my car, so for that matter.

[B]

Well, that's. That's our. That's our buddy, old Gene. Man, just wait till we get to Sweet Insanity. I've been listening to that, prepping for, you know, the 90s. There's some real. Some real dogs on that one. Okay. Kokomo. Van Dyke Parks also plays the accordion on Kokomo. We forgot to mention that on Still Cruising. Yeah, very, very funny that Van Dyke Parks is on Kokomo. A little bit of genuine island flavor from, you know, Mr. Mr. Trinidad himself.

[C]

Yeah, he, like, went to the islands to study the. The Blade of calypso music. Then he comes back and he's like, hey, I can. I can do something special for you.

[B]

That's right. Okay, I'll let you take it from here with a pick. How about that?

[C]

I feel like I just picked a bunch of picks.

[B]

I picked Kokomo, and we agreed upon somewhere near Japan and Still Cruising.

[C]

I will say, I know you've got.

[B]

A lot to choose from over there, so I don't want to prevent you from getting all your very favorite picks on this playlist.

[C]

I'll jump directly from your pick and say that Looking Back With Love. Okay, the song itself is. Is definitely on the list.

[B]

Absolutely. You know, the more we. The further on into the future we've gotten, the better it's. It's that thing that's happening again. Like, Looking Back with Love suddenly seems like kind of a, you know, generally successful album.

[C]

Well, it's definitely. It's absolutely better than all the Carl album stuff. Like.

[B]

Yes.

[C]

I don't. I. I think we knew that when we were talking about the Carl records, but that, like, basically, whatever they are, there's boring, dry, like eating dry chicken quality to those that, you know. If you're comparing it to Mike Love and his album, well, I'll specifically say that album by Mike Love.

[B]

He's got a few more from more recent years.

[C]

Yeah. What's that song?

[B]

Pisces Brothers?

[C]

No, the other one. The what? It's like a weird made up name. Kit Gidgy Kid Ki.

[B]

Oh, oh, you're talking about the older one. Yeah, Widgy Gidgee, Jiggy, something like that from First Love.

[C]

Is that in the 70s still?

[B]

Okay, that's 70s, yeah.

[C]

All right, well, Viji V I G G I E Anyway, yeah, I would say that Looking Back With Love, the record is at least more. There's a little bit of flavoring, some seasoning here.

[B]

It's, you know, it's corny schlocky 80s pop, but corny schlocky 80s Pop is. Is good and fun. I'll. I'll stick on this tip for a moment and just drop the other song from Looking Back With Love that I have as a nomination for this playlist. Paradise Found, which is the last song on that record. I still dig that song. I think that's a great, great track, really. Proto Kokomo in many ways, I think Protomo, Proto Mo. What do we have? We've had Prokomo and Protomo. Let's see how much further we can take that bit in this episode. Yeah, the rest of that album, listen pretty shitty. But I think he's got a couple decent songs on there. Memorable songs with some fun production, some catchy choruses and that's all that you need sometimes. Certainly if you're Mike Love and people aren't expecting much from you in the first place. Like it. It could have been a lot worse than I think it ended up turning out, you know.

[C]

Yeah, yeah.

[B]

Could have been the Carl records.

[C]

It could have been those. Yeah. Which I'm hard pressed to put anything from those on here.

[B]

I've got some Carl picks to throw in here.

[C]

Why don't you throw one on that? I mean, I'll. I guess I'm next. Can we have Brian in the mix here with this album?

[B]

The Brian all the Brian, you know, Brian Wilson 88 and the associated singles and such, the. The B sides, that's all fair game here.

[C]

All right, well then I will say I will. I will point out that actually on the last time we. We spoke about this, I think I gave short shrift to meet Me in my dreams tonight. It's better. It's good, it's good. Masterpiece like it. I knew you were going to put on here, but I'm going to beat you to it. Just to address, I think that I didn't give It. The time of day. It's. I wouldn't say, like, not saying masterpiece. I mean. I mean, in a certain way, it is like. It is a very. You put it well. When you said that. It. Like, when I was editing that and I was listening back, I was kind of like. You were convincing me later that, you know, it represents something closest to the early Beach Boys stuff, which we revere. I was starting to hear that in it. And it has a very lovely intro segment, too.

[B]

Absolutely. It's. I mean, I think it's easily the catchiest thing on that record. Great record. Plenty of catchy material. But just in terms of, like, pound for pound, what is the chewiest, you know, piece of bubblegum pop on there? I think Meet Me in My Dreams Tonight, you know, takes that walking away.

[C]

And I'll even say that the thing you said about it was. The thing that sealed the deal was that it has a kind of, like. There is a sort of melancholy Brian theme.

[B]

Yeah, Brian is in there.

[C]

The idea of it being, like, an impossible love.

[B]

Yeah, absolutely. It's like, you know, the Everly Brothers song, you know, what is it? Dream.

[C]

Daydream Believer.

[B]

Daydream Believer.

[C]

Yeah.

[B]

What am I thinking? I'm just thinking dream, but all I have to do is dream.

[C]

But.

[B]

Daydream.

[C]

No, that's. That's the monkeys, actually.

[B]

Okay.

[C]

No, I was thinking. Yeah. I mean, same. Similar type of stuff.

[B]

Same concept. Yeah.

[C]

There's Daydream Believer and then there's Dream. Dream.

[B]

That's the one. Dream, Dream. Yeah, you get it. Okay, how about. Gee, this goes all the way back to keeping the summer Alive. That feels like years ago. Do you remember some of these songs?

[C]

Yeah.

[B]

Living with a heartache. School Day, Sunshine.

[C]

Barely. I remember us talking about at the time how sunshine was, like, completely pointless.

[B]

Oh, I remember. I just put Sunshine back on. It's got that just, like, idiot mode, like, percussion beat to it. I hate this song. That's not going on.

[C]

Didn't make any sense. I remember it just not making even the lick of sense.

[B]

When girls get together.

[C]

Oof. Yeah.

[B]

There are a couple good songs on this record. Let's start with. Let's start with Santa Ana Winds. That's a fun one. I like Santa Ana Winds.

[C]

Yeah. Yeah. Here in Southern California, there is a weather condition called the Santa Ana Winds.

[B]

That's right. Thank you, Al. I think we talked about this when we. When we said, you know, or when we were doing this episode. But it's. It's a little bit of the, you know, Beach Boys Ecology. Yeah, the bigger type shit. Exactly. Don't go near the water type of thing, which they have basically completely discarded by this point. But, like, at least it has something going for it as opposed to, you know, sunshine or When Girls Get Together. Maybe the worst. The worst song they've ever recorded.

[C]

Firewind.

[B]

That's right.

[C]

What's the other thing he says?

[B]

Canyon Wind, Desert, Desert Wind.

[C]

Well, did you. There's a big development in terms of Firewind news today, actually.

[B]

Oh, yeah, they caught the guy, right? Florida guy.

[C]

First of all, that. There is a guy.

[B]

Of course there's. There's always a guy. Come on.

[C]

Well, there's not always a guy. Sometimes, pretty much always, you know, like faulty equipment or something. This was. Yeah. The Palisades fire, it turns out, was absolutely intentionally set by this fucking guy who he. I don't think he's actually from Florida. He might be, but he. He's. From what I understand, he. He's from the Palisades and he then moved to Florida. Probably has nothing to do with what he did, but he was apprehended in Florida, having decided to move there recently.

[B]

Independent of any other events or actions that may have taken place.

[C]

Yeah, I mean, he just looks like a doofus. He just looked. There's one picture of him, and it's hard to. I don't know his story.

[B]

Is he like a crazy guy or, you know.

[C]

Yeah, I mean, he seems like just a. Like. And. And also a crazy guy. Like. Yeah, he apparently was an Uber driver and they did whatever they do with, like, looking through people's phones and devices now, which, you know, who knows how it seems completely, you know, illegal in its own way. And in this case, anyway, they found that he had searched and apparently watched, like, some kind of video, like a rap video that included fire imagery. And also that he went on chat GPT and like, made images of, like, some kind of like the prompt being like, city on fire. Like, like. Or there's like burning city stuff in his chat GPT history.

[B]

Hmm.

[C]

But yeah, he just looks like the one picture of him that there is. He just looks like a half wit. Like, he just looks like a dim.

[B]

Bulb off with his head.

[C]

I mean, that's probably what will happen.

[B]

It probably is not what is gonna happen.

[C]

I don't know. I'm not. I wouldn't be shocked if they were like, death penalty.

[B]

I don't think you can do death penalty just for.

[C]

Apparently you can.

[B]

Really?

[C]

Like, on the radio today, they were saying, like, yeah, like, basically for this code and that Code or whatever. Like what, what this?

[B]

I mean, I guess people can die as a result of the fire. So that, you know, gives you a manslaughter charge there.

[C]

I mean, it could be a murder charge if they like, you know, people are pissed.

[B]

Like, I think that rightfully so.

[C]

Yeah. I mean, I, it, I did have the feeling just looking at that today of like, you know, I wanted to like wring his neck like Bart Simpson, but you know, that's out of my hands. And you know, we do need to.

[B]

Rise, you know, above our base natures and you know, while he might deserve to die.

[C]

Yeah. I don't believe in the death penalty.

[B]

Probably should not be doing that. But what we should do, you know, let's bring back the stockades. Let's put this guy like in the middle of the grove in one of those things. You know, you put him in the wooden thing with the head and the hands there and people can just kind of come by and kick him in the ass and throw tomatoes at him. I think that that would be a deserved punk.

[C]

Yeah. We have to make him listen to Santa Ana Winds from keeping the summer alive until the end of his natural life.

[B]

That would be not so good. Let's make him listen to Sunshine until.

[C]

I think after the, after the thousandth time, it's probably not going to be so nice to hear Fire Wind, Desert.

[B]

Wind and also sounds on this song.

[C]

What other song would force him to think, think back on, on his decisions. Like, like that one.

[B]

Okay, that was my pick. What do you, what do you have next?

[C]

I'm having this sensation of like, I'm only making the picks. I just, I, I, I know you picked one.

[B]

I picked Santa Ana Winds. I picked Paradise Found. I picked Kokomo. These are all this is.

[C]

You're asking the world of me. Every time it comes back to me, I have to like reinvent the entire universe. Looking back on what I can possibly sel. We'll make it easy. We'll do another Brian Melt Away, of course.

[B]

And probably the best song on that record.

[C]

Yeah, I think the most impressive Brian composition of the record, which is, you know, to differentiate. I would say Love and Mercy is probably the best song. But Melt Away, I think is kind of a, an avenue that gives him opportunities to do some more, some more impressive melodic flights. Like there's, it's pretty, you know, it's, it sounds heavenly.

[B]

Yeah, no, I, I think I, I will stand by saying best song on, on that record. You know, as, you know, a piece of like music composed music you know.

[C]

Love and Mercy composition.

[B]

Yeah, sure. Love and Mercy, I think, is probably the more meaningful and sort of emotionally resonant song, but just in terms of like, put on a three minute song and not along, I think Melt Away, you know, you're not going to do much better than that.

[C]

Well, to just go a little bit further on that, I will say that, like, it does. You can hear something. Like, if we've learned anything, I think that I'm able to hear in that song. What is very special about Brian, and at least in part is that you can hear doo wop and Motown stuff in there. You can hear Phil Spector in there. Like, you can hear Be My Baby, but you can also hear that he takes that and runs with it in a way that is. Has more indebted to classical music. Like, there is. That is his, like, ultimately, like, the essence of Brian Wilson, musically, I think, is that he's able to bring those two things together. And this is a very concise and intense example of that.

[B]

Interesting. I know another artist, you know, has got a penchant for marrying sort of the pop music and the classical music. Using the piano. The baby grand, you could say.

[C]

Yeah. What was this?

[B]

I was just referencing Billy Joel.

[C]

Well, I thought. I thought you were gonna say Ray Charles.

[B]

Okay. How about some Carl? I got some Carl on here. I know you're not gonna put any Carl on there.

[C]

Which.

[B]

Giving you up.

[C]

Don't remember giving you up.

[B]

Giving you up.

[C]

Is that on the second one?

[B]

It's on the second one, yeah.

[C]

The.

[B]

The Skunk Baxter album. This one's cool. I think this is. This is good. Yeah. I'm listening to it again. I haven't listened to it, I think, since we talked about Youngblood, everyone's favorite album from 1983. Um, but this, this works as much as I think anything on keeping the summer alive. Well, maybe not anything, but most of the things. Yeah, this is good. Oh, yeah.

[C]

Are you saying it's good or not? You're like, it's good. It's just like, you know, keeping the summer alive.

[B]

Well, I'm putting, like, I'm putting it. I put it on in the background here. And it does, like, sort of take a second to get going. It's a little, kind of slow and fruity, like a lot of Carl's music is. But then when you get to the. When you get to the chorus and it gets like kind of big and power chords. That's. That's cool. I dig it.

[C]

Carl Wilson giving you up. He is responsible for making two of the albums of all time.

[B]

No question about that.

[C]

All right. Is it. It's back to me again.

[B]

It's back to you.

[C]

Yeah.

[B]

It's like. It's like chess, you know, when. When they. They hit that little timer thing. Well, no, no. When you hit the little timer thing and you try to push it back to your opponent to get them back on the clock, all of a sudden it's just. It's like hot potatoes. Send it right back.

[C]

I mean, I could just go burn through all these Brian ones.

[B]

I mean, you're welcome to. That's what half of my playlist looks like, so you can take the lead on that. I'll pepper in some interesting and unexpected spices throughout the rest of this playlist.

[C]

One for the Boys.

[B]

Oh, yeah.

[C]

One for the Boys is great. I think it's. It's an important song in the whole story of the Beach Boys and Brian Wilson. I think, actually, I think that it's emergence on Brian's solo album. Just the idea that, like, you know, everything we've been through with Brian and the Beach Boys and, you know, if you had told us, I just. I don't think I've. We've taken the time to really appreciate that, like, when Brian would finally get it together and put out a solo record, that there would be a song on there called One for the Boys. It's very moving.

[B]

Absolutely. And then it's the song like this, you know, which is so. Like we said at the time, you know, it's.

[C]

It's wordless.

[B]

Wordless. It sounds like our Prayer and, you know, some of those incredible compositions from the. Just the peak. The peak of the Beach Boys. And this is the music that they got so far away from, you know, in the ensuing years, even as Endless Summer comes out and they're trying to figure in Brian's Back is Happening, and they're trying to figure out, like, oh, let's just do the shit that people wanted us to do. Like, this is kind of what people wanted them to do, certainly what I would have wanted them to do. And it's. This is not there whatsoever on Keeping the Summer alive or the 1985 album, or tons of the late 70s shit. They're leaning into sort of the imagery and this sort of base level. Like, we're talking about girls, we're talking about surfing, we're talking about summer, whatever. But, like, this is what the Beach Boys is really about to me, as much as any of those things, if not more so and so. Yeah, to hear him Be able to do this this late and do it all on his own. That's fantastic. It's beautiful. Good pick.

[C]

What do you have next?

[B]

What do I have next? Well, Speaking of the 85 album, we haven't hit any of the material from that yet, so I got a couple. I don't have a ton from that on here, but there's a couple songs worth. Worth plugging in there. I'll start with Male Ego, which I think is. I mean, that's not actually even on that record, but it's the B side for get your back. Very fun song. Very silly song, but I think it's. It is as good as basically anything that shows up on that record and proves that. The Brian Mike thing.

[C]

Brian Mike and huge.

[B]

Yeah. I mean, it still can work. It's not always working, certainly, you know, to the extent that it once did, but they can still. They can still gas it up for a couple minutes here. Male Ego is good.

[C]

All right, I have you on record. Male ego is good.

[B]

That's right. Yeah. You can clip that and use it to cancel me whenever you like. All right, back to you again already.

[C]

That was fast.

[B]

See, what you can do is if you need to stall for time, you can say some things about these songs. If you have any. Any statements to drum up about them.

[C]

I'll say male ego has nothing to. It is like completely indecipherable. I don't think that I've come to find anything more there. It's. It's a ridiculous song.

[B]

That's right.

[C]

God, I have one on my list that's just like dangling there like a. It's just like a. Like a piece of dead skin that I'm like, wondering if I'm going to pluck off or not. Like keeping the summer alive title track. Yeah. Because, like it. Because it doesn't do anything wrong, like in terms of being a Beach Boys song in the 80s. Whereas I. I really feel like the reason that there's no songs from the Beach Boys self titled record on my list is it just doesn't sound like the Beach Boys to me, like, at all. And like. Like there are certain songs that I guess you. You can say they do, but, like, generally I really don't see it. Like, I hear the influence of the. Of Boy George or whatever. Like, what was going on around that time. Musically, it overshadows. It overtakes them. And I'd rather have pure corn than like, you know, corn syrup. And I feel like we're getting kind of like on that record it's sort of diluted. It's. It's just not like true. And I do feel like Keeping the Summer Alive for better or worse is. Is a genuine straight ahead effort of, you know, in the Do It Again tradition.

[B]

Yeah, I, I would agree with that. At least as far as it relates to Keeping the Summer alive. I do think that there are moments on the Beach Boys 85 record that sound Beach Boysian, even if they're not explicitly, you know, as true to the band and the identity that we're familiar with as a song like Keeping the Summer Alive. I think the problem with that record, and this is, to me, it's not a coincidence that you don't have any music from that record on your list, just as you don't have any Carl Wilson solo music on your list is because that record is a lot. Carl Wilson solo shit. Remember we were talking in the middle of that episode. Myrna Smith, the inimitable Myrna Smith is all over those songs as the co writer. And there are a bunch of songs, I think, that would have made up a theoretical third Carl Wilson solo album if there had been any market for that whatsoever, which it was proven decisively. There was an not. There are other songs on that record, I think, that come through and I'm going to toss a couple more of them onto this playlist. But, you know, I would agree to an extent that Keeping the Summer Alive is more of a Beach Boys text than the Beach Boys. You know, ironically, the album that's just called the Beach Boys. Can we just put the COVID art of that album on this playlist? Can that take up one of the slots? One of the slots, yeah.

[C]

Yeah.

[B]

All right, well, since we're on that note, I'm gonna throw I'm so Lonely on here from that record. This is a little Brian Wilson ditty, you know, sort of proto Brian Wilson 88 Number on this album. That is not like, I don't think this song necessarily stands up to a lot of the material on Brian Wilson 88, but like, it's sort of a taste of where we're gonna go there. It's like a, you know, Southwestern egg roll before you get your whole, you know, big bowl of shrimp scampi.

[C]

What, you mean at the, at the Cheesecake Factory? Cheesecake Factory, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[B]

You're not, you know, it's the shrimp scampi, that's what you've gone there for. But you know, to sort of get the juices flowing. You'll. You'll dip into the Southwestern egg Roll. Or the. The chicken loaf sauce.

[C]

Or in this case, the what. The. The what you're comparing the Southwestern egg.

[B]

Roll to I'm so lonely.

[C]

Yeah.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

I can't really even remember. I get. Yeah, like, I'm so lonely. I'm so lonely. Right.

[B]

Really, really so lonely. That's about. That's about the extent of the song.

[C]

Yeah. Now, that's a good point. Yeah.

[B]

All right, back to you again.

[C]

All right, I've got another one that's kind of like off menu pick, I think, actually. Well, wait, does this come out later? Well, it was recorded in the 80s, which. The spirit of rock and roll.

[B]

It is in the 80s.

[C]

It's this meeting of Brian and Bob happened in the 80s.

[B]

Yeah, it did.

[C]

There's no way around that. We've talked about it in terms of that. That instance, you know, of. Of it happening in the midst of that dark period, the Wilson Project period. This happened then.

[B]

That is true. That's true.

[C]

It's not a 90s piece of music.

[B]

Yeah, I.

[C]

It.

[B]

It sees light to the extent that it does on Sweet Insanity, which is a failed, you know, unreleased album that would have come out in 1990. So it's a little touchier. In any case, that song isn't on streaming, so there's no way to get it onto the playlist. But that's fair for you to. To remark upon it here. None. I was just listening to that song earlier today. It's.

[C]

I love that. It's ridiculous. I think it's great. Bob. Bob Dylan. I mean, I don't think we made enough. We didn't make enough of that. That. That happened, like.

[B]

Well, we'll get to talk about it more when we do the Sweet Insanity episode.

[C]

Yeah, all right. But that's my just, like, honorable mention. If you're asking me to then put another actual song on this list, I will.

[B]

We gotta keep filling up the. The list that's gonna show up on Spotify.

[C]

My. My favorite song, probably that we're gonna talk about today. One of them, anyway. Like, top two. He couldn't get his poor old body to move.

[B]

Oh, great. Absolutely. Lindsey Buckingham, the madman.

[C]

You can hear Lindsay so, so clearly on this.

[B]

And I've just been having a body to move.

[C]

A bit of a Lindsay Renaissance I've been listening to. I just went to Amoeba Music, the new. The newer location for the first time.

[B]

Yeah, I don't really care for that.

[C]

I went there and I. I got a pretty good haul, though, like, of CDs. Like, I got, like, 12 CDs for like maybe like 40 bucks. And it was all good stuff. Like they. They had a ton of Van Morrison CDs. They had pretty much every CD I was looking for, they had. And I. One of them I got was recently I got Lindsey Buckingham out of the Cradle, which is a great record. And then I got Lindsey Buckingham. What's the one I. Under the skin from 2004 or 5?

[B]

I don't think I listen to that.

[C]

See, that's the thing. Everything he touches is pretty much good when it comes to his solo stuff. And in this case, it's a beautiful, touching Brian Wilson. He's touching Brian and it's a great combination. Like his exuberant, very. He's just got like a really sharp ear for hooky, like non boring stuff. He's like, Lindsey Buckingham is like the exact opposite of Carl Wilson as a musician. He's like, I won't do something if it's just boring. He's. There's always some kind of like kooky detail or feature to the production. And this has like a few of those, plus literally, Brian. So it's like, I love this.

[B]

Yeah, he nails this one. It's, you know, it's like Tango in the Night era, Fleetwood Mac. So it's got some of these sparkling synthy type things that like, somehow don't come off as corny, you know, like in another context or by other artists, you would expect them to be like, all right, this is, you know, two 80s by half. But for whatever reason, like, this just totally, totally works. I think it's because Lindsay kind of understands, like what makes a Brian Wilson song successful. You know, we didn't remark on it at the time, and we haven't yet this time either. But like, it is kind of, you know, the fact that Brian and Lindsay are working together at this point after obviously like the Dennis Christine saga from a couple years before that. It's, you know, there's something. There's something kind of cool about that.

[C]

It's almost like we. We could maybe do a whole series potentially on that group someday.

[B]

Almost like that, isn't it? Do do do do do do. Okay, back to me. Let's see. You know what? Fuck it. I'm gonna put another Carl Wilson song on here. Time. I love time.

[C]

Time.

[B]

I just keep doing Carl songs until.

[C]

You remember one time by Carl Wilson.

[B]

It'S the last song on Youngblood, you know, when he really kind of gets revved up and rolling.

[C]

You know, it's funny you say that because by the last song on Youngblood. I'm the opposite of revved up and rolling. I am inert. I am asleep.

[B]

Well, that's what we talked about. I think that's what I said, at least when we. When we did. The Youngblood episode is like. Time is maybe the catchiest Carl Wilson song that ever got put out as a Carl Wilson song. And he saves it for literally the last chunk of this album, this last album he's ever going to make that no one's already buying.

[C]

Yeah, it's true. This one should be the opener. Listening back to it, it's like, do.

[B]

Do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do, do. Yeah, there's some cool shit on here. Skunk Baxter's is in between missile defense systems. It's like, you know, it's not perfect music necessarily, but, you know, grading on a curve, like we're having to do here in the 1980s with the beach Boys, I think qualifies.

[C]

Yeah. This one almost sounds like a Lindsay Buckingham song.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

In a good way. Yeah.

[B]

All right, back to you again.

[C]

Okay. Shit. I guess I will say now's the time where I got to say love and mercy. Sure.

[B]

Absolutely. You know, that's got to be on here. And. And there it is. Love and mercy to you and your friends tonight.

[C]

It's a perfect song. It's not just the best song of the 80s for Brian or the Beach Boys or any related properties, but it is the. It is. It is one of the great songs of this entire series of any decade, of these. These cousins, these friends, these brothers, no question.

[B]

And a song that's gonna be with us, you know, for the rest of this series, basically, because it seems to occur and reoccur in other different contexts on other albums, live shows, and so on. So it's good music.

[C]

What a song to have as your legacy. Truly, like to the fact that he even has another song that's not a Beach Boys song that is so closely associated with him, and that it's this one. That's really what most people try to do with their solo project and fail. And that is not true of Brian Wilson. Like, that this is something that I don't even think we've really given enough credit to. The idea of is, like, it's really not the case that when people do a solo record, one song really steps out and seems to connect in the public consciousness to who this person is on their own. That almost never happens. And we can maybe think about this record as, like, yeah, this is sort of a good record. It's, you know, it's. Has its flaws, blah, blah, blah, but it does accomplish something that is the. The dream. Like, make no mistake of everyone who's ever stepped away from a band to make a solo record is like, can I have one song that defines me on my own terms that comes out of this? And he did it.

[B]

Yeah. And I don't think there was ever any question that he would be capable of doing it. You know, I think that's sort of the whole thing with the Brian Wilson story is that, like, as, you know, as soon as he finally rids himself of the. The Albatross Beach Boys, like, he's flying right from the jump, obviously understanding there's all this other shit that's happening. In this case, that's a drag on him in another way. But musically, songwriting, melodically, of course, it makes all the sense in the world that he's able to just knock this one out as if it weren't without a second thought and have it be as successful and as sort of legacy defining as it was. It just took so fucking long to get to this point. But it's sort of what makes it all the sweeter in the end, in a way.

[C]

All right, your turn.

[B]

Endless Harmony.

[C]

Yeah, well, this was on my list, too.

[B]

Good.

[C]

I kind of hinted at it when I said cousins.

[B]

Cousins, friends and brothers. That's right. Our three favorite type of guys.

[C]

We can probably end it here, right? What else do we have?

[B]

Come on, I've got plenty to go here. And we're. I think this. This playlist is actually coming together here. At least, you know, when we're counting some of the songs that don't even show up on Spotify. This is. This. This is. See, this is why these exercises are important, because going into this, I'm sure we were both thinking, like, oh, boy, what are we gonna spin. Spin this one out. And I think this is actually coming together as a pretty look. It's not the 70s or, you know, the late 60s, best of playlists for the Beach Boys, but I think this is, you know, going to be a pleasant sequence of songs to listen to.

[C]

Thank goodness for the. For the Brian record for, like, making this. Yeah, of course, you know, because.

[B]

Yeah, you just keep going back to that. Well, anyways, Endless Harmony, great song. You know, still a weird song and, you know, basically just a Bruce Johnston song in. In a way. But Bruce Johnson, like it or not, is a Beach Boy by this point in time, still is a Beach Boy right up until this day, maybe. Maybe soon to be the last remaining member of the Beach Boys. That is an actual Beach Boy, judging by some of Mike. Have you seen Mike's, like, appearances recently?

[C]

Yeah. Well, what do you mean by that?

[B]

Just, like, pictures and videos of him. Yeah, he's looking a little skeletal.

[C]

Yes.

[B]

You know, who knows? But I, you know.

[C]

Well, we all know.

[B]

Well, I mean, who. We don't necessarily know who. Who knows what, you know, he's.

[C]

I mean, people do just die eventually.

[B]

Well, yeah, people. Everyone dies eventually.

[C]

But, like, often at that part, at the part where you start looking skeletal in your 80s.

[B]

Let's see how old he's. 84. Okay, so he's Bob's age. Born 1941.

[C]

I hope he's got some Dick Van Dyke in him. You know, I've got. Who's about to turn 100.

[B]

100, yeah. Yeah.

[C]

I would like to see Mike continue.

[B]

100 years of Mike Love on this earth.

[C]

I would like to see that.

[B]

May we all be so blessed to see such a reality.

[C]

I mean, it is worth pointing out, like, Mike Love is in his 80s and he's still doing this, and he does not have to do this. He.

[B]

Well, you know, he doesn't have to do it economically speaking. There is. I think that's what makes him a fascinating character, ultimately, is that there is something that does make him have to do this.

[C]

Well, it's also like, the thing maybe is what else would he do? Could he do?

[B]

And I think that's maybe why, like, I know, you know, when we talk about, like, Van Morrison on, like, Never Ending Stories, for instance, Steve is, you know, I was saying, like, Van Morrison runs purely on spite. Like, I think Mike literally purely runs on spite.

[C]

You know, Van runs on spite. And also just like, the. The rejuvenative and, like, eternally restorative and beautiful power of music itself. That's like, on some level, so does Mike Love. I mean, like, I don't think you think about on some level, how are you, Mike Love? And you're still doing this. You got to believe that part of the thing that has kept this person going is. Is just the fact that music is good for you.

[B]

You know what they say, Music's in your soul, music's in his soul.

[C]

Add a little music to your day. How about add music to your day for 80 something years?

[B]

Yeah, I do think that, you know, he. To me, he seems to be laboring under the belief that if he just keeps doing it, and certainly now that Brian, you know, is Gone, God rest his soul. Like, he can become the Beach Boys. He can become the Primo.

[C]

The Beach Boy.

[B]

The Beach Boy, exactly. That seems to me to be a hopeless task. A quixotic task, you could say.

[C]

Quixotic, Yeah.

[B]

I think it's quixotic, but yeah.

[C]

Don Quixote.

[B]

Well, no, no, but that's an English word. It's an. It's an Anglicization of a Spanish word.

[C]

Yeah, we've been through this. I've definitely in the past used that word wrong, like.

[B]

So I'm not one pronounced it wrong or.

[C]

No, I thought it meant something. I think I used it in incorrect context in early episodes of the show, perhaps. Oh, well, I know what it means now, though. But anyway, go on.

[B]

Anyways, you know, I don't think Mike is ever going to become the Beach Boy, but there is something grudgingly admirable about such a quest, even if it is, you know, sort of folly to begin with. Back to you.

[C]

Like Don. Like Don Quixote. What is my ne. I think that's the end of my list.

[B]

That's it? You got nothing else you can keep going back to the Brian Wilson. Well, there's plenty of good material there still.

[C]

I mean, I've already given, like, a bunch from that. I could say that. Well, we'll say Rio Grande.

[B]

Rio Grande. Of course.

[C]

We have to have that in there. Okay.

[B]

You seemed a little lukewarm on Rio Grande, listening back to that episode.

[C]

It's just because I don't. I. I stand by what I said, that I don't think of it as like a. A song that I put on. It's. It's like a ride. It is like a. A movie. Like, it's. It's just a different category. So I think it's worth sort of noting that about it that it. It is. It's more like an opera or something. It's. It's a bit of theater and on that level, you know, in. In that way, it's. It's very good.

[B]

It's good. It's great. I love it. All right, we're at 18. Let's get to 20, and then I think we can call it. We can call it there. Okay. We don't. We don't need to really stretch ourselves too far on this. And it'll actually even be less than. Than 20, because not all these songs show up on Spotify. But I can. I can go to bed easy, you know, Sleep well tonight. Knowing that we identified 20 actually good songs from the Beach Boys and Associated Acts here from the 1980s. So that's one each remaining for both of us. I'm going to select from my final pick a song that you correctly identified as, you know, extremely My kind of shit. And Lord knows it is. It's another perfect Brian Wilsonism solo single. Solo solo single, I should say, from just before the record comes out. Let's Go to Heaven in My Car. From, of course, Police Academy for. What do you mean you're grimacing over there? Come on, we've got.

[C]

I don't like that song.

[B]

Oh, it's so good. It's so good. Let's Go to heaven in My Car.

[C]

I just feel like it's a little bit. You're saying, like, oh, well, yeah, in. In My Car is terrible, but let's go to heaven in my car.

[B]

Oh, come on. Those are so far removed from one another that's. It's like, not even a question. Let's Go to Heaven in My Car is like, pure, you know, idiot mode. Brian Wilsonism. And In My Car is just Eugene Landy speaking through Brian as, like, a puppet.

[C]

Yeah, that's probably true.

[B]

Yeah. Okay, Take us home. What do you got?

[C]

I don't have anything left.

[B]

I can't come up with one more.

[C]

I mean. All right, let me see. Just give me a second. How about. I'll say Brian on the Source. That is what we're going to put here. Because honestly, we can put that on the playlist.

[B]

That is true.

[C]

It's on here. And I think it's one of the most beautiful things that we have here. And I do think that it's a great way to close out our playlist. Here is Brian himself speaking about what it is to love to. You're being loved in the form of a record. And the thing he says about that, the gift is in the thanks is in the doing. He's like, what is my thanks? What is my thanks for all this? And really, it's about just the act itself of creating the music.

[B]

It's very gracious attitude for him to have.

[C]

I love that little thing. I love that he does that and says that. And I really appreciate that that's part of the record and that you can listen to it on modern devices.

[B]

Fair enough. Good. You know, I'm glad. This is why I like to give you the last pick on these, because it's always something fucking stupid like that. But that's.

[C]

It's not stupid.

[B]

It's the Denny's drums equivalent of this playlist.

[C]

This is a. This is a substantive Inclusion. This is something that I feel is wrapping it all up in a very holistic way. And I think. Does this little thing also include, like, the Christmas thing when he's, like, wishing you a merry Christmas?

[B]

I don't. Oh, like in that track?

[C]

Yeah, I don't think so. One of these things does.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

I just. I'll mention that you'll be hearing me.

[B]

From me in 1988.

[C]

You'll be hearing from me in 88.

[B]

Okay. Yeah. So look at this. We got Somewhere near Japan. Here's our 20. Somewhere near Japan. Still cruising Kokomo. All great songs. Looking back with Love, Paradise Found from the Mike Love album. Two good songs. Meet me in my dreams Tonight. Santa Ana wins. Melt away. Giving you up. Giving you up. One for the Boys. Male ego keeping the summer alive. I'm so lonely he couldn't get his poor old body to move Time from Carl. Love and Mercy. Endless Harmony. Rio Grande. Let's Go to heaven in my car. And Brian on the Source.

[C]

That's actually a great playlist.

[B]

That's great. No question.

[C]

It's like, all Brian with some, you know, bits of.

[B]

Bits of spice and flotsam and jetsam from the shipwreck of the Beach Boys.

[C]

Yeah, well, there's, you know, some seasonings that. There's, like, some cardamom pods and then there's some, like, bits of literal gristle and bone. But it all. It all makes a. For a more interesting package.

[B]

Complex stew.

[C]

Meal. Complex stew.

[B]

I'm impressed that we were able to get this clean of a playlist out of the 80s in the first place, because I thought it was gonna be a pretty.

[C]

No, I'm impressed, too.

[B]

Pretty tight one. The 90s. I honestly don't know if we're going to be able to pull off a best of the 90s.

[C]

Wait, wait, wait, wait. The fuck did we not include Van Dyke Parks in this, though? Why are we not including?

[B]

Because it's just.

[C]

It's his album.

[B]

It's just the. It's the Beach Boys and associated Acts. That's what we've been doing. Because if we had been doing Van.

[C]

Dyke Parks and Associated Act.

[B]

Yeah, but he's not part of the group themselves.

[C]

But we're not going to have another opportunity to put his shit on this playlist.

[B]

Yeah, but we. That shit is not even streaming in the first place. So we can say it, but it doesn't show up here.

[C]

Let's just say it as honorable mention. I will say my favorite song from Tokyo Rose. It might be the last song. It Might be One More home Run.

[B]

One Home Run.

[C]

Great song. One Home Run, Yeah.

[B]

I mean, listen, if the Van Dyke park stuff was available to us, this would be half of Tokyo Rose to me, Manzanar. Fantastic. The title song, America. One Home Run, like you said, is great. You know, that's a fantastic record, but Lord knows it's not available on any streaming service, at least at this point. And we've kept it, you know, we've kept it Beach Boys focused up until this point. So it feels right to continue that to the extent that we can. But, yes, I mean, the 90s, I think, is gonna be the real test of whether or not we're even able to summon 15, 20 songs.

[C]

Well, we could always just put it down to 15 and call it 15 big ones for the 90s.

[B]

That would be good. Yeah. We might even need to crank it.

[C]

And. No, there's 15, 14 big ones. 12 big ones.

[B]

I mean, you know, between Orange Crate Art and Imagination, I think we can get to 15. And then if you include some of the material from Sweet and Sanity and some of, like, the Andy Paley sessions and stuff, there's a lot of good stuff there. It's just, you know, a lot of it is not actually officially released anyways. That's a problem for another day. Goodbye to the beach boys in the 1980s. We're on to, boy, the greatest decade. That's right. The decade that birthed both of us, the Jokerman.

[A]

People are being loved under the disguise of a record. Something much higher inspired them. A record is only an apparent level of sound and experience, but it's intangible in itself, in that it is art. And art is intangible. Art is not a finite thing. It's an infinite thing. So we wanted somebody, somewhere, to understand what we'd gone through. And at the same time, they could say, well, I do too.

[B]

I can.

[A]

And I can vouch that I went through the same thing. I feel very close to that song. You know, that's the same old story for years now. People that I love that song, what they're really saying is that song makes me feel spiritual. That's all it is. It takes away fear, it adds strength. It's life supporting.