Why is "Kokomo" by the Beach Boys voted consistently as a bad song?

[Bladian]

I don't get it. Maybe being a 90's child I wouldn't understand the nuances, but I think it's a great song. I mean it's appeared on Worst Songs lists. What's the dealio?

[NightWatcher]

1. 2 reasons: 1. It sucks 2. They played it to death, reinforcing the suckitude

[Bladian]

2. I guess I just don't get why it sucks.

Like I said, I like it. Guess it's a personal taste issue though.

[idiotgardener]

3. Probably for the lyrics "Come on pretty mama"

It's catchy though.

[cemaphonic]

4. For me, it's one of those songs that's both catchy and annoying

So when you hear it, it sticks in your head for awhile.

Ir also has some sort of oldies radio exemption. For the most part, oldies radio doesn't play anything after about 1973 or so, even by 60s artists that had hits after that time. But they play that song, and since I discovered classic rock in the late 80s, they played it all the freaking time.

[OriginalGeek]

5. I think people who hate it are either comparing it to classic Beach Boys

or they just never liked the Beach Boys at all. It is a catchy tune but it is nowhere near the awesomeness of 60s Beach Boys.


If I was driving down the road flipping through radio stations and landed on that, I'd keep going.

I would NEVER do that for Little Deuce Coup or 409 or Good Vibrations or I Get Around or pretty much anything else they did.

[Phentex]

18. Yes, that's how I feel about it...

not strong enough to hate it, but I think annoying and catchy sums it up.

[Tom Ripley]

6. Because it smells like Mike Love

[Shagbark Hickory]

7. Because of the movie Cocktail n/t

[Taverner]

8. Two words: Mike Love

The Beach Boys, before then, never relied on such cheap cliches for pop songs.

Yeah, you had your 'Johnny Carson' every so often, but hey, if that song wasn't about Johnny Carson, it'd be a great song!

[Bladian]

9. I've been listening to it way too much today.

I'll probably get sick of it soon.

[dawg]

10. Is there anywhere, remotely tropical, called Kokomo?

As far as I know, it's a landlocked town in Indiana.

[Bladian]

13. There's one in Hawaii.

If that counts.

[Bake]

11. Because not only does it suck major, it is the worst Beach Boys song ever.

And frankly, that's saying a lot.

:hide:

Bake

[Amerigo Vespucci]

12. It's a shadow of even their worst song from their peak years

It was a calculated effort to "sound like the Beach Boys."

Brian wasn't involved. He wasn't asked. In later years he said "It would have been nice of they asked me."

It's not that it's a "bad" song...even though I think it is. Rather, in the canon of great Beach Buys music, it's a "completely unnecessary song."

[mokawanis]

14. Everything about it sucks rancid eggs

I hate the lyrics. I hate the music. I hate the lame romantic nature of the song. And yes, I hate the Blahboys too.

[Throd]

15. It sucks shit through a straw. It truly does.

[Poll_Blind]

16. That nasty was spammed all over MTV 24/7 and was just a vehicle for "Cocktail" which...

...was (apparently) a solid hour and a half of men flipping bottles and cups and, somehow, improbably, getting laid because of their bottle handling skills. That was just, of course, the tip of the awfulberg, some of the finer points being covered by other posters, upthread.

Video of the trial and execution of Nicolae & Elena Ceaușescu is still my first choice if Kokomo is the other and they run about the same length.

PB

[BiggJawn]

17. Because Kokomo is in Indiana

And Indiana, Axl Rose and John Mellencamp notwithstanding, is pretty un-cool.

[ashling]

19. I don't think it sucked

especially considering a lot of other stuff that was out back then. It was kind of cheesy, though, and it played like every other song.

But I kind of like it because it makes me remember my baby daughters - one was in 2d grade and one was in diapers.
They are both married and flown the coop now.