The Beach Boys Made a Rap Song… And That’s Not the Worst Part

About this episode

The episode explores the Beach Boys' unusual album 'Summer in Paradise' and its impact on music history.

The Beach Boys undoubtedly changed pop music forever. But they also cut an album so strange that it's basically been erased from music history. In this episode of Tape Spaghetti, Scott & Blake take a look at Summer in Paradise, the Beach Boys' bizarre attempt at reclaiming their throne with a "modern" summer soundtrack. With Brian Wilson out of the picture, the Mike Love-led Beach Boys wanted to see if they could get lightning to strike twice after the unlikely success of "Kokomo." The result was a fully digital, Pro Tools-powered sound experiment packed with synthetic everything, recycled ideas, and... a Beach Boys rap?? Here's how a band once at the forefront of pop innovation chased its own past to the tune of album so bad it hurts.

People in this episode

Hosts: Blake Wyland, Scott Marquart

Topics covered

• Beach Boys
• music history
• pop music
• album analysis
• strange music
• rap in pop
• digital music production

Keywords

• Beach Boys
• Summer in Paradise
• Kokomo
• Brian Wilson
• Mike Love
• pop music
• music history
• rap song
• digital music

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: The Beach Boys

Books & works: Summer in Paradise, Kokomo

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