Do the Kokomotion!
This RTH Glossary entry was developed by Townsman alexmagic, who did the heavy lifting, as he often does, in a comment on an earlier thread. As a side benefit of this entry, the term may satisfy the rock world’s need to claim its own version “jump the shark.”
Kokomotion: The inevitable late phase of an artist’s career trajectory, in which they nakedly attempt to recapture the sound that made them initially famous.
The “Magic Man” illustrated this phase by comparing Paul McCartney’s “Silly Love Songs” with The Beach Boys’ “Kokomo”:
Taste and quality issues aside, I think there is a key difference between “Silly Love Songs” and “Kokomo.”
“Silly Love Songs” was written by a guy who was still in the middle of being an active, successful artist. It’s positioned as a statement of “you can bag on my songs all you want, but look at how rich they keep making me!” Some hubris, there.
“Kokomo” was written by a band long past its prime making a last-ditch effort to get any kind of traction. That it somehow worked is a testament to the commanding presence imparted by the authority of a captain’s hat.
McCartney’s Kokomotive moment, then probably would have been the Give My Regards to Broad Street album, where he was redoing actual Beatles songs. I guess a case could be made for the “Tripping The Live Fantastic” tour, where he started to re-embrace his arena rock status, only with his Beatles’ numbers more heavily in play.
I prefer to think of Broad Street being his “Kokomo,” though, because that would mean that Bryan “FX” Brown would have the distinction of being in both Broad Street and Cocktail, where “Kokomo” itself found its place.
Bryan Brown: Rock’s True Zelig?
For the record, can you identify the Kokomotive moments in other artists’ careers?
Magic Man, as the expert on this newly coined RTH Glossary term, can my other favorite post-Relatively Sane Brian track, “Do It Again,” be considered a premature Kokomotive effort by The Beach Boys? Does the fact that “Do It Again” was not included in the soundtrack to, say, a Rock Hudson movie of the late-’60s tell us something about how timing factors into Kokomotion?
I think maybe when the Beach Boys made Kokomo they had no idea it was a ‘last ditch effort.’ They may have actually thought they were ‘in the middle of being an active, successful artist.’
Steve: I don’t disagree, and I think that tenacity and drive to believe that a Mike Love-led Beach Boys would always be an active, successful artistic unit is one of Love’s strengths. But Cocktail/Kokomo was three years after their last album with plenty of throwback touring and and weird Fat Boys team-up attempts at connecting with the kids in the interim, and the Kokomo video – featuring paid extra bikini-clad babes makin’ eyes at an aging Mike Love wearing some weird Luke Skywalker-esque robe-shirt open down to his navel – tells the real story. Kokomo, with its message of “Mike Love will still have sex with your girlfriend” was the final piece in their campaign to save the Beach Boys brand, after having tackled “The Beach love America more” and “The Beach Boys are still down with the kids” angles.
Mod – Do It Again just comes way too early for them. It’s only 1968, and they hadn’t gone through any of the true weirdness and failure that would put them on the track that led to “Getcha Back”, Kokomo and, inevitably, Stamos. You could probably argue that Do It Again was a last gasp before truly wandering off the path, since I think the next single would have the Manson fingerprints all over the it, and Love You, MIU, The Light Album and Jagger throwing Love’s shoes into the audience were all still to come.
We Built This City surely was Jefferson Airplane/Starship’s Kokomoment–or was it the other way around?
Meat Loaf’s Bat Out of Hell 2: Back to Hell. Same writing partner, same cover art, same long song titles (including lots or parentheticals!) only delivered with more desperation after 15 years or so since the 1st one.
Chart success aside, I could never stand the reformed Yes of the 80s — or their hit”Owner of a Lonely Heart.”
The Who’s “Athena” also falls into this category. Late career bad songs that tarnish a great legacy.
P.S. — I love The Beach Boys, but Kokomo was a Frankenstein’s monster written by John Phillips, Scott McKenzie, Mike Love and Terry Melcher. I really hate that song . . . and Mike Love for turning The Beach Boys into the joke that tours today.
No, I don’t think “Owner of a Lonely Heart,” “Athena,” or “We Built This City” cound as instances of Kokomotion. Remember, by definition the artist must “attempt to recapture the sound that made them initially famous.” If I understand it, the song would have to be “retro” to that artist’s own career. It’s actually hard to think of a lot of established artists who make a last-ditch effort by trying to recapture their original sound. Some artists never leave their original sound (eg, AC/DC) while many never return. Alexmagic, would The Kinks’ “Paranoia” be an instance of Komotion?
I think this is a good example (not good musically, to be clear).
How about the post Michael McDonald Doobie Brothers?
What about that Supernatural turd from Santana? Or is that just a “comeback” of sorts?
TB