Music news these days is full of stories about octogenarians trying, and often failing, to perform for paying audiences. Barry Manilow, Lionel Richie and Rod Stewart, – all have had to cancel shows in the past few months because their failing health wouldn’t allow them to continue.
None of these people need the money (net worth: Manilow $100 million, Richie $200 million, Stewart $300 million), but they apparently can’t live without the applause of the crowd. But while they’re no longer in top form, they can still give some semblance of a credible performance.
Not so Mike Love, the last Beach Boy still performing as one. His voice is down to a feeble croak, and he’s so far over the sandhill that he has to be helped onstage. Last weekend he couldn’t even stand – he mumbled a few lyrics while sitting in a chair as what amounts to a cover band played behind him. But he refuses to throw in the aloha shirt, as detailed in this Paste magazine story headlined “Surfin’ DOA.”
His chief enabler at this point is actor John Stamos, who has occasionally appeared with the band since the ’80s. He sang the Dennis Wilson-penned tune “Forever,” a song from the 1970 Beach Boys album “Sunflower, on two different episodes of his TV sitcom “Full House” in the early ’90s, and on the band’s 1992 album “Summer in Paradise.” Now it could be the theme song for a tour that Mike Love intends to continue, well, forever.
Here’s the original version, with Dennis Wilson singing lead.
“Surfin’ DOA”!!