Abject apologies, ladies, but Mike Love did not provide a phone number for honorary Beach Boys drummer John Stamos.
"[He] would throw his cell phone at my head if I divulged that information," he said of the seemingly never-aging actor, who sometimes tours with the band. "He's a good friend, and he loves to come out and play drums. He enjoys it, and we enjoy having him. And so do the girls out there in the audience."
Love (yes, that's his real name, Michael Edward Love), the only remaining member of The Beach Boys, knows something about being enjoyed by girls in the audience. Though it's been a while since the band's teen idol days, The Beach Boys are still out touring. They will headline on the Coke stage tonight at Riverbend, playing some of the band's best-loved hits.
These days, Love has traded in his T-Bird for a Bentley, but he's still having fun fun fun with a sound that has endured for more than 40 years.
"We're from California," he said, of the hot sun, cute girls, riding to the beach with the top down music. "Our first song was called 'Surfin'' and our second issue was 'Surfin' Safari.' Back in those days, we had 45s, and on one side was a surfing song and on the flip side was a car song."
"It's all about that life growing up in Southern California, but it's pretty much identifiable no matter where you are because you're a young person. Who wouldn't want to head to the beach when the weather is right, and who doesn't like a nice car? It was the life we were living, and we chronicled it in those little musical vignettes."
Many of the songs were co-written by Love and his cousin, Brian Wilson, including "Good Vibrations," which was the band's biggest hit of the '60s. The song topped the Billboard chart in October 1966.
"It is so unique," he said, "so many songs are derivative, but 'Good Vibrations' kind of stood apart. It's a perfect song. It's as avant garde today as it ever was. It was kind of like our psychedelic song of the era. It was unique and creative and different, but it was also successful as well."
While the band's hottest days were in the '60s, the musicians scored another No. 1 hit in 1988 with "Kokomo." The inclusion on a soundtrack of a movie starring a young Tom Cruise might not have hurt the airplay time.
"It's, like, the biggest sing-along song we have in our show," he said, "and we have a lot. There's 'Help Me, Rhonda' and 'Fun, Fun, Fun' and all that, people sing along to these songs, but 'Kokomo' is amazing, the crowd responses."
The song also gave a younger generation a Beach Boys song all their own, a testament to how the band's music transcends age.
When Love's now-15-year-old daughter was in the fourth grade, he said, she came home and told her dad that her class's favorite song was 'Wouldn't It Be Nice.' Funny thing about that is it came out 40 years before she said that, on our "Pet Sounds" album in 1966."
Paul McCartney reportedly once said that another song from "Pet Sounds," "God Only Knows," was a favorite of his.
"It's a beautiful song," Love said.
Love is the only remaining original member of the band, a multidecade venture on his part. It's the audience, he said, that keeps him going.
"The fact that you co-created songs that people still like 40, 50 years later is remarkable," he said. "It's a blessing. It came from a hobby to a livelihood."
The music that influenced Love and his cousins was similar to that which influenced The Beatles, doo-wop bands, the Everly Brothers, Chuck Berry and "a whole heck of a lot of people," Love said. Later, he developed a great affection for Motown.
"Talk about The Beatles and Beach Boys," he said, "what about the Temptations? They were incredible. I think The Beatles and Beach Boys are great, but Motown, the entire roster is ridiculous. Ridiculously great. We crossed paths many times back in the day."
Contact Holly Leber at hleber@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6391. Follow her on Twitter at twitter.com/hollyleber.