Way back in 1979 there was a fairly awful movie called Americathon starring John Ritter. (Elvis Costello made an appearance in one scene.) The story was set in 1998 or thereabouts. At the beginning of the film a car radio is playing, and the DJ announces a new Beach Boys single like this: "Still going strong after 40 years ... THE BEACH BOYS!" Everyone in the theatre laughed, it sounded so ridiculous. Yet here were are a full decade later than the year in which Americathon took place, and Brian Wilson is a vital artist still putting out new material, The Beach Boys might regroup, and so many '60s and '70s generation musicians are still recording and touring -- and selling (!) -- in their 50s and 60s that some weeks here on the ICE boards I feel like we're looking at new release schedules from 1978, not 2008. How long do you think they can keep it up? Will the Stones still be putting out new material in their 70s? Will Springsteen still be selling out the Garden in 2028?

When I was a kid I thought that once I got older I would listen to Guy Lombardo/Lawerence Welk-type music, because that's what older people around me listened to back then. Now as I approach the big 5-0 I doubt that's going to happen. I'm generalizing here, but I think that as most people get older they keep listening to whatever was popular in their youth. For our grandparents that was Guy Lombardo -- for us it's the Beach Boys, Springsteen, etc. Thus, I think these musicians will have a job as long as they want one.

Yeah...it was a fairly awful movie, but I'd still like to see a DVD and a CD soundtrack release. In fact, that would be a good way to give some legs to the standard DVD market...include CD soundtracks as part of the package.

I think there is a Beach Boys song unique to that soundtrack.

"It's A Beautiful Day" (but I thought it had since appeared on a few compilations):

It also included a different version of "Get a Move On" by Eddie Money that didnt appear until his "Playing for Keeps" album the following year..

Jeff

Only the long-OOP Ten Years Of Harmony, as far as I know.

Last year, I commented that Barry Manilow had a top ten album and that the Bionic Woman was on network TV. Was it 1977 or 2007???

If Americathon gets released on DVD, I wonder if Mike Love will sue to have the derogatory Beach Boys reference deleted.

The soundtrack for Americathon also had two Elvis Costello tracks, "I Don't Want to Go to Chelsea" and "Crawling to the USA," the only place you could find them in the US at the time. Both later showed up on the Taking Liberties comp.

I remember buying the Americathon soundtrack at a record convention for $2.00.

The 30th Anniversary DVD of The Wiz includes a CD of some (but not all) of the performances from the movie. I'd like to see this become a trend.

Someone has uploaded the Americathon trailer to YouTube:

Don't forget the Firesign Theatre connection; they had a co-writing credit (probably the best thing about the movie).

I think we're in unchartered waters here. Artists such as Chuck Berry, Little Richard and Bo Diddley performed into their 70's and beyond, but they had long since ceased producing any new material. Dylan & Paul McCartney are still making new material and performing as they approach 70, and The Stones and others will be there soon.I think as these artists age their appeal will become more selective, but we may very well see Mick and Keith at 77 doing "Little Red Rooster" or "Love In Vain"

Interesting that they misspell Eddie Money's name in the trailer

A very young Jay Leno stars in one scene:

I recognize the chin.

I wonder who originally had his role before he stole it.