• by Steve Smith , Staff Writer @popeyesm, August 31, 2011

The last music video I can recall from the Beach Boys was for their comeback hit Kokomo in the late 80s, which included only a partial crew that had no Brian Wilson and included a conga-playing John Stamos. A better version was made for the Muppet Beach Party album, with Kermit the Frog singing lead. The closest thing I can recall to an effective Beach Boys video was their appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show in 1968 when the band's Good Vibrations performance was superimposed on kaleidoscopic views of the band walking about. It was vintage 1960s TV struggling to catch up to hip.

Clearly, this is a band that can use a hand when it comes to video production. And so they have turned to the crowdsource marketing engine at Tongal to create two videos for the Nov. 1 release of "The SMiLe Sessions" album. Members of the Tongal creative community can help concept and create videos for the "Good Vibrations" and "Heroes and Villains" tracks. As Beach Boys aficionados know, "SmiLE" was planned originally as a follow-up to the 1966 "Pet Sounds" LP, and was not released. Some version of "SmiLE" was issued several years ago, but this promises to be the "definitive" session recordings.

Tongal is using a two stage process for soliciting ideas. The first concept stage that started yesterday invited 250 word descriptions of a video project. Tongal users will then select one of five winners to create videos for the second phase. $10,000 in prizes and gifts are part of the project, including a Hobie longboard signed by the band members.

Tongal just recently scored a viral video win with one of its member's projects for Duck brand tape. Now making the rounds online the clip channels the racing sequences from TRON as multi-colored rolls of tape compete in what turns out to be an aging geek's fantasy. The end shot of a doughy middle-aged fan boy with a bowling ball-sized paunch squeezed into a TRON outfit is worth a viewing in and of itself.

We're guessing that in the case of these Beach Boys videos we will be seeing a lot of obligatory trippy effects. Here's hoping for a little more Kermit this time than Sullivan.