WASHINGTON, D.C., USA — Editor's Note: The video above is from an unrelated story about Independence Day.
Long after their heyday of the 1960's, the Beach Boys were riding the wave of nostalgia in the 1980s. They were among the biggest live concert draws of the era.
The Beach Boys had played in front of hundreds of thousands of people at the Washington Mall in both 1980 and 1981. In 1983, the band was poised to play the July 4 concert at the Mall again.
However, in April of that year, President Ronald Reagan's Interior Secretary James Watt banned all rock concerts from playing at the National Mall. Watt said "hard rock" music "brought the wrong element," citing drug and alcohol use, the Washington Post reported on April 7, 1983.
Instead, Watt invited longtime Las Vegas star Wayne Newton to provide a more 'patriotic, family-based entertainment,' the Post reported.
The decision was met with sharp criticism from both those in Washington and in the media. Many viewed it as a rebuke of the Beach Boys, according to the U.S. House of Representatives History, Art and Archives.
Vice President George H.W. Bush expressed his feelings to Washington Post about Watt's decision, declaring that he was both a fan and friend of the Beach Boys.
"I think for a lot of people (The Beach Boys) are an American institution," President Reagan's Deputy White House Chief of Staff Michael Deaver told CBS News. "Anyone who thinks they are hard rock would think Mantovani plays jazz."
The controversy made its way to the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives where California Rep. George Miller gave a humorous criticism of Watt's decision in a speech dropping the names of numerous Beach Boys songs.
'I was sitting 'in my room' 'all summer long' saying, "'Do you remem- ber,' Mr. Watt, 'Do you remember' those 'Good Vibrations' from the 'Fourth of July' when all we did was 'dance, dance, dance,' 'all summer long' to the Beach Boys in the 'spirit of Americas?''" Miller said according to Congressional records. "But 'help me, Ronald, help, help me Ronald,' 'don't let him run wild.' And if you cannot do it alone, get help from 'Barbara Ann.'"
Rep. Thomas Downey of New York also used humor to criticize the interior secretary.
"Mr. Speaker, the only reason that this could be is because Secretary Watt has not heard the Beach Boys. So I am today sending him my own copy of somewhat scratched from overuse- Good Vibrations, The Best of the Beach Boys," Downey said according to Congressional records. "And if Secretary Watt does not recant, it is my hope that he goes on a permanent 'surfing safari.'"
However, it was President Reagan's rebuke of his cabinet member that would prove to be the harshest.
After both President Reagan and First Lady Nancy Reagan announced they were fans of the Beach Boys, the president awarded Watts a plaster foot with a hole in it, as Watt had metaphorically shot himself in the foot, according to the U.S. House of Representatives History, Art and Archives.
The Reagans apologized to the Beach Boys for Watt and invited them to play at the White House for the 15th-anniversary celebration of the Special Olympics.
Ultimately, Watt did invite the band to play at the Mall, but they declined as they had booked another show elsewhere, according to the Smithsonian Magazine. Yet the controversy only improved the Beach Boys' popularity.
The following year, the Beach Boys returned to the Washington Mall, playing in front of a crowd of more than half a million people, according to the Associated Press. The band would play at the Washington Mall for many more years to come, most recently headlining the Capitol Fourth celebration in 2018 with the Temptations and Jimmy Buffet.