John Stamos is perhaps best known for two seemingly polar opposite roles in life. One is his iconic “Uncle Jesse” Katsopolis on the long-running ‘90s ABC sitcom Full House. The other is as the long-time touring drummer for the legendary and game changing rock-pop group, The Beach Boys.
On the heels of his freshly released memoir If You Would Have Told Me becoming a New York Times bestseller, Stamos hits MBE to dish on his big (Greek) life and storied career. But most importantly, he’s here to geek out on some of his favorite tunes: The Beach Boys “perfect song” “God Only Knows,” (natch), Sade’s “By Your Side,” and the Greek classic “Kira Giorgena” by Giannis Kalatzis.
More: John Stamos’ memoir takes him from short-order cook to heartthrob to dad
Read on to check out each song, and what Stamos has to say about them. But reveling in the full audio playback of this one is a must as it includes (but is not limited to): Poignant remembrances about John Stamos’ mom, traditional Greek dancing with Steve Chiotakis, a story about inadvertently leading Sia to become a wedding singer for rising singer-songwriter Jax, Stamos spilling some tea about Tony Danza, and Stamos asking Novena and Anthony if they’ve ever hooked up. What are you waiting for? This is appointment listening.
The following has been edited and condensed for clarity.
The Beach Boys – “God Only Knows”
“God Only Knows” is a perfect song. There's not many perfect songs — “Something” by The Beatles, I think is a perfect song, and “God Only Knows” is perfect. I was on tour with [The Beach Boys]. Mike Love was out in India for a week or something. And so Brian Wilson came back, and what a treat that was. … And for some reason, they thought I was a good influence on him. I was, I think. After [one of the] shows he wanted to find a piano and just sit down and play. We were at this hotel in Canada, and there was one in the ballroom, the doors were locked… But we [got them] to open up, and he sits there for two hours just keeps playing [at one point] he starts writing a song. … And then [he plays] “God Only Knows” so I asked him: “How long did it take you to write that? [He says] “Eight minutes. I just played it through twice. Angels came down and spoke to me. And it just came out.”
Giannis Kalatzis – “Kira Giorgena”
[Editor’s note: John Stamos is very proud of his Greek heritage, something which eventually led to his most iconic character — Uncle Jesse on Full House — having his last name changed from Cochrane to Katsopolis. He selects this song for being the Greek song he’s most familiar with, and we strongly encourage you to dig into the segment audio now (if you haven’t already) for the play by play of John Stamos and Steve Chiotakis “Greek dancing.”]
Sade – “By Your Side”
This song by Sade, “By Your Side” always hits me right in the heart. And part of it was I always wished that I had some girl that would sing it … [well] not sing it sing it, but [someone] that would feel that way towards me… The way Sade sings about whoever she's singing about in that song.