Brian Wilson: “I believe that music is God’s voice.”
Was watching the much derided infamous Mike Love Hall of Fame Rant and found myself actually digging it. It’s horrible when he’s messing with a clearly nervous out of his mind Brian, but actually when he went up he basically said the same things that The Sex Pistols said and actually had the guts to show up at the same time. On the one hand he’s probably correctly calling out Paul McCartney for not having the Peace and Love to show respect for the award, then he does ten minutes on what a bull shit corporate award it is in the first place. John Lennon always thought his band was the best in the world. Mike Love did too. It’s very Rock and Roll and very pre-Eminem rap battle. Now I saw a picture of him with Donald Trump and he’s always been a Republican I think, but at least here he is rightly talking about how much we in America overrate our self importance in the world. He gives a Muslim shout out the Muhammad Ali. Then he challenges the best in Rock and Roll History to get on stage and out rock him. So 30 years later Rock On Mike Love!
Sail on Sailor – The Beach Boys
Man, I think I’ve read maybe six books about the Beach Boys and seen at least four movies about them, including Helter Skelter, in both categories. Anyway, where the hell did this come from? I knew John Stamos was sort of in the band for some time, but when was there a black guy in The Beach Boys? Will people stop writing books about Pet Sounds and tell me when the hell there was a black guy in the Beach Boys? Hey, props to Blondie Chaplin for saving the guys from being as white as their idols the Four Freshmen. This should have been a disaster, but hey after it’s all over, I’m thinking that a Stevie Wonder collaboration with Brian Wilson might have been much more productive than his time with Paul McCartney. And stop acting like you knew there was a black guy in the Beach Boys. I could show you a live film clip of them performing this. You’d recognize it as a Beach Boys song, you’d see Mike Love wearing that stupid hat he started wearing when he lost his hair, and you’d still be muttering to yourself “when was there a black guy in the Beach Boys?”
A short somewhat relevant anecdote
I was once sitting on the floor of my friend’s kitchen with my red 1962 copy Japanese Telecaster. I can’t play it very well, but I’m really good at using it as a prop. There was another guy there who I’d just met, sort of one of your Ohio biker types (there’s never been a movie about these people and really there shouldn’t ever be one either.) I asked him what kind of music he liked and he told me that he wasn’t much of a music snob; he just liked The Beach Boys. “Cool,” I said, “Are you a Pet Sounds guy or are you an anti- Pet Sounds guy.” What he actually was, was someone who didn’t really appreciate those kinds of questions. Definitely, an anti-Pet Sounds guy even though I’m sure he’s never heard anything off of it besides Sloop John B. (If you’re not a music dork like me it’s essentially the difference between Brian Wilson aiming for high art and Brian Wilson writing Fun, Fun, Fun – there are others who argue that Fun, Fun, Fun was high art but those wise guys are really just trying to fuck with intelligent discourse for their own amusement – OK, I admit it – it’s usually me). Keith Moon was an anti- Pet Sounds guy, too and look how much fun he was for a while. I’m a Pet Sounds guy. This dude probably just liked to hold bikini clad women on his shoulders. Actually, I’d like to hold bikini clad women on my shoulders, but I’d drop them or fall down in less than half of Help me Rhonda.
Warmth of the Sun – The Beach Boys
I’m guessing that Mike Love is probably not the greatest guy in the world, but I’ve always thought he got a much worse rap than he deserves.
First of all, the guy is never mentioned when songwriting authorship is concerned. Every time I’ve read about how Brian Wilson created the California Myth of fast cars, surfing, and sun, I’ve wondered how the hell he could have done it given his admitted ignorance of both fast cars and surfing. I’m guessing there were also a bunch of years where he didn’t get much sun either.
I’ve done my damnedest to try and figure out which lyrics were the responsibility of Love, Brian, Jan Berry, Roger Christian or basically anything not written by Tony Asher or Van Dyke Parks. My guess is that Love had way more to do with the lyrics and their rhythmic construction than anyone wants to acknowledge and my suspicions were pretty much confirmed by hearing the guy talk intelligently about the subject on Howard Stern once.
The biggest knock people have with him, OK besides his own often stupid behavior, is his resistance to the move from the Fun, Fun, Fun million selling single Beach Boys to Brian’s more artistic album oriented Pet Sounds vision. I’d prefer that Mike had supported his cousin, but can you really blame the guy for his position? He was living the high life and suddenly he’s not included on the writing, his cousin is doped out of his mind, and Van Dykes Park is running around the studio refusing to interpret his lyrics because he hasn’t really much more of an understanding of them than Love does. I’d be a bit worried too. Brian made some great music, but in the long run Mike Love was probably right about the drugs. Maybe his family’s lack of support had as much to do with Brian’s collapse as his drug use. Who knows?
I wouldn’t want Love’s legacy, but he was in his late 20’s and I’m not without sympathy for the guy who’s been cast aside Murray Wilson as the ogre in the saga of America’s band.
God Only Knows – The Beach Boys
Heroes and Villains – The Beach Boys
Let’s defend another lyricist, while we are at it. No one hates advertising more than I do, but Tony Asher also gets a bad rap because he once participated in it and Pet Sounds flopped, while Van Dyke Parks’ legend (myth?) only grew when Smile disappeared. I’ve always thought the lyrics he did for Pet Sounds were every bit as beautiful and complex (in many ways through their simplicity) as the music.
Your Imagination – Brian Wilson
Brian Wilson now lives in Illinois. Who knows why? The leader of the Beach Boys needed to get out of the sun to get sane?
Here’s the crazier part to me. The guy who wrote the lyrics to this song is a radio talk show host named Steve Dahl, sort of Chicago’s answer to Howard Stern and the man behind the Comiskey Park Disco Demolition riot of 1979.
I may have the chronology a little messed up here, but I started listening to Dahl, when I got to Northwestern in 1984 and listened until I left for San Francisco in 1989. Somewhere along the way Dahl read Steven Gaines’ Beach Boys biography Heroes and Villains and reveled in the insanity – Brian in bed, the Maharishi, the Mansons, the drugs. He wound up to some extent making a television movie out of it, which given Dahl’s constant derision of its main character turned out to be much better than it probably deserved to be.
Not letting it go, Dahl finally got Wilson on his radio show; during what I’m pretty sure was still his Dr. Landy period. Wilson came into the studio and immediately went into a weird coughing fit, barely able to speak begging for a cough drop. Dahl repeated the clip roughly as many times as Gilligan’s Island and The Brady Bunch were aired in syndication during the ‘70’s. I have absolutely no idea how he went from this to collaborating with Wilson on what I think is his best solo single. Irving Berlin never phoned up Wagner did he? After awhile, I suppose you have to stop wondering about the insanity of true genius and just enjoy the music.
Smile – Brian Wilson
I think the great thing about the end of this saga was that Brian Wilson was saved by his fans. He got some people around him to tell him that they worshiped him and that they loved him no matter what the final result was, and he finally busted through the brick wall project that nearly dragged him down to the bottom of his sea of tunes.
Just saw this thanks
I could not resist commenting. Exceptionally well written!|