Mike Love: Or How I'd Learned to Understand Him (A little bit) Take 2

[letsmakeit31]

Over the Years of being a Beach Boys fan. I've always been pretty black and white Brian is God and Mike is the devil. But since being on this board that has changed somewhat. Yes we all know the stories and we all know how short sighted his choices with regards to the band, etc. But I think he was only acting because of a fear of losing it all, Money, status, work, etc. I'm not trying to excuse his behaviour over the years and a lot of it has been bad with the knowledge of hindsight. But ask yourself truthfully if your band member and more importantly a close member of the family getting into drugs, mixing with people you thought wasn't acting in the best interest, Watching Brian having breakdowns, Seeing your career going down the drain while Brian just stays in bed. This is a very general take on Brian's & Mike's relationship. But I do feel that Mike truly loves Brian, But when faced with Brian's breakdowns and illness didn't know or could handle Brian esp when Brian's drug use was known to the band members and family in the mid 60's. I do think and please tell me if I'm wrong that Mike tried to step up and led the band in the best way he thought would benefit himself and the band esp from the mid 70's onwards. When the Wilson Bros lives was going into freefall. I've not read the Smile Sessions essay by Mike but all reports say that he was honest and relayed what he said about Smile for years. Whereas Brian answer changes with the wind. I don't want to be a lover or hater of Brian or Mike at all. But I've learned that their's a lot of grey and nothing is ever clear cut within the Beach Boys world esp with Brian and Mike. No one is perfect but I like to think of Mike as the same as what happened to Pink Floyd during Late 67 to early 68. When Syd Barrett thrown the band in disarray Roger (I think) made the hard and with hindsight cruel choice to cut Syd from the band that Syd led. Roger was maybe only thinking of his own and other people who needed the band to be earning money in order to survive. Again was it the right choice for Roger to do this untimely yes but at such a high price the guilt of Syd's Sacking haunted the band for the rest of their lives. Mike and the other Beach Boys really and truly tried their best to help and support Brian while at the same time getting on with the day to day workings of being a Beach Boy. I'm sure Mike now looks back and wishes he hadn't of done a lot of things he did same as Brian but ask yourself this How would you cope seeing someone you love and rely on for Work, Money, Status, etc breakdown and tried to destroy himself and remember there wasn't a great deal of understanding about mental illness or right answers to help Brian or Syd or anyone else for that matter. End of the day a lot of things could and should of been done or changed to help Brian esp during the 60's and 70's but it wasn't and Mike and the band and the whole family had to go through Brian's Mental illness totally blind and almost without outside help. Whould you of done better? Their is as well the fear factor of if we all admit Brian is "Mad" he will be locked up for good and never be seen or heard of again much like Syd Barrett or Peter Green was. I don't know but I'm glad I didn't have to go what the Beach Boys and family had to go for the past 40 odd years.      

[Runaways]

i assume there's a new idea in here but please use the return button, i can't read blocks of text like that.  PARAGRAPHS MAN. PARAGRAPHS.

[letsmakeit31]

Over the Years of being a Beach Boys fan. I've always been pretty black and white Brian is God and Mike is the devil.
But since being on this board that has changed somewhat.
Yes we all know the stories and we all know how short sighted his choices with regards to the band, etc.
But I think he was only acting because of a fear of losing it all, Money, status, work, etc.
I'm not trying to excuse his behaviour over the years and a lot of it has been bad with the knowledge of hindsight.
But ask yourself truthfully if your band member and more importantly a close member of the family getting into drugs, mixing with people you thought wasn't acting in the best interest, Watching Brian having breakdowns, Seeing your career going down the drain while Brian just stays in bed.
This is a very general take on Brian's & Mike's relationship. But I do feel that Mike truly loves Brian, But when faced with Brian's breakdowns and illness didn't know or could handle Brian esp when Brian's drug use was known to the band members and family in the mid 60's.
I do think and please tell me if I'm wrong that Mike tried to step up and led the band in the best way he thought would benefit himself and the band esp from the mid 70's onwards, When the Wilson Bros lives was going into freefall.
I've not read the Smile Sessions essay by Mike, but all reports say that he was honest and relayed on what he said about Smile for years.
Whereas Brian answer changes with the wind. I don't want to be a lover or hater of Brian or Mike at all.
But I've learned that their's a lot of grey and nothing is ever clear cut within the Beach Boys world esp with Brian and Mike.
No one is perfect but I like to think of Mike as the same as what happened to Pink Floyd during Late 67 to early 68. When Syd Barrett thrown the band in disarray Roger (I think) made the hard and with hindsight cruel choice to cut Syd from the band that Syd led.
Roger was maybe only thinking of his own and other people who needed the band to be earning money in order to survive.
Again was it the right choice for Roger to do this untimely yes but at such a high price the guilt of Syd's Sacking haunted the band for the rest of their lives.
Mike and the other Beach Boys really and truly tried their best to help and support Brian while at the same time getting on with the day to day workings of being a Beach Boy.
I'm sure Mike now looks back and wishes he hadn't of done a lot of things he did same as Brian but ask yourself this, how would you cope seeing someone you love and rely on for Work, Money, Status, etc has breakdowns and tried to destroy himself.
And remember there wasn't a great deal of understanding about mental illness or right answers to help Brian or Syd or anyone else for that matter.
End of the day a lot of things could and should of been done or changed to help Brian esp during the 60's and 70's.
But it wasn't and Mike and the band and the whole family had to go through Brian's Mental illness totally blind and almost without outside help.
Would you of done better?, T here is as well the fear factor of if we all admit Brian is "Mad" he will be locked up for good and never be seen or heard of again much like Syd Barrett or Peter Green was.
I don't know but I'm glad I didn't have to go what the Beach Boys and family had to go for the past 40 odd years.      

[letsmakeit31]

Yeap I've done it again an take 2 if you will lol

[letsmakeit31]

Hope this will be a lot easier to read now

[Jason]

Dude, you know there is a "Modify" button, right?

[letsmakeit31]

Not on the mobile site their isn't and not via my Blackberry too. Not got home internet only mobile for now .

[smile-holland]

no problem, I just merged the two topics.

[letsmakeit31]

Cheers Smile Holland

[MBE]

Yeah Syd was treated a lot worse than Brian and up till that point they had very little to do with the writing. By comparison The Beach Boys had semingly a much bigger chance of surviving without Brian than The Pink Floyd without Syd. Of course being a family The Beach Boys felt differently about each other. I doubt they wanted Brian to leave though. After all through 1973 he didn't have any on stage incidents.  

[letsmakeit31]

I slightly disagree Mike. I think both Syd and Brian situations have a lot in common.
Both were the main "Bread winners" of the groups, Both had breakdowns, And both had their music ideas put down by the rest of their groups. But Brian had a good few years of proven hits behind him and was able to sway the rest of the boys to let him not tour anymore just to product the songs put in the T.V. Shows too.
Syd on the other hand only had a couple of hits and one album behind him and even when the rest of Pink Floyd suggested it would be best for Syd to be the "Brian Wilson" of the band it didn't work out.
Quite rightly since 1968 Pink Floyd spent the rest of their lives feeling guilty and doing their best to make sure that Syd was comfortable in his chosen life.
Brian was still very much part of the band even when he didn't feel or want to be.
And time and time again the rest of the Beach Boys used every means to make sure Brian was still producing the hits. No doubt the rest of the group via hindsight regret some of actions esp Mike.
But also the rest of the Boys esp Carl have done everything in their power to make Brian well esp in 1982 and 1991.   

[MBE]

Well the thing I was trying to stress is that Brian managed better in public for a time. His decline was far less sudden.  

I don't think Brian or Syd had their music ideas put down exactly, Carl didn't like the Fairy Tale at first, or much later the Paley stuff, but Mike most always liked the music if not the lyrics. Things such as the Til I Die story were based on heresay and Mike in particular seemed proud of the track on the webcast Warmth Of The Sun series. Perhaps Floyd felt Vegatable Man and Scream Thy Last Scream were too odd to release, but I don't know if it was a matter of not liking Syd as a writer.

They seemed to have tried to offer him the same situation, but Syd seems to have just stopped cold at that point, only start again later in 1968 after he went solo. I feel they just didn't try as hard for Syd as the Beach Boys did for Brian. Not picking him up, not letting him play when he showed up at sessions or at shows. That never would have happened to Brian. Still Syd does seem to have gotten way worse than Brian in that after 1974 he made no music of any kind. Brian proved to ultimately be stronger, or at least never stopped loving music. If we are using 1967 as a reference point we must remember that Brian being off the road had worked, and that Brian just wasn't as bad as Syd at the time. Maybe in 1975 Brian had reached Syd's level and maybe again in the L.A. Light and cocaine sessions era, but even on things like KTSA or the 1974 sessions, Brian was present in a way Syd was not.  Brian still wrote the majority of Friends, Smiley, and Wild Honey, and even wrote more of Sunflower than anyone else. He incressingly had help, but he stilll was in there working and Syd seems to not have been able to in the same way.

I like Madcap and Barrett a lot, and to be fair the Floyd helped him a lot on them, but he and them just seemed very at odds on their creative motives lay. The Smile set proves that Brian got them to do what he wanted at all times even if there was some shock. From Smiley to Surf's Up Desper has stressed that any time Brian wanted to work everything else stopped and they catered to him. Certainly in the same era they musically complimented each other. If Barrett's solo albums prove he still could work with the Floyd in a loose way, they just couldn't seem to function as the five man group. They were going in different direction far more severe than Brian and the Beach Boys ever did. Remember from 1976-96 Brian went along with the regressive stuff even if inwardly (and occasionally outwardly) he had much more. Even Carl and Dennis stopped fighting it and if anything they seemed to like the oldies mentality even less.

Again this is all from my pov. I wasn't there but I just am using what I have observed in the extant audio and video.

One last thing Mike did do pot through the early seventies, and even acid in 1966, but I feel even then he felt Brian had people around him who were leeching off him and giving things (speed eventually cocaine) that maybe were more damaging. I strongly feel Brian wasn't abusing drugs until the seventies, but his attitude may have been already more reckless. Maybe Mike just had a gut feeling that Brian's reaction to drugs was going to eventually lead to bad places and if so he was right. I can relate. I had a friend who did nothing but drink beer at the time and no more than me, but I knew something was going to happen to him because he seemed to need the beer. He wasn't using it abusively yet, but his reaction to it gave me chills. He later became a hard drug addict with serious mental issues. He's basically living like Syd in his last twenty five years now (a little better pehaps because he does call and sees me if I am in town) but never had a moment of glory.