1. For years I heard that Brian had spent eight years in bed doing acid. But in the Larry King interview with the pesky Melinda doing most of the talking, Brian said he had only taken acid three or four times.
Brian says different things on different days. Once he said he took acid twice. Another time he said he took it a LOT. Hell, once, he denied ever dropping acid.
2. People always say Mike sued Brian for writing credits to the songs, and this is in fact true. But it was Murry Wilson who had kept Mike's name off as lyricist, not Brian. I don't think there's much argument about this.
That's absolutely true...but eventually it did become Brian's responsibility to make sure the proper credit was given.
4. It's frequently said that Bruce Johnston wrote "I Write the Songs" about Brian. But Bruce has said that he wrote it about "music," a spirit that influences writers and musicians. It's the spirit of music that speaks in the song.
I could have sworn that one time he DID say he wrote it about Brian...I'll have to check my references...
7. Dennis is the only Beach Boy to surf. Actually, although not an original Beach Boy, Bruce was an avid surfer, and was recording hit surfing music in 1962 with Bruce & Terry. Who did surf music first? Jan & Dean, who said the Beach Boys "stole our sound," Bruce & Terry (not likely), whoever did "Wipe Out," or The Beach Boys?
I think "Moon Dawg" is considered to be the first surf tune, so whoever did the original "Moon Dawg," which the BB covered on
Surfin' Safari, probably deserve that credit.
BTW, yeah, the Beach Boys definitely did steal from Jan & Dean..."Surfin'" is VERY Jan & Dean, especially Mike's vocal...then Jan & Dean kind of borrowed from the Beach Boys' beach-and-car sounds...then Brian learned how to do the wall-of-sound stuff from Jan Berry.
9. Mike sued Al Jardine over the use of the name Beach Boys. It was Brother Records that was responsible for this lawsuit.
I have it on unquestionably one of the best authorities that this is true...but when I commented on that once, Matt Jardine PMed me and said that Mike absolutely did sue Al over the name...
10. Van Dyke Parks wrote the lyrics to Pet Sounds. Okay, this is not a big mystery, but Brian says as much in the Beach Boys: An American Band documentary. Tony Asher wrote these lyrics so closely associated with Brian. Why is he seldom mentioned?
When talking about
Pet Sounds, Tony Asher is mentioned quite a lot. VDP didn't write any
Pet Sounds lyrics. I THOUGHT VDP said he did in
An American Band (Brian never said that in said documentary) but someone on this board pointed out that it's not what he really said...or meant...or something...
11. Is the influence of Pet Sounds on The Beatles exaggerated? Okay, Paul McCartney liked "God Only Knows." But Sgt. Pepper doesn't seem similar to Pet Sounds in any way. Or is it Revolver that was supposed to be similar. Again...
Revolver did have a bit of
Pet Sounds influence -- I think "Here, There, and Everywhere" was McCartney's attempt to do his own "God Only Knows."
But an album doesn't need to be similar to be an influence, but you can definitely hear the influence. Of course, we know about "God Only Knows," like you pointed out....and in
Anthology McCartney said that he was trying to get a Beach Boys-esque sound for "Penny Lane." Well...I couldn't understand what the heck he meant because I always thought it was NOTHING like anything the Beach Boys ever did...but...when the Mrs. and I saw
Love the first time, it hit me when they were playing Beatles backing tracks before the show started, and "Penny Lane" was among the backing tracks. (Man, what I'd do to befriend whoever's in charge of the pre-show music....) And it hit me: "Penny Lane" = "Wouldn't It Be Nice."
But yeah....
Sgt. Pepper's clearly took some cues from
Pet Sounds:
- Both albums had 13 tracks, which was unusual. (American albums usually had 11 or 12; UK albums had 14.)
- The music was a pretty far departure from both bands' prior output, yet it was still unquestionably them.
-
Pet Sounds had animals at the end.
Sgt. Pepper's had animals near the end.
- Probably just coincidence, but
Pet Sounds was the only new Beach Boys album of 1966, and
Sgt. Pepper's was the only new Beatles album of 1967. [Remember,
Magical Mystery Tour was only an album in the U.S.]
Not just Paul, but George Martin also has discussed several times the importance of
Pet Sounds and its influence on
SPLHCB.