Let's Just Airbrush Dennis Out....

[petsite]

Before:



After:


At least this one sells more concert tickets:

[Aegir]

Hm... that's really awkward. Bruce's hand is still on Mike's shoulder in the edited shot, too!

[c-man]

Hm... that's really awkward. Bruce's hand is still on Mike's shoulder in the edited shot, too!

But if one didn't know better, they think BOTH hands on Mike's shoulders were Al's. 

[Jim V.]

I'm assuming this is post Dennis' death? Wow. Pretty lame.

[Rocky Raccoon]

Hm... that's really awkward. Bruce's hand is still on Mike's shoulder in the edited shot, too!

But if one didn't know better, they think BOTH hands on Mike's shoulders were Al's. 

That was actually from when Thing from The Addams Family was in the band as the new drummer.  He was let go pretty quickly because he could only play with one hand.

[Jay]

Is that airbrushed one an actual promo photo that was used?

[Sav-Man]

I'm assuming this is post Dennis' death? Wow. Pretty lame.

Yeah, it is lame, and not only b/c of Dennis being airbrushed out. By the time Dennis died, Brian had lost a ton of weight from being in Dr. Landy's program (Hawaii, etc.) and no longer looked anything like he does in that picture.

[bossaroo]

holy sh!t that's messed up.

the two phantom hands on Mike's shoulders are beyond creepy... as is the fact that this promo shot ever got approved.

[♩♬🐸 Billy C ♯♫♩🐇]

He was let go pretty quickly because he could only play with one hand.

[Jay]

The hand on the right(our right, Mike's left) is Bruce's(I think?), but what about the hand on the left(our left, Mike's right)? I can't for the life of me figure it out. 

[Rocker]

The hand on the right(our right, Mike's left) is Bruce's(I think?), but what about the hand on the left(our left, Mike's right)? I can't for the life of me figure it out.  

The hand on our right is Al's. On our left is Bruce's

[sockittome]

I never knew that Al was double jointed!

[Disney Boy (1985)]

Sorry to lower the tone, but - Ooh that girl holding the Beach Boys albums is a bit tasty....

[Moon Dawg]

 Not one of Mike's better hats. Wow, the band was looking rough circa 1982. I remember seeing this photo somewhere at the time and being very concerned about both Brian and Dennis.

[adamghost]

I look at that picture, with Bruce looking very dashing and clean-cut indeed and Brian looking like he just crawled out of a dumpster and combed his hair (I mean, how shiny and slick IS his hair in that photo) and I can't help wondering what Brian SMELLED like, and what Bruce was thinking right then.

[Autotune]

For whatever reason Mike looked his worst for a year or two when he shaved his beard in the early 80s.

[Ziggy Stardust]

that was a terrible terrible idea

[DonnyL]

The thing that doesn't make sense about this thing is that they had '83 photos (with a trim Brian) w/ Dennis ... why wouldn't they use those to start with? Makes you feel like this could have been from '82 or earlier in '83 ?

[Custom Machine]

In the original photo Dennis looks airbrushed/pasted in.  Everyone else is sitting or standing up straight, but Dennis' head is tilted way back.  Or, he was in such a condition that he found it necessary to lean back and rest his head on Al's chest.

[Disney Boy (1985)]

Barbara Wilson said to her 'Dennis died inside long before he drowned'. Looking at this sad photo you can really see what she meant - the look in Dennis' eyes just seems to be one of utter defeat.

[MBE]

Even as early as 1977 his eyes look worn and tired even if he was still in decent shape. By 1982 it's really sad.

[petsite]

I should have put up that the bottom photo was for (or so it states) an 1984 concert. Man, they had better pics by then. And yes Dennis does look defeated. But in 1983 he looks like he isnt even present anymore. I would have hated to be one of his long time friends then (Fred Vail or Ed Roach). What a freaking heartbreak.

I can see Mike's reaction in the EH doc as being callous. But he was not trying to be. He said "He finally did...he finally killed himself. Now maybe he can finally be at peace somewhere".

And that is all we wanted for Dennis (and Brian and Carl). To be at peace somewhere.

[Rocker]

I can see Mike's reaction in the EH doc as being callous.

I don't think so. Imo he seems more angry that Dennis brought himself to such an end.

[HeyJude]

This is definitely a weird one. I hadn't seen the '82 and '83 band publicity pics in years (if ever) until they both popped up in the "Add Some Music To Your Day" book from several years back (the one that compiled stuff from a fanzine).

As someone else pointed out, they had a later "posed" band pic of all six BB's from 1983 after Brian had slimmed down, so it's weird that in 1984 they went back to a photo from 1982 when Brian looked vastly different (and that's not even getting into the possibility that at a given show in 1984, Brian may not have been in attendance, as his attendance at BB shows from 1984 and on was spotty).

Granted, normally when you pull a two-year old photo of a band, it usually shouldn't be such a big issue. I don't recall the posing of the '83 photos; maybe it was harder to airbrush Dennis out of that one.

I'd also be curious to know who airbrushed it. Was it the venue, the booking agency, CBS/Caribou, or Brother, or someone else? Venues promoting shows usually just get a stock photo from management to use, so it seems more likely somebody in the BB camp chose the photo and did the airbrushing. Weird stuff.

[Ian]

The BBs management was always pretty lazy about that kind of stuff-I have ads from 1966 that use pics from 1964 (with Brian) and concert ads from 1980-82 often used a photo of them all from 1979 rather than anything new.  On the 1970 Australian tour the promo pics were from 1964 as well!!