UNCUT Magazine: Brian, Mike & Bruce feature

[Disney Boy (1985)]

There's a nice feature in the latest Uncut magazine in which Brian, Mike and Bruce comment on photos of the band from various key points in their career.

There's a photo of Brian from the '80's in the midst of his Dr Landy treatment - Mike and Bruce comment on how well he looks; Brian however just seems troubled by the photo and says 'it doesn't even look like me'. Which, of course, it doesn't.

There's also a photo of the band taken not long after Dennis' death. Mike, tactful as always, describes Dennis' death as 'a drag'. Paul McCartney was given a real hard time after he commented that Lennon's death was 'a drag', but as has often been pointed out since he was still in shock when he said it. Mike however has now had three decades to get over Dennis' death and it'd be nice if he could show just a little more compassion towards his late cousin just for once, instead of always being so flippant about it.

Anyway, it's a nice, interesting feature. Worth a look.

[Cabinessenceking]

There's a nice feature in the latest Uncut magazine in which Brian, Mike and Bruce comment on photos of the band from various key points in their career.

There's a photo of Brian from the '80's in the midst of his Dr Landy treatment - Mike and Bruce comment on how well he looks; Brian however just seems troubled by the photo and says 'it doesn't even look like me'. Which, of course, it doesn't.

There's also a photo of the band taken not long after Dennis' death. Mike, tactful as always, describes Dennis' death as 'a drag'. Paul McCartney was given a real hard time after he commented that Lennon's death was 'a drag', but as has often been pointed out since he was still in shock when he said it. Mike however has now had three decades to get over Dennis' death and it'd be nice if he could show just a little more compassion towards his late cousin just for once, instead of always being so flippant about it.

Anyway, it's a nice, interesting feature. Worth a look.

Dennis and Mike may not have come along well at anytime but Mike sure proves at least once a month that he is perhaps the biggest douche in RnR history.

[SMiLE Brian]

I don't think showing Brian landy-era pictures was a good idea. Such a creepy chapter in his life.

[wantsomecorn]

It's honest though, and especially such a big part of Brian's (and the band as whole) life that ignoring that whole decade of abuse wouldn't be right at all. They might as well of acted like Dennis and Carl had never died, it would have been the same level of glossing over a very real, painful moment in their history for the sake of making Brian feel slightly less awkward for a magazine article.

[SMiLE Brian]

I just meant from an interview point of view, people who interview Brian usually never get much out of him if they remind him of Murry or Landy in my opinion.

[hypehat]

Mike and Bruce saying that Brian looked good in the eighties under Landys 'supervision' is ridiculous - Brian nearly bloody died, and Mike was one of the staunchest advocates to get him out of the bastards care.

Not saying its in any way malicious, just more, forgetful? Tactless?

[Jim V.]

Mike and Bruce saying that Brian looked good in the eighties under Landys 'supervision' is ridiculous - Brian nearly bloody died, and Mike was one of the staunchest advocates to get him out of the bastards care.

Not saying its in any way malicious, just more, forgetful? Tactless?

Probably not mean spirited or forgetful. They just looked at the picture and saw Brian looking good. He hadn't looked that thin since, what, 1962? And compared to how he looked in like 1982, how could one not say how good he looked.

His health on the other hand, well that was a different story.

[drbeachboy]

I always thought Brian looked terrific at the Live Aid concert in Philly. That was around 1985 and right in the heart of the second Landy era.

[wantsomecorn]

I assumed he meant "good" as in physically healthy. What else could he rally say, it's not like he was going to tease Brian about his mental illness.

[Shady]

Brian's right. He looked like a completely different person in the 80's

[SamMcK]

At least he's still got a full head of hair!

[♩♬🐸 Billy C ♯♫♩🐇]

At least he's still got a full head of hair!

he's the only Beach Boy who does"

[KittyKat]

Mike has said that Brian looked best when he lost a lot of weight and was exercising, and he's right about that. Brian looked great in the '80s due to the exercise and diet part of the Landy regimen. I think Brian himself may have liked looking that good, weight-wise and muscle-wise.  A source of regret might be the multiple plastic surgeries he had to tighten up skin from losing a lot of weight and also to look younger. The facelift and eye work made him look younger, but it also made him not look as much like himself. I recently watched a video on YouTube from the "Endless Summer" TV show in the late 1980s, and while Brian looked conventionally handsome and slim in a way he never looked at any other time in his life, he looked more like some young actor playing Brian Wilson than Brian Wilson.

[Sheriff John Stone]

I always thought Brian looked terrific at the Live Aid concert in Philly. That was around 1985 and right in the heart of the second Landy era.

Yeah, as I recall, that was the first time I saw Brian without his beard in years (other than that short period around Knebworth in 1980). It was quite emotional seeing him up on stage, participating. I was really excited until I heard the post-show interview he and Carl did with MTV's Mark Goodman. Brian was gone....

[Pinder's Gone To Kokomo And Back Again]

There's a nice feature in the latest Uncut magazine in which Brian, Mike and Bruce comment on photos of the band from various key points in their career.

There's a photo of Brian from the '80's in the midst of his Dr Landy treatment - Mike and Bruce comment on how well he looks; Brian however just seems troubled by the photo and says 'it doesn't even look like me'. Which, of course, it doesn't.

There's also a photo of the band taken not long after Dennis' death. Mike, tactful as always, describes Dennis' death as 'a drag'. Paul McCartney was given a real hard time after he commented that Lennon's death was 'a drag', but as has often been pointed out since he was still in shock when he said it. Mike however has now had three decades to get over Dennis' death and it'd be nice if he could show just a little more compassion towards his late cousin just for once, instead of always being so flippant about it.

Anyway, it's a nice, interesting feature. Worth a look.

Jeez! Mike can't win! He says it's a "drag" and he has no compassion, yet if he cried and said he misses Dennis he'll be called a liar with crocodile tears.... I can completely understand his need to keep an emotional distance... if I were him, I'd either never do an interview again or just come right out and say "f*** all you fan boys who think I'm happy Dennis died" ..... Or something.... Then again saying something's a "drag" is saying it sucks and Dennis being dead certainly sucks! So, it's not like he wasn't right.....

[Andrew G. Doe]

Paul McCartney was given a real hard time after he commented that Lennon's death was 'a drag', but as has often been pointed out since he was still in shock when he said it.

That's bullshit. When my father died, I was there, but I didn't go around telling people "My dad died, it's a drag". As ever, people fall over themselves to cut St. Paul of McCartney some slack. That kind of sycophancy repulses me: why can't they just admit, dude made a tasteless comment. He's human, it happens.

[♩♬🐸 Billy C ♯♫♩🐇]

Some people handle death differently. My best friend had a similar reaction when his wife died but once it really hit him it was a different story. Me? I'm so used to people close to me dying you'd think I'd be numb to it by now. I'm not...

[HeyJude]

That's bullsh*t. When my father died, I was there, but I didn't go around telling people "My dad died, it's a drag". As ever, people fall over themselves to cut St. Paul of McCartney some slack. That kind of sycophancy repulses me: why can't they just admit, dude made a tasteless comment. He's human, it happens.

I actually think it's bullsh*t to assume how someone else will react or to assume what they're thinking about death, or anything else for that matter. None of us have any idea what McCartney or you or anybody else were or are thinking about anybody's death. I've seen people react in really bizarre ways to death, so nothing is off the table as far as I'm concerned.

To suggest that anyone who might have some empathy or sympathy for what very much was an apparent "tasteless" comment is somehow a sycophant is ridiculous. This is the same stuff as the Brian Wilson crap. Just because someone criticizes Mike Love and/or "defends" something Brian Wilson did doesn't make them a "Brianista" or a "bloooey" or whatever other weird assumption continues to be made about others and their comments.

Back to the topic at hand, the Beach Boys have always been plenty weird and awkward in interviews. Reflecting back on pictures or footage can get weird. I remember when Joan Rivers hosted the Carson show when the BB's were on circa 1984, and they played clips of the 1980 DC show, and that just seemed awkward. Carl and Bruce kind of looked the same four years later, nobody else did, and of course Dennis was gone of course.

[Alan Smith]

Jeez! Mike can't win! He says it's a "drag" and he has no compassion, yet if he cried and said he misses Dennis he'll be called a liar with crocodile tears.... I can completely understand his need to keep an emotional distance... if I were him, I'd either never do an interview again or just come right out and say "f*** all you fan boys who think I'm happy Dennis died" ..... Or something.... Then again saying something's a "drag" is saying it sucks and Dennis being dead certainly sucks! So, it's not like he wasn't right.....

+1, dude can't get a break

Would love to see him throwing it down - been to long since the hall of fame

[Jukka]

That's bullsh*t. When my father died, I was there, but I didn't go around telling people "My dad died, it's a drag". As ever, people fall over themselves to cut St. Paul of McCartney some slack. That kind of sycophancy repulses me: why can't they just admit, dude made a tasteless comment. He's human, it happens.

John Lennon said that when he heard about Stu Sutcliffe's (his best friend) death, he just started to laugh uncontrollably. Just pointing out, when dealing with this kind of stuff, people's reactions can vary wildly, and it doesn't mean they're cold, unfeeling or tasteless.

And Macca, being the most PR-oriented beatle of them all, would certainly have come up with a better statement if he hadn't been in a some sort of shock. Just my two cents, baby!

[bgas]

At least he's still got a full head of hair!

he's the only Beach Boy who does"

ahh, but do we know for certain it is still growing? perhaps he's actually bald and has a great wig provider?

[The Shift]

At least he's still got a full head of hair!

he's the only Beach Boy who does"

ahh, but do we know for certain it is still growing? perhaps he's actually bald and has a great wig provider?

Only AGD could make such a superb wig – let's ask him!

[Loaf]

So Mike and Brian were shown pics of emotionally turbulent times in their lives, and people expect them to suddenly get all introspective and deep and reveal some inner turmoil in front of each other and strangers...?

What's most likely is that these guys were trying to keep it superficial to avoid getting into the trauma.

"Brian in the 1980s? Yeah, how was that for you, being drugged and estranged from your family and under the control of Landy?"

Or... "You looked good. Next picture."


Don't read too much into it.

[I. Spaceman]

That's bullsh*t. When my father died, I was there, but I didn't go around telling people "My dad died, it's a drag". As ever, people fall over themselves to cut St. Paul of McCartney some slack. That kind of sycophancy repulses me: why can't they just admit, dude made a tasteless comment. He's human, it happens.

John Lennon said that when he heard about Stu Sutcliffe's (his best friend) death, he just started to laugh uncontrollably. Just pointing out, when dealing with this kind of stuff, people's reactions can vary wildly, and it doesn't mean they're cold, unfeeling or tasteless.

And Macca, being the most PR-oriented beatle of them all, would certainly have come up with a better statement if he hadn't been in a some sort of shock. Just my two cents, baby!

Paul hasn't been able to deal with trauma since his mother died when he was a child. His tendency to nearly break down in public about Lennon's death, 30 years after the fact, suggest he still hasn't properly dealt with his emotions about it.

[Amy B.]

John Lennon said that when he heard about Stu Sutcliffe's (his best friend) death, he just started to laugh uncontrollably. Just pointing out, when dealing with this kind of stuff, people's reactions can vary wildly, and it doesn't mean they're cold, unfeeling or tasteless.

And Macca, being the most PR-oriented beatle of them all, would certainly have come up with a better statement if he hadn't been in a some sort of shock. Just my two cents, baby!

I agree. John apparently did not learn how to express his emotions, so that accounts for laughing. And Paul too, maybe, to some extent, was not encouraged to express his emotions outwardly. And it's true that Paul is INCREDIBLY concerned about his own image, which is where he gets that "saintly" "friendly' image that people buy into. I don't think the guy is perfect by any stretch, but the fact that he was no cognizant of his image in that moment is an indication that he was in shock and not able to get it together... which is an indication of how much he really cared about John. If one of my oldest friends was killed and someone stuck a camera in my face asking how I felt, I don't know that I wouldn't say something stupid either.

As for Mike, you'd think by now he'd be able to express his thoughts on Dennis's death in a more sensitive way, but maybe it's just not in him. I don't know that I've ever heard of him expressing a real appreciation for Dennis's music or understanding of Dennis's personality, so maybe he just can't outwardly reflect on Dennis's passing.