If you could change one event/decision in Beach Boys history, what would it be?

[Smile4ever]

Believe me, there are a lot of things I'd like to revise in the history of this band. But if you could change the outcome of one event/decision in Beach Boys history, what would it be?

With millions of options to choose from, I'd still say I wish Brian had completed and released Smile in 1967. Hopefully that would changed a ton of things for the band and prevented many of the future dilemmas.

[Mikie]

Brian was asked this question a few years ago, and he replied without hesitation, "I wish I hadn't done drugs".

I'll go with that.

[TimmyC]

The decision to make 15 big ones spilt new material and oldies (should have been all new). A completely squandered opportunity.

[Rocky Raccoon]

They never should have adapted their patriotic "America's band" image.  I'm an American myself and I still think that's so nauseatingly lame and phony.  I think that and the fact they were so enamored with the President who couldn't say AIDS did a lot to hurt their image and they were basically a walking parody of themselves by that time.

[Ninten]

Smile is the obvious choice - if it had been released more people would recognize them as one of (or even THE) greatest bands of all time, especially if Brian had continued progressing instead of regressing. But it'd also probably change everything and ruin the whole legend. So I'd have to go with scrapping Adult/Child - if the other Boys hadn't shown resistance to it not only would we be able to hear that amazing album in great quality but that'd be one less thing that made Brian forfeit the producer's chair again (and a follow up with some of the better songs from M.I.U. with better arrangements and maybe a more artistic thematic link than the Christmasey sound - since brian had done the sytnh sound on Love You and the big band sound on AC, would have been amazing). I'm not saying he wouldn't have needed Landy to step in again anyway, but we could have got a bit more out of the whole Brian's Back era I think.

[ontor pertawst]

Mike Love comes back from India able to actually levitate. The failure for Smile to materialize is utterly negated by the fact that, holy sh*t, the lead singer can fly on stage! He never ends up ripping off Jagger's stage moves and instead wows the crowd with yogic tricks that make Endless Summer look like greasy Sha Na Na kids stuff. Brian, inspired and encouraged by The Mike That Could Fly, enters another endlessly prolific, madly creative phase writing weird tinkly Mt Vernon music to accompany the levitating on tour.

Oddly, in this scenario Al ends up a dentist anyway. You can't have everything.

[Mikie]

The other history changer was in 1974 when they reverted back to emphasisizing the greatest hits format after Endless Summer came out. The good 'artsy fartsy' material (Sunflower, Surf's Up, CT&P) gave way to the oldies (for the most part) in the live set. And instead of another album with all new material in 1976, they came back with sure fire oldies covers that sold well with a new gerneration of Endless Summer/Spirit Of America/Good Vibrations record buying kids and I think they lost a good-sized older audience at that point.

[Niko]

Mike Love comes back from India able to actually levitate. The failure for Smile to materialize is utterly negated by the fact that, holy sh*t, the lead singer can fly on stage! He never ends up ripping off Jagger's stage moves and instead wows the crowd with yogic tricks that make Endless Summer look like greasy Sha Na Na kids stuff. Brian, inspired and encouraged by The Mike That Could Fly, enters another endlessly prolific, madly creative phase writing weird tinkly Mt Vernon music to accompany the levitating on tour.

Oddly, in this scenario Al ends up a dentist anyway. You can't have everything.

Mike love can levitiate!

'Have you ever levitated?

Yeah, I practiced doing this as part of my TM city programs.

And it's worked?

Yeah, well, I mean we're fledging hoppers. But the idea is with perfection of the mind and the body you can actually defy gravity. So it actually showed up in the song "Kokomo." A hundred years from now people will be defying gravity as a normal course.'

[Pinder's Gone To Kokomo And Back Again]

The other history changer was in 1974 when they reverted back to emphasisizing the greatest hits format after Endless Summer came out. The good 'artsy fartsy' material (Sunflower, Surf's Up, CT&P) gave way to the oldies (for the most part) in the live set. And instead of another album with all new material in 1976, they came back with sure fire oldies covers that sold well with a new gerneration of Endless Summer/Spirit Of America/Good Vibrations record buying kids and I think they lost a good-sized older audience at that point.

Well, they shouldn't have lost those folks, and if they did, it was those folk's loss.... 15 Big Ones is at least half a good little album and what came after has some great moments (Hey, LA is probably my 3rd or 4th fave Beach Boys album) ....

[Mikie]

I'm more or less speculating about the older fans, or the ones who appreciated the early '70's albums up 'till '74. The baby boomers. I'm one of the older ones they didn't lose.  

Some people think they sold out when that new wave came in with the popularity of the oldies.

[chrs_mrgn]

I wish that Pet Sounds would have sold like mad throughout the world. Brian would never become as discouraged as he did and it would be really interesting to see what came next.

[Jay]

The one thing I would change is Dennis cutting his hand in 1971. That may sound like a rather random thing to think about, but after reading some of Ian and Jon's new book I'm starting to wonder if that may have been an early "turning point" in his destructive behavior.

[Mike's Beard]

Mike Love comes back from India able to actually levitate. The failure for Smile to materialize is utterly negated by the fact that, holy sh*t, the lead singer can fly on stage! He never ends up ripping off Jagger's stage moves and instead wows the crowd with yogic tricks that make Endless Summer look like greasy Sha Na Na kids stuff. Brian, inspired and encouraged by The Mike That Could Fly, enters another endlessly prolific, madly creative phase writing weird tinkly Mt Vernon music to accompany the levitating on tour.

Oddly, in this scenario Al ends up a dentist anyway. You can't have everything.

You forgot to add that Brian writes the rock opera "The Mike That Could Fly" complete with movie tie-in directed by  Bob Rafelson. Oddly, Mike is given no lead vocals on the project and has a problem with the lyrical content.

[bluesno1fann]

Probably the release of "Endless Summer". "Holland" had come out around a year earlier, and though it is slightly overrated, it is still a brilliant album. Since "Wild Honey" (or if you're a big fan of "Smiley Smile", then "Pet Sounds") every single album (and live albums) they made were fucking great! This was their best era, and it came to an end with "Endless Summer". Though they weren't successful in the US due to their long-running image problem, they remained a huge band worldwide. Though Blondie Chaplin left because of a fight with Steve Love i think, they still had Ricky Fataar, and they still had a lot of potential to continue their long run of great albums. They should have kept Ricky longer, regardless of the fact that Dennis can drum again. I'm getting a little off topic now, so...
Anyway, "Endless Summer" ended this great era. Sure, they got a lot of new fans, but they were only interested in the pre-"Pet Sounds" hits. So slowly, and inevitably, the Beach Boys tarnished their reputation and legacy irreparably by deteriorating into a oldies band, churning out the old hits. And sure enough, their next album "15 Big Ones" was worse than mediocre. Though "Love You", "L.A. Light Album" and the criminally underrated "The Beach Boys" were great albums, for the most part, the quality of their work went downhill badly.

It would have been better all around if "Endless Summer" never came out, the Beach Boys possibly continue their run of excellent albums, and maybe break-up on a high like the Beatles so they have a much better legacy. Maybe get back together for the 50th Anniversary, but that's it.

Just my opinion, however.

[Micha]

The decision not to use the hi-hat on studio recordings.

[Alan Smith]

Brian was asked this question a few years ago, and he replied without hesitation, "I wish I hadn't done drugs".

I'll go with that.

+1

[Smilin Ed H]

I'm with Mikie on this - and they should have followed the Holland groove for longer (I think the drink, drugs, Murry's death and the lack of appreciation of DW as a writer contributed to the creative downfall as much as the success of Endless Summer.

[The Shift]

Mike Love comes back from India able to actually levitate. The failure for Smile to materialize is utterly negated by the fact that, holy sh*t, the lead singer can fly on stage! He never ends up ripping off Jagger's stage moves and instead wows the crowd with yogic tricks that make Endless Summer look like greasy Sha Na Na kids stuff. Brian, inspired and encouraged by The Mike That Could Fly, enters another endlessly prolific, madly creative phase writing weird tinkly Mt Vernon music to accompany the levitating on tour.

Oddly, in this scenario Al ends up a dentist anyway. You can't have everything.

You forgot to add that Brian writes the rock opera "The Mike That Could Fly" complete with movie tie-in directed by  Bob Rafelson. Oddly, Mike is given no lead vocals on the project and has a problem with the lyrical content.

"Over the city, on a Beach Boy,
I can see everything below.
The pilot, Al, looks so tiny,
The meals taste of drugs,
We've only got 15 minutes to go…"

Seriously, I'd change he fact that they had an abusive parent so they could all grow up leading normal lives and maybe a bit happier for that. We'd never know what we'd missed so we wouldn't have missed out.

[Iron Horse-Apples]

Carl trod on a butterfly in 1960, and every bad event and decision in the Beach Boys long and chequered history can be traced back to that one event.

This is a well known phenomenon called the "Carl's a clumsy f*ckwit" effect.

So the answer is simple, travel back to the night Carl was conceived and kick Murry in the nuts.

[The Heartical Don]

Brian was asked this question a few years ago, and he replied without hesitation, "I wish I hadn't done drugs".

I'll go with that.

+1

Yup. For yours truly, a sad, naked truth.

[Loaf]

I'll go with Carl and Dennis not forcing the creative, relevant side of the band's music in 1973/74. And, if necessary, taking Brian and forming a new group.

Or losing Stephen Desper and Brian's home studio. That combination produced the most incredible music.

[SIP Mike]

I'd maybe send Heroes and Villains to the #1 spot. I'd imagine the positive vibes Brian would get from that would lead to better places.

[Cabinessenceking]

#1: Brian doesn't overdo drugs or retreats from his creative writing

#2: If #1 should falter then Brian is ignored when Carl and Dennis push for 1975 release of album with original content.

[EgoHanger1966]

Brian was asked this question a few years ago, and he replied without hesitation, "I wish I hadn't done drugs".

I'll go with that.

Food for thought - without drugs, would we have "California Girls", Pet Sounds, or SMiLE?

[The Heartical Don]

Brian was asked this question a few years ago, and he replied without hesitation, "I wish I hadn't done drugs".

I'll go with that.

Food for thought - without drugs, would we have "California Girls", Pet Sounds, or SMiLE?

We cannot know that. I think that drugs are way overrated with regard to their 'creativity enhancing potential', but that's my personal opinion.

I would readily trade in California Girls, Pet Sounds, and Smile for a Brian who'd have lead a considerably happier life without any drugs in it, that's for sure, as much as I love that music (all this based on the hypothesis that he'd not created that material, or stuff resembling it, had he not taken drugs - and also on the conjecture that he'd been happier without substances in the first place).