What is the most devastating moment in the band's career?

[Jukka]

I can't find the proof but wasn't "And Then I Kissed Her" released as a single in 1967, at least in the UK? a horrible move.

Yeah, and of ALL the songs, they chose THAT? I mean, even from the same album album, there would have been many more cutting-edge songs to choose from.

[Andrew G. Doe]

You have to remember that back in 1966-67, EMI could have put out a single of the band farting and it would have made the top ten.

2/66     Capitol CL 15432      Barbara Ann/Girl Don't Tell Me    3
4/66     Capitol CL 15441      Sloop John B/You're So Good To Me    2
5/66     Capitol EAP1-20781 Hits EP - Help Me Rhonda: California Girls/The Little Girl I Once Knew: Barbara Ann    [EP chart 1]
7/66     Capitol CL 15459      God Only Knows/Wouldn't It Be Nice    2
10/66 Capitol CL 15475      Good Vibrations/Wendy    1
11/66 Capitol EAP1-2458   God Only Knows EP - God Only Knows: Here Today/Sloop John B: Wouldn't It Be Nice    [EP chart 3]
4/67     Capitol CL 15502      Then I Kissed Her/Mountain Of Love    4
8/67     Capitol CL 15510      Heroes And Villains/You're Welcome    8

until...

11/67 Capitol CL 15521      Wild Honey/Wind Chimes    29

[El Molé]

The most devastating moment to me is the breakdown / non-extension of the C50 reunion. For a brief moment I think the Beach Boys took back their rightful place as one of the greatest and biggest popular music groups of all time. Brian reclaimed his legacy as a Beach Boy, the world heard how incredible Al's voice is, the catalogue got a wider airing, Mike was winning people over with all of his best talents, they put out an album to rival anything they'd done since at least 1977, David was back in the fold etc, etc. The possibilities that could have followed that period were huge. And then? They chucked it all away. THAT was devastating.

To my mind, as much as I wish Smile had been completed and released, it's shelving led to some of my favourite Beach Boys records (the run from Smiley Smile to Love You is my favourite decade of Beach Boys music). So I find it hard to see Smile's abandonment as being as devastating as some others do. Dennis' decline and the all too early passing of both him and Carl are clearly devastating, but in terms things within the realms of control, the end of C50 seems to me to be the most devastating 'event' of any that I can think of.

[Andrew G. Doe]

Have to politely disagree - 2012 was twilight's last gleaming. Let's be honest, most of us expected something would happen. What happened in 1966-67 robbed the music world of not only possibly the best album ever released but also decades of music from one of the very, very few bona fide genii in the pop/rock field. Brian was never the same after Smile was scrapped. There were odd sparks and flarings of the flame, but compared to the upwards curve of 1963-66, it was dim stuff. Nothing compares. Nothing ever will.

That the band not only survived that but also came to produce music of genuine quality is hugely to their credit. But just imagine what could have been. The two saddest words in the English language: if only...

[El Molé]

Have to politely disagree - 2012 was the last kick of a dying bull. Let's be honest, most of us expected something would happen. What happened in 1966-67 robbed the music world of not only possibly the best album ever released but also decades of music from one of the very, very few bona fide genii in the pop/rock field. Brian was never the same after Smile was scrapped. There were odd sparks and flarings of the flame, but compared to the upwards curve of 1963-66, it was dim stuff. Nothing compares. Nothing ever will.

That the band not only survived that but also came to produce music of genuine quality is hugely to their credit. But just imagine what could have been. The two saddest words in the English language: if only...

Fair enough. My opinion might be slightly coloured by the fact that I ended up missing the 2012 live shows entirely, with my son's birth coinciding with the RAH date. My only chance of ever seeing a full Beach Boys line-up gone, forever!

[Andrew G. Doe]

They played Wembley the next night. Really, some people just don't try hard enough. 

[KDS]

The non release of Smile / lack of a worthy follow-up to Pet Sounds

Declining the invitation to play the Monterey Pop Festival 

Lack of support from Capitol in the late 60s when the band started to get on a creative roll again

The release of Endless Summer

The Brian's Back campaign

The death of Dennis Wilson

The infamous RNRHOF speech

The death of Carl Wilson

Post C50/TWGMTR fallout. 

[filledeplage]

the deaths of Dennis and Carl

No brainer there.

Agree, without question with both.

All else can be fixed or mitigated.

This band (and every true fan) was hit by a bus, twice.

[jamesellaby]

Have to politely disagree - 2012 was the last kick of a dying bull. Let's be honest, most of us expected something would happen. What happened in 1966-67 robbed the music world of not only possibly the best album ever released but also decades of music from one of the very, very few bona fide genii in the pop/rock field. Brian was never the same after Smile was scrapped. There were odd sparks and flarings of the flame, but compared to the upwards curve of 1963-66, it was dim stuff. Nothing compares. Nothing ever will.

That the band not only survived that but also came to produce music of genuine quality is hugely to their credit. But just imagine what could have been. The two saddest words in the English language: if only...

Fair enough. My opinion might be slightly coloured by the fact that I ended up missing the 2012 live shows entirely, with my son's birth coinciding with the RAH date. My only chance of ever seeing a full Beach Boys line-up gone, forever!

Same here, our sons must be pretty much the same age! I'd have loved to see them all together and would have made the trek to London (I might have JUST managed if they'd played in Manchester) but there was no way with the timings. And then they were gone...

Back to the original question, for me it's a tie between the abandonment of Smile, for the reasons AGD just mentioned, along with the mid-70s power shift to Mike after Endless Summer. Two times when they were making great music but were yanked backwards by cowardice/greed.

[peerke]

AGD's review of SiP

You should have seen the original version. Here it is, in full:

"This sucks".

Nice sleeve, though.

[RollPlymouthRock]

Releasing Smiley Smile easily. That it wasn't Smile and is just too weird an album that sounds nothing like their previous output alienated a massive portion of the fanbase and doomed them commerically and critically. I really don't know what Brian was thinking with smiley smile releasing inferior versions of several basically completed songs like that version of wonderful instead of the smile version maybe he really was trying to spite his bandmates....

[Douchepool]

Smiley Smile, no doubt, is one of the great musical "f*** yous" of all time. That's why it's awesome.

[The LEGENDARY OSD]

Releasing Smiley Smile easily. That it wasn't Smile and is just too weird an album that sounds nothing like their previous output alienated a massive portion of the fanbase and doomed them commerically and critically. I really don't know what Brian was thinking with smiley smile releasing inferior versions of several basically completed songs like that version of wonderful instead of the smile version maybe he really was trying to spite his bandmates....

Payback is a bitch.  

[filledeplage]

Releasing Smiley Smile easily. That it wasn't Smile and is just too weird an album that sounds nothing like their previous output alienated a massive portion of the fanbase and doomed them commerically and critically. I really don't know what Brian was thinking with smiley smile releasing inferior versions of several basically completed songs like that version of wonderful instead of the smile version maybe he really was trying to spite his bandmates....

Payback is a bitch.  

Well OSD - those naysayers had to "eat their words with a fork and spoon!" 

I could not resist! 

[JK]

Might it have been the misspelling in the title of this topic?

[Smile4ever]

What happened in 1966-67 robbed the music world of not only possibly the best album ever released but also decades of music from one of the very, very few bona fide genii in the pop/rock field. Brian was never the same after Smile was scrapped. There were odd sparks and flarings of the flame, but compared to the upwards curve of 1963-66, it was dim stuff. Nothing compares. Nothing ever will.

That the band not only survived that but also came to produce music of genuine quality is hugely to their credit. But just imagine what could have been. The two saddest words in the English language: if only...

Completely agree. This has always been so difficult. Had Smile been released, the band's career and Brian's endeavors would have probably continued on such an amazing trajectory.

[Smile4ever]

Might it have been the misspelling in the title of this topic?

Hahaha! Good catch. I'll fix. 

[Bicyclerider]

It all started to turn bad for the BB after Smile was shelved and the Heroes single was released and was a relative failure and Smiley Smile tanked.  With the non appearance at Monterey and Jan Weiner (more appropriate than Wenner) trashing them in Rolling Stone, it was a confluence of badness and suddenly the hip Brian Wilson and the Beach Boys, creators of the groundbreaking psychedelic masterpiece Good Vibrations, were yesterday's news and decidedly unhip at a time when being accepted by the "counterculture" meant everything.  They didn't recover from that until. well, Endless Summer which resurrected their popularity and critical cachet (really the latter started with Surf's Up and the concert with the Grateful Dead) but had an adverse effect on their music.

[bossaroo]

and last but certainly not least, Carl's premature death and the wretched situation we find ourselves in today: Mike Love controlling the rights to the band name...

[sigh]

The legal right to tour as The Beach Boys resides with BRI. They license Mike to do so. As a voting member of BRI he controls exactly 25% of the band name.

*sigh*
thanks so much for the clarification. again. 
we all know that Brian and Al wished to continue touring as Beach Boys in 2012 but Mike prevented it. Mike has somehow thwarted or bullied the other rightful members of BRI out of sharing the license, and if Carl were still with us... God rest his soul... we can all be fairly certain that would not be the current situation in which we find our favorite band.

[CenturyDeprived]

and last but certainly not least, Carl's premature death and the wretched situation we find ourselves in today: Mike Love controlling the rights to the band name...

[sigh]

The legal right to tour as The Beach Boys resides with BRI. They license Mike to do so. As a voting member of BRI he controls exactly 25% of the band name.

*sigh*
thanks so much for the clarification. again.  
we all know that Brian and Al wished to continue touring as Beach Boys in 2012 but Mike prevented it. Mike has somehow thwarted or bullied the other rightful members of BRI out of sharing the license, and if Carl were still with us... God rest his soul... we can all be fairly certain that would not be the current situation in which we find our favorite band.

I'm also pretty certain that if the situation changed, and if the BRI setup were not what it currently is, and if Brian, Al, and Carl's estate resisted... and Mike still went through all legal wranglings to get use of the band name - and was successful, against everyone elses' wishes... that the same ardent defenders would still be defending his use of the band name. Is that an off-base assumption?

[Douchepool]

If Michael is out with Bruce and touring as the Beach Boys, then somewhere or another there was a vote in 2012 to allow Michael to continue usage of the name.

[bossaroo]

wrong. we don't know when/if there is a "set end date" for Mike's exclusive use of the license, or when/if the matter will be reviewed and voted on again.

[Tony S]

There were a few bad ones, most notably the deaths of Dennis and especially Carl, because of what he meant to the authenticity of the band. But the one most devastating moment to me, at least performance wise, was the live broadcast from Long Beach in 1981. One of the worst performances, if not the absolute worst, by the band, or any band for that matter. I watched in horror, no Carl, Brian attempting lead vocals on Don't Worry Baby and God Only Knows, that were just so awful. I thought I was watching the end of the band.

[Smile4ever]

Mike being allowed to use the name is such a farce. The Beach Boys will never achieve their rightful place in history in the minds of the masses until his jukebox touring band is put to rest.  

[Smile4ever]

There were a few bad ones, most notably the deaths of Dennis and especially Carl, because of what he meant to the authenticity of the band. But the one most devastating moment to me, at least performance wise, was the live broadcast from Long Beach in 1981. One of the worst performances, if not the absolute worst, by the band, or any band for that matter. I watched in horror, no Carl, Brian attempting lead vocals on Don't Worry Baby and God Only Knows, that were just so awful. I thought I was watching the end of the band.

That's a very good point. Absolutely horrible and sad to watch.