I got high with the Beach Boys: “If I survive this I promise never to do drugs a

[Tab Lloyd]

I came across this article in Salon today, a day in the life of the Boys as experienced by 'rock critic' Richard Goldstein (ring a wind chime? never heard of him):
http://www.salon.com/2015/04/26/i_got_high_with_the_beach_boys_if_i_survive_this_i_promise_never_to_do_drugs_again/

Some funny observations and interactions with Brian and Dennis.

[phirnis]

In the fall of 1967 I wrote a piece for the Times on the Beach Boys’ latest  album,  Smiley  Smile. I was struck  by its fragile melodies and their relationship  to sacred music; those familiar ride-the-curl  voices, now  “hushed  with  wonder,”   reminded  me  of  the  Fauré  Requiem, but they were utterly American. I was listening to proof  of my belief that pop could produce a mass culture that was at once accessible and profound.

This is one of the greatest things I ever read about Smiley Smile.

[Ang Jones]

Already posted this one yesterday. It is worth a read though.

[Tab Lloyd]

My bad for the double post! I actually did a quick look but missed your thread....which wasn't hard to do considering the 'deluge' of responses! At any rate the article is a good read and one more birds eye view of the boys from prime time.

[mysticmoon1993]

Richard Goldstein was my professor for a class I took on the 60s last semester. He's one of the most fascinating people I've ever known and I feel privileged to have heard him tell stories about his interactions with the Beach Boys among many other famous musicians of the 60s. I took the class at the height of my Beach Boys craze so I spent a good deal of time talking to him about them throughout the semester. He told us the story about Brian's pants falling down among others, including the one about Dennis driving on acid. He said he felt like he was going to die the entire ride. He didn't tell us that he went in the tent though-- probably would have been frowned upon by the school's bureaucracy, given what went on in the tent.

[Amy B.]

Fascinating insights about Brian's motivations and ambivalence. Also, I feel like it's rare for a Baby Boomer to write about other Baby Boomers (the 60s California rock groups) in a critical (or maybe just balanced), rather than nostalgic and reverential, way.

[Cam Mott]

Didn't Jules Siegel mention Goldstein's article in "Goodbye Surfing, Hello God!"?

[mysticmoon1993]

Fascinating insights about Brian's motivations and ambivalence. Also, I feel like it's rare for a Baby Boomer to write about other Baby Boomers (the 60s California rock groups) in a critical (or maybe just balanced), rather than nostalgic and reverential, way.

When I talked to him a bit after class about the Beach Boys, he would say how back then people tended to mistake Brian's symptoms of illness as eccentricities, since everyone was at least a bit eccentric. He mentioned how people could be all messed up on drugs and whatnot, and others would just take it as the person "finding themself" or "just doing their thing", instead of something serious and often grave. Goldstein was always good about having a balanced view as opposed to purely nostalgic.