Mike's Book Discussion Thread (and how it relates to the SS board)

[Debbie KL]

This depressed me when I did this yesterday.  I found out my local library was getting both the Mike and Brian books, so I decided to place holds on them both. Turns out, Mike's book already has more holds than Brian's.

Ugh.

I wouldn't take this to heart. I'm no Mike Love apologist, but I'm far more interested in his book than Brian's, which I may not even bother reading. It's very clear from what we've seen that, ghost writing aside, Mike's authentic voice comes through in his book, and this is a perspective we've never heard from in any depth. When I look through the index, which you can see in the Google excerpt, I find my mouth watering at the prospect of hearing Mike's take on all these fine points of Beach Boys lore. Whereas I'll be very surprised if there's much of anything in Brian's book that we haven't heard already, or if it in any way has the feel of Brian baring his soul.

Wow, that's really sad.  I have to assume that you haven't looked at the pages available on Brian's book. 

That "I'm no Mike apologist" thing is usually a good warning as to what to expect. 

Sort of like saying "the black kids liked me so much they loved it when I dropped N-bombs"?

 

[Robbie Mac]

Predictably,  a certain Chinese Pig sees nothing wrong with Mike's story.

[♩♬🐸 Billy C ♯♫♩🐇]

Big surprise, eh? All these excuses.

[Robbie Mac]

Yep.

[NOLA BB Fan]

His using that word bothered me a lot. Perhaps because I grew up in the Deep South of the US.
My Mom was fairly "traditional" concerning race relations back in the late 50s/early 60s, my Dad a lot more liberal. But both of them let it be clearly known that using the "n-word" in their presence would bring punishment. My folks were definitely an anomaly down here! My white friends would use that word - I would cringe and thought less of them as a result. That word was always used as an epithet.
Perhaps things were different in Inglewood and Dorsey High back then, where white kids could use that word in a joshing way and the black kids wouldn't mind. (Their parents might have thought differently, however, as most of the African Americans in the Los Angeles area migrated there from New Orleans and other segregated Deep South areas, where that word was not considered to be a "term of endearment")
Need to explore this topic further.

[♩♬🐸 Billy C ♯♫♩🐇]

His using that word bothered me a lot. Perhaps because I grew up in the Deep South of the US.
My Mom was fairly "traditional" concerning race relations back in the late 50s/early 60s, my Dad a lot more liberal. But both of them let it be clearly known that using the "n-word" in their presence would bring punishment. My folks were definitely an anomaly down here! My white friends would use that word - I would cringe and thought less of them as a result. That word was always used as an epithet.
Perhaps things were different in Inglewood and Dorsey High back then, where white kids could use that word in a joshing way and the black kids wouldn't mind. (Their parents might have thought differently, however, as most of the African Americans in the Los Angeles area migrated there from New Orleans and other segregated Deep South areas, where that word was not considered to be a "term of endearment")
Need to explore this topic further.

I've been trapped in Texas all 38 years I've been roaming the Earth, and I sadly know what you mean.  When my wife and I got married there were some in my family that were against it because she is half-black. Of course, finding out that I also had black ancestry years later suddenly put in perspective why those same family (and I use that term oh so loosely)  members used to always treat me like sh*t. I was also called a n***** lover because I was fan of Prince. Not to bring politics up in here, but when Obama was elected, people went NUTS here. I had to work with people who used to make "lynching" comments. At that moment, I made up my mind that one day I will escape this fucking hell hole. Now it looks like I will be doing so once my daughter finishes elementary school, as we're looking to move to Colorado (where we're opening up a new call center in Ft Collins so I'll be able to transfer)

I'm not surprised though that there are those who have defended it on the 'other board'. Kind of speaks volumes. It's different if you've actually lived through it.

[NOLA BB Fan]

I'm willing to give at least some of those at that Board a pass, as they're not from the US.
Guess I'm also hypersensitive to this as a grandniece and 3 grandnephews of mine are half black.

I'm sincerely happy if that back and forth at Dorsey High could take place then. Just know that, down here at that time if a black person objected enough to being called that word, he/she could get in trouble with the authorities.

[♩♬🐸 Billy C ♯♫♩🐇]

I'm willing to give at least some of those at that Board a pass, as they're not from the US.

That's understandable...just the ones who are from the US who think it's ok (because it's "LIBERTY"   ) are what I'm referring to.

[Emily]

To me, it's not just the word that's a problem. It's that he evidently thinks it's cool to mimic his impression of 'the way black people talk' and say that there's no way black people invented guitars (they developed out of North African and Spanish instruments). Then to imply that THAT indicates that he's 'down in the hood.' Ugh.

[♩♬🐸 Billy C ♯♫♩🐇]

Yeah...the excuses being made for him is based on 'oh no, it's all about the context'. Well, sh*t, you just pointed out how it looks even worse in that respect.

[Emily]

Yeah...the excuses being made for him is based on 'oh no, it's all about the context'. Well, sh*t, you just pointed out how it looks even worse in that respect.

I'm sure the "it was the times" thing will also be raised. By the end of the 19th century, published books were being retitled to avoid using that word. In 1940, Langston Hughes wrote:
   Used rightly or wrongly, ironically or seriously, of necessity for the sake of realism, or impishly for the sake of comedy, it doesn't matter. Negroes do not like it in any book or play whatsoever, be the book or play ever so sympathetic in its treatment of the basic problems of the race. Even though the book or play is written by a Negro, they still do not like it. The word n*****, you see, sums up for us who are colored all the bitter years of insult and struggle in America.
 
By the time Mike Love is talking about, the civil rights movement would've been in full swing.

It's possible Mike Love was oblivious to all this. I'm sure many white suburban people were, but that's hardly something to brag about.

[♩♬🐸 Billy C ♯♫♩🐇]

There's a sandbox thread waiting to happen on this, but one thing I do want to point out...70 years later, the word 'negro' is also frowned upon, and that's something that has changed in my lifetime.

I hope one day instead of someone being described as a "white" or "black" person, it'll more like "that guy" or "that other guy", where race isn't even a thing.

On subject, I don't think Mike was necessarily oblivious...I just think he doesn't care. Much like there are those who call us 'virtue signalling whores' for our views on this. Some people are just intolerant. It's rather pathetic.

[HeyJude]

I love how Mike's Facebook page uses the negative NY Times review ("Summer Fun Soured by Score Settling") and tries to use it to sell the book!

[CenturyDeprived]

I love how Mike's Facebook page uses the negative NY Times review ("Summer Fun Soured by Score Settling") and tries to use it to sell the book!

  wow. A bit of cherry picking? Reminds me of one-line film reviews in print ads that contort the sentiment original full-length review to find an out-of-context positive, when good reviews are in short supply. I honestly feel bad for Mike that he (or his people) had to do that.

Also... since when is "gossip" something one actually wants to brag about in their own product?

As irritated as I am by some of the content that I've read thus far, I'd reserve judgment until actually reading it in its entirety. I'm sure it has its interesting, non-controversial parts.

[Needleinthehay]

Book was delivered to my kindle at 9PM PST...about 25 pct into it...riveting so far, to be honest.

[Amy B.]

In regards to someone thinking it's OK to use the n-word (and admittedly, I haven't read the book, so I don't know if Mike STILL thinks it's OK), here's a recent quote from McCartney about this very issue. Clearly, it's possible to actually learn and change your behavior! I only hope Mike has learned.

http://www.eonline.com/news/770493/paul-mccartney-admits-he-was-unintentionally-racist-as-a-kid

"When I was a kid, you were racist without knowing it," he told the Daily Mail On Sunday. "It was just the normal thing to use certain words you wouldn't use now."

McCartney continued, "Along the way we suddenly realized how it would make the people you were talking about feel. I don't think until then we'd ever even thought about other people," he admitted. "It was like a joke between ourselves."

However, he explained how that came to change over time. "But then someone points out, 'Well, that's denigrating…' you know, in my case, black people. And then the penny drops, and I think that's what happened for a lot of people. Certainly a lot of people in my generation used to use words you wouldn't use now."

[The_Beach]

Got the book and I am loving it so far!!!! Great read!

[The_Beach]

I love how Mike's Facebook page uses the negative NY Times review ("Summer Fun Soured by Score Settling") and tries to use it to sell the book!

How is that negative what NYT wrote??

[Amy B.]

I love how Mike's Facebook page uses the negative NY Times review ("Summer Fun Soured by Score Settling") and tries to use it to sell the book!

How is that negative what NYT wrote??

It's taken out of context from a negative review, found here:
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/30/books/in-good-vibrations-summer-fun-soured-by-mike-loves-score-settling.html?_r=0

[The_Beach]

OHHH! I didnt read the review and I am sure alot og people that have read that quote on facebook haven't read the review either but read that!  They toke the one positive thing in the whole review!

[CenturyDeprived]

OHHH! I didnt read the review and I am sure alot og people that have read that quote on facebook haven't read the review either but read that!   They toke the one positive thing in the whole review!

Kind of like a reviewer saying in a full review "I wish I could say I really liked Mike's book, but I ultimately found it was incredibly insulting to others...", then trimming that sentence and turning it into "I wish I could say I really liked Mike's book, but I ultimately found it was incredibly insulting to others.."  

I think Sony infamously did this type of thing with film reviews to hype up films that were turkeys. Until they got called out on it.

You know, as much as I want to give the book (which I have yet to read) a chance, I'm incredibly off put by the "Mike writes out of inspiration" while "Brian writes out of desperation" nonsense. What a load of hogwash; Mike has gifted the world with many desperate, half-baked attempts at relevancy. Friggin' hypocrisy at its finest, and everybody knows it, whether they want to admit it or not.

The reason the fan community is split is because many people refuse to endorse blatant narcissism. Plain and simple. If this isn't narcissism, what is? Can somebody please answer me that? Mike's talented and deserves respect for his work, but he does not deserve a free pass for this repeated crapola. Is he *actively* trying to be the heel, like in wrestling?

[HeyJude]

Maybe Mike *does* write from inspiration. I think it was pretty fortuitous that he just woke up one day and wrote this out of pure inspiration and nothing else:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oRkY5sW5rEc

[bachelorofbullets]

You know, as much as I want to give the book (which I have yet to read) a chance, I'm incredibly off put by the "Mike writes out of inspiration" while "Brian writes out of desperation" nonsense. What a load of hogwash; Mike has gifted the world with many desperate, half-baked attempts at relevancy. Friggin' hypocrisy at its finest, and everybody knows it, whether they want to admit it or not.

The reason the fan community is split is because many people refuse to endorse blatant narcissism. Plain and simple.

I'm not buying it.  Mike does not understand art because he is not an artist.  Pete Townshend and John Lennon made careers out of writing melancholy.  Nobody is complaining.

[SMiLE Brian]

Maybe Mike *does* write from inspiration. I think it was pretty fortuitous that he just woke up one day and wrote this out of pure inspiration and nothing else:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oRkY5sW5rEc

That is Mike's surf's up!

[HeyJude]

Let's also not forgot the magnum opus:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ybDexDAd33E