what if Brian had only lived to age 24?

[Aegir]

If Brian died during Smile, it probably would've been a drug-related reason. The Beach Boys would've seen Smile as representing the evil drugs that killed their brother/cousin/friend, and thus not returned to it at all. We wouldn't've even gotten Smiley Smile. No one else in the band was writing music at that point anyway, besides Bruce. Maybe we'd have an album full Bruce songs and then maybe "How She Boogalooed It". Sounds horrible, right? But remember, before Bruce joined the Beach Boys, he was adept at writing Beach Boys-esque songs, like Hey Little Cobra. Well, that's still terrible, because contrary to Mike's favorite line, you HAD to fmuck with the formula in 1967. An album of surf pop in 1967, produced by Bruce, would tank.

[Mahalo]

I think about it all the time about Kurt Cobain, what if he was still around...

He'd still be getting on my nerves.

[Mark A. Moore]

What if God had said "f*ck it" . . . and went elsewhere to create the universe . . . or multi-verse.

M.

[Ian]

One thing that you are not taking into account- every contract after their Capitol contract ended was posited on BW doing a big share of the writing.  It's not a sure thing that they would have been able to get a major label contract in the 70s without BW.   I doubt that the CBS deal would have happened...

[endofposts]

One thing that you are not taking into account- every contract after their Capitol contract ended was posited on BW doing a big share of the writing.  It's not a sure thing that they would have been able to get a major label contract in the 70s without BW.   I doubt that the CBS deal would have happened...

And that CBS executive would never have famously said, "Gentlemen, I think we've just been ****ed," after hearing the results (though that wasn't all Brian's fault).  Maybe it's off-topic, but how did the BB manage to misrepresent what was happening behind the scenes, and why were music execs so willing to buy it?

[Dancing Bear]

One thing that you are not taking into account- every contract after their Capitol contract ended was posited on BW doing a big share of the writing.  It's not a sure thing that they would have been able to get a major label contract in the 70s without BW.   I doubt that the CBS deal would have happened...

And that CBS executive would never have famously said, "Gentlemen, I think we've just been ****ed," after hearing the results (though that wasn't all Brian's fault).  Maybe it's off-topic, but how did the BB manage to misrepresent what was happening behind the scenes, and why were music execs so willing to buy it?

Brian HAD been productive productive enough through 1969 that Warner could believe he was going to keep up working. And for the course of the Add Some Music/Sunflower reworks, he did... Now let's jump to 1977 (?), when the band was signed by CBS. Brian, again, HAD been doing hard work for the band's last two albums. Though, this time, one could ask the CBS executives what were they really expecting from Brian & Co.

[Sheriff John Stone]

I'm not sure it was the Beach Boys misrepresenting their situation as much as the record company people being (incorrectly) confident that they could be the ones to get the most out of Brian, or that Brian "still had it".

In the 1969 negotiations, didn't Van Dyke Parks and Lenny Waronker have something to do with the signing, mainly because of their past working relationship with Brian and/or their fandom.

In 1977, it was James Guercio, who actually toured with the band. I'm thinking of some concert video I saw from 1977, where Guercio comes out on stage, starts rubbing Brian's shoulders and says, "Isn't Brian great!" to the audience.

And wasn't it Seymour Stein who signed Brian to Sire in 1987, after having shared a table with Brian at a Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame ceremony? I guess Brian must've been fairly lucid that night and impressed Seymour.

The signing which surprised me the most - and it's also one which very little has been written about - is Clive Davis' signing of Brian for his Christmas album. Clive enthusiastically praised WIRWFC upon release (I know, what was he supposed to do), then disappeared from Brian's world.

[MBE]

I think Brian dying at that point would have been odd as he wasn't in bad health. Now I could see it happening in 1975 or 81-82 but not in 1966. I am glad he is still with us, and hope he has several more decades that he enjoys. Now how would he be seen I don't know but I think the Jan Berry comparison is fair. Now Jan never had his Pet Sounds, but he was growing as an artist and we can't know where it would of gone. I really think we never would have guessed where Brian's music actually went at any point after 1966 because it kept changing radically over the next decade. Brian's ambitions may have been scaled back but his work through 1972 was innovative and holds up better now because it's not overwrought. 

[Andrew G. Doe]

The Beach Boys in 1970 were referred to as "Mo's folly" at Reprise. He wanted them on the label - no-one else did, largely due to Brian's reputation.

[MBE]

The Jules Siegel story is what started  the "Brian is Crazy" rep. It's funny but it's like Brian's rep eventually turned into fact.

[Andrew G. Doe]

If Brian had only made it to 24 ?

No cake on 6/20/67.

[♩♬🐸 Billy C ♯♫♩🐇]