The Smiley Smile Message Board

Does anyone know why their friendship turned sour and caused tony to say "He's a genius musician but an amateur human being"?

Probably the drugs.

I don't know about that... didn't he eat hash brownies with him while writing?

I think its more along the lines of how Brian *was* while he was high. Nick Kent's The Dark Stuff alluded to that, but then again Kent is a habitual liar so who the hell knows.  :-\

Marilyn expressed dislike toward Asher in the BBC Beach Boys documentary from a year or so back. The issue basically concerned those close to Brian at this time and I'm certain she was referring to drugs. The implication appears to be that she believed that Asher was giving (or sharing) drugs to/with Brian.

I remembered being surprised by her comments as I'd never heard or read of this previously. This also seemed unfair on Tony Asher but as Marilyn was right there at the time, who would argue, except Asher himself and I'm not aware of any response on his part.

I don't think Tony ever didn't like Brian, or was ever angry at him. What he told me when I was researching 'Catch A Wave' is that the 'amateur human being' line was never intended to be a sharp criticism, but more a commentary on BW's inability to perform the basic tasks most adults do every day as a matter of course. Like getting up at a decent hour, getting to work on time, respecting other peoples' schedules, etc. This due largely to his being a rich, powerful rock star who also had a lot of weird stuff on his mind, due to his own internal problems and maybe/probably some drug indulgences, too. So Tony -- then a hardworking ad man accustomed to keeping office hours -- was a bit surprised to discover this other, more devil-may-care way of life.

I don't believe Tony was a serious drug user then, or ever. Not to say he didn't experiment, but I don't know any of this for a fact. So I have no idea why, or if, Marilyn would be irked at him. Other than the fact that Tony maybe didn't think she (as a 16-year-old hausfrau) was that smart of interesting, and maybe she picked up on that. Who knows.

I remember seeing an interview with Tony Asher in a documentary, and he was recalling some of the conversations that he and Brian had about girls. Apparently, Brian's views were a little "juvenile", and I remember Tony saying, and I'm paraphrasing, "I used to wonder why Brian was even married". Ouch. That probably got Marilyn's attention...

Ahh..I see. That makes sense. It's just the way it was phrased in some books makes it seem like he was angry with him. I guess he must've been a little annoyed.

Weren't Tony and Loren Schwartz good friends?  Brian either met Tony through Loren, or the other way around.  Maybe she was confused as to who was who after all those years.  Plus, yes, Tony was very critical of Marilyn and their marriage.  Saying they argued like cave people or something.  He also mentioned that he didn't think she was very attractive.  If Marilyn ever read that or had someone convey that to her, I can imagine what her opinion of Tony might be.

I defend him as far as what he has said about Brian. The Nick Kent and Stephen Gaines stuff is the only place where is quoted as not liking Brian. These are not realible sources. Yet I have to say that if he was very close to Loren, he probably wouldn't have encouraged Brian to be straight as it were.