The Smiley Smile Message Board

The Beach Boys (Brian, Carl, Dennis, Al and Mike) were inducted by Elton John into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame alongside The Beatles, Bob Dylan, The Supremes, and The Drifters.  Also Mike Love gave an embarrassing speech…

(https://media.gettyimages.com/photos/al-jardine-carl-wilson-brian-wilson-mike-love-of-the-beach-boys-the-picture-id680487467?k=6&m=680487467&s=612x612&w=0&h=moJDwIE6tgdsE1KBYLZiunWrJWf06QrAqxNA4DSI70Y=)

Relive that highlight in the band's history here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oZSAQX2uuUY (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oZSAQX2uuUY)

Mike's speech hits the same bitter tone as his book and many, many interviews after this. And as Brian's speech is hitting the right chords with the audience, Mike steps in to interrupt by adjusting a mic and a few random comments for reasons that are still impossible to figure out other than a desire to be the focal point and interrupt a good speech from his cousin. Then he gets his turn...and has to be played off by Paul Shaffer playing GV.

All the talk about Dylan's and Elton's comments...look at Julian Lennon's reactions after Mike mentions the Mop Tops. It's the classic "What the f*ck is this?" expression... ;D

(https://i.imgur.com/me6CfOp.jpg)

Brian's expression..."WTF, Mike?"

(https://media.giphy.com/media/3ohc0SccunenJ0KMY8/giphy.gif)

Brian on those glasses reminds me of some of those classic photos from the Pet Sounds sessions.

That's true! I never thought of that but it's basically the same square frame.

Good lord, this is tactless on the most childish level tactless can get. Mike completely throws Brian off (watch the video), and when you’re reading from a piece of paper you want to be speaking down into a microphone anyways.

Then Mike gets on and makes the most hypocritical speech I’ve ever heard, “we’re all about harmony but basically f*** everyone here (or not here) in the audience.”

What a great honor though, really glad to see these guys get the recognition they deserve.

Leave the mic adjustment to Bruce....

56 years of history right there in one short clip. What a piece of work.

Yeah, it’s like “dude, my dad is dead...”

Exactly. Julian's reaction to Mike saying "We did about a hundred and eighty performances last year, I'd like to see the Mop Tops match that" is very short but priceless:

(https://media.giphy.com/media/l1IBjouT439utX0NG/giphy.gif)

Ouch....  ::)

Classless.

Add a ‘D’, end with an ‘e’.

Pretty much.

I mean,  I'll go balls to the wall defending him artistically when he merits it (and its far more than he generally gets credit for) but this is the reason why "I hate Mike" posts exist. It'sa  damn shame but he does it to himself

Does anyone know of any pictures of Mike where he isn't wearing a hat post 1976?

https://www.gettyimages.co.nz/event/dodger-stadium-and-the-beach-boys-celebrate-50th-anniversaries-beginning-opening-day-142540700#the-beach-boys-al-jardine-bruce-johnston-mike-love-and-brian-wilson-picture-id142646242

He's actually posted quite a few on Facebook in recent years.  

I think this may have been the primer for all the hate and anti-myKe websites like Why I Hate myKe luHv, ,myKe luHv Is An Asshole, myKe luHv Is A Douchebag, etc. There are probably more, as there should be, but if anyone knows, I'd appreciate knowing. Then there's YouTube, and just lately with the release of Unleash, The Beach Boys Facebook Page with lots of juicy opinions of that piece of sh*t. Additionally, I'm not for one second buying that horsecrap story about him not meditating before his infamous speech. I can easily see that toad with that 'tude 24/7.  >:D

I'm one of the few people (the only one here?) who likes Mike's speech from the Hall of Fame ... true, he seemed a little nutty that night and his point was muddy ...

BUT he basically told off the whole rock and roll elite. The Hall of Fame (along with things like Rolling Stone magazine) are a lame joke, so good for Mike and the Beach Boys that night  in my opinion.

I actually thought they might be the same ones for a minute.

The RNRHOF is a joke, but I think Mike didnt really tell them off as much as calling out The Beatles and Stones. 

I often disagree with Mike's detractors, but Mike's speech was pretty embarassing. 

Although, that being said, I'd bet if Keith Richards or Ozzy Osbourne made a speech like that, it would be revered. 

If Keith or Ozzy made that type of speech I would've expressed huge disappointment.  Well, retrospectively as I was 10 back then. I hate it when musicians take shots at other musicians,  especially unwarranted.

Personally, I wouldnt be a fan of Keef or Ozzy doing that, but if they did, it would be written off more as a rockstar moment. 

If Mike was going to take a shot, it shouldve been at the Hall for not including Bruce Johnston

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Disappointed that Mike didn't commemorate the anniversary with a post about it on his Facebook page…

Mike generally avoids mentioning things that went south in terms of himself and opinions toward him. Things like SIP, "Club Kokomo", Be True To Your Bud, and a laundry list of other missteps and failures - they're just ignored or glossed over entirely in telling the history. But I remember him on Howard Stern back in '92 or so actually kind of doubling down on the whole event and not feeling apologetic or anything similar, so I'm not surprised he didn't make note of it but at the same time I'm surprised he didn't. Hmm.  :)

I think the mindset may have been if he had noted it on an official social media outlet, fans who had not seen his antics like interrupting a bandmate's speech and the rest of it (as the video posted here shows clearly and unedited) might see a side of Mike that would turn their opinions of him negative in some way, and that's obviously not what they'd want at Love HQ.

Even before the actual speech, that whole mic-adjusting routine looks BAD. Very bad. As in, it's just not something that one does as someone else (a bandmate, colleague, and family member no less)  is delivering a speech, no matter what the venue or the audience was or is. And the look in Mike's eyes, in that GIF I posted with Julian Lennon's reaction...Mike looks for all the world like he's about to explode in anger after his Mop Tops line, and it's bizarre to say the least. It's the look more expected from a man before a fistfight breaks out, not on the dais delivering a speech. Not the PR you want to get out to an unknowing fanbase.

(https://i.imgur.com/kTGmngk.jpg)

and from Current Affair, another shot of Mike in a hot tub, remembering on the same show there were shots of him oiling himself up shirtless and hat-less.

(https://i.imgur.com/GhDozyl.jpg)


(https://i.imgur.com/hAD2yEA.jpg)

Regarding the hats...keep in mind, this is a man who did the ALS "Ice Bucket Challenge" a few years ago, where a bucket of ice water was dumped over his head while he was wearing a ballcap...and his hat did NOT come off. It's uncanny. If you did that to most men wearing a ballcap, the cap would come off in the deluge of ice water. Not Mike.

Do you think Mike and Trump share tips on how to keep that head covered? Trump picked up on the self-promoting baseball caps.  I'm thinking Mike rejected that creation on top of Trump's head?! But maybe the "glue down" process.  ;D

It's post like the one above that cause me to love this forum and hate it at the same time. Oh, well.

I'm guessing staples and/or gorilla glue

Why do you say that?

Every thing was wrong with Mikes speech but i dont know what everyone is hating on Mike for fixing Brians mic. Brian's bent down two feet trying to talk into a mic of something he obviously didn't memorize. i thought that was nice.

The mic thing can be taken in a few different ways but wasn't a big deal for me; the gif showing Julian Lennon reacting to Mike's speech kind of brought home the human aspect of Mike's speech to me and that was what I was reacting to. The mic thing was more a wtf thing for me

Gorilla, and not horse? I'm thinking maybe the hat glue was referenced secretly by Brian with the "can I get a horse in here" comment in '66…

Unfortunately it seems nobody taught MR. (mike) ED(ward) the yays and neighs of proper conduct.

I didn't really pick up on that until I read your post. Man, what a careless and insensitive thing to say. After seeing Julian's response I feel more sad for him than anger though. I would imagine that later on in privacy Mike would have felt pretty shitty when he realized what he'd said.

HE tried tp upstage his cousin whilst the mentioned cousin was doing a speech.  He's a dick.

I've seen similar things happen with other people. Maybe the sound system at the venue sucked and Brian couldn't be heard.

If you look at the speech (and mic adjustment) from Mike's narrative that he has been wronged at every turn, then it all makes sense.

I will defend him to the point of saying "I'm glad my family's dirty laundry isn't aired in public", but I look at him and think, how can someone have been so lucky in life and be so ungrateful?

I love Al's comments from his 2000 Goldmine interview about the HOF ceremony:


Let's go back to the Beach Boys' induction into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame. It was a bittersweet night. It was an amazing honor that was lessened by Love's bizarre speech. What are your memories of that evening?

It was one of the early inductions. It was such a monumental event because of the magnitude of the stars that were there. It made us feel almost humbled by it. It was the Beatles, Bob Dylan, The Surpremes, The Drifters who were inducted. So many great stars. John Fogerty was there, Mick Jagger, Jeff Beck, Bruce Springsteen, Elton John, who inducted us, Billy Joel, Paul Simon. The stage was so jammed when we did the jam session at the end that I didn't even run into Paul Simon. It was awesome to be inducted. It was a mixed pleasure. Brian opened up with a speech of his own, written by his surrogate father, Gene Landy. The nutty professor, Gene Landy, who ended up writing a book with Brian. He scripted everything Brian did and said, so it was a little bit unusual and stilted. There were words there that Brian never uses in his speech. I could tell that. Then Mike was just dying to get to the microphone. As we were leaving the stage it seemed as if - Carl was trying to get us off the stage so the next artist could get inducted. Bob Dylan was waiting in the wings. Mike just drifted back to the microphone telling everybody how fuc ked it was that people that were still living weren't there, like McCartney. I'm not really sure what to this day he was trying to accomplish other then maybe the politics of the record business were not to his liking. But this was not an event to discuss the politics of the record business. That's a discussion you have at another time.

Were you, Carl and Brian embarrassed or just plain angry by his speech?

Of course, both. I remember meeting Dylan backstage and Bob saying, "What's going on?" [laughs] He said, "I'm sure glad he didn't mention me." [laughs]

When you returned to your table, did you say anything to Mike about his wacky speech?

He was sitting next to Muhammad [Ali] so I didn't want to start anything. [laughs] Just kidding. But I immediately went over to George [Harrison] and Ringo and I said, "Geez, guys, I really want to apologize for that speech. My partner's not feeling too well." I said something to that effect. [laughs] They put their heads on my shoulder. That was really touching. When I was leaning down between them Ringo just kind of came over and put his head next to mine. He said, "Oh that's okay, we love you guys." George did the same thing. They were really nice.

Ha seriously? You think I'm saying Mike interrupting Brian's speech to adjust his mike is a great moment for the Beach Boys? You see what you wanna see and hear what you wanna hear, as Nilsson said in The Point.

I understand Brian was mortified and some of those mentioned by Mike let him know they still loved him and didn't blame him...trusted friends as sources, wasn't there myself.  We all do stupid stuff.  I think Mike has a good side, and have seen it - he needs to express it more and the ego-based, greed, jealousy less.  That's all. Still waiting...

As far as his hair, I was just making a joke. We all have issues as we grow older.  I wouldn't want a lot of scrutiny of my physical appearance at this point. I think it speaks to his better taste that he didn't do the thing on top of his head.

I've made bald jokes about him too but that part of it was in good fun because I'm in the same boat!

Landy was likely there in attendance (probably by side of the backstage area), right? I wonder what Landy thought right at that moment that Mike got egotistical and rudely stole Brian’s spotlight? I could *almost* imagine Landy having been motivated to personally run out to the stage to push back to Mike taking the mic away from Brian. Could you imagine if that had happened?

Not trying to paint Landy as a good guy, because he was absolutely a mega sick bastard himself, but since he was pushing the “Brian’s family/band is toxic to Brian” narrative (which I believe was partially true), I could see him trying to be a hero and doing that. I wonder how many people have in fact ever stood up to Mike in that manner.

I feel pretty confident that Mike would not have done what he’d done if Denny had been alive and in attendance onstage with them. Because Denny might have kicked Mike’s ass right then and there. That literally would have been the greatest anti-bully moment in the history of rock, akin to the scene in Back to the Future where George punches out Biff.

Mike calling out "The Mop Tops" as he did that night, in that setting, might lead to questions about the whole deal with "Pisces Brothers", and the sentiment contained therein, since George Harrison was there that night too. Just watching the speech, the look in Mike's eyes and his body language...he looked like he was getting ready to brawl rather than give a speech. Was he miffed at Harrison at that time for some reason, his "Pisces Brother", enough to publicly call him out?

Oh to have been a fly on the wall on the limo ride home for any of the BBs' (or any of the other bands there that night).

How big a deal and how widespread was the news of this foot-in-mouth situation back then?

Mike's most brutal point seemed to be against McCartney and others (Diana Ross I guess?) specifically not being at the ceremony. (Ironic that Mike skipped the Hawthorne dedication in 2005, but anywho.....)

His comment about the "Mop Tops" weirdly seemed to be even more broad, and seemed to be in relation to the Beach Boys' hectic, busy touring schedule. I guess Mike was trying to say the Beatles were wusses because they weren't touring more because, John was dead? I guess? Congratulations, Mike. You are indeed able to perform more shows each year than the deceased John Lennon.

What I still haven't been able to fully ascertain is whether Mike, at the time of the speech, was aware that Mick Jagger was in the audience. He seems to think not, as he famously calls Jagger "chickens**t" to get on stage with the Beach Boys, and makes some sort of reference to "he's gonna have to stay in England." Jagger was indeed in the audience and indeed got on stage with the BBs and the rest of the stars in attendance.

While Mike has seemingly never *volunteered* discussing the speech in later years, he seems to be fine discussing it if asked. He doesn't seem to really have a detailed, straight explanation for it. He has made seemingly half-joking/half-serious references to having "not meditated" that day. I think he said in one interview that they "didn't let (him) get to the punchline."

Contrary to what some folks may think or say about discussing Mike's speech being too negative or unproductive, Mike's 1988 Rock Hall speech *IS* a *VERY* important part of the story. It helped to cement Mike's bad reputation, and didn't reflect well on the band as a whole obviously.

But a good hunk of the BB story and image involves Mike's bad reputation among some fans and in the industry, and that speech is a big part of that.

My biggest pet peeve concerning Mike's HOF speech, a peeve which thankfully does not often come up, is when people try to frame Mike's speech as anti-establishment or stickin' it to the man, or some sort of treatise on why the R&R HOF is messed up.

Telling the R&R HOF how ridiculous and bloated and political they were and are is most certainly needed.

Mike's speech was NOT that speech whatsoever. Mike's speech was about his own weird hangups and meandering thought process.

His speech was ironically something closer (in tone/intent more than content) to Jeff Beck's speech when Beck was inducted several years later as part of The Yardbirds. Beck essentially ironically pointed out how the Yardbirds had fired him and he didn't feel particularly proud to be there. And even in this case, Beck actually had a stronger case for being disenfranchised than Mike.

Also keep in mind that Mike giving a speech like that now, or even in the later 90s, would have resulted in significantly MORE blowback.

The early inductions I don't believe were even televised, not live nor even in edited form later on. I remember this because early induction footage like the Beatles in '88 or even the historical 3-song Cream reunion in 1993 weren't actually televised and we had to rely on "circulating" videotapes making the rounds.

Even when they started televising highlights from the show in the mid-late 90s, at first it was still done the old-fashioned way in a ballroom with an audience of industry people.

It has only been in more recent years that they've moved the ceremony to huge arenas, sold tickets to the public, etc.

Mike's '88 speech made headlines despite a private audience full of industry people and no television coverage (other than news reports, etc.). Imagine that speech happening now in front of 20,000 people in an arena, to say nothing of everyone catching it on their phones even if HBO (or whomever) chose to edit stuff out later.

It was early days for the HOF and from memory and without doing research, it’s first controversy. It did make the news in the regular press plus of course RS, Billboard etc.
I was so disappointed for the group. It was a sad time only a few years after Dennis passing away and Brian still involved with Landy. Like it or not, it was a recognition from your peers, many of whom were in the room that night. To be inducted those first few years with such luminaries as The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Elvis Presley, Chuck Berry, Muddy Waters etc was such an honour and should have been treated as such. You do not embarrass your hosts let alone yourself as Mike did. Despite his success, he became that teenage uneducated gas pumping buffoon that evening. (Apologies to forecourt attendants)

One of the more bizarre public meltdowns at an awards show I've ever seen.

At the time I was in the full flush of videotaping anything and everything about The Beach Boys from TV. I still have this stuff on VHS. Mike's speech got coverage from Entertainment Tonight (who also showed Dylan's retort) but shared space with the story of McCartney's no-show which, at the time, was the main story leading up to the HOF show. Mike's wackadoodle speech made Macca's diss a much smaller public spectacle after the fact. VH1 ran some highlights from the night superimposed on top of the beginnings of music videos from the inductees. When they played a Beach Boys video ("California Dreaming'" if I'm not mistaken) they just showed a clip of Brian's speech. They did the same later in the year at the beginning of the Kokomo video (it could've have been lost on them that Brian wasn't on the record). 

Mike's inflammatory speech got more attention in the printed press. In one of the news accounts, Brian is said to have asked a reporter "Do we still have a career?" after Mike's meltdown.

No one talks about it now but I certainly remember there being a lot of noise about how the Beach Boys should not even be mentioned in the same breath as The Beatles and Bob Dylan leading up to the ceremony. Remember at this time Pet Sounds wasn't available on CD yet and the cult of Brian Wilson was just start beginning to seep into youth consciousness (and it was mainly focused on cassettes of "Smile" bootlegs). While I had been a Beach Boys fan as early as the Endless Summer compilation (I was 5), I didn't become a full-on Brian Wilson fanatic until July of 1988 and back then I felt like an outsider or part of some underground club (kids today have it easy!). It was certainly a year of ups and downs that's for sure.

   

It's definitely true that the Beach Boys were in a different place in the "public consciousness" at that point in 1988 than they are now, or that they were even in the mid-late 90s or later.

I remember the feeling being that the BBs were being included on the back of a lot of early era hits. The focus was pretty exclusively on the 1963-66 material, with maybe a little less focus on PS than there would be today. Not that an induction today would all of a sudden focus on "Sunflower" or something.

But the early 1988 BBs were known to the masses as the early-mid 60s hit makers, and the guys were still out on the road playing the same rather stale setlist. This was the era of playing gigs after baseball games, etc. They hadn't even had the hit with "Kokomo" at this point.

Think about *that* for a moment: What if "Kokomo" had just become a hit when this ceremony took place? What if Mike had been in the same frame of mind, but was backed with the additional layer of ego afforded to someone who had had that one week at #1 with "Kokomo." I guarantee he would have pointed out how the Stones or McCartney hadn't had a #1 single lately.

But yeah, I think the BBs not really necessarily being seen (and wrongly so) as a true peer of Dylan or the Beatles by some back then certainly didn't help when it came to trying to absorb Mike's "speech."

But keep in mind as well, especially *within* the industry, Mike already had a reputation prior to the speech. He was already seen, wrongly or rightly, as the "commercial" guy while Brian had been the "art" guy. It was already a "thing" that Mike had not been the most supportive of "Pet Sounds" or "Smile."

There's that story I recall from the TNT Brian "tribute" from 2001 or so, where David Crosby is reading one of the pre-written intros to one of the songs or segments, and he gets to Mike's name and says something to the effect of "Do I *have* to say his name?" *That* sort of attitude probably had little or nothing to do with Mike's HOF speech. That attitude had been fomented based off of much more.

It was Carl Wilson who asked Ahmet Ertegun after Mike's speech "Is our career over?".

I agree and remember this stuff too, only it was Carl who made the comment.  ;D

But maybe you remember, there was more to it in terms of the actual event. Again, stuff that doesn't get remembered or reported as much as the speech, the McCartney no-show, etc.

This was the event, which was still new at the time and only the third ceremony overall, when musical director Paul Shaffer actually tried to organize the jam session at the end of the night so it wasn't a free-for-all. Credit to Shaffer, he saw the potential of having all that talent under one roof, and tried to corral them into something tangible to make some music with each other, and pair up artists who would not have performed together as formally. The first jams were very loose and impromptu affairs...for this one, something bigger had to be done. Paul was going around to the musicians asking them what they would want to do musically.

So Shaffer was going around to the artists in the room trying to get them to play some of their familiar songs, one unplanned example was he asked John Fogerty to play "Long Tall Sally" with Little Richard, but Richard had left...so Fogerty said well, if Richard isn't there I'll just do one of my own tunes...and he did a great Born On The Bayou with Nile Rodgers on guitar, and Nile was thrilled because he had been playing that song since it came out! And episodes like that went throughout the process...who would do what song, etc.

Billy Joel was asked to do something by the Beatles, he said he'd do it if he could play Hammond B3 organ...Shaffer said sure thing, and Billy ended up doing a great version of I Saw Her Standing There on B3 with the other musicians. And Mick Jagger with George Harrison doing backing vocals. Ringo initially turned down the offer but was drumming on stage anyway.

Julian Lennon did Stand By Me in tribute to his dad. Elton John (who inducted the Beach Boys) tore through some 50's rockers like Hound Dog, Les Paul played some lead guitar, Jeff Beck was there, etc. It was one of the better all-star jams despite some shaky songs due to the unrehearsed nature of the show.

Since Dylan was being inducted, Shaffer wanted to end with Like A Rolling Stone. Springsteen was up there too by this point, and it was a stage full of great musicians.

Here's where the initial point of this post comes in...

Mick Jagger was there to induct The Beatles, and was in and out of the jam session, with not much to do as a frontman. So they're playing through Dylan's tune, and Jeff Beck on guitar started riffing on Satisfaction, unplanned. The band kicks in, and Jagger simply took over. He and Springsteen were sharing vocals and stage moves, and Jagger was basically putting on his stage show and owning it as he's done since the 60's.

And THERE was the irony of Mike's speech, or one of several...

He called Jagger "chickenshit" earlier, challenging him to get up on stage and do what presumably Mike and the BB's did in Mike's mind, and here was Jagger not only doing just that, but tearing the place up with his performance.

Meanwhile the Beach Boys earlier in the night had tried to jam on "Barbara Ann", and the results were...well, maybe someone can find or post a video of that jam from that night, but it's pretty much fact that Jagger ended up blowing them off the stage, as did Billy Joel, Fogerty, and a number of others.


Again, what isn't written about or remembered as much is that after Mike threw down the gauntlet and called out Jagger personally, Jagger took up the challenge and blew the BB's off that stage that same night. Was it in good fun, good spirits? Perhaps, but Jagger actually showed what he could do after being called 'chickenshit' while the BB's "Barbara Ann" from the same night is barely remembered or discussed.

It was only in the last decade or so that there was easy access to Mike's full speech. It looks like the Rock Hall posted it on YouTube in full in 2010.

I remember back in the late 90s tracking down a cassette tape that had most (but as it turns out not quite all) of Mike's speech (aired on some sort of radio special featuring highlights as I recall), and transcribing it for Dan Addington to put up on the web, as prior to that there was nothing but quick quotes or very short clips around. It was an infamous speech where relatively few had actually heard the whole thing.

Sometimes when such an epic thing is finally tracked down, it ends up not being so epic. Not the case with Mike's speech, where you can *absolutely* understand how this helped to cement his awful reputation in the business.

And then, when you're actually able to *watch* the thing on video and see how tweaked Mike is with that weird kind of zoned, deadened look in his eyes, it gets even more bizarre.

People who woke up to Howard Stern's radio show from roughly 1989 onward heard the speech Mike gave, in full or excerpts. I was a listener at that time, nearly every weekday morning, on 94 WYSP in Philly. Stern would start the show at 6am with a 10-15 minute montage of audio of various speeches, news clips, etc and Mike's HOF speech was a regular addition. He'd also have other infamous speeches where the speaker either flew off the rails, or was under some influence or another that caused the speech to be less than dignified, lol.

So even at that time, being a Stern listener, I'd hear Mike's speech replayed regularly, and even audio-only, it was bizarre...which is why Stern played it regularly. When you see the visuals, it's even more disturbing, as mentioned.

So even since then, just hearing the speech, I don't get much of a punk rock, screw-the-Establishment vibe from it as some others get.

If Mike had railed against the HOF, against the ceremony itself, against the whole notion of putting rock and roll in a museum, then yeah - It would have been different.

But it was Mike being Mike, with all the trappings of bitterness, grudges, ego, competition, and ultimately his problems with the other performers he called out directly regarding the Hall Of Fame...He was pissed off that they didn't come to the event!

So I don't see how the speech can be taken as an anti-Establishment styled railing against the event or the notion of a rock HOF when Mike was calling out the performers for NOT coming to the HOF event!

And not only that, but who is seen playing his famous tambourine and TRYING to share the mic with Jagger on "Satisfaction"...?

Ah, right, it was Carl.

Funny thing about Billy Joel and the perception of The Beach Boys in 1988. He made some derogatory comments about The Beach Boys around that time, unfavorably comparing them to The Four Seasons; the idea being that The Beach Boys were vanilla and that he and the other manly men from the East Coast preferred something with more guts to it like the music of The Four Seasons. I'd love to be able to find this quote. I think it was in an interview given between 1986-1988. It was symptomatic of how the group was perceived at that time. As a friend of mine oh so delicately put it "The Beach Boys are The Beatles for idiots" (he later recanted when I played him SMiLE stuff but never really got on board with Brian-fandom).
Anyway, it always struck me as sad, being a fan of both Billy and The Beach Boys, that a guy who knew so much about music could be so wrong. Years later when Mike was pitching this concert/album idea of guest stars joining the group on stage in Hawaii to celebrate their 35th anniversary he specifically mentioned Billy Joel. I remember thinking "yeah, that ain't gonna happen". Fast forward more years later and there's Billy crooning away on "Don't Worry Baby" at the All-Star Tribute to Brian Wilson and I'm thinking "Well, I guess he got over his Frankie Valli fixation or someone played him 'Pet Sounds'".

While I was never a Howard Stern listener, I'm sure he had a wild time with the clips from the HOF, but I really don't recall anyone trying to spin it as a punk rock/anti-authority speech at that time. It was seen more like a perfect example of why The Beach Boys were bubblegum and had no business being on stage with the greats.

Obviously, that perception changed dramatically. 

Back in the 70's Billy Joel spent a tour or two opening up for the Boys (as did Springsteen.) When Carl passed he some very kind things to say about him (to the tune of, whenever Carl Wilson was around, he always made sure you were treated first class, opening act or not) and dedicated "Only The Good Die Young" to him in concert at his first show after Carl's death.

Yes, which leads me to believe that Billy may have had a bad experience with The Beach Boys in the 70's and that's why he slammed them later on, or it was just macho posturing....

I recall an interview where Mike expressed disappointment (or annoyance) with Billy Joel for turning down an invitation to join the BBs on their 25th Anniversary show. I think there's a quote on this in that old "In Their Own Words" book on the BBs. Something about how some people got too famous to do the gig with the BBs after having opened for the band in the olden days.

It was kinda true; with some notable exceptions, there was a b-list aspect to many of the guests on that 25th anniversary show.

Here are Mike's comments on the R&R HOF speech from a 2016 Rolling Stone piece:

So let's get back to meditation for a moment. Have there been periods where you haven't meditated?

"Oh, no, that would not be safe," he says, chuckling. "I need to meditate. Well, let's put it this way. It's not good for me to miss meditation. And not good for others, too."

One time he skipped was in 1988, on the night of the Beach Boys' induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Come time to make a speech to the crowd, he started off by saying, "We love harmony, and we love all people, too," after which he hurled insults at Bruce Springsteen, Paul McCartney, Billy Joel, Diana Ross and "chickenshit" Mick Jagger, while insinuating that he and the Beach Boys were bigger and better than any of them. He struck a grim-as-death, tight-lipped pose and was greeted with jeers and boos. At one point, he said, "I don't care what anybody in this room thinks," which was clear enough. He also said, "A lot of people are going to go out of this room thinking Mike Love is crazy," which was true too.

He scratches at his beard, recollecting this awful, reputation-cementing moment, and says just about the only thing he can say: "Well, I didn't get to the punchline."

Do you regret anything about that night?

"Yeah, I regret that I didn't meditate," he says. "It helps you deal with whatever you're dealing with. I meditate in order to cope with things."

Thanks to changing perceptions, I think they'd have had quite a guest list had they elected to do a similar 50th Anniversary Special.   

Hopefully, more than just Adam Levine who sang with them at the Grammys that year. 

The Brian Wilson tribute special from 2001 is probably the most impressive guest star lineup any of them have had.  Billy Joel, Elton John, David Crosby, Paul Simon, Aimee Mann, Carly Simon, Jimmy Webb, Wilson Phillips, Vince Gill,  the then-recently reunited Go-Go's... what a concert.

Yeah, I still have yet to pick up a copy of that one.  Brian is extremely fortunate.  Usually an artist needs to pass away before being treated to such a A list tribute lineup (ie. Freddie Mercury, George Harrison)

The TNT tribute was a bit odd. It did have a bit of an air of Brian being dead even though he was there.

The best thing that came out of that TNT tribute show was Brian finally be cajoled into doing "Heroes and Villains" for the first time. One could argue this paved the way for "Smile", etc.

It probably did.  Was the TNT Tribute before or after the Christmas party where Brian sat at a piano and banged out H&V?

Dunno, but getting Brian to do the full song *on stage* in concert was the key move. Brian had noodled on the song over the years. It wasn't quite as "off limits" as maybe some would have said even back then. He took a back set to numerous live performance of the song with the BB's up to 1982 or so, and also goes into the song on the "Cocaine/Hamburger Tapes." But I think Brian singing that lead at Radio City Music Hall was a big step.

No doubt. 

Lately, it almost seems as though he wants to put Smile behind him again.   He did Surf's Up for most of the first leg of the NPP tour, then dropped it.  Then, Our Prayer / H&V was dropped as the opener around September 2016. 

Brian's speech was likeable, professional, and appropriate even if it was completely Landy driven.  It's a shame Carl wasn't given more of a chance to speak.
Anyone in the music industry or beyond who is intelligent and knows anything about Mike Love I'm sure generally disregards anything that he has to say. 

[quote author=KDS link=topic=25743.msg629021#msg629021 date=1516894598

Lately, it almost seems as though he wants to put Smile behind him again.   He did Surf's Up for most of the first leg of the NPP tour, then dropped it.  Then, Our Prayer / H&V was dropped as the opener around September 2016. 
[/quote]

Wish they would revive the Our Prayer/HV.
Not 100% sure, but think those were taken out because of problems with Our Prayer. It seemed like all of a sudden I was reading reports of that song sounding "off", then it and HV were dropped.

Wish they would revive the Our Prayer/HV.
Not 100% sure, but think those were taken out because of problems with Our Prayer. It seemed like all of a sudden I was reading reports of that song sounding "off", then it and HV were dropped.
[/quote]

Maybe OP/H&V will make a return with Brian's scheduled "Greatest Hits" show in April

"Heroes and Villains" was performed by Brian several times in 2017, most recently in May in Hollywood. It was indeed most recently a "regular" in the setlist in 2016.

Someone in the band (as I recall) mentioned that Brian has said he isn't to doing verbose songs like "Busy Doin' Nothin'" or "Surf's Up." I think he just finds them a chore to sing. "Heroes and Villains" may be a somewhat similar case. This is why I figured another "Smile" tour was and is pretty unlikely.

I've long thought it would be a no-brainer to just hand H&V to Al to sing; he has always sounded great on that one.

I've always thought of H&V as one of the songs Brian had sung great on, but I would be thrilled to hear Al sing it again.
Maybe Brian could still sing the "Cantina" section.

Brian at times struggles with the really "wordy" songs, which like HJ says, is likely why Busy Doin Nothin was dropped after the first leg of the NPP Tour. 

Al used to do a great job with H&V with The Beach Boys, so it seems logical to have him take that one again.  For that matter, I'm not sure why Al handed WIBN over to Matt. 

Have you ever been in a band? I mean a band that plays many dates with not much time in between? I was lucky enough to be in one and this may help to explain why leads and songs are switched from time to time. One can get more than weary singing the same songs night after night, gig after gig. One of the best ways to fight boredom is to move things around. I did this for 20 some years and believe me, sometimes even doing that sometimes didn't do the trick. It could be called group therapy. We also dropped songs and added others just to stay clear of getting in a rut which is very easy to do. I think the same thing goes for any band including Brian's incredible group. :bw

Can't say that I have.   But, if I could do it all over again, I'd have learned to play guitar at a younger age.