Group Interview On PBS - Charlie Rose Show Tonight

[Heysaboda]

Heysaboda,

did you find it online somewhere, or just catch it live?

My wife recorded it on our DVR.  I haven't seen it on-line yet.

I am pretty sure that Charlie Rose archives all his shows on his web site.  I'll check around.

[Heysaboda]

Here's the Charlie Rose interview about the movie Beautiful Dreamer.

The new BB interview should be here in a few days.

http://www.charlierose.com/topic/music?keyword=Beach+Boys

[Lonely Summer]

I personally don't have a problem with Mike saying Dennis' comment was BS, even though I'm sure Dennis really meant it at the time he said it. I don't think the guys themselves are too worried about these things 45 years later  - it's us, the fans, that are hung up on it. My advice to anyone who still hates Mike is: don't go to the concerts, don't buy the album, you've had many years recently to see Brian or Al on their own without the Lovester. You can sit this one out, I'm sure it won't last long.

[Ziggy Stardust]

When..will..someone...upload..it....

[Lowbacca]

Might also 1st pop up on his official YouTube channel, keep an eye on that.

[Autotune]

This is an anticlimatic thread. We're having a blast with the reunion. The BBs give an honest and relaxed interview and we get a thread about Smile's possible reception and Mike being an idiot!

Oh sorry, I forget, since they are having a reunion, we're not allowed to be able to voice our complaints about things. Of course!

When I read all this nitpicking about Mike commenting a 45-year-old silly quote from Dennis, I'm suddenly reminded of 11:00 in this video 

http://wtso.net/movie/371-814_The_Itchy_amp_Scratchy_amp_Pooc.html

[AndrewHickey]

Was it a full hour of The Beach Boys being interviewed?

Half an hour.

Re Mike Love and Smile:  Other than "Wonderful," Mike doesn't care for VDP's lyrics and never will.   So he will never have much positive to say about Smile, except for "Wonderful" and "GV" and maybe the tracks, but not the album as a whole.  Al scored a lot of points with me too with his defense of Smile/"Surf's Up."

He's been pretty complimentary about Heroes & Villains, too. I think his dislike for Smile boils down to the lyrics on Cabinessence and Surf's Up. Apparently that dislike was so great that Van Dyke Parks to this day holds Mike solely responsible for the collapse of Smile, though.

[Ron]

When..will..someone...upload..it....

The sad news is hardly ANYBODY watches Charlie Rose (He's generally more boring than even Larry King was)... so a few people caught it, but certainly nobody was prepared to watch it, hahaha. 

He'll have it on his site in a day or two I'm sure. 

[Ron]

I think Dennis's comment was overstated for effect... he really didn't think Smile made pet sounds sound like sh*t, he was just saying that Smile was even better than Pet Sounds... and overstated it for effect. 

So, the point being Dennis' statement shouldn't be taken as gospel, I doubt he meant it to be so profound as to be discussed 45 years later.

On the other side, Mike's comments about how he shouldn't have put down pet sounds, etc. is also not worthy of 45 years of discussion, it was just 2 seconds in Mike's life... nothing to judge by. 

[Ziggy Stardust]

I think Dennis's comment was overstated for effect... he really didn't think Smile made pet sounds sound like sh*t, he was just saying that Smile was even better than Pet Sounds... and overstated it for effect. 

So, the point being Dennis' statement shouldn't be taken as gospel, I doubt he meant it to be so profound as to be discussed 45 years later.

On the other side, Mike's comments about how he shouldn't have put down pet sounds, etc. is also not worthy of 45 years of discussion, it was just 2 seconds in Mike's life... nothing to judge by. 

As for the Dennis comment, it was indeed nothing important or to be taken seriously, just to describe how incredible SMiLE was gonna be and get people excited.

But as for the Mike Love comments, that's a whole other thing here..
he was criticizing Brian's masterplan, and what would become his masterpiece and make the band's music really respected and live on for decades, as art and not just dumb summer hits.. this is where it all started to go wrong, for many reasons, and Mike Love is definitely part of it
after that point in their career, it never was the same again ... so yeah, his comments, attitude and what happened during the Pet Sounds era and after (SMiLE) IS part of history of the band and definitely had an impact on Brian and what would come after..

[Autotune]

Mike was never unsupportive of Pet Sounds.

During the Smile recording sessions he was a band member who had the right to voice his opinions, the exact same right fans on a forum claim for themselves.

[Jon Stebbins]

I personally don't have a problem with Mike saying Dennis' comment was BS, even though I'm sure Dennis really meant it at the time he said it. I don't think the guys themselves are too worried about these things 45 years later  - it's us, the fans, that are hung up on it. My advice to anyone who still hates Mike is: don't go to the concerts, don't buy the album, you've had many years recently to see Brian or Al on their own without the Lovester. You can sit this one out, I'm sure it won't last long.

It has nothing to do with hating Mike, although it nicely opens the door to people who have that proclivity. It has nothing to do with being "hung up" on anything. It a simple matter of pointing out that something was taken entirely out of context in such a shallow way by Mike. Simple. If Al can understand what Dennis meant by that quote then any of them can. It was a positive quote, a compliment to Brian, Dennis believed in Brian's direction and understood Smile was HUGE. To insinuate from that quote that Dennis didn't like, or was disrespecting Pet Sounds is juvenile. No need to hate anybody, no need to get hung up, just a fact. Mike made a gaffe.

[Chris Brown]

Mike was never unsupportive of Pet Sounds.

Brian and Tony Asher would beg to differ.

To be fair though, unlike Smile, I do think that Mike legitimately came to love and appreciate the project later on.

[b00ts]

I think Dennis's comment was overstated for effect... he really didn't think Smile made pet sounds sound like sh*t, he was just saying that Smile was even better than Pet Sounds... and overstated it for effect. 

So, the point being Dennis' statement shouldn't be taken as gospel, I doubt he meant it to be so profound as to be discussed 45 years later.

On the other side, Mike's comments about how he shouldn't have put down pet sounds, etc. is also not worthy of 45 years of discussion, it was just 2 seconds in Mike's life... nothing to judge by. 

As for the Dennis comment, it was indeed nothing important or to be taken seriously, just to describe how incredible SMiLE was gonna be and get people excited.

But as for the Mike Love comments, that's a whole other thing here..
he was criticizing Brian's masterplan, and what would become his masterpiece and make the band's music really respected and live on for decades, as art and not just dumb summer hits.. this is where it all started to go wrong, for many reasons, and Mike Love is definitely part of it
after that point in their career, it never was the same again ... so yeah, his comments, attitude and what happened during the Pet Sounds era and after (SMiLE) IS part of history of the band and definitely had an impact on Brian and what would come after..

I think that right now, it is verboten around here to say this because people are worried that they will call off the reunion or something if we have an honest discussion about the history of the group. Now is not the time for dispassionate discourse about the group. In about six months, it will be OK to talk about both the positives and negatives again.

[drbeachboy]

I think Dennis's comment was overstated for effect... he really didn't think Smile made pet sounds sound like sh*t, he was just saying that Smile was even better than Pet Sounds... and overstated it for effect. 

So, the point being Dennis' statement shouldn't be taken as gospel, I doubt he meant it to be so profound as to be discussed 45 years later.

On the other side, Mike's comments about how he shouldn't have put down pet sounds, etc. is also not worthy of 45 years of discussion, it was just 2 seconds in Mike's life... nothing to judge by. 

As for the Dennis comment, it was indeed nothing important or to be taken seriously, just to describe how incredible SMiLE was gonna be and get people excited.

But as for the Mike Love comments, that's a whole other thing here..
he was criticizing Brian's masterplan, and what would become his masterpiece and make the band's music really respected and live on for decades, as art and not just dumb summer hits.. this is where it all started to go wrong, for many reasons, and Mike Love is definitely part of it
after that point in their career, it never was the same again ... so yeah, his comments, attitude and what happened during the Pet Sounds era and after (SMiLE) IS part of history of the band and definitely had an impact on Brian and what would come after..

So, you think Brian's pre-Pet Sounds music is dumb? All that work to get to that artistic peak is just dumb summer hits, huh? What a thought process.

[Autotune]

Mike was never unsupportive of Pet Sounds.

Brian and Tony Asher would beg to differ.

Brian? When or where?

[Autotune]

I think Dennis's comment was overstated for effect... he really didn't think Smile made pet sounds sound like sh*t, he was just saying that Smile was even better than Pet Sounds... and overstated it for effect. 

So, the point being Dennis' statement shouldn't be taken as gospel, I doubt he meant it to be so profound as to be discussed 45 years later.

On the other side, Mike's comments about how he shouldn't have put down pet sounds, etc. is also not worthy of 45 years of discussion, it was just 2 seconds in Mike's life... nothing to judge by. 

As for the Dennis comment, it was indeed nothing important or to be taken seriously, just to describe how incredible SMiLE was gonna be and get people excited.

But as for the Mike Love comments, that's a whole other thing here..
he was criticizing Brian's masterplan, and what would become his masterpiece and make the band's music really respected and live on for decades, as art and not just dumb summer hits.. this is where it all started to go wrong, for many reasons, and Mike Love is definitely part of it
after that point in their career, it never was the same again ... so yeah, his comments, attitude and what happened during the Pet Sounds era and after (SMiLE) IS part of history of the band and definitely had an impact on Brian and what would come after..

So, you think Brian's pre-Pet Sounds music is dumb? All that work to get to that artistic peak is just dumb summer hits, huh? What a thought process.

In Stebbinsian acrimony, may I say that diminishing Brian's pre-Pet Sounds music as dumb summer hits is stupid. And so is looking at it as a path to Smile. That music stands on its own, as history has shown. And I'm out of this argument over minutia not even the principals are aware of.

[Summertime Blooz]

Here's something from the interview that hasn't been discussed. I'm going from memory here...

Charlie posed a question, referring to the new single, I believe...using words like "How did "TWGMTR" come about?", as if he expected a response that it was written in the back seat of the car while listening to the radio in five minutes, or that there was some other explanation nothing short of genius.

Brian's answer was concise... "Joe Thomas".

Somebody else then chimed in identifying Thomas as a producer or executive, but the story went no further.

Whooops! I guess the cat's out of the bag on that one.

[runnersdialzero]

This is the problem - what if McCartney had been scared about how fans would react to the lyrics on Sgt Pepper? This attitude (in general, not just Mike's) is what held the Beach Boys back commercially post-Pet Sounds, which is ironic considering that Mike' concern was commerciality.

Like I said, I don't agree with 'im at all, but I do understand the thought process behind it a lot better after those videos. Like I said in the original post, though, he questioned them but still sang them all.

[Ron]

Paul and John fought about lyrics and ideas and direction all the time, but both of them had the balls to stand by their  convictions. 


Brian didn't. 

It has nothing to do with Mike, if Mike hadn't have said it the fans would have blamed it on the record label (who he was in a lawsuit with shortly after, correct?).  So the whole argument that Mike blew ANYTHING up is flawed, because in life we have people critical of what we do all the time.  You have to be well balanced enough to deal with it, and that's true if you're a 5 year old in kindergarten and there's a mean person on the playground, or if you're a 25 year old musician.

[b00ts]

Paul and John fought about lyrics and ideas and direction all the time, but both of them had the balls to stand by their  convictions. 


Brian didn't. 

It has nothing to do with Mike, if Mike hadn't have said it the fans would have blamed it on the record label (who he was in a lawsuit with shortly after, correct?).  So the whole argument that Mike blew ANYTHING up is flawed, because in life we have people critical of what we do all the time.  You have to be well balanced enough to deal with it, and that's true if you're a 5 year old in kindergarten and there's a mean person on the playground, or if you're a 25 year old musician.

Right, the buck stops with Brian ultimately. I was saying that at this late date, the rest of the group (especially Mike) could be more outwardly accepting of SMiLe, even if they don't like it. Kudos to Al for jumping in.

[runnersdialzero]

Right, the buck stops with Brian ultimately. I was saying that at this late date, the rest of the group (especially Mike) could be more outwardly accepting of SMiLe, even if they don't like it. Kudos to Al for jumping in.

Also true. I was beaming when I read that. Beaming on the inside. With beams.

[Wirestone]

Here's something from the interview that hasn't been discussed. I'm going from memory here...

Charlie posed a question, referring to the new single, I believe...using words like "How did "TWGMTR" come about?", as if he expected a response that it was written in the back seat of the car while listening to the radio in five minutes, or that there was some other explanation nothing short of genius.

Brian's answer was concise... "Joe Thomas".

Somebody else then chimed in identifying Thomas as a producer or executive, but the story went no further.

Whooops! I guess the cat's out of the bag on that one.

Given that the authorship of the song was established a couple of months ago -- Peterik, Millas and Thomas did a demo in 98, and BW and Joe took it up again last year -- it's not really a surprise to anyone here.

[AndrewHickey]

Right, the buck stops with Brian ultimately. I was saying that at this late date, the rest of the group (especially Mike) could be more outwardly accepting of SMiLe, even if they don't like it. Kudos to Al for jumping in.

And then the same people who criticise Mike for saying he doesn't like Smile would instead criticise him for saying he liked it, saying he was being dishonest and trying to rewrite history. If he doesn't like it, he doesn't like it.

[drbeachboy]

I think Dennis's comment was overstated for effect... he really didn't think Smile made pet sounds sound like sh*t, he was just saying that Smile was even better than Pet Sounds... and overstated it for effect.  

So, the point being Dennis' statement shouldn't be taken as gospel, I doubt he meant it to be so profound as to be discussed 45 years later.

On the other side, Mike's comments about how he shouldn't have put down pet sounds, etc. is also not worthy of 45 years of discussion, it was just 2 seconds in Mike's life... nothing to judge by.  

As for the Dennis comment, it was indeed nothing important or to be taken seriously, just to describe how incredible SMiLE was gonna be and get people excited.

But as for the Mike Love comments, that's a whole other thing here..
he was criticizing Brian's masterplan, and what would become his masterpiece and make the band's music really respected and live on for decades, as art and not just dumb summer hits.. this is where it all started to go wrong, for many reasons, and Mike Love is definitely part of it
after that point in their career, it never was the same again ... so yeah, his comments, attitude and what happened during the Pet Sounds era and after (SMiLE) IS part of history of the band and definitely had an impact on Brian and what would come after..

So, you think Brian's pre-Pet Sounds music is dumb? All that work to get to that artistic peak is just dumb summer hits, huh? What a thought process.

In Stebbinsian acrimony, may I say that diminishing Brian's pre-Pet Sounds music as dumb summer hits is stupid. And so is looking at it as a path to Smile. That music stands on its own, as history has shown. And I'm out of this argument over minutia not even the principals are aware of.

Whether you are out of the argument or not, of course everything that came before lead up to Smile. Just like the music on Today lead to the music on Pet Sounds. Most everything a person excels at comes from all that came before in that craft.