The Smiley Smile Message Board

What with Mike getting rather a lot of praise on here of late (some deserved, some not), I thought i'd redress the balance, for myself at least, and re-watch the Hall of Fame footage. Honestly, I'd really love to know, has it ever been officially confirmed: was he high, or drunk, or undergoing medication at this point, or what? I mean, he seems to be absolutely out of his mind from the second he sets foot on stage! Has there ever been any explanation from him (or anyone else) as to his behaviour that night?

(I also watched the footage of Brian, Dennis and Carl singing Bugged at My Ol' Man around the piano - when Brian coughs, looks at his brothers and they all crack up? Fantastic!)

I've read that he'd been fasting and the lack of nourishment caused him to act uncharacteristically… or in a grossly exaggerated version of characteristic, whichever way you look at it!

All together now:  "J'ai gourmet devour…"

Forget the awful speech, Mike obnoxiously adjusting the mic stand when Brian was talking was the worst moment..

He was obviously drunk

If he was fasting, thats just like 1970, when he went nuts from fasting.

if you haven't eaten in awhile, you get drunk a lot more quickly!

that's probably what happened...

Bad timing and some really goofy things said but he also made a point. I remember I wasn't mad at Mike, but mad at Paul McCartney for not showing up. Not a great moment but it did cut through some of the BS.

I suppose if mike is going to be banging on about paul mccartney i'd rather he was slagging him off then going on about how he helped him to write Back in the USSR for the 8,000th time!

It certainly is annoying when he adjusts Brian's microphone - you can tell it's just an excuse to dip into the limelight, steal a bit of his thunder. When he then starts rubbing the back of Brian's neck it somehow manages to come across as now even remotely affectionate or tender.

I think this clip is great coz it really highlights the BB's different personalities right there on stage in 7 or so minutes:

Brian - loveable, slightly awkward, passionate re music, if somewhat eccentric (gotta love Carl's face when Brian claims they've recorded 52 albums...)
Mike - limelight hogging, brash, confident, bit of an asshole
Carl - quiet, graceful and respectful
Al - happy to stay largely in the background, a team player

Given the number of unreleased recordings they had in the vault, I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if there WERE 52 albums' worth of material in existence!

I wonder what happened after Mike's speech backstage. Carl looks so mad at Mike....

(http://www.smileysmile.net/uncanny/media/0_21_011306_beach_boys.jpg)

Brian also looks to have revived his look of death from the touring days as well...

A baseball hat and tuxedo... Wow. Mike can always be trusted to remain true to his own sense of style.

oldsurferdude needs to come in here and tell it like it is!

Agreed!

Pretty rock and roll but not as rock and roll as some of the other members' inebriated onstage behavior.  On the other hand, not as embarrassing either; your mileage may vary.

I think embarrassment has a lot to do with how public your mistake or stupidity is. In that sense, I think Mike Love's bizarre rant is one of the most embarrassing moments in the history of rock and roll.

Carl was reported by numerous sources to have asked several key industry executives immediately after the incident if the group's career was over or in jeopardy. He apparently did have very real concerns over the impact of the rant.  Mike, on the other hand, apparently could not understand why his bandmates were upset, being convinced he had made the band the talk of the event.    His goal, again according to many who knew at the time, was to garner publicity for the group ("any publicity is good publicity") and upstage fellow inductees the Beatles and the Supremes, with their no-show stars.   I take this from my memory of reading and hearing first hand accounts right after the event.  Wish I had links to sources at this time. Maybe others do...

That's what I remember too...that Carl went up to an industry exec and asked "is our career over?"  I don't remember the source either.  One of them might be Brian's autobio, which of course is suspect, but I wouldn't be surprised if that part of it wasn't reasonably accurate.

I think that's probably what happened too.  Probably just a bad night for Mike.... although... it's always been my experience that being Drunk just makes you say things you would think sober; but just keep to yourself. 

Dylan thanking Mike in his acceptance speech for not mentioning him was brilliant.  I also love how Dylan simply yet eloquently reminds Mike that forgiveness is equally as important as peace, love and harmony. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TyqFL9m2odg (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TyqFL9m2odg)

It was like Dylan was singing the Mike line, "for not mentioning meeeee"

That was Brilliant, has Mike ever mentioned that, I wonder

I recall Al Jardine's 2000 interview in ESQ, when he was notably bitter with Mike Love at the time, talking about the incident.  Apparently after Love's rant, Jardine went to apologize over the matter with George Harrison and Ringo Starr (both of which laughed it off). 

And this moment got alot of mileage while it helped to further the already questionable public reputation of the band. For a supposed champion of meditation it's not only embarrassment for the band, it solidifies Luhv's ongoing hypocritical nature. And I would doubt anyone could argue the fact that he is probably one of the most hated, laughed at figures in rock and roll history.

I must admit, very well put, OSD!

Isn't it odd that Mike was also up there during the "big all-star-jam" at the end of the night banging a tambourine next to Jagger? And weren't they jamming on Jumpin Jack Flash, actually?

If so, Mike clearly did not get what he wished for.

Look, I know Myke is the guy who does it for you-and you are a good sport about how I'm always pissin' on his Wheaties, but it is what it is and he is what he is. By the way, I'll bet the farm that Myke positioned himself close to Jagger instead of the other way around. He'll never, in this life, ever be taken seriously as someone who really matters.

He'll outlive you, old man.  He's spreading Love, you're spreading hate.  Eventually that will kill you. 

I really think Ron is Mike Love, he even used a "love" pun that Mike uses for everything. ;)

I wonder if Carl's stress over Mike's speach is what caused the origins of cancer. If so, then Mike killed Carl Wilson!  :o

Yeah, he was really "spreading the love" during that speech, spreading the greed with lawsuits, and spreading something else during all those divorces. Sounds like your kinda guy. And I'll be outliving all drunkards out there one day at a time.

If you're in the Beach Boys there's much harder stuff that would cause stress.
And I guess his smoking didn't help either

Yeah, and I wonder if Paul not showing up caused George's cancer?

I wonder if Mike somehow killed JFK too!!!!

He probably killed him so he could co-write The Warmth of the Sun.

The Warren Commission shall be re-opened immediately!!!

OSD WILL testify!

He was in his 40's back then, so his memory should be good.

It's all in the Wouldn't It Be Nice book reissue!

Yes, it's in Chapter 13: Make Love...And War?

Mike's HOF speech is just one of the many reasons I love the guy. One of the only real, rock and roll things to happen at that slagheap.

Mike's rant was kid's stuff next to Fogerty making Stu and Doug sit there with their wives in the audience while he played Creedence songs with all those jerk-offs!

That was pure evil!

Right on!

Myke was, and is the most accomplished jerk off in all of rock and roll plus as an added bonus, he so looks the part as well-take a gander of that pos with his hat off at the Dodgers game-Unhappy the Clown. Better keep your hat on Myke. >:D

And Fogerty just must be a great guy because he's not bald and has marginally better (though repetitive) fashion sense???

Ha never had seen Dylan's speech - hilarious!! "I do a lot of dates every year too"

Brian's speech was great, and I like the glasses look! Too bad they couldn't have cut the speech after Brian finished :lol:

Fogerty sang very well, wrote very well, played very well, arranged very well, and did it all without being a corn ball frontman stooge.

That being said, Mike's speech is hilarious!

Oh, so then Fogerty being a complete bastard and blankety-blank over his former bandmates in a most public and humiliating fashion is just fine because he's less cornball, in your opinion, than Mike?

Doesn't sound like you're the best judge of such things.

And Myke hasn't had his share of fucking with his bandmates. has he? Try Brian, Dennis and Al for starters and it was all in front of the public as I remember.

Sure, but it seems like it's perfectly fine and dandy for any other rock star to be a complete asshole according to you. Just not Mike.

Oh, and don't try and tell me Dennis never ever did anything that wasn't completely sweet and wonderful!

I'd sure have a hard time even stomaching the Beach Boys if I hated Mike even a shred of the extent that you seem to.

And I certainly wouldn't call myself a Beatles fan or hang around on a Beatles message board if I had an all consuming hatred for say: McCartney!

It's just odd.....

You clearly haven't spent a lot of time on Beatles boards!

No, the difference is that Luhv made nearly an entire career of being a shithead as opposed to Fogerty.  :tm

Can't agree with that.

Fogerty was just as conniving as Mike ever was. He was antagonistic and unfair to his long suffering bandmates for most of their career. Not letting them sing backup, only allowing them anywhere near the studio just to record their basic tracks cold. Not letting Tom sing anything at all let alone any leads (and Tom was the guy who started the band) or bring in any of his songs (Tom's solo stuff is pretty damn good and a song or two of his would have been better than some of the covers they recorded) and then insisting Doug and Stu write, sing and play basically all of their last album simply because they wanted more say business-wise (Doug holds a degree in business, BTW) and on and on..... Yes, Fogerty is an amazing talent, but I think Mike's damn good too!

And to imply that Mike's been nothing but a merdahole his entire career is tough to stand behind. Are you denying he added ANYTHING of value to The Beach Boys in any shape or form?

....... Nor am I trying to deny he's ever done anything merda-ish...... But still......

If Mike is a jerk off, then what are you?

Taking what you say Fogerty did at face value; there's no way Mike ever did anything that rose to the level of any of that.  That's manipulation, and Mike doesn't manipulate, he just straight faced confronts, you know what I mean?  Anything Mike ever did was a confrontation, and wasn't really 'behind the scenes' bullshit like you say Fogerty did. 

(Not denying, I'm just not familiar with Fogerty's history)

The Fogerty stuff is all from Doug, Stu Tom, and is their point of view. Weird thing is, Fogerty's never denied any of it and seems to take any opportunity to just diss those guys with little personal swipes rather than present a conflicting view of events, so I kinda feel that it's more true than not.

Yeah that's always been sad, especially after his brother died. 

Do you perceive it the same as I do?  That mike's agression is more confrontational "in your face" type issues, whereas John was more manipulative?

Hard to say! Fogerty is pretty unreadable whereas Mike is something of an open book. And I've always had much more respect for someone who's openly confrontational/opinionated/outspoken over someone who does things in more underhanded ways. But with Creedence, those guys had been playing together so long that maybe Forgerty was just sick of them and them of him. Who knows? Bands are tough even in the best of cases. I can easily see how Fogerty would want to keep things strictly as they were seeing how much success it had reaped them, but at the same time it wouldn't have killed anyone to give the other guys a bit more room to stretch. They were a cracking unit, but that's an easy thing to not value properly in the heat of the moment.

Fogerty just from how I've seen him act in interviews and things over the years, seems much more likely to hold a grudge than Mike. 

Fogerty seems like the type that would get a restraining order against you and hire security guards because you got in an argument, and he wants to make sure you don't show up and ruin his wedding.

Mike seems like the type of guy that would sue you because you got in an argument, but then get offended because you didn't even show up at his wedding. 

It's a nuance, lol. 

Haven't Brian and Mike actually shown up at each others weddings with lawsuits still pending???  ;D

"It was just 1 lawsuit" LOL

Greatest Brian Wilson photo ever:

(http://cache1.asset-cache.net/xc/51102664.jpg?v=1&c=IWSAsset&k=2&d=77BFBA49EF878921F7C3FC3F69D929FD9F3A3A3C9256774EA19A27FBB81AD7377DC2B0BD3598EFE0)