The Smiley Smile Message Board

So...we all know Brian hated touring. He wanted to stay behind and focus on writing and producing.

After reading Jon Stebbins' book about David Marks, it really hit me that, truth be told, Brian rarely toured with the band until after David Marks left the group. As we all know, Al Jardine left the Beach Boys, for all intensive porpoises, after "Surfin'" was recorded and then David Marks stepped in as an official Beach Boy....but who went out and toured?? As evidenced by journals kept by Elmer Marks and photographs in the Stebbins book, Al went out with the guys while Brian stayed behind.

And of course Brian shat his pants when he found out David was out. Why? Because that meant he had to go on the road.

Now....my theory is that Brian had repeatedly told these guys, no, I can't go out on the road, I need to stay behind and work in the studio. And it fell on ears deafer than his right ear. And at least one blind eye. And anybody with half a brain knows that if Brian doesn't want to do something, he will do everything he can NOT to do something...but of course Murry was still in charge.

When did Brian have his nervous breakdown that led to his permanent vacation from touring? December of 1964 -- AFTER Murry was ousted.

Now....for my real point:

The breakdown happened in mid-flight on the way to Houston. What better place to have a freakout than in the air in a pressurized metal tube, where you have to deal with the problem until the plane lands?? If the breakdown happened on the road, they could have pulled over and literally walked away from Brian. If it happened in a hotel, they could have left the room. But it happened on an airplane.

having said that....I'm starting to think that....

Brian faked it.

Yep. Brian will cause a scene to avoid something if he can. What if they somehow forced him to keep touring? More breakdowns, possibly even worse public scenes, so naturally they had to give him his way?

And why not? This is the same guy who wormed out of going to Holland. The same guy who refused to do the Disney album unless they agreed to let him do the Gershwin album first. The same guy who, when he tells Melinda he's going jogging, will find someone's yard with a lawn sprinkler and sit under the sprinkler to make it look like he was sweating, then head back home. The same guy who, if he didn't want to participate in a concert, would spend the entire concert just sitting there and staring up at the ceiling. And God knows what else.

And what better way to get out of touring than by faking a nervous breakdown?

Interesting theory.

I'd be more inclined to get onboard if the days (and then decades) that followed the airplane/breakdown incident didn't involve a "changed" Brian who was noticeably different to everyone around him from then on.  Who knows how much of a "breakdown" it really was---none of us were there.  But there is no denying that Brian reacted in a big way.  Whether it was planned or not, shows just how vulnerable he was at this time.

That you loren??  ;D

Nobody calls BW a chicken!

(http://www.homevideos.com/freezeframes3/back2thefutureone84.jpeg)



No, really.. I don't think Brian just "chickend out" that day. He had been under enormous pressure for years and not only did not enjoy touring, but suffered from it. Suffered from being away from home, being away from actual friends, his mother and Marilyn. He wasn't like Mike or Dennis. He had been suffering for quite some time when the incident happened, so even if it was exaggerated on his part, it was self-preserving and necessary - for Brian as a person and for the Beach Boys to continue on Brian's material. No matter what really happened on that plane, I can't imagine Brian doing it out of sheer convenience/laziness.

Maybe this is going beyond what 37!ws was getting at, but at least this is my 2cents on the topic. And after all, 99% of this is mere speculation.

There's a song by Styx that puts the cap on this topic. :o

I'm glad you read the Dave Marks book, it gives a really good sense of how things were on those first tours...BUT...if you read my latest book The Beach Boys FAQ there is a detailed look at the load Brian had to carry in the year 1964 (pages 100 - 102 "A Rock In A Landslide"). This will give you a sense of the crushing pressure he was under, and show that in my mind his breakdown was 100% real.

That sounds like a good book!!  I'm going to have to read it.

The fact that the term nervous breakdown was used was wrong because I'm not sure there ever was such a thing.  That's an outdated layman's term (though it was used in the mid-'60s) more than a medical term.  Panic attacks and anxiety didn't come into common usage until at least the '70s.  He also sounds like he may have been agoraphobic, a person who avoided leaving the house whenever possible due to fear of being in public places or around strangers.  Building a home recording studio fits in with that.  That fits in with anxiety disorder.  I'm not sure agoraphobia came into pubic usage until the '70s or ''80s, either.  There was also much less known about depression and bipolar disorder during the '60s.  So, whatever was going on with him, the people around him may not have been sure what was going on.  

"Pubic usage"?

I sure as hell have never used the word "agoraphobia" that way! (But many other words, yes.)

Are you sure "mcg" doesn't stand for "micrograms"? Stay away from the brown acid, boy, it's not specifically too good!

8^)

Do some of the people on this board not speak English as a primary language, or have a hard time interpreting meaning in the usual way?  The term "agoraphobia" was not in the public lexicon in earlier periods of history. That's what I meant and I don't understand why someone wouldn't understand what I meant.

Did this really happen?  Because if so, that's awesome.  :lol

Sorry, I was making a joke out of your little typo. I knew what you meant.

"At the last meeting I attended concerning Pet Sounds, I showed up holding a tape player and eight prerecorded, looped responses, including 'No comment,' 'Can you repeat that?' 'No' and 'Yes.' Refusing to utter a word, I played the various tapes when appropriate."