The Smiley Smile Message Board

I was just watching a 1987 Beach Boys concert on Youtube and I was struck by how animated Carl was at that show.  Most of the later concerts I've seen (early to mid 90s), Carl hardly moved around at all and I always assumed it was because of his celebrated back problems.  But he sure seemed to be feeling good and really enjoying himself in July 1987 when the Boys were performing in Belgium.  It was really wonderful to see.  Does anyone know when (approximately) his back issues/pain started to flare up?  And did he suffer back pain for the remainder of his life?

Edit:  Sorry about the three threads.  My Internet has been going crazy (bad weather).  Hopefully, the folks in charge will delete the other threads.

His back problem started in the mid 1970s

They say that Brian's back ....























































.... is also playing up these days. Maybe it runs in the family.

Carl's back problems flared up again in the early '90s, bad enough that he started wearing a back brace for concerts.

I was going to say, Carl's back might be bad.... But Brian's Back isn't much better.  :lol

A bad back will only get a whole lot worse when you are overweight.

And if you check out the 1987 concert in question, Carl looks to be about as thin as he ever was.

It seems like it might run in the family.  Brian has had a lot of bad back problems in the last few years.

His weight really did fluctuate a lot over the years, didn't it? Of course Brian's weight fluctuations were a lot more extreme, from the peak of heaviness in '82 to a really skinny Brian (a photo from Brian's "autobiography" in 1991). I was stunned how good Brian looked in the contemporary pictures on the Made in USA album, and the "autobiography" 1986 photo where he's meeting the Royal Family.

Brian in 1983-1986 looked healthy and recovered from the years of abuse. Landy then loaded BW up with drugs and got him way too skinny to be his "pop star".

I know I'm opening a can of worms but did Carl's use of Heroin relieve his back pain? I know it helps with pain just like pain pills do...was he ever known to take pain pills?

They say that Carl's back....

































I didn't know it was hurt

Carl's, ah, problems with substance and alcohol abuse in 1977-78 had multiple causes: disintegrating marriage, severe back pain, the state of the band and Brian's declining condition. Self-medication, or escape, or both ?

Good call, that's all enough problems for anyone to start those type of habits...as one speaking from experience, I barely had any problems to start my old habit, just looking for a good time and something different and it created bigger problems...I could never blame anyone but myself and I would never blame any of the Wilson's past usage, the sixties and seventies and eighties were definitely a different time to live in, I can't say if using then was more acceptable or not, I know in the eighties the Just Say No program, Stop the Madness PSAs, etc started so it started to change everything.