The Smiley Smile Message Board

Does anybody know what the politcal party (leanings) are of each of the Beach Boys? I have heard that of the two factions, the Wilson faction was liberal and the Love/Jardine was conservative, but that just may have been concerning the band and musical direction. I did see Bruce Johnston waving a George W Bush hat at a concert in Dallas, TX so I guess that answers one.

Brian Wilson ?
Dennis Wilson ?
Carl Wilson ?
Mike Love ?
Al Jardine ?
Bruce Johnston - Republican
Dave Marks ?
Blondie Chaplin ?
Ricky Fattar ?
Glen Cambell ?

Hi,
I am interested in this too  -  i guess there was a cultural divide in the band. I guess I'm speculating here...conflicting evidence ... Carter's inauguration 1976, Reagan's in 1985...

I read an interview with Brian Wilson, a few years ago when Ronald Reagan was ill, and he said how much he had loved Reagan.
But I'm not sure if this applied to his actual politics or not, or just the man himself. Or who had introduced them.

The English interviewer thought that everyone in the band may have been republicans but seemed perhaps relieved that Wilson didn't seem to know or care anything about politics. It's hard for people in the UK to understand how the Republ --- I'll stop there.

Very hard to imagine Dennis Wilson being a republican though... very hard. Same goes for Carl Wilson, who just didn't seem to fit the stereotype to me... at all. But maybe I always think of the 1970s  ?

Love/Jardine/Johnston/Marks I think are  certainly conservative ... maybe Jardine a bit less than the others.

Chaplin, Fattat, Campbell I don't think so.

just using their personalities as a guide, me thinks Bruce, Mike and Al would be conservatives, probably republicans.
the others, I doubt if they had any preference, they didn't seem to be the type who would get into politics on any level.
Carly

Search the archives of the main board there is a very long thread on this topic. Worth reading too.

This is only my own speculation, but it is based on things I've read about the boys and my own observations of their personalities. Some of it based directly off the BBs and Politics thread on the main board.


Brian Wilson-hangs with lefties and liberals but is quite apathetic about politics himself
Dennis Wilson-progressive when it came to music, VERY socially liberal or at least believed in free love (lol), didn't give a sh*t about politics-just wanted to have a good time
Carl Wilson-like Dennis, progressive when it came to music, opposed the draft, I think he may have gone more to the right, or at least to the center, over the years considering he let Mike dictate the direction of the group post-1975 and jumped right on the money-making bandwagon with the rest of the group in the 80s. But was never as musically conservative as Mike-even when the BBs were becoming really cheesy Carl fought to maintain the musical integrity of the group

Mike Love-conservative republican who says he's an environmentalist

Al Jardine-probably quite moderate-loved SMiLE, liked some of the BBs more progressive material, but didn't like the drugs or any of the "far out" stuff that Brian was doing during the SMiLE era (eg. Barnyard-animal noises, vegetable chants, humor tapes, etc)

Bruce Johnston - was a rich kid growing up, I'm assuming republican-opposed leftist BBs manager Jack Reiley, quit the group because of him

Dave Marks-really don't know

Blondie Chaplin-assuming he's liberal, don't really know for sure

Ricky Fataar-was against apartheid, don't know much else-assuming he's somewhat liberal

Glen Cambell-probably Republican, after all he was a country singer

Can you really judge someone's political leanings from their personality or upbringing? There's tons of wealthy democrats. There used to be a time in my life where I would be surprised that so-and-so was liberal or conservative, but then I realized that since I kept on being surprised there's no use in generalizing.

I agree, Aegir. I also used to be surprised, but not anymore. You really can't generalize. I know plenty of poor Republicans and wealthy Democrats, for example, even though it seems the roles are 'typically' reversed.

According to Patti Regan Dennis begged her not to get an abortion (it wasn't his baby) so he was against that.

Bruce is a Republican for sure-- he has said as much on the BBB board.

Mike is a Republican, but he supports environmental causes, and I believe he has spoken out against the war in Iraq. I think Mike and Bruce are definitely fiscal Republicans, meaning that they like tax cuts. They both admittedly love money.

I believe, as someone here said, that Brian is apolitical. I remember hearing something on YouTube from the 60s where he's ranting about pollution in LA. He probably would say he's an environmentalist, but I can't imagine him having the attention span to make sure he lives by those priciples. He doesn't seem AS concerned about money as Mike and seems to support causes associated with liberalism, like eradicating poverty, promoting peace and justice, etc. I think he just hates to see people suffer. Probably if he were to study the causes, he'd come out more on the left. I wonder if he votes...

 

Bruce is the classic country club repubilican.

BTW shouldn't this be on the main board it's not a bad topic at all.

These guys are California entertainers.  Odds are that they will be liberals.  But you do have the occasional right wing hard liner.  And guys like Ron Reagan.  But, hey, look at his kids!

I think of that seen in one of the videos with the Beachboys behind the podium with Ron and Nancy.  Pretty cozy.

I did read that a lot of the old rockers are behind Barack Obama.