The Smiley Smile Message Board

lol whats up with Brian's glasses he was wearing during the making of Pet Sounds era? Did he ever need glasses or was that just a stylistic phase he went through that year and why did he stop wearing them he looked cool ;D

I doubt he needed them, since we haven't seen him with glasses during any other period.  Just seems like they were a phase of his...I think they looked really cool on him too!

They made him look a little like Murry.

I believe I've seen a Smile-era interview where he talks about how much better he can see with the glasses, but it is strange that he seems to have gotten rid of them circa 1968 or so.

They seem to have been a part of his Phil Spector-esque uber-producer style.
It's a genius thing I guess.

From a Melody Maker interview (http://www.surfermoon.com/interviews/brian1066.html), Oct. 8th, 1966:

I saw him use them in 1990 where he faced off against Stan Love about the Landy case. Totally being unconvincing when he says he is in control of his own life.

He also used glasses during the Hall of fame-induction in the 80s.

His eyesight might have been perfect in the 60s (those glasses might have been fake) and deteriorated by the 80s (real).

Somewhere I read a story about Brian taking Stephen Kalinich to have laser eye surgery. I think it mentioned that Brian had the same surgery at some point, hence him not seeming to need glasses anymore, even though he's 65. Anyone else remember this?

And of course there is that picture of McCartney with the same type of glasses during the Rubber Soul/Revolver period in the studio.  So, who was first to wear them?  Did they copy each other?

I like that era when he was wearing them  (hence my avatar pic). Fake or not, he just looks cool.

The ones from '66 look cool, but the ones from '88 make him look like someone's grandpa. But probably only because they were so huge, plus he wasn't exactly 23 anymore in '88. But he was only (relatively speaking) 45 or 46 at that time. In '88, the glasses made him look 20 years older, I think.

A look some of us still try to copy....

(http://profile.ak.facebook.com/v224/1115/81/n535788953_585.jpg)

Here is a picture of Paul with the same type of glasses; I'll be damned if I cannot find the other one of him in the studio I am guessing around Rubber Soul era.

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Brian also wore glasses when he appeared on some songwriters TV special in the 80s. He performed God Only Knows and I Sleep Alone. The live recording of I Sleep Alone from Sweet Insanity Plus comes from this appearance.

don't forgot the stack o tracks cover shoot, late 60's.

i seem to remember brian in the mid to late 70s with some glasses....when he was bigger and had a beard in a pic or two

Maybe he thought the glasses would help him command respect. After all, Murry was pretty intimidating.

I may have seen that on youtube. The glasses are super huge and made him look about 40 years older than he really was at the time.

yes well thats how they made glasses in the 80s they were that big