The Smiley Smile Message Board

I know a lot of people who post here have recommended this book, and I'm seriously considering getting it.

One thing I need to know, though:

Does it perpetuate the myth that Brian dropped out of the Beach Boys after SMiLE collapsed and didn't really have anything to do with them again until 15 BIG ONES?

Because I believed that myth for a long long time... until I bought the CDs featuring WILD HONEY and FRIENDS.  Quite a revelation for me, as you could probably imagine!

Brian's mentioned a bit during the passages from 1967-75, but like life, he doesn't factor in too much there, unless Gaines is talking about Brian's drug abuse or his diseases.

It's a great gossip book.

Hardly mentions the music but rather the troubles in making it.

Discuss, review and rate Heroes and Villains: The True Story of the Beach Boys, released October 1, 1986.

(http://www.smileysmile.net/images/albums/heroesandvilliansbook.jpg)

this was the first beach boys book i read when getting into the band..  the above comment is right.  it's more gossip then music.  really makes them all seem like immoral assholes.  while they do talk about brian in that period, when i got those albums i was also surprised how much he was on there..  even today, i'm finding out a lot of the vocals i thought were carl or al, are actually brian..  while being told brian was all but committed to an asylum at this point.

I like it because it gives you the dirt. Sure, other books are more fair and balanced, but everyone should get a glimpse of the dark side that lurks within America's Band. It's gossipy, but a solid read nonetheless.

I love it.

I just finished reading this for the third time.  To me, it is a fantastic biography.  Given that there are so many personalities to cover, I think Gaines (who has actually had a long and successful career as a nonfiction writer) does a pretty phenomenal job with them.  I think he gets Brian -- who is the most important -- the best.  Certainly Gaines doesn't cover up any of Brian's misdeeds and craziness, but ultimately the portrayal comes across (to me) as deeply sympathetic.  We see Brian from the beginning, as a very sweet, extraordinarily talented young man who used to love harmonizing with his brothers and cousin Mike while at the same time dealing with his father's abuse, who achieved extraordinary early success without (all things considered) letting it go to his head hardly at all, and then who somehow went wildly off track in his personal life, starting around the time of SMiLE.

Gaines doesn't fully make it clear what exactly caused Brian to breakdown, but I'm not sure if anyone could.  Obviously drugs had a lot to do with it, but also there must have been some underlying mental illness too.  It's truly sad to read what happened to Brian in the 70s.

Gaines interviewed almost everyone who was close to the Beach Boys in the 60s and 70s -- including Brian, Dennis, Carl, Mike, and Al, as well as Audree Wilson, Stan and Stephen Love, Marilyn Rovell, Karen Lamm, and many others (even Steve Desper).  He devotes a lot of time to Dennis but not very much to Carl or Al.  Most of the Dennis material deals with the Karen Lamm period through to his death (about 1976-83).  I would have liked more about Dennis in the late 60s and early 70s.  I definitely would have liked more about Carl.  Mike is pretty well covered in the book and doesn't come across well at all.

Gaines also does a pretty good job with Murry, who comes across as a mean, extremely domineering, and also rather pitiful person, but also one who did want to love his sons but just didn't know how.  The fact that Murry's own father was also abusive (and also loved music) is very telling.  Audree comes across as a loving woman who was simply unable to stand up to Murry on behalf of her sons.  It seems that music and food were Brian and Carl's refuges from their father.  Dennis had music, but he never got into food.  They all had addictive personalities and all later got into drugs and alcohol of course.

The book gives a good sense of the intense family dynamics involved -- Murry was an overbearing presence in the studio well into 1964, and when he was finally kicked out, he tried to start his own Beach Boys knock-off group, the Sunrays.  It seems this was particularly hard for Brian.  As the oldest child, the songwriter, arranger, and producer, he had an almost unbelievable burden and responsibility to provide for his brothers, his mother, and even his cousins and extended family by producing hit music -- not to mention his own self-imposed burden to compete with and top all the other pop music acts out there, especially the Beatles.  Amazingly, he shouldered that burden with incredible success.  I think more than anything else what happened with SMiLE was that Brian, still only 24, just wanted more freedom to branch out and do things his own way, for his own creative gratification.  And when the band -- his family -- came down on him for it, he realized he was never going to escape and part of him just gave up.  He couldn't keep it up anymore.  He would keep making music because he loved it too much to stop, but he would no longer take responsibility for everyone and everything.

Gaines describes very well how Brian liked to latch onto creative partners outside the family, even in the early 60s, starting with Gary Usher, then Bob Norberg, Roger Christian, and later Tony Asher and Van Dyke Parks.  And unfortunately also people like Loren Schwartz, who got him started on drugs.

When you consider, as Gaines points out, that Brian was still living at home and writing songs in the Wilson family music room after "Surfin' USA," you realize how trapped he must have felt (as did Dennis and Carl too, who were still in high school when the Beach Boys hit it big).  He finally moved out in 1963 for the first time to a one-bedroom apartment with Bob Norberg.  The Beach Boys never had the experience the Beatles did, of being on their own, having a wild and crazy youth (in Hamburg) before becoming superstars.  One day, they were living at home, under Murry's thumb, and the next, they were a pop music sensation.  There was no transition, no time in which they learned to live as normal adults on their own.

I had never fully appreciated how young Marilyn Rovell was.  She was fourteen when she first met Brian, and only 16 when they got married!  And that Dennis started having sex with his 17-year-old first cousin once removed, Shawn (Mike Love's illegitimate daughter!!!), when Dennis was in his late thirties.  And that Carl marred Annie Hinsche at about the time of her 16th birthday!  And Mike's fifth wife (who he married in the 80s) was only 17.  Puts songs like "Hey Little Tomboy" and "Roller Skating Child" in a slightly different light.

Ultimately, though, the Wilsons come off pretty well in this book, even though Gaines tells it like it is.  It's clear how much everyone in the family loved and admired Brian (even if they didn't always treat him well), and Dennis was, well, just cool (at least until the last few years), despite all his problems.  Carl just seems like a level-headed (relatively speaking) guy.

The real weakness of the book is in its treatment of the music.  Consistent with conventional wisdom from the mid-80s (when it was published), the book does a solid job in discussing and describing the creative and recording process up through SMiLE.  But then Gaines pretty much dismisses everything that comes after.  "Wild Honey" and "Surf's Up" are praised, but "Smiley Smile," "Friends," "Sunflower," "Carl and the Passions," "Holland," "Love You," "MIU," "LA," and "KTSA" are all pretty much dismissed, and worse, very little attention is given to the writing and recording process (with a few exceptions, such as the move to Holland in 1972 and the story behind "Sail on Sailor").  The definite impression is that nothing the Boys did musically after 1967 is worth much consideration -- an idea I could not disagree with more strongly.

Also, the book is riddled with glaring errors regarding the music.  For instance, he misquotes the words to "In My Room" quite severely as "There's a place where I can go, to tell my troubles to."  If he had just listened to the song he would have known it was "world," not "place," and "secrets," not "troubles."  He refers to the group's seventh album, "The Beach Boys," which hurtled to the number one position on the charts (apparently a reference to "Beach Boys Concert," which did hit number one and was their seventh album).  He dismisses "Holland," except for "a pretty song called 'Clear Cool Water.'"  Obviously there was no such song on Holland or any other Beach Boys album, and it's not clear if he's referring to "Cool Cool Water" or "California" (with the chorus of "get yourself in that cool, clear water").  Again, just a glance at the album sleeve was all Gaines had to do.  But clearly he doesn't think much of the Beach Boys' post-SMiLE music.

Ultimately, this is a relatively minor criticism, because Gaines really did a tremendous amount of research.  He spent ten years writing the book and truly delves into life behind the scenes for the group.  The wealth of detail is amazing.  It's not a pretty picture, but it is certainly a moving one.

I didn't like how he dismissed the Today! album saying it had too many car songs and then heaps praise on the Party album, but you don't read this book to learn about the Beach Boys music.

i was thinking the same thing. he really trashed Today for no good reason

 :o "Today" has car-songs?!?! Do I have an alternative version? Does he??

i'll take my version over his !!!

oh, and he said Summer Days was a quick album to follow up...like they didn't take anytime on it...

that's a dern fine album. to me, it's the pet sounds of summer...production wise

Gaines also trashes Friends and Holland... two of my personal favorites...

Good book though!

it goes into full detail on the Australia tour problems w/ David Frost's crew
where a near all out brawl occurs concerning carl, dennis, mike/stan love, & heroin!!!!

Read all about it,.. i don't think ive read as much info. on that fateful tour/issue than in Gaine's book.

What. An. Idiot.

Seriously, how could you let something like that slip?

I think it's good as far as the quotes being right etc. I think its bad because of it's tone. We could have had the same info presented  without tabloid styled exageration. I mean The Beach Boys were weird enough to freak people out anyway without making it worse. You know and I'm sorry but if you don't know the music don't write about the band. Good business details and very good on the Stan and Rocky era.

I just bought this one and read it over three days. I agree with most of what's been said here, some good gosip and facts, but the music isn't paid attention to much, I spotted several album detail and music trivia errors as well as a couple of typos. Also, even though the book was over 300 pages I found it rushed through events too much especially when it comes to the post '67 years. For four dollars though, I don't feel to ripped off though. I don't think I'll be re-reading this one alot though.

I like the book overall...it's what got me really interested in the Boys...the first read I ever had on them. It kept me interested, that's for sure...couldn't put it down. Some errors, but that's the way in pretty much all biographical works. The author's opinions on certain issues/albums...not the best...but it's pretty good about detail, though, as far as I'm concerned...nice quotes, nice stories...it's a good read.

I think Busy Doin' Nothing's post sums up the book and it's purpose perfectly.  Not much about the music, but an amazing (and sometimes frightening) look at what life inside of the Beach Boys is all about.

Take David Leaf's Beach Boys book and the Gaines book, mix them together, and you get a pretty good overview of the music and realities of the band.

This is my fave of all. I normaly read a book once and that's it but, I read this one twice. I give a big 5 :-D

I think the book is great if you want gossip, but awful if you want any insight into music. Gaines is either clueless or has awful taste in music.

"Friends ... a boring, emotionless LP. ... Brian's solo contribution to the album was called "Busy Doin' Nothin'."

The album is certainly not emotionless, and is boring only if a person is looking for a different style of music. Friends, to my ears, is almost exactly what the band set out to make it. And it's one of their greatest successes. As for that second sentence, it doesn't make sense. If by "solo," Gaines means "sole," or "only," he's way, way off. And if he means literally solo, as in written by just Brian, it is one of two solo contributions, the other being "Passing By." And in that case, it's bad writing. (He should have said, "One of Brian's two solo contributions..." or some such thing.)

Or:

"The Beach Boys Today! ... was not one of Brian's best works, consisting mostly of a melange of uninspired car tunes..."

The album is widely regarded as among the top few Beach Boys albums, and I don't think it has a single car song on it.

Or:

"In reality, [Holland] was not very good. ... a forgettable tune called "Funky Pretty," composed with a little help from Brian ... The only outstanding part of the album was a small segment of the "California Saga" and a pretty song called "Clear Cool Water.""

Again, Holland is an album a lot of people really like, both Beach Boys fans and (in my experience) non-fans. "Funky Pretty" is arguably forgettable, but it wasn't composed "with a little help from Brian," it was composed by Brian. To call a part of the California Saga the only outstanding part of the album, but then not mention which part, is an example of sloppy writing or worse, and there is no "pretty song called "Clear Cool Water."" Presumably, he means "California," which includes that as a lyric.

The book is readable, but every single time Gaines discussses music, he is either demonstrably incorrect or demonstrating questionable taste (or both). I suppose it's a good thing he rarely discusses music ... although that's an odd thing for a book about a band.

Your right about the music but, I like to hear about  what went on behind closed doors. I know, some is untrue but, again it's a good read. We all know brian was kinda weird at times, but what part is true and what part is real  we will never know.

I liked it, it was one of the first Beach Boys books I ever read.

After reading this, and other tomes, am I alone in wanting to rearrange Rocky Pamplin and Stan Loves faces with a baseball bat???

Don't forget that Stan Love was the one who began the legal action to separate Brian from Eugene Landy. The other family members at first were hesitant to get involved and he got a lawyer and held a press conference and went after Landy.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=WFPjJSI5sc4   watch this clip, at around the 6 minute mark, give or take 10 seconds, is the press conference with Stan Love and Brian Wilson shows up out of the blue to defend Landy.

You know having Steven here changes my opinion. That he admits there were errors with the music really helps me see the book in a new light. The fact that he does like the music (including things like Holland) really gives him a lot more credibility in my eyes. Sure we know Brian was more active in the late sixties/early seventies and that Dennis played on more sessions then once thought, but this does give some insight to the group's up's and down's. It explains a lot about why things declined so much musically, and why relations between the group are so fragile today.

I really want to read this book!!

Did you get a hold of a copy? Read it along with the Stebbins books and maybe the Carlin and Priess ones and you get a very complete picture. For the music of course Andrew is the one to go to.

I really like this book, too.  I have to disagree when I hear it dismissed as gossip.  There is a lot of historical value to this book.   The book begins with the days leading to Dennis' death, and I read that the author painstakingly interviewed and researched for this chapter, which could not have been an easy task for him.   

This book came out before the internet, when the only information you could find on The Beach Boys would be if they were featured in a magazine here and there.  When this book came out, fans could finally get a clearer picture about the band members as human beings, warts and all.   It's one of the very few books that I keep around to read again and again.

I was glad to see the author posting and then sorry to hear he left...... I think he deserves credit for his hard work, and for having the courage to tell it like it was.  It's not always easy being the messenger.  He is a wealth of knowledge on the band, and he definitely has my appreciation!

Just finished reading the book...and while I disagree with Gaines' opinions on some of the music, and saw a few spelling errors in people's names, I really love all the little sordid details...and I never even knew about Debbie Keil until I read the book....seems like Peter Ames Carlin left out a few things in his Brian bio.

I never knew just how racist The Beach Boys were before reading this book... The casual anti-Semitism -- to say nothing of the displeasure and alleged framing (for possession of cocaine, in order to get rid of her) of Brian's black nurse-girlfriend! -- was more than a little off-putting. Especially from the Wilsons, who you'd think would be more sensitive about that kind of stuff considering the Rovells, whom one of them was married to (and of course lusted after both others...) are Jewish!

Generally though, yeah, this was a real good read. Quick too, I finished it in two or three days as it was hard to put down. I also thought it really gave a great sense of the long shadow Murry cast over his kids as people and professionals.

 Gaines was often wrong re chart positions as well. In his book/world PET SOUNDS hit #11 and HOLLAND #37.  OK, he was only off by one each time, but this data is easily available. Sloppy work.

 I heard a radio interview with Gaines back in 1986 and his general ignorance of the music was glaringly obvious. As a result, I've always held his book in contempt, even though the gossip is good.

Steven Gaines on...

Beach Boys' Party: "a superb album"

Friends: "a boring, emotionless LP"


Yeah...




(Great read though, and the #1 source for gossip and rare photos.)

You know there is some truth there, but honestly having reread it I am not as impressed as before. Probably because I see that some people take the more crazy and unverified stories to be gospel. Good for the business end of things, good for the 1978 tour, OK on the 1962-65 era but honestly you can find better now.

I bought this when it was new, and I've just reread it for the first time in a couple of years, probably.

I was put off by the tone of it when I first read it.  It doesn't seem as tawdry now as it did then.  This was the first time I'd ever read of someone being called "a sick f***."  I've still never heard anyone say that in person.

Gaines seems to have gotten to interview a lot of people, and there are a lot of quotes.  Not as much about the music as I would have liked.

I liked the beginning, with his journalistic depiction of Dennis's last days on Earth.  His death had been only two or three years before the book was written, so it was fairly fresh news.  It was hard to read that and not wonder what would have happened if Dennis had gone to rehab and stuck it out.  People close to Dennis, I think, did the best they could, but he had to be the one to do the rehab.

Dennis never talked about Manson that I know of, so the book is understandably thin about that period of his life.  About Brian, it's too easy to get the impression that he didn't get out of bed for literally years at a time.