The Smiley Smile Message Board

http://www.accessatlanta.com/entertainment/music/mike-love-steers-the-beach-boys-back-atlanta/yDCNTwwtCBCKI79S6NLh1I/

“I’m hoping they get the fact that the reason I’m still doing what I’m doing at the level we’re doing it, meaning a volume of work and stuff like that, is probably because I chose a path that wasn’t a path of all the nefarious drugs that my cousins did, I mean, serious, serious stuff, and I chose not to,”

And then there is the typical error in fact from the writer:
Through it all, though, Love kept the Beach Boys going as a successful touring act, and in 2012, the surviving members of the classic Beach Boys lineup — including Brian Wilson, Jardine and Bruce Johnston — reunited with Love for a 50th anniversary tour and a new Beach Boys album, “That’s Why God Made the Radio.” The album had some worthy moments, but by June 2012, Wilson had left the tour and the highly celebrated reunion was over.

Saying you're healthy because of what you *didn't* take is sort of like your kid saying he's a good kid simply because he didn't burn the house down.

You'd think Mike would more often tout more of what he does, that he exercises and eats well and all of that.

Apparently to be healthy and have longevity, I need to go down to the GNC store and ask if they have a bottle of "Didn't Do Drugs Like the Wilsons."

Why waste the time?  Here we go yet again with  more 'love'-style "nourishment and revenge" bullshit.  I wouldn't give this sad ol' dickweed drop one of sweat off of the old left 'sack' if he was dying of thirst.   Truly.   He's spent off every last flake of goodwill he'd ever accumulated back when he was, in fact, accumulating.  What a sack of sh*t!!!  You boring old f***.

That he just keeps on a-comin' with more of this crap says it all.  He's actually the sicko.  [Addicted beyond measure to being a complete and utter prick/buffoon.]

That made me laugh out loud.  I am going to go to GNC and get some of that.

Injesting Pills with love. ;D

:lol

What the f*** is Mike even talking about here?

“I’m hoping they get the fact that the reason I’m still doing what I’m doing at the level we’re doing it, meaning a volume of work and stuff like that, is probably because I chose a path that wasn’t a path of all the nefarious drugs that my cousins did, I mean, serious, serious stuff, and I chose not to,”

Brian is performing some 110+ concerts for his Pet Sounds tour. Oh, he also works on solo material that actually gets released on a medium other than soundcloud.

So listen kids, if you want to perform more than 110 Pet Sounds concerts for a tour you shouldn't take any hard drugs! Jeesh what an idiotic way to look at things.

But of course this wasn't at all about Mike trying to steer people away from hard drugs, rather it was a silly way to say, yet again, that Brian took drugs. At this point he is really scraping the bottom of the barrel for reasons to talk about Brian's drug use. Like it's to the point of hilarity: "But when asked what he hopes readers will take away from the book..." he has to bring up that his cousin took a lot of hard drugs.

Yeah, I'd want to step into a room alone with a guy to write songs who continues to tell potentially millions of people that I f***ed up my life on hard drugs during a terrible time in my life (and, now that I've dug myself out of the hole, apparently the 110+ concerts I do for a tour could've been exponentially higher had I not taken those drugs). For it's absolutely adolescent appearance these interview answers are hilarious, but when you realize these are just monotonous answers given in different ways in so many interviews it's really quite sad.

Mike, you've had a phenomenal career touring with the Beach Boys, you helped write some of the best music this world ever saw; why keep dragging your cousin down in these interviews? You can advocate anti-drug policy while simultaneously not bringing up your cousin's past drug use. You have succeeded in life and that should be evidence enough of the power of not taking drugs.

It's obvious Brian had some serious mental issues (before taking drugs - which is probably why he took them) and reminding millions of people unnecessarily that Brian struggled with drug use isn't doing anyone any favors - especially when you're using the stories of this drug use to prop up your own fortunes in life.

edit: I want to add that maybe what I think is obviously a societal faux pas is something that doesn't even cross Mike's mind. When you constantly bring up the shortcomings of others (specifically when these shortcomings have been resolved by the person in question) in a public manner to people it really only solidifies your persona as someone who is really inconsiderate.

I'm really starting to believe that Mike comes out with this stuff with the sole intention of winding people up. If the rumours are true he reads this board with his OJ in the morning.

I'll bet he was the kind of child who spent hours torturing ants in his garden.

The first thought in your post crossed my mind the second I saw this. It's either that or Mike being completely oblivious to something called tact.

Imho the main reason of Mike's obsession with Brian's drug use is his delusion that without drugs Brian would never have stepped out of that "room" where they used to write songs together. For him it's impossible to realise that Brian had already outgrown him in 1965, and would have left anyway, out of plain artistic necessity.

Mike just managed to make the process so much more painful.

What bugs me is it also suggests an ignorance of the facts, or the reality of the situation with Brian Wilson in general. The statements made and points suggested are not backed up by the facts.

Those facts include Brian's tours, most recently last year's Pet Sounds tour which is continuing into 2017 that has gotten praise and solidly-consistently good reviews. The facts also include how many albums Brian has released under his own name since 1995, everything from studio albums of all new material to live albums to a full Christmas album to Gershwin and Disney tribute albums. Then factor in the guest appearances he's made on albums and tracks including everyone from Van Dyke Parks to Neil Diamond to his own daughters.

He was also directly involved in making (producing, writing, performing, etc) a "new" Beach Boys album in 2012 that went top 5 on the album charts. It was not an album full of remakes or covers or tributes, it was full original songs...and it went top 5.

Point is...no, make that the fact is that Brian is giving his fans new albums and new material to listen and enjoy. He's touring and delivering shows that fans and critics overall seem to be receiving very well, if not praising as highlights.

When Mike tries to suggest something as in that interview, and he does so often, it's ignorant of the facts.

What is sad is how many non-fans will read that stuff, and decide on a whim to don the Hawaiian shirt, straw hat, and khakis and head to Mike's concert, with the same mindset as they'd be going to a Falcons tailgating party. Thinking, perhaps, "wow, this guy is above all that stuff that ruined Brian Wilson, he's still tourin' and carrying that torch and captaining that ship on a steady course..."

And ultimately in that same time frame since 1994/95 or thereabouts, what has Mike released in terms of new material, new songs, or guest spots on other artists' recordings?

So the theory he proposes in these interviews falls flat.

Agreed 100%. Brian's life in the last twenty years is an amazing, inspiring comeback story and it's a shame Mike feels the need to consistently step on that in interviews like this one.

I guess on some level Mike must feel like any praise for 'current' Brian comes at his own group's expense?

A VOLUME OF WORK???

there is no volume of work, baldy! just the same tired shows night after night where you get to sing Brian Wilson songs and be the center of attention. and your voice went to sh!t some 20 or 30 years ago. but you never had much range to begin with, so it's less noticeable. god what a creep

I know you've heard this before but......

Thanks Bossaroo

 :lol

Yeah, man! What an attention starved botox faced clown. And let us not forget the tripe he spewed out with his own, no talent, embarrassing slop in the recording studio. Awful, just plain awful.

To be fair, I don't agree with the above. I think Mike has plenty to be proud of as well. Just wish they could all get along!

No... ... ...he doesn't actually.  They COULD all get along IF he DID have something to be proud of.  He doesn't  So he makes sh*t up.  He a dick-whisker.

He knows what he's done, I think he has a hard time living with it and is constantly trying to find a way to justify it.

The constant, boring, inane, rehashing of the same old, same old is part and parcel of that.

He has nothing to bring to the table, did he ever?

One of the most overused words in his personal dictionary is meditate, you never see him use the word karma though.

One of the weird (and interesting, and telling) things about Mike is that I don't know if I've ever seen someone "name drop" and overcompensate in touting certain things when he has a separate *legit* huge resume of stuff to be proud of.

The guy co-wrote numerous classic, sang lead on numerous classics, was a part of an album often voted the *greatest* of all time and was part of another album often named the *greatest unreleased* album of all time, and yet he'll go on and on name dropping how he knows Uncle Jesse from "Full House", or talk about how he "helped" McCartney with "Back in the USSR."

He tells stories like these as if he's some obscure, third-tier one-hit wonder from the 60s who is trying to tell stories to explain why he's relevant or that he has met famous people. He tells the "Back in the USSR" story the way you'd expect some "I met Paul McCartney once" story from some guy at a Beatlefest that you've never heard of. But he doesn't need to do this. He's undoubtedly met probably hundreds of famous people, worked with famous people, and so on.

He doesn't need to name drop; he's a founding member, writer, and lead singer for THE BEACH BOYS.

Take out the word "meditate" and that basically describes Doe to a "T".

I'm not proud to admit I take some small pleasure in his spectacular fall from grace.

In my opinion, he was the foulest contributor to Beach Boys forums bar none.

I long ago came to the conclusion he was sixpence short of a shilling. Is it okay to say that? if not, please delete it.

So manipulative and cunning. I could never understand people's admiration for him.

As for being a journalist, he didn't make a living from it did he? Can contributing to Beach Boys forums make one a journalist? If so, it's going on my CV. I only remember him saying he worked in a shop or a store as he called it, he does love his Americanisms. Latterly he said he worked in a betting shop. Hardly the stuff of champions.

I'll say this for him though Beach Boy forums were his life and he spent most of his days and nights on these forums. I wonder how he's handling the turn of the tide against him?

He likes to make a point of the fact that he "chose not to"

Mike is not an artist, he is a singer who happened to hop on the my-cousin-is-a-golden-goose express.  Brian took LSD to increase his creativity, probably not a good idea, but he did it to raise his creative bar, not sabotage himself.  Mike had no reason to take LSD because he was not an artist to begin with, so he should stop comparing himself to Brian in that way.  He gets the privilege to be the voice of his cousin's music, he should be grateful.     

Brian has spoken *at length* about his drug use and literally spoken out in interviews saying "Don't Do Drugs!"

As I've often said, other than Carl possibly fudging the excruciating details of the 1978 Australia debacle, I don't believe he or Dennis ever were in denial about their problems with drugs and alcohol, or at least never in interviews professed that such use was a good thing.

So the "I didn't do drugs like the Wilsons" from Mike these days is really a straw man argument. Who is saying drugs are good? Maybe a few of Brian's friends back in the 60s, and some folks have taken a measured approach in more contemporary times in terms of looking how drugs may have impacted Brian's art. Brian himself has spoken to this from time to time. But nobody is denying the awful toll drugs and alcohol took on the Wilsons.

If Brian was going around denying drugs were a problem, or if *anybody* much outside extreme fringes today were claiming they were a good thing for the band, then maybe Mike's endless saber rattling about it would make some sense. But as it actually stands, he just ends up coming across as trying to bring up something negative about other people to try to make himself look better.

Why are you in such good shape Mike?

Answer: The Wilsons did drugs.

What is a personal regret you have Mike?

Answer: The Wilsons did drugs.

Did you have problems with "Smile" at all Mike?

Answer: The Wilsons did drugs.

As I've said countless times, everybody in and around the band have a right to find drugs and alcohol reprehensible for the fallout they've caused for so many. (Though that clearly doesn't keep most of them from still drinking). But Mike isn't the only guy in rock and roll who has been surrounded by death and destruction caused by drugs, and I don't see other living members just beating the drug issue to death when they've lost members or had serious problems due to drugs.

Its like this kid at a festival:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CMNry4PE93Y

I wonder what Mike Love fans would think if he went out on tour with his band, and just sat behind a keyboard  that he never touches, and sang from a teleprompter? I'm sure Mike knows about Brian's touring schedule, and knows that his band does most of the work.

I think if Mike Love had as bad a back as Brian has his fans wouldn't be big enough assholes to look down on him for sitting at concerts (though, maybe they would be big enough assholes to bring this up ::)). Brian also takes medication for manic-depressive/schizoaffective disorder that could very well affect his memory, hence I'm sure the TelePrompter helps greatly in this regard (keeping in mind he had the symptoms of mental illness prior to taking drugs). Edit: also want to add that Brian has had terrible stage fright his entire life so I'm sure the teleprompter is also a reassuring tool for Brian.

I'm sure Mike does know about Brian's tour schedule, and oddly enough he probably understands that yes, the band does most of the work (a 5 year old could deduce that Brian can't be playing every instrument on the stage or singing every harmony). Contrary to David Beard's hilarious belief that Brian only sings "on occasion" and when he's "inspired", Brian sings in nearly every song that is played. And that Brian's band has more former members of The Beach Boys than the touring band it only makes sense that he's not singing lead on every song.

Your post should be in the running for the Cam Mott Most Ridiculous Mike Love Defense of the year award.

I am wondering if this was an actual interview. It is three Mike quotes after questions to which anyone here could have written the answers.  Not saying that Mike did not say those things to someone, but it sounds like the type of questioning one would encounter at a book reading or reporter-filled media event. Plus, in an actual interview, I am not sure that Mike would have let the author mention "Kokomo" without gloating about how 'he wrote' a number one song without Brian.

Well, it's not as if Mike is tearing up a keyboard or ripping out guitar solos...or ever did. I would say, given Mike's current voice, his band does a lot of heavy lifting too. Brian's purpose is really to take a years-long victory lap and say, "I wrote all this, and look how great it is, and look how I've survived everything I've been through." And that's fine. And Mike's purpose--to do shows and make money from his band's career catalog--is fine too.

More power to both those guys, but Mike's bitterness is just not a good look. It's as if the successes Brian has had in the last two decades have made him MORE bitter. Hmm...

Also, Brian deserves credit for continuing to pursue creative projects into his 70s.

 ??? What?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?  ???

This may be the least intelligent 'contribution' to any Beach Boys related website... ... ...E V E R.  If not it comes a DAMN close 2nd to some of mine.  No wonder you're "Lonely". :p

The only worse look than Mike's bitterness is anyone who tries to defend his pitiful bitterness.

Wait, according to Mike, "Brian’s life is controlled completely," "It has been since Gene Landy, and it still is."

So technically Brian doesn't deserve any credit for his creative projects but his handlers do. Defend on, Mike apologists. Godspeed in your futile pursuit.

It's when the comments made are not backed up by the facts and the actual record, as in suggesting things about Brian's output as a musician considering he's released a dozen albums under his own name since 1995 and is also "Still Tourin'" into 2017, that there is a serious disconnect with reality. And then concurrent with that usually comes the small chorus saying things about Brian not being in control, not doing what he wants to do...etc, etc, etc, blah, blah, blah.

It becomes a parody of itself, and it might even be considered funny if it weren't so personally directed at Brian or anyone in his life. It borders on sick, on top of being absurd.

To put more icing on that stale cake, then we get cases like someone recently suggesting in an interview that Mike never has a bad word for his cousin. Really, after all the interviews anyone can access and quote?

Ok, so it's been boiled down to a work ethic thing. Hmmm. Uh, let's explore this "most of the work" agenda you've concocted.

1. Back in the heyday, myKe did not care for nor did he have much time to hang in the studio and mess too much with the infinite details about what Brian did to craft his incredible arrangements. He was far too busy running after local tail. How many women did he invade with his seed?

2. Seems to me that Brian did close to 99.9% of the heavy lifting to make it all happen for the luHvster, by creating, writing, arranging(both vocally and musically), and performing.

3. It readily appears that because Brian did, in fact, did what he did like let's say BB Today or Pet Sounds for instance, in which from concept to finished product, set myKe luHv up for the rest of his miserable life to make millions, not to mention the rest of the group.

So what was that you stated about Brian not working? Just sayin'.  ::)

Great OSD post ever! :bw

Another point. Mike has to 'rent' the bands name as he has zero profile of his own. Solo Brian has only EVER toured under his own name.