Here's one that I found out recently is an unpopular opinion:

I believe that the best tracks off Still Cruisin' hands down is the title track and Make It Big!

I loooove "Make It Big".

Damn those who think it's too cheesy, I honestly find it inspirational (albeit with some awkward moments like the Johnny B. Goode lyric), but Carl's vocal saves it and takes it to another level.  Not to mention Brian and Mike's vocal interplay on the tag is a seriously great moment - no foolin'.

I might nominate "Being With the One You Love".

Damn I love this song. No idea why this wasn't a proper BW88 album track.
(And thank the stars above planet Earth that the lyrics were changed from what they were to what they became).

But seriously folks, I can't hear Brian on this Spanish "Kokomo" version (maybe my ears are failing me today). Can someone point out a timecode where he's clearly audible?

0:57-0:59 is most definitely shouty Brian.  Similar sections thereafter seem to reveal the same thing.

I totally thought that shouty part was Al at first listen. But I guess you're right!

They should have released a double-sided 45 of "Kokomo (Spanish Version)" b/w "Ganz Allein"... and maybe throw in a brief hidden track of just the Japanese lyric parts in "Sumahama".

Call it "Beach Boys Sing Around the World" 

But seriously folks, I can't hear Brian on this Spanish "Kokomo" version (maybe my ears are failing me today). Can someone point out a timecode where he's clearly audible?

In my alternate reality, Mike’s interview would ideally go like this:

"I have mixed feelings about it. I think there was some great music on Smile, some incredible tracks. But at that point in time, there were so many drugs being taken by Brian and other members of the group, and there was a lot of collaborating with people other than myself. I had literally nothing to do with writing anything on the Smile album, so naturally I was a little upset, which grew into a complex situation, and I’d really like to set the record straight about a few things.

To be brutally honest, I did struggle with feelings of jealousy and resentfulness during this time, since I felt under-appreciated for my track record of successful lyrical collaborations with my cousin. During SMiLE, there were moments when I honestly felt discarded/not needed, and casually tossed to the side, compared to how my lyricist role had been in the past. Other people who’ve been in bands might be able to empathize more with how something like that would feel. Though it’s hard to admit, I do feel that I may not have dealt with/communicated these feelings of mine in the best, delicate way, since my cousin was a particularly emotionally sensitive and fragile person (exacerbated in a bad way by the drugs at the time). In addition, there were numerous other unrelated factors at play as well in the shelving of the album. But I want it to be known, that in my heart, I never meant to cause Brian (or Van Dyke Parks, for that matter) any hurt/pain, and I’m sure that Brian didn’t either with me.  

Obviously, both Brian and I were dealing with feelings of mutual artistic rejection of each others’ ideas; while we each tried to handle with that rejection in the best ways we could at the time (as young men), if I could do it all over again, I’d hope that both myself and Brian could have both handled the delicate situation with a more mature frame of mind, and without an overabundance of drugs clouding the situation. Of course, hindsight is always 20/20. I always have and still do love my cousin very much, and I do hope we can find a way to work together again in some fashion.

IMHO… if Mike could say these words while these guys are all still on planet Earth, I imagine that there could really be some true hatchet-burying between these guys, and I think his reputation amongst the public would improve by a considerable margin. Maybe even another BB album with some actual collaborations. Thing is: I think Mike probably feels this way to a degree in his heart, but perhaps he’s too proud to say them in a public interview, and I doubt he’s ever said them to Brian behind closed doors, either.  

What can I say: idealistically, I would truly love to see Mike address stuff like this, and not in an oversimplified single sentence, but with humility and perspective. Hey, many celebrities will do an interview and field questions in detail, to address a situation which they feel they have been “wronged” or maligned somehow. Mike has hinted over the years many times that he feels very misunderstood, particularly regarding his role in this era. The SMiLE Sessions interview clips/album essay didn’t get into stuff like this, though. Hell, Mike doesn’t have to say any of this stuff if he doesn’t believe it.  

Maybe I’m way off-base, but I don’t think that something like this being said in an interview by Mike is absolutely, 100% impossible. However, is it 99% improbable? Probably. But, it was also equally improbable that SMiLE would ever be officially released, and that wound up happening eventually. Perhaps most guys born in 1941 (who came from messed up family environments) probably often don’t get into territory like this. But maybe, just maybe, something like this might be written by Mike if his book ever comes out. Call me crazy, but I’m holding out a teeny-tiny glimmer of hope.

[there was a lot of collaborating with people other than myself. I had literally nothing to do on anything on the Smile album, so naturally I was a little upset.]

"I have mixed feelings about it. I think there was some great music on Smile, some incredible tracks. But at that point in time, there were so many drugs being taken by Brian and other members of the group, and there was a lot of collaborating with people other than myself. I had literally nothing to do on anything on the Smile album, so naturally I was a little upset."

There's more truth and honestly in those two sentences than in anything Mike wrote in his Smile Sessions 'essay'.

I for one am also very glad that Mike is being more honest about this, but I guess Mike's definition of "nothing to do" on SMiLE neglects to mention that he did sing on almost all the tracks. That has to count for something, right?

I can understand Mike's desire to write songs in a basic, old school way, the way (without outsiders) in which he felt was most productive at getting BB hits to be churned out in the early sixties. It makes sense for him to *want* that. But there is no going back again.

The big elephant in the room with Mike's comments in this interview, and in every other interview post C50 where he is complaining about how the songwriting process went down for TWGMTR is...that Mike fails in any way, shape or form, to recognize that Brian is an emotionally fragile guy, who seems to have a very specific, thought-out regimen/routine for how the songwriting process will go these days. He's doing a whole lot better these days (obviously), but his problems surely haven't vanished. Brian's people are obviously very protective of Brian when/how Brian collaborates nowadays.  I don't think they want to rock the boat too much in terms of Brian being put in potentially awkward/uncharted emotional territory. The irony, of course, is that Brian's people are the ones who nowadays, IMO, don't want to f*ck with the formula. But I believe this is due to them being protective of Brian.

I would think, that a good deal of Brian's latter-day creative process routine (when it comes to actually recording/collaborating, as opposed to informal songwriting/noodling that he may do at home by himself), involves having the collaborators/circumstances being thoroughly vetted (for being/not being in Brian's best interest) by his wife. I would think she's had occasional conversations with with psychologists regarding what songwriting situations would be best (or not best) for Brian these days.  And of course, Brian obviously has a say in who he wants to collaborate with, and the circumstances which he feels comfortable with.

Mike seems to talk to the interviewer (and in other similar post-C50 interviews) as though this scenario isn't the case. Mike speaks as though Brian is not a guy with a history of deep emotional problems.

I would imagine that Brian (and his wife/other close people in his life) believe that to some degree, Brian has a history of Brian being manipulated/influenced by Mike, in terms of the creative process going in directions that Brian, deep down, doesn't want to go.  We can argue/defend/deny/agree/poo poo the validity of these points (I personally think there is some truth to them, but that it's absolutely not a simple black-and-white situation), but... I'm NOT trying to start a debate about that; I'm only stating that IMO, this is what Brian (and Brian's people) truly, in their hearts, believe is the case ,in terms of the baggage between Brian and Mike when it comes to their collaborating process.

I would think that Mike, regardless of what he would outwardly admit, would at least be aware that this ideology in the Brian camp is a factor in why he felt "shut out" by "outsiders". But you wouldn't know it from this or any other recent Mike interview. All we hear is one grossly oversimplified Mike statement after another, whining about why things can't just be the way they were 50 years ago.  And, IMO, it is that seeming denial/lack of awareness of the situation which continues to rub people the wrong way about Mike.

For the record, I'd love if the group would be functional enough to be able to create a record without outside collaborators.  But they are living in a compromised paradise, where things didn't turn out quite like how they could've/should've. IMO Brian being happy/stable should come first (over his bandmate's desire to simply "go back to how things used to be"), particularly due to Brian not exactly being someone who can roll with the punches quite as easily as everyone else.  

If Mike feels that he wants to disagree with or dispute what the people in the Brian camp undoubtedly feel about Mike, and why they do what they do, I wish he'd actually have the cojones to deeply discuss and challenge things that he believes are myths about himself. To get in deep about it. I am looking forward to Mike's book, if and only if he actually will get into the nitty gritty of his side of the story. I'll listen. But Mike giving simplistic statements/interviews with this giant elephant in the room does him absolutely no favors. I almost feel like he's trying to convince/win over a group of people/fans who aren't well-read about the history of the band, and who would have zero idea about how Brian's latter day creative process surely has many factors at work (in why it is the way it is).

 

That is just about the coolest thing ever.

Does anyone have one of the officially-issued Smiley Smile sweaters?

Also, Mike seems to be wearing a Heroes and Villains 45 artwork t-shirt, was that an actual item for sale, and do any still exist?

You got 'em through the BB fan club.   "I know you'll feel better when you send us in your letter and tell us the name of your.......your favorite vergetable."

Speaking of, I wonder how many fans actually sent in their letter to tell Brian and the Boys the name of their favorite vegetable? I'd imagine at least a few dozen.

That is just about the coolest thing ever.

Does anyone have one of the officially-issued Smiley Smile sweaters?

Also, Mike seems to be wearing a Heroes and Villains 45 artwork t-shirt, was that an actual item for sale, and do any still exist?

Sumahama is a beautiful song

You're right about putting that opinion here  

I don't get it, the "Tell me tell me mama will you go with me back to Sumahama" part is irresistible.

It sucks how people hate it, their loss.

The music's unlistenable, Mike's at his most nasal and obnoxious, the production sucks, and don't get me started on the Japanese section!

Yes please. I would like to get you started on the Japanese section.

For one, I showed it to my mum, who is Japanese. She found his Japanese to be hard to understand, and found it laughable.

And I agree, it is pretty embarrassing, I don't know what he was thinking when he added that section.
That, as well as all the other points above, is why I consider Sumahama to be the worst non-SIP BB's song

New idea from this thread: I must play my Asian friends Sumahama just to see their reactions. Not sure if they would feel offended? Or just neutral about it? Hard to say. I'm sure the song was conceived just as a pleasant ode to that part of the world, but it might come across a bit differently than its author's intention, methinks.

I have prefaced conversations about the BB (with people who aren't aware of their "deeper" work) by saying that I think the BB are THE most misunderstood band of all time.

This could obviously mean different things to different people... but because of this band's many, many, many various identities/drastically different incarnations over the years, and due to the fact of the music of their early years (which I still love) being whored out to unimaginable proportions, I feel that this is a pretty spot-on statement to make.

I just listened to side 1 of Still Cruisin!

My God, "In My Car" is AWFUL!!!!!

Disagree. I think it kinda rocks, for what it is.

There is one (AND ONLY ONE) Beach Boys song I can't stand.

That song was written by Brian Wilson.

It is called.

Beaches In Mind.

Thank you for reading.

BIM is bad, bad, bad.

I think The Simpsons need to have Barney Gumble do a BB cover called “Belches in Mind”.

It was Shawn playing the album so constantly in their Malibu house that got him into it.  Remember telling him many times I couldn't believe
he wasn't more into "King of Pain", as that so fit him at the time...

Thanks Ed, I really appreciate learning about stuff like this. 

I remember reading that ‘Every Breath You Take’ was his favorite song around the time of his passing… Do we know any info about Dennis being a fan of The Police in general, and what other music he might have been listening to/been a fan of in his last years? I find it interesting, since the music he may have been into around that time could give us an idea of what directions he might have taken his own music, had he cleaned up and made it past 1983.

When I first read about Dennis and ‘Every Breath You Take’, it seemed odd to me, since I tend to associate that song more with the mid 80s (even though Syncronicity did come out in ’83)… and for me, 1983 in my mind is the cutoff point for what I consider to be the early 80s.  Initially, it almost seemed to me like Dennis and that song didn’t coexist in the same era, until I checked the dates and was proven wrong. Obviously, the song was still a very newly-released song at the time for Dennis to have proclaimed it as being his favorite ever song.

This thread seems to have turned into a discussion of Stamos’ “merits” or lack thereof as a musician, dude, etc. But very few replies in this thread actually address the original question. Does anyone else agree that, particularly as the band was using Stamos’ celebrity to get the BB name attention and using him in videos all the time, it seems that he could very easily have become an official member of the band in the late 80s/early 90s, just by Stamos asking (and agreeing to alter work his schedule)? I can't see Mike objecting, and not sure what the other bandmembers at the time would have objected to, provided they all got along with him personally, and that he seemed sincere in his hypothetical full-time dedication.

IMO, I think it’s a no-brainer, and that if he agreed to go with the flow, I can’t see why they wouldn’t have granted him “official” status. I guess it could have come down to a question of money, but again – if Stamos was a big enough fanboy to have agree to terms that the band would give him, that would presumably be a non-issue. I imagine there are not many, but some people who would take a big pay cut in their jobs for an opportunity to join their favorite band. This is not what I personally wished would have happened – just a curious question, that’s all.

I guess it depends on what is meant by 'official'.

Do I think they would have agree to give him the same money that Mike, Al, Carl and Bruce were getting? No.

Can I imagine they might have liked him to appear at all concerts in order to sell more tickets? Yes and when Mike and Bruce have him on stage that is presumably a key reason for doing it.

I suppose when I say 'official', I mean posing with the band in all group shots, his name listed as a member on all promo materials, and an announcement of him being a new member made. This scenario I feel could have been very close to actually happening if Stamos simply wanted it to be so. And yes, this scenario would be many fans' worst nightmare. 

So I'm wondering...he admits he's wrong in his article...but the article remains active and unedited?

How can an article like this stay unaltered in the face of evidence to the contrary? A bit mindblowing, don't you think?

I can’t imagine another major band from the 60s having a myth perpetuated like the overblown Wrecking Crew credits, in the face of opposing evidence. I can’t imagine a scenario like this happening with The Stones or The Beatles, for example. Only in BB land.

The perception was (and probably still is) that The Monkees used studio cats exclusively on their stuff..

By the way, I don't think the Mama's and Papa's ever said that they played on their records, did they?  Wasn't John Phillips the only one who could play an instrument?

It’s one thing for there to be a general incorrect “perception” based on years of misinformation, like with The Monkees, but for a 2014 newly-written article to specifically state incorrect facts (and not retract them) in the face of contrary evidence, is just baffling.  I think it comes down to stuff like this being allowed to happen since the BBs are simply not respected/appreciated as they should be.

So I'm wondering...he admits he's wrong in his article...but the article remains active and unedited?

How can an article like this stay unaltered in the face of evidence to the contrary? A bit mindblowing, don't you think?

I can’t imagine another major band from the 60s having a myth perpetuated like the overblown Wrecking Crew credits, in the face of opposing evidence. I can’t imagine a scenario like this happening with The Stones or The Beatles, for example. Only in BB land.

This thread seems to have turned into a discussion of Stamos’ “merits” or lack thereof as a musician, dude, etc. But very few replies in this thread actually address the original question. Does anyone else agree that, particularly as the band was using Stamos’ celebrity to get the BB name attention and using him in videos all the time, it seems that he could very easily have become an official member of the band in the late 80s/early 90s, just by Stamos asking (and agreeing to alter work his schedule)? I can't see Mike objecting, and not sure what the other bandmembers at the time would have objected to, provided they all got along with him personally, and that he seemed sincere in his hypothetical full-time dedication.

IMO, I think it’s a no-brainer, and that if he agreed to go with the flow, I can’t see why they wouldn’t have granted him “official” status. I guess it could have come down to a question of money, but again – if Stamos was a big enough fanboy to have agree to terms that the band would give him, that would presumably be a non-issue. I imagine there are not many, but some people who would take a big pay cut in their jobs for an opportunity to join their favorite band. This is not what I personally wished would have happened – just a curious question, that’s all.

And for choice of worst song, no doubt 'summer of love' takes the top spot. It feels like a comedy song/sketch that should have appeared on SNL.

I agree with that - and the fact is that the song actually was originally written for/intended as being part of a TV comedy universe (just not the SNL universe, but The Simpsons universe)...I wonder what the inception of "Summer of Love" as a Bart Simpson duet may have had to do with influencing how that song turned out.

Does anyone here know any history behind that?

Another song that would maybe be considered a "dig" could be "She's Going Bald", against Mike... I realize the song is credited to Wilson/Parks/Love (and yes, I know that Mike sings on it), and not sure if Mike, Brian or Van suggested the initial subject matter.  

But, if perhaps Brian suggested to do a song about baldness (even if it was under the guise of a funny, psychedelic/bizarre subject, further obfuscated by it being about a girl), it would not surprise me if the song was a subliminal dig against the Lovester, who was someone that Brian surely had some brewing issues with at the time.

Until your topic, I never realized what a jerk Brian is according to all the digs in song you ascribe to him.

Umm...glad I could help in that department.   I simply created the topic to discuss lyrics that might be interpreted as digs, because I find possible subtext in BB songs to be interesting; my purpose was not to paint band members out as "jerks", but that being said, people on this board have a right to call out what they view as BB bandmember jerk moves as such, if they want to. Some of us may feel that certain instances of lyrical digs are worse or more/less justified than others. It's all just opinion anyway, and you're entitled to yours, unless you are being sarcastic.

There was lots of bad stuff/emotions bubbling under the surface interpersonally with these guys for decades - that's something no BB historian would have much argument with... so, it stands to reason that various members would have had some lyrics here and there which could be interpreted as digs at each other.

It's definitely gotta be "Smart Girls", hands down. That song is the embodiment of every rock fan's stereotype of what they think rap music is but actually isn't. Quite rightly, it's a complete and total embarrassment.

... except that it remains resolutely unreleased.

Can we all agree that "Smart Girls" is THE song that would never see official release by the powers-that-be, even if hell froze over?  I think we'd see "Teardrops On My Bed" get official release before "Smart Girls".

Here's another example that had popped into my head earlier, but I forgot to mention until now. Many might think this is completely reaching, and maybe I'm totally batsh*t crazy, but theorizing about this stuff is interesting sometimes. After all, over the years (and especially in the late 70s era of this song), the guys in this band did so many things out of spite, grudges, and passive agression, that to me, scenarios like this are maybe, just maybe remotely plausible.

The fact that in the song "Matchpoint of Our Love", Mike Love wrote a lyric (that he knew Brian was going to sing),  "and though no one's to blame"... Could this may be be interpreted as Mike deflecting blame from any number of things that he was getting blamed for in the band?

And then, could the lyric "Love is still the only game in town" be interpreted to mean Mike was proclaiming his intended reinstatement as Brian's main lyricist?

The hypothetical passive aggressive maneuver would be: if those were actually the intended ulterior meanings behind the lyrics that Brian sang, without Brian being made aware of them, since at the surface the song is only a boy/girl love song. Which it may in fact only be. I'm willing to admit that sometimes a cigar is just a cigar...But nonetheless, this is my theory of a remote possibility. I'm not expecting a single person to agree with it though

I think that Carl would have strongly objected to Stamos being an "official" member.

Do you really think 1989/1990 Carl would've put up a fight or really strongly objected? I mean, at that point none of the bandmembers were exactly going out of the way to respect the band's legacy. What makes you think Carl would have strongly objected in that era of the band? Especially the way they kept highlighting Stamos' presence (think the close zoom in shot in the "Hot Fun in the Summertime" music video).

I think official member status could've easily happened, and I'm almost surprised it didn't (we probably have Full House's 8-year run to thank for it not happening )

As MessOfHelp101 said, I was merely posing a what-if scenario (I'm glad he never became an official member).

 

[NEVER,]

Not while I have breath in my body. No sir, never - NEVER, I say !!

He was definitely some kind of member, though...  

LOL  

But our personal feelings aside, what do you think, AGD? I think it seems obvious that it could very easily have happened, if for example 1989 Stamos simply asked for the position, and agreed to be available for touring.