More myths...

[D409]

Re-reading my copy of pop svengali Simon Napier-Bell's memoir "Black Vinyl White Powder", in the chapter discussing the influence of illicit substances, he has this to say about our heroes in concert :

"The previous November, Good Vibrations by The Beach Boys had gone  to No. 1 and been seen as the first 'acid' hit. Now the Beach Boys were coming to Britain and we all packed into the Hammersmith Odeon to see them. The main purpose of going to see them was to hear them sing Good Vibrations which Brian Wilson called his 'masterwork'. But just before the show he announced they wouldn't be performing it because it was too difficult and had only been conceived as a record."

"The support group for the first half of the show was led by Britain's most brilliant session singer, Adrian Baker. At the end of their set, just before the interval, they sang Good Vibrations - perfectly - absolutely indistinguishable from the Beach Boys' single. After that, the Beach Boys played a grumpy, lacklustre set. It was Adrian Baker's evening."

"Afterwards there was plenty of talk about the Beach Boys and their drug excesses. They lived in luxury mansions, breakfasted on hash-cake sundaes, and recorded their hits lying on the floor, too stoned to stand up. As children, whenever they misbehaved, their father had punished them by taking out his glass eye and forcing them to peer into the open socket. Like all other pop stars, the Beach Boys were now heavily into acid, which was probably why they'd never got round to working out how to perform Good Vibrations on stage."

Now, this story has to be trash of the highest order : assuming this is 1966, Brian wouldn't have been on the tour and therefore not able to announce that they weren't going to play GV. As for Adrian Baker, would he have been leading a band that supported the BB's in 1966 ? According to his Wiki entry he'd have been 15 years old, so probably not. As for the last paragraph - pure tabloid/Wouldn't It Be Nice (biography) style myth. "...never got round to working out how to perform Good Vibrations on stage" ? Really ? Try telling that to the legions that have seen the BB's play GV at every concert ever since....

How did this nonsense ever get past the proof readers and editors at Mr Napier-Bell's publishers ?

[Iron Horse-Apples]

We have recordings of the first live versions of GV, before it was a hit. Brian actually flew out to them to rehearse them. 

And as far I know, at this time only Brian had taken LSD.

Myth is the wrong word here, unless myth comes out of a cows arse

[D409]

We have recordings of the first live versions of GV, before it was a hit. Brian actually flew out to them to rehearse them. 

And as far I know, at this time only Brian had taken LSD.

Myth is the wrong word here, unless myth comes out of a cows arse

The word "myth" is putting things politely, I suppose 

Would this be the live recording on disc 5 of the GV box set ?

[Iron Horse-Apples]

I think so, yes.

[BergenWhitesMoustache]

Hahah

I suppose if we were being generous and assuming he wasn't just making stuff up, he COULD have meant Tony Rivers and the Castaways, or maybe Robb Storme Group?

[Andrew G. Doe]

Support for the 1966 UK tour:

Lulu, David & Jonathan, Sounds Incorporated, The Golden Brass and Jerry Stevens.

... and for 1967:

Helen Shapiro, Simon Dupree & The Big Sound, Peter Jay & The New Jaywalkers, The Marionettes and Nite People.

Man's talking bollocks. Anyone wants to check this stuff, it's here  - Gigs & sessions

[D409]

I did check your site before posting the story to verify they'd actually played Hammersmith Odeon on that tour and not just other London venues.
But, yes, it is a load of bollocks, and nothing like the facts getting in the way of a good yarn. Napier-Bell's book is quite entertaining but lost any credibility after reading the above passage, which I'd forgotten about since first reading it a few years ago.

[♩♬🐸 Billy C ♯♫♩🐇]

Did I just read Adrian Baker's name in relation to the BB in 1966 or am I tripping balls?

[D409]

Did I just read Adrian Baker's name in relation to the BB in 1966 or am I tripping balls?

Yes you did - and, like I said, even the most cursory Wikipedia search shows this to be nonsense ! 

[Andrew G. Doe]

Yes, and quite possibly.

[TMinthePM]

I think that you have entered here an area potentially rich for discussion.

And, I suppose, there is a healthy purpose that is served by debunking the demonstratively false in the story of the Beach Boys.

I would like, however, to point out that "myth" does not necessarily equate to "false."

Yes, in common usage that is the case. But another way to think of myth is as archetype - that is, as a story told to illustrate a deeper truth. For example, The Wizard of Oz, and I am thinking here of the 1939 version starring Judy Garland, is really about the transformation of American society brought on by industrialization and modernization at the end of the 19th Century. Thus, the young heroine longs to escape from the drab, black and white world of the traditional farm, with its fixed verities and smothering conventions, for a world of color and excitement that exists only in her dreams.

I'll leave it to others to fill in the blanks concerning that particular myth - (hint: the Wizard of Menlo Park)

So, the question then becomes: does the story of the Beach Boys support a mythic interpretation?

I think it does. Particularly with reference to the quest for transcendence that marked the work of so many of the rock n roll artists of the mid-sixties. The idea that they were troubadours singing mythic songs of love became quite common for awhile there.

Might we view Brian Wilson circa 1964 thru 1967 as a modern incarnation of Prometheus stealing the secret of fire (read enlightenment/higher consciousness) from the gods to make a gift for the elevation and betterment of humanity? Only to suffer the wrath of the gods in the form of a long drawn out imprisonment and torture as they spurn the proffered "Teenage Symphony to God?"

Let me repeat a quote I've posted elsewhere on this board:

                                                            "It is not given that man might look upon the face of the gods and live"

                                                                                                 and

                                                              "Those whom the gods would destroy, they first make mad."

[sockittome]

I believe the word "myth" does have a few different meanings, but the most common one is a "false belief".  Otherwise they better think about changing the name of the TV show Mythbusters!

Or, another example closer to the subject:  the California Myth.  It's a fictitious culture generated by the imagery of the Beach Boys music.  I could go deeper into it, but I'm sure we all know the story.

[BergenWhitesMoustache]

Man, if I were The Beach Boys, I'm not sure I'd have been happy with Simon Dupree and the Big Sound supporting. They were pretty facemelting.

Given that the 'post Pet Sounds, pre additional musicians'  era wasn't so hot for BB live shows, I'm willing to bet they did get blown away a few times on their own tour.

[TMinthePM]

Funny you should mention that as I was just thinking of this "California Myth."

Something like this -

                                                           When you wish upon a star...

There once was a fair land at the edge of the world by name Golden California. For the rivers there ran with the precious metal. There the wide earth lay open to a smiling sky. There oceans waters met the flaming desert. And there lived a race of golden youth, bronzed and beautiful, who lived a life of pleasure and ease. Beautiful beyond the race of common man, favored divine, as in a dream come real. An American Dream to live in abundance wrought from nature's naked bounty. And now it appeared, too good to be true, sitting on top of the world.                                      

[Wirestone]

I've said this before: The story of the BB/BW as reflected in the popular press (rise, fall, redemption with easy heroes and villains) is much more powerful and attractive than the actual history.

[TMinthePM]

Redemption indeed!

And I am hoping that we will be hearing ere long the fullness of that Redemption as the long cosmic wave that came ashore in the 60s, then receded, returns in full force.

The stargazers say it is so.

Cryptic noises emanate from the studio

Gershwin-Disney-TWGMTR-Reunion point to renewal.