The Twilight Zone: Brian, Carl & Dennis form own band in, like, 1970.

[hypehat]

So let's say for some reason everyone in the Beach Boys camp gets f***ed off that Breakaway doesn't chart and that they can't find a new record contract, and why does everything have to revolve around Brian these days, or Al wants to be a dentist again, or no, we're not changing our name to Beach. But essentially, The Wilson's split. Maybe they were just sick of Bruce adjusting his microphone. 

This hypothetical has been kicking round my head for a couple of weeks. Lets say, for sake of argument, it happens after Breakaway bombed and before they got an offer on the table from Mo Ostin at Warner-Reprise. Let's say it's about how Mike, Al and Bruce get depressed about not selling records for three years except Do It Again, and so there's a bust up about surfin' tunes from Dennis/Carl just as they're finding artistic voices (I know this isn't true, and Mike the cynical bastard didn't really kick in until like 1974). Why stop? Who cares about record sales? Mike and Bruce. Who knows about Al. Dentistry, most likely.

So the news goes round the world and everyone goes 'Oh sh*t, first the Beatles and now this?' and Mike, Al and Bruce decide to be Beach Boys still. Brian (maybe reluctantly), Carl and Dennis would opt to choose a new name. Whatever the hell that would be. Wilson? Why not.

So Mo Ostin, with a little prod from Van Dyke Parks, decides to sign the three Wilson brothers to Reprise. Brian was the one he was interested in out of the Beach Boys anyway. Any reluctance to go solo is dismissed with the knowledge that since Murry sold the publishing, there isn't much money in being a Beach Boy anyway. Murry himself is furious, obviously. Go, says Mo. Make rekkids.

Mike, Al and Bruce, along with session dudes, woo Capitol back with promises of hits and a tour. They know Capitol. They start preparing an album immediately, with Al's folky cuts like Lookin' At Tomorrow and a nascent Kingston Trio rip off called 'He Came To My Dental Practice' (or something), Bruce writing Deirdre, Tears In The Morning and a few other durable if unexciting soft-pop tunes, and Mike working in a similar way that he did with Brian - he'd bring nascent ideas for the two of them to flesh out.

Brian, Carl and Dennis have the Bellagio studio. Brian, somewhat apprehensive at first, eventually tears into writing lots of songs with his friends, as does Dennis with his circle of collaborators. Carl, living out in Laurel Canyon, is suddenly seen as a bit more hip due to his signing to Reprise without those square Beach Boys, man. People invite him to parties, where his chill demeanour and voice gain him some respect from the Canyon scene, though he is not much for sharing David Crosby's cocaine or getting THAT high. Such is the collaborative nature of the Canyon, he sings on a few peoples records, and people like Stills or Nash help him out with lyrics.

As the Bellagio way of recording - just keep doing it - carries on, "The Beach Boys" decide to release an eponymous album on Capitol. Produced by the three of them, it is serviceable. A charming but grating Mike surfing song climbs the charts a wee bit, and is a modest success. Bald spots are scratched. The tour is a bit more successful. Mostly hitting them hard with the oldies, "The Beach Boys" tour America and are derided by the hip press as "over." They sell tonnes of tickets, of course. Bruce adjusts the mic.

Back in L.A, Dennis pops off to make Two-Lane Blacktop whilst Brian and Carl give something approximating an album to Mo. The songs range from the absolutely stunning "This Whole World" a casual "Cool Cool Water" involving the Smile tape fading into the three brothers exchanging a spare vocal round and the weird "Games Two Can Play". Dennis' "Sound Of Free", "Forever" and "Lady", a different "Long Promised Road" and "Feel Flows" with lyrics from Lowell George and Stephen Stills and the like. There are also some more sombre Dennis ballads whilst Brian provides the whimsical tunes of the era. Carl brings beautiful vocals to all of the cuts. The album, eclectic yet listenable, pleases Chairman Mo enough to release with the promotional heft afforded to him by "The Beach Boys" surfing songs. "Here is what the Wilsons have been up to". And such.

The press image of Carl, the Laurel Canyon type, Brian, the homebound genius, and Dennis, well, Dennis, could play well. A Crosby, Stills and Nash before there was a Crosby, Stills and Nash if you were being charitable.


What happens after that? Does Brian's inevitable slide into mental illness and Dennis' decline coinciding with Murry's death destroy that fruitful thing? Would "The Beach Boys", with the wave of nostalgia coming off the 70's, be big news whilst the Wilson brothers either rejoined the band or fought with obscurity and artistic integrity? Does anyone care about this post?



I expect many monosyllabic replies to this, by the way 

[SMiLE Brian]

I think the album Mike, Al, and Bruce made is called SIP.

[Jim V.]

I think the album Mike, Al, and Bruce made is called SIP.

I think you mean the album Mike, Carl, and Bruce (with minimal Alan) made is called Summer In Paradise.

[joe_blow]

Really interesting thought. I would think that Wilson would maybe make another album or two before rejoining The Beach Boys.

[Magic Transistor Radio]

I thought more along the lines that they went their seperate ways. Mike and Al do folk style songs about TM. Dennis is part of Captain T band and is a major part of the writing. Carl focuses on producing maybe a Harry Nilson record. Brian collaborates again with Van Dyke Parks. And Bruce writes a number one hit for Barry Manilow.

[MyGlove]

the fact that as a result of this anything from Sunflower to LA wouldn't be made (yes i'm really really starting to like LA and MIU) makes me not even want to ponder this haha. Interesting idea though. If anyting though, i'd like to think the Wilsons all went solo, but still collaberated on each others albums. More Wilson's contributions. Can you imagine like 20 Wilson album just in the seventies. Holy crap.

[Melt Away]

Mike goes back to working at a gas station, Al scores a solo hit and becomes a subpar dylan with a better voice, Bruce eventually realizes he can't write a song worth squat and offs himself, The Wilson's eventually overshadow TBB and Dennis finally gets his due as a songwriter. Oh yeah, miu? It never happens.

[Sheriff John Stone]

Mike goes back to working at a gas station....

Is Mike Love the only Beach Boy who ever had a real job?

[Melt Away]

Yeah, probably because he was a little older and knocked a chick up. I wouldn't doubt if Dave had to work a few real jobs.

[Sheriff John Stone]

Yeah, probably because he was a little older and knocked a chick up. I wouldn't doubt if Dave had to work a few real jobs.

Oh, did David knock up a chick?

[Dunderhead]

I don't think the three Wilsons had things together enough to form a functioning band. At the core of things, The Beach Boys are a family, and I think they all really love each other, but that doesn't mean that there weren't some intense feelings of resentment.

Brian never really liked the collaborative approach that the group took starting in 20/20, and I think he was generally uncomfortable with other people having anything resembling final cut on his songs. I've always had the impression that he was more than a little annoyed by Carl's repurposing of the Smile tracks, and that Carl was perpetually frustrated by Brian's unwillingness to work within the confines of the new dynamic.

Dennis had his eyes on a solo career around this time as well, and probably disliked always handing over his songs for use on the current album. Carl meanwhile was not really much of a songwriter, especially before the Reprise deal. If the band never released Sunflower, Jack Rieley would have never been recruited into the group, and Carl would have likely stagnated musically.

I just don't think that it would have worked, and I also believe there was enough internal momentum within the band for a break up. Mike always knew that The Beach Boys were his way out, and that he needed them more than they needed him. If Mike had ever sensed an impending break up he would have done everything in his power to keep the other guys from leaving (especially Brian).

Saying that, I think that a Brian solo album would have been the most likely alternate timeline. A 1969/1970 album full of songs like Good Time and H.E.L.P. Brian was never strong willed enough to simply leave the group, but he might have done so on a more unofficial basis.

Let's say the European tour in 1968 had been canceled. With a month on his hands to do additional work on 20/20, Carl might have continued completing Smile tracks, maybe Mike would have been enlisted to round out some of the missing lyrics, and maybe, worst of all, some of the recent singles (Do It Again) would have been used to fill in the tracklist completely.

Brian is furious at this, and fights against the albums release tooth and nail. In the end though Brian is outvoted and when the unfashionably psychedelic album underpreforms, he with withdraws entirely from the band. When it comes time to sign a new contract Brian refuses to participate and the band more or less dissolves. Dennis would have set to work on a solo album full of his recent material, but I think Carl would have probably stayed with The Beach Boys and that he, Mike, Al, and Bruce would have recruited a few new members for the road.

[HeroAndVillain]

In terms of a Twilight Zone alternate past, after The Beatles broke up, John Lennon, George Harrison and Ringo Starr were rumoured to have considered continuing as a band called "The Ladders" with Klaus Voorman. Imagine if they had decided to do this, but then bumped into Brian. Lennon discusses the group and Brian chooses to join. They then go on to record an album widely considered to be as good as The Beatles best.

[hypehat]

Fishmonk, the thing that kept me from thinking that Brian would go solo is that he loved the Beach Boys voices, and at that time especially Carl's.

The Dennis solo thing would also appear to be eliminated if you put him in a band he was happy with. Carl might also have found  a different collaborator, as I hypothesised - no shortage of songwriters in his neighbourhood! But yeah, Brian's megalomania is something to think about.