Brian Wilson / Wayne Coyne Interview

[CanaanDavis]

So there has been a little talk about this interview on the board in the past couple of weeks.  But back in 1999 hbo had a series called reverb and Wayne Coyne of the flaming lips sat down and interviewed Brian.  Unfortunately the episode never aired, apparently, though a transcript of the interview was posted. http://www.stopsmilingonline.com/story_detail.php?id=224  I would really like to SEE this interview, and was hoping someone here would have a lead for me to follow up on....

[SMiLE Brian]

I so want to see this interview!

[MarcellaHasDirtyFeet]

I... I... I need this. It will bring the past three years of my life full circle. Help! Dear God help!!!

[runnersdialzero]

"Why can't YOU put out a 24 hour song encased in a real human skull or a gummie fetus, Brian? You're not "experimental", you're not "avant garde", I am. You're washed up and I am better than you."

[theCOD]

Didn't Wayne badmouth Brian after this interview? I read an interview where he called him pathetic/retarded, talking about how he needs people to change his diaper, etc. I enjoy some Flaming Lips but that guy is a dick, and not nearly as clever or talented as he thinks.

[Wirestone]

Yes, he was extremely unimpressed with Brian. For reasons that are understandable if you know about Wayne C. -- he helps set up the stage for his own shows, for goodness' sake -- but that don't play well for BW fans, obviously.

[SMiLE Brian]

Didn't Wayne badmouth Brian after this interview? I read an interview where he called him pathetic/retarded, talking about how he needs people to change his diaper, etc. I enjoy some Flaming Lips but that guy is a dick, and not nearly as clever or talented as he thinks.

Wow, what a jerk, Brian should kick his ass Murry Wilson style.

[MarcellaHasDirtyFeet]

Didn't Wayne badmouth Brian after this interview? I read an interview where he called him pathetic/retarded, talking about how he needs people to change his diaper, etc. I enjoy some Flaming Lips but that guy is a dick, and not nearly as clever or talented as he thinks.

Yes, Wayne is kind of the prototype for arrogant hipster dickness. He badmouths a lot of people he's worked with/come into contact with (just ask Beck). That said, I don't think I'd be the obsessed Beach Boys fan I am today without having first come to love The Soft Bulletin and that type of vocal harmony-rich, orchestrated POP production style. I'd love to see/read the original interview, but I'd also be interested in Wayne's classless post-interview attack.

But still. What a fodaing asshole. It's BRIAN WILSON, you greasy prick. Show some respect.

[runnersdialzero]

Didn't Wayne badmouth Brian after this interview? I read an interview where he called him pathetic/retarded, talking about how he needs people to change his diaper, etc.

Oh Jesus Christ.

that guy is a dick, and not nearly as clever or talented as he thinks.

It would seem so.

[anazgnos]

Wayne has sucked since Soft Bulletin.  Totally disappeared into his own schtick. 

[runnersdialzero]

But still. What a fodaing butthole. It's BRIAN WILSON, you greasy prick. Show some respect.

We have a winner. You interviewed one of the biggest pop songwriters of all time, and you're gonna badmouth him afterwards? Get the fuck out of here.

[SMiLE Brian]

Brian is humble and lets his talent for music speak for itself. Wayne has to apparently play the jerk hipster role to justify his lesser talents. Brian is more hip than any other jerkoff "hipsters"

[pixletwin]

I would like to see where it is printed that Wayne has said what he's being accused of saying.

[runnersdialzero]

Saying it he was disappointed that Beck was not a "relaxed Californian stoner" must be one of the dumbest thing I've ever read.

[SMiLE Brian]

I would like to see where it is printed that Wayne has said what he's being accused of saying.

How was the 24 hour song he did? I like the idea of taking Jethro Tull's "thick as a brick" mega song concept even further

[Wirestone]

http://www.stopsmilingonline.com/story_detail.php?id=225

SS: From your interview with Brian Wilson, the one for HBO ? do you really think that Brian is a ?genius??

WC: I think genius is weird. It is something that happens. But I don't think people are born that way. I'm not in contempt of him, though. I just hate that if someone is drug-damaged, or eccentric, or possibly mad, people will let them sh*t all over themselves thinking, Isn't he [and out of respect, she] cool?"

Humans should have some sort of behavioral standards at some point in time. I don't care what you do. I don't care if you're the greatest artist. You have to be a good human first! But I don't think that people are geniuses, per se. I think anyone is capable of doing anything that could be considered "genius." I think it's a combination of persistence and some intention, and then some luck and then a little bit more luck, and then just the world being ready for what it is, and then it's considered genius. And it's a lot of accidents and a lot of timing. ...

SS: So do you view Brian more as a "pop guru?" And what about Pet Sounds? I mean, it's a great record, but I think the press has gone way overboard in recent years.

WC: Unfortunately, he's driven by that press -- how he always needs to be in the limelight of things.

SS: He's an American, though, born and raised.

WC: I think he can be a fool, because he needs people to pay attention to him. He's got the Elvis Presley syndrome. He wants everyone to say, "You're great! You're great!" I think he surrounds himself with people who are like, "Brian, the way you eat cereal ? you're a genius. Brian, the way that you wipe your ass, it's genius." I've found it off-putting at times.

But later on, I was like, "Well, if he's such a genius, why can't he talk." He's been asked about his music, like, everyday of his fucking life, so you'd think that he'd have something to say about it, besides, "Well, the Beatles are great." I know they are, Brian. Now, do you remember any of the ideas that you put into your music?

----------

There's more in another interview IIRC, but this is some of it.

[pixletwin]

Thanks wirestone. Wayne has a point. Brian is kind of surrounded by people whose whole purpose is to prop him up with praise and encouragement. If you don't know the story behind it, it must appear very bizarre. That being said, Wayne does have the propensity to speak from his ass.  

Per the 24 hour song 7 Skies H3, I loved it. I listened to it on Halloween with old silent Universal Monster movies going on in the background. Marvelous.

[soniclovenoize]

Interesting.  Because the specific criticism Wayne had about Brian was about his parenting...  Unfortunately, I don't have the quote, I haven't read it in 10 years.  It's not that one previously posted though. 

I'm not trying to back Wayne up here to anything, but it's kinda unlike him...  As someone who's met him a handful of times, he's actually a really REALLY nice guy.  The Beck thing, Beck was being a douche and not carrying his weight for their collaboration.  So Wayne was honest about it. 

You also have to remember that at the time, The Soft Bulletin was compared to Pet Sounds almost daily, and that must have been exhausting...  I'm sure it was a more defensive thing, to attack Brian because he was sick of his own album being compared to Pet Sounds.  On that actual Reverb performance, the interviewer asked Wayne about the album being compared to Pet Sounds and Wayne is visibly annoyed, saying that it wasn't hard to get the Pet Sounds comparison, all you'd need is lush harmonies and "that vibey sound." 

But the Brian-Wayne interview is out there, I've seen it ten years ago.  Brian has this "wtf is this guy even talking about" look on his face the whole time, and it's not very interesting at all.  I can understand why it never aired...  But yeah, Wayne was a very unnecessarily biting about Brian, and it's unlike him if you know anything about Wayne or The Flaming Lips.

Just my 2 cents. 

[pixletwin]

Interesting.  Because the specific criticism Wayne had about Brian was about his parenting...  Unfortunately, I don't have the quote, I haven't read it in 10 years.  It's not that one previously posted though. 

I'm not trying to back Wayne up here to anything, but it's kinda unlike him...  As someone who's met him a handful of times, he's actually a really REALLY nice guy.  The Beck thing, Beck was being a douche and not carrying his weight for their collaboration.  So Wayne was honest about it. 

You also have to remember that at the time, The Soft Bulletin was compared to Pet Sounds almost daily, and that must have been exhausting...  I'm sure it was a more defensive thing, to attack Brian because he was sick of his own album being compared to Pet Sounds.  On that actual Reverb performance, the interviewer asked Wayne about the album being compared to Pet Sounds and Wayne is visibly annoyed, saying that it wasn't hard to get the Pet Sounds comparison, all you'd need is lush harmonies and "that vibey sound." 

But the Brian-Wayne interview is out there, I've seen it ten years ago.  Brian has this "wtf is this guy even talking about" look on his face the whole time, and it's not very interesting at all.  I can understand why it never aired...  But yeah, Wayne was a very unnecessarily biting about Brian, and it's unlike him if you know anything about Wayne or The Flaming Lips.

Just my 2 cents. 

You expressed what I meant much better than I did. I saw the interview too. When Wayne was explaining it to the audience his angle was that he thinks he kind of scared Brian because of how weird he looked. But he seemed to think Brian was great.

[soniclovenoize]

Yeah, I don't know.  As I said, Wayne specifically attacked Brain's parenting.  And it's weird because I know he loves the Beach Boys and were a big influence, and Wayne's comments were unlike him to go after another musician in such a way.  It rubbed me the wrong way, and that's the only time of all the interviews I've read/heard, you know?  Plus, being offended that your album was hailed as "this generation's Pet Sounds?"  Wow, must be rough, huh?   

[pixletwin]

Meh, I think people just assume Wayne is more exposed to things than he probably really is. I also think Steven is probably the real Beach Boys fan in the FLips. Wayne, if anything, is probably just a casual fan.

[JohnMill]

I don't see what the big issue is here.  Some other musician wasn't exactly taken with Brian's personality when he met him in 1999.  

Some of the quotes just wreak of simple ignorance of Brian's state of mind.  Without getting into psychoanalysis I'm assuming we've all read enough Brian Wilson interviews to see how he acts when he's placed in an unfamiliar or uncomfortable situation.  So the fact that this guy wasn't impressed why Brian can't talk for himself or advocate for himself?  Well maybe he just didn't feel like talking to this individual or baring his soul to someone he was probably meeting for the first time.  

The bottom line for me whenever these situations come up I consider the source and nine times out of ten I'm going to give Brian Wilson the benefit of the doubt.  Does that make me a Brian Wilson apologist?  Maybe but the man has earned my respect both through his music and the incredible courage it must taken for someone who has gone through the trials that he's gone through to be at a point now where he's both performing and making records once again.  

[runnersdialzero]

The Beck thing, Beck was being a douche and not carrying his weight for their collaboration.  So Wayne was honest about it.  

How is that? I don't know the details specifically, so not questioning you, just wondering what was said.

[buddhahat]

I'm pretty sure I saw Wayne Coyne at the 2nd RFH performance of Smile. Anyone else able to confirm this?

[puni puni]

WC: I think genius is weird. It is something that happens. But I don't think people are born that way. I'm not in contempt of him, though. I just hate that if someone is drug-damaged, or eccentric, or possibly mad, people will let them feces all over themselves thinking, Isn't he [and out of respect, she] cool?"

WC: I think he can be a fool, because he needs people to pay attention to him. He's got the Elvis Presley syndrome. He wants everyone to say, "You're great! You're great!" I think he surrounds himself with people who are like, "Brian, the way you eat cereal ? you're a genius. Brian, the way that you wipe your ass, it's genius." I've found it off-putting at times.

agreed with 90% of this to an extent

But later on, I was like, "Well, if he's such a genius, why can't he talk." He's been asked about his music, like, everyday of his friging life, so you'd think that he'd have something to say about it, besides, "Well, the Beatles are great." I know they are, Brian. Now, do you remember any of the ideas that you put into your music?

it's weird that wayne asks a question he answered just a few statements earlier.