HARDTALK - The Beach Boys in 1977

[Cabinessenceking]

I feel with all this gladtalk of the boys on this board recently that it was time for some discussion of what happened in 1977 with the Beach Boys!

Why did everything go to sh*t that year?

What caused Adult/Child and Bambu to be halted almost simultaneously? I know that it was Brian who stopped working, and Dennis much the same.
I know there was a huge fight around this time and Dennis hated Mike afterwards when MIU came out instead of A/C

Also there is lots of arguing between them all in this clip:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_JjiGnd-hk4&feature=related

At this time Carl appeared drunk on-stage at several concerts in Australia and they had to apologise publicly.
Was it because no one knew in what direction the group should head, or were they all split? were they all pissed at Brian, or Mike?

[anazgnos]

The one thing I would love insight into, someday, is why, when it came down to the two voting blocs of Mike/Al & Carl/Dennis, Brian sided with the latter.  Crazy that the three Wilsons never managed to get all their artistic agendas working together within the band.  Hate to indulge in Machiavellian speculation, but I wonder if Stan Love acting as his minder gave Mike some extra level of influence over Brian.

[Jason]

I think 1977 could be seen as the time when everything started boiling over. Sure, it was one thing to have Brian back on the road again, but having all three Wilsons doped out and drunk off and sometimes onstage, the impending $8 million contract with CBS, the "threat" exhibited by Pacific Ocean Blue...it was a lot of stuff coming to a head. Hence why the band had the tarmac blowup on Al's birthday.

Adult/Child was the victim of either band or label rejection; I'm inclined to believe both. I believe it was Peter Carlin's book in which he related a story told about how it was either Michael or Carl (forget which) who asked Brian "WHAT THE f*** DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?!?" when he heard the Dick Reynolds arrangements.

Bambu was halted at least a year later.

That Largo video is quite...uncomfortable.

[DonnyL]

1. Landy was fired and Mike's brothers were 'looking after' Brian.
2. The group signed a huge CBS deal. Adult Child would have been a strange album (from a commercial standpoint) to risk releasing when they're trying to secure a deal with CBS -- especially coming after Love You.
3. Bambu wasn't halted in '77; Dennis was still working on it through '78.
4. Drugs.
5. The Australian thing happened in '78.
6. The group didn't have a clear direction because they switched back to 'the Brian/Mike show' after Endless Summer and 15 Big Ones.  After Love You, it became clear that Brian couldn't lead the group musically (or rather, they really didn't want him to).
7. Dennis released a solo album, which set him apart from the group.

Read the Rolling Stone article from this period (Sex Pistols cover).  It sort of gives you all of the answers you are seeking.

[Jon Stebbins]

The one thing I would love insight into, someday, is why, when it came down to the two voting blocs of Mike/Al & Carl/Dennis, Brian sided with the latter.  

I think you got that backwards...but if you meant why did he side with the former, he more or less deferred, refused to take a side, took the path of least resistance...wimped out...let Marilyn or Mike vote for him. Typical Brian stuff.

[SMiLE Brian]

I think it is interesting that these events happened during the 10th anniversary of another horrible year for the BBs.(1967)

[oldsurferdude]

I feel with all this gladtalk of the boys on this board recently that it was time for some discussion of what happened in 1977 with the Beach Boys!

Why did everything go to sh*t that year?

What caused Adult/Child and Bambu to be halted almost simultaneously? I know that it was Brian who stopped working, and Dennis much the same.
I know there was a huge fight around this time and Dennis hated Mike afterwards when MIU came out instead of A/C

Also there is lots of arguing between them all in this clip:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_JjiGnd-hk4&feature=related

At this time Carl appeared drunk on-stage at several concerts in Australia and they had to apologise publicly.
Was it because no one knew in what direction the group should head, or were they all split? were they all pissed at Brian, or Mike?

Gotta love it-Brian, Denny and maybe Carl f*cking up Myke's karma on stage. WGRCR.

[Lonely Summer]

Brian looks pissed off in that video. And the way he jumped across the stage toward's Mike...what was that all about? And poor Carl, over on stage right, witnessing all this ...but if he was as stoned as everyone says he was at the time, maybe he didn't notice or didn't care. Funny side story: a friend of mine interviewed him on Seattle radio in 78, and he mentioned the Rolling Stone article, and Carl said it never happened.

[juggler]

The one thing I would love insight into, someday, is why, when it came down to the two voting blocs of Mike/Al & Carl/Dennis, Brian sided with the latter.  

I think you got that backwards...but if you meant why did he side with the former, he more or less deferred, refused to take a side, took the path of least resistance...wimped out...let Marilyn or Mike vote for him. Typical Brian stuff.

A couple months ago, the Wall Street Journal had a humorous BW anecdote that illustrates his refusal to take sides during this period.

Addressing the crowd while receiving an award, superlawyer John Branca regaled the crowd with tales of the days when being an entertainment lawyer meant taking meetings in hot tubs and receiving emergency calls to fix Michael Jackson’s pinball machine.

Branca’s most memorable anecdote involved the Beach Boys and its legendarily erratic creative driving force, Brian Wilson.

Two years out of law school, Branca said, he found himself presiding over a meeting of the band’s “board of directors”—which just meant the band. The five members were deciding whether to fire Steve Love as their manager. Naturally, Mike Love was in favor of keeping his brother, as was Al Jardine. Brian’s brothers Dennis and Carl wanted to fire Steve Love.

Holding the deciding vote in his hands, Brian was face-down on the conference table, possibly asleep. Branca shook the musician’s shoulder and told him to knock on the table one time if he supported Steve’s dismissal, and twice if he opposed it.

“He knocked three times,” Branca recalled, chuckling. “So I did what any good lawyer would. I called for an adjournment and persuaded Steve to resign.”
http://blogs.wsj.com/law/2012/02/10/entertainment-lawyers-go-wild-for-secondary-copyright-lawsuits/

[Jay]

If you watch that Back Home clip from Maryland 1977, it looks like Brian stepped pn Mike's foot. That might be the cause of the "argument".

[Rocker]

I don't remember if I ever read the Rolling Stone article. Is it online somwhere ?

[Pretty Funky]

http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/the-healing-of-brother-bri-interview-with-the-beach-boys-20110620

[DonnyL]

http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/the-healing-of-brother-bri-interview-with-the-beach-boys-20110620

that's a different article.

[Pretty Funky]

http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/the-healing-of-brother-bri-interview-with-the-beach-boys-20110620

that's a different article.

Oh yeah....I'll read the complete thread next time!

[Autotune]

I think there were 2 main problems:
1- a lot of family sh*t had been unearthing for a while, and it reached its zenith in 1977-8.
2- heavy substance abuse by three of the five members of the band and ill mental health of one

Everything else is, for me, is a consequence of these two factors.

[runnersdialzero]

I think there were 2 main problems:
1- a lot of family sh*t had been unearthing for a while, and it reached its zenith in 1977-8.
2- heavy substance abuse by three of the five members of the band and ill mental health of one

Everything else is, for me, is a consequence of these two factors.

I'd even go as far as to say two. Dennis wasn't nearly as bad as Brian, but I'll be damned if he wasn't a lot worse off mentally than your average bear.