Group Interview On PBS - Charlie Rose Show Tonight

[I. Spaceman]

You mean, the album side that Mike wrote the lyrics for?

yeah I'm aware of that, but Mike still likes to claim that Brian's stuff was too melancholy and Summer Days was a clear attempt to keep the music more upbeat and keep it "positive"

No, Mike says he was the positive counterbalance to Mike's melancholy. Summer Days was the way it was because Brian had about a month to get an album together for a summer release deadline. And that album has a few "melancholy" songs on it anyway.
Step out of Domenic Priore's closet.

[bossaroo]

Mike states outright in the Endless Harmony doc and elsewhere that "the reason the Beach Boys mean so much to so many people is because of the positivity. And that was ME!"

he has referred to Pet Sounds as "nauseating" and "Brian's ego music". Brian says that Mike didn't like Pet Sounds but they agreed it would be "just one album" of that type of material.

it's no secret that Mike prefers the upbeat lighter fare. he has made a career out of it and he has helped perpetuate the myth that the Beach Boys are nothing but.

step out of Mike's... hey that's not a closet!

[Shark]

At last night's show, after they finished H&V, they got a huge ovation. Al said something like, "Now we're going to play the entire Smile album" in response to the crowd. He said it with a smirk on his face and looking at Brian. Brian had no reaction.

[endofposts]

It amazes me that anyone who defends Mike is assumed to be a Mike-lover who likes to listen to "Kokomo" on endless loop.  If anyone has a patronizing view of Brian, it's people who think he cowers every time Mike or anyone else criticizes what he's done.  I used to think that way, but after seeing Brian over decades and ups and downs, it's clear that Brian has brass balls.  He wouldn't even bother to defend himself against what Mike would say because it doesn't matter to him.  Brian also has mixed feelings about "Smile" himself and it actually worked out better than any movie script that it became more legendary by not being released in the '60s and allowing Brian to have multiple victory laps when it was released as a solo album and then the Beach Boys boxed set.

[Lowbacca]

[Ziggy Stardust]

That video seems to take for ever...

[Shady]

Wow, pretty incredible no video has surfaced of this

[I. Spaceman]

step out of Mike's... hey that's not a closet!

Step into the oven. Your views are badly stated, and copied from others. Worthless.

[Chocolate Shake Man]

step out of Mike's... hey that's not a closet!

Step into the oven. Your views are badly stated, and copied from others. Worthless.

You mean he's directly and accurately quoting from primary sources rather than pretending like others have done on this thread that such quotes never existed in the name of "objectivity"?

[Ziggy Stardust]

Wow, pretty incredible no video has surfaced of this

Yeah, i thought we were in 2012 or something

[endofposts]

If only Brian had those big hit records with Bob Norberg and Gary Usher like some fans think he would have had, had Murry not discouraged the DJ's from playing those records.  Then there might be a big "Bob and Sheri" reunion instead of the Beach Boys and no one would have to deal with Mike Love.

[Runaways]

Wow, pretty incredible no video has surfaced of this

Yeah, i thought we were in 2012 or something

It's the weekend.  People aren't working, we probably won't see it till monday

[Cam Mott]

If only Brian had those big hit records with Bob Norberg and Gary Usher like some fans think he would have had, had Murry not discouraged the DJ's from playing those records.  Then there might be a big "Bob and Sheri" reunion instead of the Beach Boys and no one would have to deal with Mike Love.

I find it hard to believe that Murry encouraged anyone to not enrich him. Not because he was greedy but because it was business regardless of who was on the copyright. This just seems like another opinion of yore that has become a fact. Like the other myth/"facts" excusing Brian's underperformance like Brian couldn't have a hit with any of his non-BBs productions because they weren't promoted, PS was a "failure" because of the release of Best Of etc.. Take it easy Cam.

The susposed "failures" aren't even real sometimes but still get a excuse.

[oldsurferdude]

As the guy assigned as singer of many of the songs,  he was going to have the right to object to the lyrics.  He didn't feel comfortable singing them.  They didn't fit the image he felt the Beach Boys had, and it didn't fit the kind of guy he was (he's not that good of an actor that he can sing songs that don't fit his personality).  You can hate Mike all you want, but if he had to sing the lyrics, he was going to say something.  If Brian and the rest of the band didn't like it, they could have fired him.  They never did.  That was their problem.  They could have got Glen Campbell to replace Mike (he wasn't a hit recording artist at that point, and had singing talents and looks), they could have gotten any number of guys.  I'm not even sure why they insisted Mike sing the cornfield lyrics in Cabinessence if he didn't like them.  It wasn't even a baritone part.  Al could have sung those lines, Carl could have sung it, Dennis could have sung it, Bruce could have sung it. Some blame many things on Mike, but even if that's the case, why were the Beach Boys such nitwits that they kept him around?  They wanted it both ways, because he had a track record of singing on a lot of the hits.  But they stopped having hits so it didn't matter who was the lead singer.  Murry tried to get rid of him, but the band wouldn't let him. 

And there you have it, folks-what a shame. Great post in which I agree totally.

[Cam Mott]

Mike sang all of those leads because their producer, Brian, wanted him to; when Brian didn't want Mike to sing lead he had somebody else to do it.

[Jim V.]

Here's the thing. Yes, Mike probably does prefer to think of the band as a "fun in the sun" group. And that's his prerogative. Does he respect and praise Pet Sounds now? Yes? Did he like it all that much in the '60s? According to contemporary quotes from the '60s, maybe not that much. And even in quotes from the '90s. But he does sound pretty great on "That's Not Me" and "Here Today". So hey, whatever. I gotta think mostly, however, that the critical acclaim for Pet Sounds has really helped Mike figure out that being in the supportive camp isn't so much a bad thing. I think he purposely took that Dennis quote the wrong way, and honestly, any major fan of Brian Wilson would agree that SMiLE contained some of his best work ("Surf's Up", "Heroes And Villains", "Do You Like Worms", "Child Is Father Of The Man"). And I'd like to think that Mike is as much of a Brian fan as he claims, and I honestly think his beef with the album these days might be more with Van Dyke Parks as a person, just as Mr. Parks seems to really have a bad taste in his mouth regarding Dr. Love. I think Van Dyke went overboard about this tour, and I think Mike is similarly resentful about SMiLE because he doesn't wanna give Van Dyke credit. But in the process, I think it might hurt his cousin, who he cares so much about.

My problem with "Tea Bagger" Johnston is the view that the band was all about surf, cars, and girls, and that Pet Sounds and SMiLE were minor deviations. Read Bruce's essay in the SMiLE box. You'd think that right before SMiLE they did "Surfin' Safari" and right after they did "Catch a Wave", and that 1966/1967 were just out of the norm. However, the band didn't really do "formula" material from probably 1965 to 1977, besides "Do It Again" and "It's OK", which are backwards looking perhaps, but still great songs. So I don't know what they are talking about. I feel like Bruce saying Brian should've released SMiLE in '67 as a solo album is kind of a put down, and shows how out of touch some of the band was in '67 and still is now. Like Brian coulda done SMiLE as a solo, and the group coulda put out something more like Bob Sled & The Toboggans, perhaps. Right Bruce? I think Bruce is a major fan of Brian's, but he also has this odd resentment toward the man. And one can see it as early as the '70s if we trust in Jack Rieley's quotes. Some of his quotes from the '90s and on also demonstrate a bit of that too, almost as he looks down upon Brian, because of his trials and tribulations.

step out of Mike's... hey that's not a closet!

Step into the oven. Your views are badly stated, and copied from others. Worthless.

I'm assuming the oven thing is a holocaust joke. Kinda stupid and gross.

[MBE]

It amazes me that anyone who defends Mike is assumed to be a Mike-lover who likes to listen to "Kokomo" on endless loop.  If anyone has a patronizing view of Brian, it's people who think he cowers every time Mike or anyone else criticizes what he's done.  I used to think that way, but after seeing Brian over decades and ups and downs, it's clear that Brian has brass balls.  He wouldn't even bother to defend himself against what Mike would say because it doesn't matter to him.  Brian also has mixed feelings about "Smile" himself and it actually worked out better than any movie script that it became more legendary by not being released in the '60s and allowing Brian to have multiple victory laps when it was released as a solo album and then the Beach Boys boxed set.

Good post

[Runaways]

I think any member of the band has the right, to a degree, to question the music/lyrics, but not much. 

I'm assuming the oven thing is a holocaust joke. Kinda stupid and gross.

i don't think it was necessarily a holocaust joke

[endofposts]

My problem with "Tea Bagger" Johnston is the view that the band was all about surf, cars, and girls, and that Pet Sounds and SMiLE were minor deviations. Read Bruce's essay in the SMiLE box. You'd think that right before SMiLE they did "Surfin' Safari" and right after they did "Catch a Wave", and that 1966/1967 were just out of the norm. However, the band didn't really do "formula" material from probably 1965 to 1977, besides "Do It Again" and "It's OK", which are backwards looking perhaps, but still great songs. So I don't know what they are talking about. I feel like Bruce saying Brian should've released SMiLE in '67 as a solo album is kind of a put down, and shows how out of touch some of the band was in '67 and still is now. Like Brian coulda done SMiLE as a solo, and the group coulda put out something more like Bob Sled & The Toboggans, perhaps. Right Bruce? I think Bruce is a major fan of Brian's, but he also has this odd resentment toward the man. And one can see it as early as the '70s if we trust in Jack Rieley's quotes. Some of his quotes from the '90s and on also demonstrate a bit of that too, almost as he looks down upon Brian, because of his trials and tribulations.

I don't know if that's quite fair to Bruce.  He was the guy who brought "Pet Sounds" to England and played it for the Beatles.  He's always had the highest praise for it.  He also did an arrangement of "God Only Knows" for Jack Jones in recent years, which had to be a labor of love for Bruce, because it couldn't have paid much to do a nightclub arrangement.  Bruce didn't even join the band until most of the surf and car songs were behind them.  He was doing his own songs in that genre, but they were almost doing "Pet Sounds" by the time he joined.  Bruce was sympathetic towards Brian and his problems with Capitol Records in the US, short interview here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1B18FBcqsZ4

[hypehat]

step out of Mike's... hey that's not a closet!

Step into the oven. Your views are badly stated, and copied from others. Worthless.

[runnersdialzero]

Oh no.

[Runaways]

step out of Mike's... hey that's not a closet!

Step into the oven. Your views are badly stated, and copied from others. Worthless.

 

[Muntjac]

It's finally up: http://www.charlierose.com/view/interview/12364

[Ziggy Stardust]

feels good man, feels good.

[Lowbacca]

Paraphrasing:

Charlie Rose:  "What is closer to you? Exuberance or melancholy?"
Brian: "I don't see a difference."

That's brilliant.