Heroes And Villains released 45 years ago today

[Stephen W. Desper]

COMMENT:  Custom Machine ask me to post my thoughts on this thread, so here they are . . .

SD: And I also remember having to take the lawn mower out of the back of the Phantom 5 limo.

AJ: [huge, hearty laugh]

SD: To make room for everybody. [more laughter]

AJ: That’s a great story! [still laughing] What the hell was the lawn mower doing in there? [new wave of laughter]

SD: Brian didn’t have a truck so he used his Rolls Royce to haul his yard equipment around, and we had it fixed.

AJ: Oh, God, I didn’t even know that. That is so funny…


In 2003 Mr. Desper stated that he’d taken a lawn mower out of Brian’s Rolls Royce Phantom 5 so that more people could fit in the car for the trip to KHJ, about 20 minutes away at 5515 Melrose.

That is still what I remember. I can’t recall if Brian or Dennis helped me with the removal of lawnmower, but someone did. None of this lawnmower business would be known or remembered by the station DJ.  It all happened in the back parking area of Brian’s home.

Who all does Stephen Desper recall making the trip? 

I simply do not recall. I think Brian’s wife or her sister went along, otherwise I do not recall. Maybe Carl. Maybe Alan.

Did Mr. Desper himself make the trip, or after removing the lawn mower did he head home or stay back at Brian’s home studio?

First of all, the song was delivered on an acetate disc which I had cut some time earlier at Artisan Mastering House in Hollywood. It may have been cut the day before, don’t remember. Then it was played a few times and was sitting on the kitchen counter for some time before Brian got the idea of taking it and delivering it himself to the station. He was anxious to get a reaction from the DJ and see how it sounded on the radio. There was some discussion in the kitchen with everyone jazzing each other about this idea -- finally a simple game plan evolved (big plan, drive to the station) and a dash was made to the cars. That was when we discovered the lawnmower was stilll in the Phantom.  I don’t recall who-all went, sorry. It was about five or six people, including me, because the trip was not your usual thing to do in the evening and everyone that was around wanted to go and be part of the “trip to the radio station.” 

How many vehicles does he recall making the trip?  

I can’t be certain, but I think it was two. Most in the Rolls-Royce and overflow in the other car. 

Since he went to the trouble of removing the lawn mover to make room, was it just Brian’s Rolls, or as Melcher stated, was it a caravan of limos?

The Phantom 5 will seat seven or eight people if you use the jump seats. So I would say five or six were in the Limo and the other car was just your standard sedan. I enjoyed driving the Rolls, so it may well have been that I drove. Any additional cars would have been personal cars that happened to be at the home studio that night.

Assuming Stephen Desper went to the KHJ studios, what are his recollections of what transpired?

When we got to the station there was nowhere to park and Brian wanted to go right in, so the Phantom 5 was parked on the street; illegally parked. We all hoped it's size and distinction would give it some sort of VIP illusion and not be towed.

Brian's Black Phantom 5 >>> http://www.autowp.ru/pictures/rolls_royce/phantom/autowp.ru_rolls-royce_phantom_royal_limousine_5.jpg

(( The horn of Brian's Rolls-Royce is featured in Take a Load Off Your Feet))

I remember there was some commotion about getting into the station, that is past the front desk. No appointment – and you don’t just bust into a radio show already on-the-air. But after that was straightened out, the DJ was still a little flabbergasted to have Brian there – and with a new record to be previewed on his show. On the air it seemed as if he was searching for his words, as if trying to buy himself some time before actually playing the record. He was on the phone to get clearance from someone; to cover his ass -- after all he had a responsibility to the station, not The Beach Boys. I recall that at first there was a question if Brian could do this without the record company’s OK, and if airing the song would present a later problem for the station. That was bantered about for a few minutes, but then it was decided to play it just once. You see, in those days if you released a single without stock in the store, you ran the risk of having what was then called “a turntable hit.” That is, a hit that was requested over and over to be played on the radio. By the time the record company could supply stock to the stores, the song would have run its course and not be a hit that was in demand to buy. Hence only a hit on the radio station’s turntable.  So this was something that the DJ did not want to be accused of doing by the record company's A&R people. But Brian and company was there and talking on the air about the recording of the song. The interest had been aired, so at the risk of making a turntable hit, it was decided this would be reduced by playing it once . . . so the song was played. After the airing, it was all over, Brian had gotten the reactions he wanted, and we left. The Rolls was still parked in front of the station on busy Melrose Avenue. I returned to the house studio while others departed for their homes from the station. That’s about it.

~swd

[guitarfool2002]

I remember there was some commotion about getting into the station, that is past the front desk. No appointment – and you don’t just bust into a radio show already on-the-air. But after that was straightened out, the DJ was still a little flabbergasted to have Brian there – and with a new record to be previewed on his show. On the air it seemed as if he was searching for his words, as if trying to buy himself some time before actually playing the record. He was on the phone to get clearance from someone; to cover his ass -- after all he had a responsibility to the station, not The Beach Boys. I recall that at first there was a question if Brian could do this without the record company’s OK, and if airing the song would present a later problem for the station. That was bantered about for a few minutes, but then it was decided to play it just once. You see, in those days if you released a single without stock in the store, you ran the risk of having what was then called “a turntable hit.” That is, a hit that was requested over and over to be played on the radio. By the time the record company could supply stock to the stores, the song would have run its course and not be a hit that was in demand to buy. Hence only a hit on the radio station’s turntable.  So this was something that the DJ did not want to be accused of doing by the record company's A&R people. But Brian and company was there and talking on the air about the recording of the song. The interest had been aired, so at the risk of making a turntable hit, it was decided this would be reduced by playing it once . . . so the song was played. After the airing, it was all over, Brian had gotten the reactions he wanted, and we left. [/size]

~swd

This is a terrific post, thank you so much for addressing and answering the questions! It does in fact contradict Ron Jacobs' recollections, and all but shows that Brian's group *did* in fact get into the studio and *DID* have a bit of an interview on the air that night!!!

That only makes me wish more for an actual tape of that night but unfortunately I think the total number of hours of KHJ radio broadcasts that exist from 1967 is pretty slim as it is.

I wanted to address one very specific point, the "turntable hit". Isn't this exactly what happened with Heroes And Villains, at least in LA? If it was being played as a "Hitbound" and then as a charting single for three weeks before a listener could actually purchase the 45rpm single at the stores, it would seem that Heroes was a classic case of either being a "turntable hit" or of peaking too soon with the demand for the record.

The record was "charting" on KHJ surveys for three weeks before a listener could walk into a store and buy it!

[Custom Machine]

I remember there was some commotion about getting into the station, that is past the front desk. No appointment – and you don’t just bust into a radio show already on-the-air. But after that was straightened out, the DJ was still a little flabbergasted to have Brian there – and with a new record to be previewed on his show. On the air it seemed as if he was searching for his words, as if trying to buy himself some time before actually playing the record. He was on the phone to get clearance from someone; to cover his ass -- after all he had a responsibility to the station, not The Beach Boys. I recall that at first there was a question if Brian could do this without the record company’s OK, and if airing the song would present a later problem for the station. That was bantered about for a few minutes, but then it was decided to play it just once. You see, in those days if you released a single without stock in the store, you ran the risk of having what was then called “a turntable hit.” That is, a hit that was requested over and over to be played on the radio. By the time the record company could supply stock to the stores, the song would have run its course and not be a hit that was in demand to buy. Hence only a hit on the radio station’s turntable.  So this was something that the DJ did not want to be accused of doing by the record company's A&R people. But Brian and company was there and talking on the air about the recording of the song. The interest had been aired, so at the risk of making a turntable hit, it was decided this would be reduced by playing it once . . . so the song was played. After the airing, it was all over, Brian had gotten the reactions he wanted, and we left. The Rolls was still parked in front of the station on busy Melrose Avenue. I returned to the house studio while others departed for their homes from the station. That’s about it.[/size]

~swd

Stephen, thank you so much for your recollections.  They certainly go a long way in setting the record straight!

A couple more quick questions:

I know you don't recall who all went to the station, but do you think it's possible that Terry Melcher was one of the people who accompanied the group to the KHJ studios?  His account in Rolling Stone sounds like it may well have been embellished, and if he wasn't even there he wouldn't have been providing a first hand account anyway.  It was the details in Melcher's account which program director Ron Jacobs took issue with.  For example, Melcher (as reported by Tom Nolan in Rolling Stone) said the group was driving a caravan of four or five Rolls Royce limos and the KHJ guard finally opened the gate to let the limos park in the KHJ lot, and neither of these statements jibes with your recollections.

Terry Melcher's account also has Brian introducing himself to the dj and offering the station an exclusive on the new record, with the dj flatly stating "Can't play anything that's not on the playlist."  Melcher said, "Brian almost fainted.  It was all over.  It really killed him," but it was finally played after a few calls to the program director or someone who screamed, "Put it on, you idiot!"  Melcher concludes, "But the damage to Brian had already been done."

I get the impression from your account that you have no recollection of the dj flatly saying that he couldn't play the record simply because it wasn't on the KHJ playlist, but rather that he first needed to make a call to get clearance, and that there was potential concern of issues with Capitol Records when the record wasn't even in promo copy form yet.  From your account it sounds like the dj had a rather congenial on-air interview with Brain and company, with Brian leaving the studio satisfied that he had accomplished his mission.  Would you agree that this accurately reflects your recollections?

Thanks again for your input, Stephen!

[guitarfool2002]

I'm still finding all of this information and new input amazing and a bit overwhelming. We basically have two versions of the story - one from the radio station's upper management that suggests much ado about nothing, and new input from the person who cut the actual acetate in question and was there with the band! And the confirmation of something which we may have suspected in earlier discussions...that not only was the song played on the air, but an interview was also broadcast around it.

I think some of the information has been embellished and overblown through the years, I also think perhaps some recollections of folks who weren't there that night may not be as keen on an event which wasn't all that memorable for anyone who wasn't at the station that night, and I think the legend of the whole situation blew it up to something greater than what it was.

And ultimately, the record did get played on the air, so it's not like you get a cinema-style ending shot of a dejected Brian walking slow with his head down out of the KHJ studio clutching an unplayed acetate that some other accounts other than Melcher's have suggested...

[Stephen W. Desper]

I remember there was some commotion about getting into the station, that is past the front desk. No appointment – and you don't just bust into a radio show already on-the-air. But after that was straightened out, the DJ was still a little flabbergasted to have Brian there – and with a new record to be previewed on his show. On the air it seemed as if he was searching for his words, as if trying to buy himself some time before actually playing the record. He was on the phone to get clearance from someone; to cover his ass -- after all he had a responsibility to the station, not The Beach Boys. I recall that at first there was a question if Brian could do this without the record company's OK, and if airing the song would present a later problem for the station. That was bantered about for a few minutes, but then it was decided to play it just once. You see, in those days if you released a single without stock in the store, you ran the risk of having what was then called “a turntable hit.” That is, a hit that was requested over and over to be played on the radio. By the time the record company could supply stock to the stores, the song would have run its course and not be a hit that was in demand to buy. Hence only a hit on the radio station's turntable.  So this was something that the DJ did not want to be accused of doing by the record company's A&R people. But Brian and company was there and talking on the air about the recording of the song. The interest had been aired, so at the risk of making a turntable hit, it was decided this would be reduced by playing it once . . . so the song was played. After the airing, it was all over, Brian had gotten the reactions he wanted, and we left. The Rolls was still parked in front of the station on busy Melrose Avenue. I returned to the house studio while others departed for their homes from the station. That's about it.[/size]

~swd

Stephen, thank you so much for your recollections.  They certainly go a long way in setting the record straight!

A couple more quick questions:

I know you don't recall who all went to the station, but do you think it's possible that Terry Melcher was one of the people who accompanied the group to the KHJ studios?  His account in Rolling Stone sounds like it may well have been embellished, and if he wasn't even there he wouldn't have been providing a first hand account anyway.  It was the details in Melcher's account which program director Ron Jacobs took issue with.  For example, Melcher (as reported by Tom Nolan in Rolling Stone) said the group was driving a caravan of four or five Rolls Royce limos and the KHJ guard finally opened the gate to let the limos park in the KHJ lot, and neither of these statements jibes with your recollections.

Terry Melcher's account also has Brian introducing himself to the dj and offering the station an exclusive on the new record, with the dj flatly stating "Can't play anything that's not on the playlist."  Melcher said, "Brian almost fainted.  It was all over.  It really killed him," but it was finally played after a few calls to the program director or someone who screamed, "Put it on, you idiot!"  Melcher concludes, "But the damage to Brian had already been done."

I get the impression from your account that you have no recollection of the dj flatly saying that he couldn't play the record simply because it wasn't on the KHJ playlist, but rather that he first needed to make a call to get clearance, and that there was potential concern of issues with Capitol Records when the record wasn't even in promo copy form yet.  From your account it sounds like the dj had a rather congenial on-air interview with Brain and company, with Brian leaving the studio satisfied that he had accomplished his mission.  Would you agree that this accurately reflects your recollections?

Thanks again for your input, Stephen!

COMMENT:  Wow! you are certainly into this KHJ thing -- MUCH MORE THAN I AM.  To me it was just another passing evening event. I hardly gave it a second thought. What GuitarFool2002 said in his post does make it a TT hit. These are facts I did not know. I was stuck in the studio working on other stuff. But in hindsight it is interesting. What it sounds like is that KHJ made a copy and continued to play H&V long after Brian's departure. I would guess that once anything is aired, control is out-the-window.

Let's put this in perspective.  This was Brian's show. I was just tagging along -- a chance for this engineer to have a look around the big-city radio station KHJ. I really wasn't paying that much attention to the actual goings' on of the evening. So exactly what the issues were concerning a "play-list" was not of very high concern to me. I was more interested in the make and design of the turntables, tape decks and microphones they used. Please don't hang your hat or rewrite history on my accounting. I just remember it wasn't as simple as Brian thought it would be. He was up against rules, regulations, procedures and internal politics. Brian thought he would just walk into the station, hand the DJ his record and get a response. But the difference between our kitchen talk and the real world soon became apparent.

The DJ had a person of merit, a household name celebrity, the man himself, in the studio -- so if course he wanted to get a "Live" interview. Once on the air, what do you talk about?  Brian wanted to talk about his new song. The way it works is that you kinda have to do what Brian wants to do or else he just shuts up. So yes, the song was talked about, other things too, but mainly H&V.  The record "not being on the play list" may have been a point made to Brian, but only as a stalling tactic. Who knows, behind the scenes someone may have been arranging a buss to capture the acetate on tape when it was played, a buss reaching into a backroom somewhere that housed a tape recorder. Radio stations are always looking for that "exclusive" that can set them apart from the other stations and a BB single only hear-able on KHJ would have given them that edge. So in Brian's childlike thinking he was protected, as long as he left with the record under his arm. I guess in reality he was just being set up.

If the facts bear true that Brian's little adventure resulted in a TT hit, I'm sure the record company was pissed. They like to control the product they pay for, not have an end-run score an empty point.

Was there a fleet of Limo's -- no. The Phantom 5 was the only limo. And it was only used because it was the only car that Brian owned and was at the house. This was a sort of "last minute" thing. To have a caravan of Limo's would have taken hours to arrange, and for what? Certainly if a fleet of limo's were to be used -- and all the preparation that would take -- why wouldn't KHJ have been contacted ahead of time; to expect Brian and company for an exclusive. NO. No one knew anything. Surprise KHJ!!  We are here!  Can't we come in . . . p-l-e-a-s-e.     At first we couldn't even get in the gate. So, to speed things up, we just parked on the street . . . yellowcurb loading zone.

Was Melcher in this group?  He could have been, but I really did not know him that well at the time to remember. If Dennis or Bruce were in the kitchen that evening, he could have been with them. If he says he was there then he was. And, he would have talked to the DJ for certain.

As to offering the station an exclusive . . .  Brian knows the record business. He knew what a turntable hit was. He knew that would hurt sales. So I don't know, but I would doubt he would go so far as to offer KHJ any exclusive. Why would he need to do that?  Shoot himself in the foot?  Brian may have been a little crazy at times, but he is not stupid.

If you want my personal viewpoint . . . I think Brian was just reliving events from his past, back the way he got airplay when the Beach Boys were just starting. It worked then, why not now?  But that is just my personal observation.

~swd

[guitarfool2002]

Once again, thank you very much for posting this terrific information - it is a topic which I am also fascinated with, so any new information particularly from someone who was actually there is very much appreciated. Thank you!

I wanted to mention and clarify/repost a few points about what KHJ did with this:

- The record was being spun on KHJ at least in the second week of July, and there is a tape of a Bobby Tripp playing the record on KHJ around July 17, which would prove they had a tape of the song. That surviving bit of audio was the proof we can actually hear versus the KHJ survey from the week before Tripp's broadcast.

- KHJ had done similar things with other records: There exists a tape of them playing the original mix of the Monkees' "Valleri" on the air, and the only way they could have gotten this was to have taped it off the air from the TV broadcast, as it wasn't on an album or wasn't a single until it was remade in '68. So their "exclusive", if it wasn't authorized by the band or Screen Gems/Colgems, was nothing short of broadcasting a bootleg due to the high demand for Monkees songs in early-mid '67.

- Some of the surviving tapes of KHJ broadcasts on airchecks were sourced directly from their board and are in amazing fidelity for what they are, and some of those survived only through the family members of those DJ's who had recorded and saved some of their daily shows. The boss Mr. Drake himself (and possibly Jacobs?) apparently had some kind of a high-tech system (for 1966-67...) where he could dial a phone line from his office and hear a live broadcast of any of his "Drake-Chennault" radio stations, and also record them for his own use. So there were definitely at least two methods where someone at KHJ would be able to do nothing more than hit record on a tape machine and get a tape of what was on the air.

I had always assumed Brian gave them a copy or even a tape dub of the song...hearing that he actually carried an acetate was pretty fascinating, because obviously KHJ had to be playing a tape copy of it in the weeks before the release, after Brian took the disc with him. If there even exists a full, unedited copy of that Bobby Tripp broadcast from mid-July, we'd have it on tape - as such it's only a few seconds of the song itself and all of Tripp's talking.

Again, I'm fascinated to be reading new info about this...

[Catbirdman]

Fascinating!

I wish I had something, anything, substantial to contribute, but I don't. But I can't not say anything either.

Thanks Stephen for indulging us all!! I am happy for you that you have had such a rich life, with special skills to share.

Thanks everyone - guitarfool, etc. - for keeping the research flowing. It's fun to watch.

[Stephen W. Desper]

COMMENT:  I had my teeth cleaned this morning. While in the chair I had the time to reflect on something that puzzles me. Why would TM tell the story that there were a "fleet" of Limo's at the station. Then I got to thinking about the word Limousine. I define it as a specific car model, that is, if GM calls its large Cadillac a Limousine, then it is a Limousine. Rolls-Royce calls there huge five ton automobile the Phantom 5 Limousine -- and that it is.

But Rolls-Royce also makes what is called a "stretch" sedan. This is not a limo, but being a huge automobile also, could, by the average person classify this as a "limo."  Technically it is not. It is in between a limo and a standard sedan. A limo is designed to be driven by a professional driver, not the owner. Brian had a driver at the time, John Parks. A stretch sedan is not quite as long as a limo, but longer than the standard sedan. It is designed to be driven by a driver or the owner. At this time Dennis owned a stretched Rolls-Royce. It was black and maroon and was a stretch Silver Cloud II. He also owned a Ferrari. He kept the Silver Cloud in Brian's garage and personally drove the Ferrari.  Again, this is just me sharing my thoughts with you, but if Dennis and Terry went to the station together, he may have taken his stretched Silver Cloud, from Brian's garage.

Dennis' Silver Cloud II stretched sedan >>> http://www.motorbase.com/picture/by-id/-1590586712

Note how large the back window appears. It kinda looks like a limo.

Loosly defined, this could seem like a couple of limo's coming down the street in tandem. So, maybe that is how TM saw it. Throw in another large car and you have a parade of limo's. Terry's accounting of the car line-up may have just been an honest mistake if you define any large luxurious sedan, a limo.

~swd

[Cam Mott]

Somebody needs to ask Brian what he remembers about it.

[Stephen W. Desper]

Once again, thank you very much for posting this terrific information - it is a topic which I am also fascinated with, so any new information particularly from someone who was actually there is very much appreciated. Thank you!

I wanted to mention and clarify/repost a few points about what KHJ did with this:

- The record was being spun on KHJ at least in the second week of July, and there is a tape of a Bobby Tripp playing the record on KHJ around July 17, which would prove they had a tape of the song. That surviving bit of audio was the proof we can actually hear versus the KHJ survey from the week before Tripp's broadcast.

- KHJ had done similar things with other records: There exists a tape of them playing the original mix of the Monkees' "Valleri" on the air, and the only way they could have gotten this was to have taped it off the air from the TV broadcast, as it wasn't on an album or wasn't a single until it was remade in '68. So their "exclusive", if it wasn't authorized by the band or Screen Gems/Colgems, was nothing short of broadcasting a bootleg due to the high demand for Monkees songs in early-mid '67.

- Some of the surviving tapes of KHJ broadcasts on airchecks were sourced directly from their board and are in amazing fidelity for what they are, and some of those survived only through the family members of those DJ's who had recorded and saved some of their daily shows. The boss Mr. Drake himself (and possibly Jacobs?) apparently had some kind of a high-tech system (for 1966-67...) where he could dial a phone line from his office and hear a live broadcast of any of his "Drake-Chennault" radio stations, and also record them for his own use. So there were definitely at least two methods where someone at KHJ would be able to do nothing more than hit record on a tape machine and get a tape of what was on the air.

I had always assumed Brian gave them a copy or even a tape dub of the song...hearing that he actually carried an acetate was pretty fascinating, because obviously KHJ had to be playing a tape copy of it in the weeks before the release, after Brian took the disc with him. If there even exists a full, unedited copy of that Bobby Tripp broadcast from mid-July, we'd have it on tape - as such it's only a few seconds of the song itself and all of Tripp's talking.

Again, I'm fascinated to be reading new info about this...

COMMENT:  Thanks guitarfool2002 for this very interesting find. It's all new to me, but I see how it fits into the puzzle. It reads like a movie plot!

Good Listening,  ~Stephen W. Desper

[Custom Machine]

Thanks so much for your recollections, Stephen.  Yes, it was just another day/night on the job for you, but it's such a legendary story in Beach Boys history that it's really good to set the record straight, even with Brian's friend and author David Leaf saying, "But it's such a good story ... don't we want to just keep printing the legend? "

To the best of my knowledge, the first time anyone challenged the story, which was retold in a number of books after first appearing in Rolling Stone 41 years ago, was when KHJ program director Ron Jacobs, in responding to my email, said he had no recollection of the incident and didn't think it could have happened in the manner described in Rolling Stone and the subsequent books, if it did in fact happen at all.  

As an example of how the story was further embellished over the years, in Brian's 1991 "autobiography" (as you well know, Brian later said that he had almost nothing to do with writing the book and never read the final manuscript) he states that close to twenty people in four or five Rolls Royces went to KHJ, and that before the DJ played the record, "I retreated from the embarrassment of ignominity into the back seat of my limo, ordering the driver to take me back home.  The radio was playing.  As we passed through the gates, I heard the DJ cue 'Heroes and Villains' and begin his intro.  It sounded forced.  I pictured the guys standing around him, glaring."

Your account goes a long way in setting the record straight, and indicates that the story as it has been told all these years contained numerous inaccuracies and comes across as embellished for dramatic purposes.

Thanks again, Stephen, for taking the time to share your recollections with us.

[Cam Mott]

If anyone who is currently on tour with the Beach Boys and monitoring this thread: could we impose on you to impose on the beach Boys and ask the fellas who remembers this and what they remember?  Thanks in advance for considering it. Hugs.

Too forward? In our/my defense, this is the greatest American band and every detail of their career should be collected and preserved [you know, Beatles-style] before it is lost and/or they are not here to share it. Shouldn't there be an official sort of archiving of the Boys mementos and recollections, even song by song, from each of them? [gets down off of his high horse]

[bgas]

Thanks so much for your recollections, Stephen.  Yes, it was just another day/night on the job for you, but it's such a legendary story in Beach Boys history that it's really good to set the record straight, even with Brian's friend and author David Leaf saying, "But it's such a good story ... don't we want to just keep printing the legend? "

To the best of my knowledge, the first time anyone challenged the story, which was retold in a number of books after first appearing in Rolling Stone 41 years ago, was when KHJ program director Ron Jacobs, in responding to my email, said he had no recollection of the incident and didn't think it could have happened in the manner described in Rolling Stone and the subsequent books, if it did in fact happen at all.  

As an example of how the story was further embellished over the years, in Brian's 1991 "autobiography" (as you well know, Brian later said that he had almost nothing to do with writing the book and never read the final manuscript) he states that close to twenty people in four or five Rolls Royces went to KHJ, and that before the DJ played the record, "I retreated from the embarrassment of ignominity into the back seat of my limo, ordering the driver to take me back home.  The radio was playing.  As we passed through the gates, I heard the DJ cue 'Heroes and Villains' and begin his intro.  It sounded forced.  I pictured the guys standing around him, glaring."

Your account goes a long way in setting the record straight, and indicates that the story as it has been told all these years contained numerous inaccuracies and comes across as embellished for dramatic purposes.

Thanks again, Stephen, for taking the time to share your recollections with us.

 I also think this serves to point out that Ron Jacobs memories aren't the "facts cast in stone" so to speak.  Personally speaking, I've had contact with Ron previously, trying to put an actual date with their appearance on the Fresno station roof. Ron remembers the large points, but details, are seemingly beyond him. And this isn't unusual; how many people can remember the datails of events 50 years in the past?  ( or,say, 10?)
So it's very nice to have Stephen recount the event, obviously contradicting Ron. 

[guitarfool2002]

So true, and I'll second the appreciation and thanks for Stephen Desper for describing some of his personal memories of that night and for Custom Machine pulling together so many parts of this mystery and keeping the ball rolling. After reading what seemed to be the same written accounts of what happened at the radio station for years, embellishments and all that included, it was a really cool thing to read a firsthand account of the event from someone who was present. Absolutely terrific.

It is great to nail down some of the big facts involved, now as they always say "the devil is in the details". As Cam suggested, maybe/hopefully someone from the band might have more to share as well if asked.

[Custom Machine]

 I also think this serves to point out that Ron Jacobs memories aren't the "facts cast in stone" so to speak.  Personally speaking, I've had contact with Ron previously, trying to put an actual date with their appearance on the Fresno station roof. Ron remembers the large points, but details, are seemingly beyond him. And this isn't unusual; how many people can remember the datails of events 50 years in the past?  ( or,say, 10?)
So it's very nice to have Stephen recount the event, obviously contradicting Ron. 

If you reread Ron Jacobs comments, printed in yellow on the first page of this thread, I think it's accurate to say that Stephen's account contradicts a lot of what has been published for years, originally based on the Melcher account, but doesn't necessarily contradict Ron Jacob's presumptions. 

Jacobs says there was no room for limos in the KHJ parking lot at night, and Desper's account agrees, saying they had to park out front.  Jacobs says he has no recollection of the incident and of screaming at the DJ "Put it on the air, you idiot!" and says he would never yell at a jock like that while he was on the air.  Desper's account is that of a much more congenial encounter with the DJ, with the jock calling someone (presumably Jacobs) for permission to play the record.  Without a big blow up, that's probably why Jacobs has no recollection of the incident.  Instead of Tom Maule essentially refusing to play the record, saying "Can't play anything that's not on the playlist," it sounds more like Maule probably made a call waking up a sleepy Ron Jacobs who may have told Maule something like, "Ok, and after interviewing Brian and the guys, be sure to talk over parts of the record so that other stations can't make a recording and play it too.  In the morning I'll record the whispered 'KHJ exclusive' over it."  Jacobs would have then gone back to sleep and forgotten about the whole thing for 44 years until I asked him about it and he said he had no recollection of the incident but didn't think it could have happened the way it was described in the published accounts.

Jacobs does say it would have been difficult to gain entrance to the KHJ studios at night, but doesn't totally dismiss the possibility, and I can see how Brian Wilson, along with other Beach Boys and friends, could have gained entrance, especially if it were the smaller size group that Desper recalls, rather than the large group in the Melcher account.

So in the areas in which Jacobs disagrees with the long told account that originated with Terry Melcher (or Tom Nolan, who wrote the Rolling Stone article in which Melcher was quoted), Stephen Desper's account is one which closely aligns with what Jacobs would have expected.  Also, in Al Jardine's brief account he makes no reference to any blow up where the jock initially refused to play the record.

Hey, and for anyone interested in listening to an incredible collection of classic top 40 era radio station airchecks, check out ReelRadio's Reel Top 40 Radio Repository at reelradio.com.  For a donation of $20 per year this non-profit site, which pays licensing fees for all the airchecks it streams, offers the cool experience of being able to listen, on demand, to any of thousands of airchecks from various stations (with a ton of KHJ, Los Angeles, including their entire History of Rock and Roll).  Most of the airchecks are unscoped (i.e., the music is all there), some are scoped only (DJ talk is there, but just the beginning and end of a song), and quite a few are available both unscoped and scoped.  New airchecks are added weekly.  Ya wanna hear Beach Boys songs being played on the radio back when they were first popular?  ReelRadio.com is the place!

[Custom Machine]

It's been close to 10 months since this thread was originally started.  I've got a big stack of unread stuff I've been going through recently, and in that pile I discovered the Summer 2012 edition of Endless Summer Quarterly, #96, which was published almost a year ago, a couple of months before this thread.  In that issue is a transcript of an Beach Boys press conference held on March 22, 1972, featuring questions from Dennis Kelley, who wrote the ESQ article, Jim Whittemore, and others.

Dennis Kelley asks Carl:  In Rolling Stone, an interview was published with Terry Melcher as part of a two-part story on The Beach Boys, and in the interview Terry describes how Brian brought the 45 of 'Heroes and Villains' down to the biggest station in L.A. to give them an exclusive on it, and the DJ said something like "Sorry buddy, can't play anything that's not on the playlist", and it really killed Brian.

Carl Wilson responds:  Yeah, that's what the story said, but that was ... I believe he may have taken some record down, but it didn't happen the way Rolling Stone and Terry said.

So, although the account of published in Rolling Stone way back in 1971 has made its way into Beach Boys lore and numerous books about the band, here we have further proof, direct from the mouth of Carl Wilson, that this story did not take place as described in Rolling Stone and was significantly embellished either by Terry Melcher and/or Rolling Stone author Tom Nolan.

[Micha]

It's been close to 10 months since this thread was originally started.  I've got a big stack of unread stuff I've been going through recently, and in that pile I discovered the Summer 2012 edition of Endless Summer Quarterly, #96, which was published almost a year ago, a couple of months before this thread.  In that issue is a transcript of an Beach Boys press conference held on March 22, 1972, featuring questions from Dennis Kelley, who wrote the ESQ article, Jim Whittemore, and others.

Dennis Kelley asks Carl:  In Rolling Stone, an interview was published with Terry Melcher as part of a two-part story on The Beach Boys, and in the interview Terry describes how Brian brought the 45 of 'Heroes and Villains' down to the biggest station in L.A. to give them an exclusive on it, and the DJ said something like "Sorry buddy, can't play anything that's not on the playlist", and it really killed Brian.

Carl Wilson responds:  Yeah, that's what the story said, but that was ... I believe he may have taken some record down, but it didn't happen the way Rolling Stone and Terry said.

So, although the account of published in Rolling Stone way back in 1971 has made its way into Beach Boys lore and numerous books about the band, here we have further proof, direct from the mouth of Carl Wilson, that this story did not take place as described in Rolling Stone and was significantly embellished either by Terry Melcher and/or Rolling Stone author Tom Nolan.

I wouldn't call that a proof, but at least a strong indication the story was told in a twisted way somehow.

[RangeRoverA1]

Hey, and for anyone interested in listening to an incredible collection of classic top 40 era radio station airchecks, check out ReelRadio's Reel Top 40 Radio Repository at reelradio.com.  For a donation of $20 per year this non-profit site, which pays licensing fees for all the airchecks it streams, offers the cool experience of being able to listen, on demand, to any of thousands of airchecks from various stations (with a ton of KHJ, Los Angeles, including their entire History of Rock and Roll).  Most of the airchecks are unscoped (i.e., the music is all there), some are scoped only (DJ talk is there, but just the beginning and end of a song), and quite a few are available both unscoped and scoped.  New airchecks are added weekly.  Ya wanna hear Beach Boys songs being played on the radio back when they were first popular?  ReelRadio.com is the place!

Thanks for this useful information, Mr. Custom! I checked the site & indeed, it's great! There you can even download free MP3s of recent radio issues from Bobby Ocean! Which is very cool, notwithstanding I have no idea who is that human. 

[DanCiTi]

It is a perfect song, the "Sunny Down Snuff" section is to die for...the whole thing weaves together Gershwin (I've Been In This Town) and Bach(Children Were Raised) influences so gracefully. It alone makes me sad there is no proper stereo Smile in existence.

[Custom Machine]

Hey, and for anyone interested in listening to an incredible collection of classic top 40 era radio station airchecks, check out ReelRadio's Reel Top 40 Radio Repository at reelradio.com.  For a donation of $20 per year this non-profit site, which pays licensing fees for all the airchecks it streams, offers the cool experience of being able to listen, on demand, to any of thousands of airchecks from various stations (with a ton of KHJ, Los Angeles, including their entire History of Rock and Roll).  Most of the airchecks are unscoped (i.e., the music is all there), some are scoped only (DJ talk is there, but just the beginning and end of a song), and quite a few are available both unscoped and scoped.  New airchecks are added weekly.  Ya wanna hear Beach Boys songs being played on the radio back when they were first popular?  ReelRadio.com is the place!

Thanks for this useful information, Mr. Custom! I checked the site & indeed, it's great! There you can even download free MP3s of recent radio issues from Bobby Ocean! Which is very cool, notwithstanding I have no idea who is that human. 

Bobby Ocean is widely considered to be in that elite group of the greatest dj's of the rock era.  He spent the bulk of his career on the west coast including the Drake powerhouse stations KGB in San Diego, KHJ in Los Angeles, and KFRC in San Francisco.  He was also heard as a station image voice on numerous radio stations across the US, and worked as a dj on Sirius/XM's seventies channel.

Annual subscriptions to Reel Radio have been reduced to a $12 minimum donation per year.  As i mentioned previously, Reel Radio  www.reelradio.com  is a great place to listen to actual music radio broadcasts from the sixties, seventies, and eighties (plus the fifties and nineties).  If you'd like to experience radio as it sounded "back in the day" when Beach Boys songs under discussion on this site were first being heard on the radio, Reel Radio is the place.

[Cam Mott]

I found a couple of things of interest in the old archives in possibly relevant to the date of the event. Maybe not.

H&V [it doesn't say what form] was registered [EU 2476] with the United States Copyright Office of the Library of Congress on June 29, 1967.

Disc and Music Echo; dated July 15 1967; page 10;  “I’ve had a report from West Coast folks that the Beach Boys’ new disc, ‘Heroes and Villains’ is finally completed. I was told that Brian Wilson immediately made copies of the final tape and took them around to the Los Angeles radio stations even before the record company had it!
Apparently the ‘B’ side of the disc is most unusual. Titled ‘You’re Welcome’, it reportedly has only vocal harmonies - no instrumentation - and the only lyrics are those two words in the title.”

Disc and Music Echo; dated July 22 1967; page 6:  "HEROES And Villains," first new Beach Boys recording since "Good Vibrations" (released nine months ago) has now been completed and was released in America last week. But no release date in Britain has been planned.
"We don't even know the 'B' side," said an EMI spokesman, "and it certainly will not be released this month. The end of August is a more likely date."

[Peter Reum]

Fascinating thread.....but the RS KHJ incident is a minor blip in Brian's life in 1967....Stephen Desper's account is sensible, and I think Brian was exhausted by the time he finished H&V, and it is no coincidence that the group went to Hawaii for R&R for three weeks shortly after Smiley Smile was completed. refer to David Dalton's account of the late 1967 period and the Wild honey back cover shoot for corroboration.

[Smilin Ed H]

And it's still ahead of its time.

[guitarfool2002]

Great to see and re-read this thread as it reappears - Just wanted to chime in on that Disc and Music Echo article from July 15 1967...this lines up exactly with the Bobby Tripp aircheck recording from KHJ where he's playing and commenting on Heroes from that same week. KHJ was already spinning whatever copy they got in advance before the "official" release, and though I haven't heard any evidence to confirm this, if they followed the example of how they spun advance copies of previous singles on the air like Good Vibrations, they'd play a copy and have PD Ron Jacobs' voice saying "KHJ EXCLUSIVE" over various sections of the record so other stations couldn't bootleg it. The reports of this on Good Vibrations after they premiered it on TV (with Brian and Vosse) came from those who have heard it - the actual examples of this I've heard were on things like advance copies of Monkees' songs that KHJ got literally hot off the press.

So there was a definite and well-known precedent of KHJ spinning records prior to the "official" release, as I mentioned in this thread Brian himself had a history of hand-delivering his latest singles to KHJ's studio, and other artists and producers would also sometimes hand-carry their latest single sometimes straight from the studio where it had just been cut to disc to the KHJ offices to be played on the air after Jacobs did his "exclusive" voiceover on top.

[halblaineisgood]

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