A Hate Love Relationship

[SMiLE Brian]

Bruce invited himself into the band.

[Juice Brohnston]

Since Mike's Hall of Fame speech has been discussed in this thread, I thought I would add Neil Young's thoughts from his new book.
 "Mike Love of the Beach Boys, and several others have made long speeches that covered things they needed to say, and they exercised that right.  It was amazing to hear their takes on life, how they had been done right or wrong, who they blamed for their problems and thanked for their victories on the way to the Hall.  It was an honour to hear them talking to their peers..."

[♩♬🐸 Billy C ♯♫♩🐇]

As much as I dislike Bruce's politics, and as much I think he's a bit of a flake, his participation in the reunion shows was needed. Not only was his performance on Disney Girls usually a highlight, he was an important part of the harmony blend. Now, on the M&B shows, though, he seems somewhat superfluous.

[SMiLE Brian]

Since Mike's Hall of Fame speech has been discussed in this thread, I thought I would add Neil Young's thoughts from his new book.
 "Mike Love of the Beach Boys, and several others have made long speeches that covered things they needed to say, and they exercised that right.  It was amazing to hear their takes on life, how they had been done right or wrong, who they blamed for their problems and thanked for their victories on the way to the Hall.  It was an honour to hear them talking to their peers..."

Neil Young is awesome like that, he loves to hear honest opinions and defends that right.

[halblaineisgood]

Neil Young sounds like a pretty cool dude.

[DonnyL]

Mike Love's speech that night is the best thing to ever happen to the R&R Hall of Fame.

[I. Spaceman]

Mike Love's speech that night is the best thing to ever happen to the R&R Hall of Fame.

Exactly, along with Johnny Rotten's letter.

[Jason]

Mike Love's speech that night is the best thing to ever happen to the R&R Hall of Fame.

Anyone who talks trash on that ridiculous institution is a true rock 'n roller.

[Rocky Raccoon]

Mike Love's speech that night is the best thing to ever happen to the R&R Hall of Fame.

Dylan's response later that night was better.

[Mr. Cohen]

Bruce adjusts the microphones. No Bruce, no proper sound balance. The harmonies are ruined.

[Nicko]

As much as I dislike Bruce's politics, and as much I think he's a bit of a flake, his participation in the reunion shows was needed. Not only was his performance on Disney Girls usually a highlight, he was an important part of the harmony blend. Now, on the M&B shows, though, he seems somewhat superfluous.

He has a lot more to do in the M& B shows though. Singing the lead on half dozen songs.

[AndrewHickey]

I think that one of the reasons that Mike has such an negative public image also has to do with his treatment of the fans and other people who have encountered him off-stage. While I always read very positive things about people's interactions with Carl, and for the most part, Brian and Al, no one seems to have had any positive experiences with Mike (except attractive women!) From just reading this board, for example, it seems that most of the comments about people meeting Mike are that he was unfriendly or aloof. And this is from both casual fans and those who are more involved with the band. It is well documented that Mike's stage antics have long rubbed many the wrong way, and if you combine that with the fact that many people's one on one interactions have also been unpleasant, you are left with a man who does not engender much good will. Most of us were pleasantly surprised that he acted so well on the anniversary tour, as if bad behavior were the expected norm with Mike.

I've met Mike twice. The first time, after a show, he was very friendly indeed. The second time, at the train station in Milan this year, he was very polite, though he made it clear he didn't want to stick around and chat for long as he had a train to catch (which is absolutely reasonable). I know plenty of other people who have had very good experiences meeting Mike too. Of the five surviving band members, he's probably the friendliest other than Al in my limited experience.

[AndrewHickey]

As much as I dislike Bruce's politics, and as much I think he's a bit of a flake, his participation in the reunion shows was needed. Not only was his performance on Disney Girls usually a highlight, he was an important part of the harmony blend. Now, on the M&B shows, though, he seems somewhat superfluous.

He has a lot more to do in the M& B shows though. Singing the lead on half dozen songs.

No he doesn't. Taking this set as an example -- http://members.tripod.com/~fun_fun_fun/9-25-09.html -- it's a set of about the same length as some of the shorter reunion shows, and he sings lead on three of them out of thirty-nine (Do You Wanna Dance, God Only Knows and Disney Girls), although Christian sometimes takes the lead on GOK. When I saw them last year he sang lead on two songs out of 25 (GOK and Do You Wanna Dance), and on the UK tour in 2008, when they did 52-song sets, he sang lead on Wendy, God Only Knows, Disney Girls and two lines of Here Today.

[Nicko]

No he doesn't. Taking this set as an example -- http://members.tripod.com/~fun_fun_fun/9-25-09.html -- it's a set of about the same length as some of the shorter reunion shows, and he sings lead on three of them out of thirty-nine (Do You Wanna Dance, God Only Knows and Disney Girls), although Christian sometimes takes the lead on GOK. When I saw them last year he sang lead on two songs out of 25 (GOK and Do You Wanna Dance), and on the UK tour in 2008, when they did 52-song sets, he sang lead on Wendy, God Only Knows, Disney Girls and two lines of Here Today.

Surfer Girl, In My Room, Please Let Me Wonder.  His vocals are prominent on these songs. Kiss Me Baby was done as a duet with Mike I believe.

[AndrewHickey]

No he doesn't. Taking this set as an example -- http://members.tripod.com/~fun_fun_fun/9-25-09.html -- it's a set of about the same length as some of the shorter reunion shows, and he sings lead on three of them out of thirty-nine (Do You Wanna Dance, God Only Knows and Disney Girls), although Christian sometimes takes the lead on GOK. When I saw them last year he sang lead on two songs out of 25 (GOK and Do You Wanna Dance), and on the UK tour in 2008, when they did 52-song sets, he sang lead on Wendy, God Only Knows, Disney Girls and two lines of Here Today.

Surfer Girl, In My Room, Please Let Me Wonder.  His vocals are prominent on these songs. Kiss Me Baby was done as a duet with Mike I believe.

Please Let Me Wonder wasn't on the setlist I was using as an example, and I don't think they've done it in quite some time. Surfer Girl and In My Room don't really have lead singers, and Bruce doesn't do any more on those in Mike & Bruce shows than in the reunion shows. Kiss Me Baby is, I believe, shared between Mike and Randell.

[EthanJames]

Mike Love's speech that night is the best thing to ever happen to the R&R Hall of Fame.

It would've been more funnier if Mike punched Jann Wenner in the face on that day to

[Nicko]

Please Let Me Wonder wasn't on the setlist I was using as an example, and I don't think they've done it in quite some time. Surfer Girl and In My Room don't really have lead singers, and Bruce doesn't do any more on those in Mike & Bruce shows than in the reunion shows. Kiss Me Baby is, I believe, shared between Mike and Randell.

Bruce sings the 'We could ride... ' section of SurferGirl. Obviously Brian sang it this summer.

He also sings the first line of in my room and is much more prominent

[Shady]

Mike Love's speech that night is the best thing to ever happen to the R&R Hall of Fame.

It was a thing of beauty

[HeyJude]

Mike Love's speech that night is the best thing to ever happen to the R&R Hall of Fame.

It was a thing of beauty

Mike's speech was awesome. He didn't do it for the same reasons as I would like, but the end result is still highly entertaining. He seemed to be doing it more in an egotistical, whiney, slightly out-of-it way, as opposed to a really hardline fashion meant to just tell the R&R HOF that they suck. He was telling some of the artists they suck more than saying the R&R HOF sucks.

[ontor pertawst]

I wonder what he would've done if "The Boss" actually did come up on stage and jam. Hold a tambourine? Point at random audience members? When does Mike Love participate in jams?

Once Billy Joel started "tickling the ivories" in this hypothetical scenario, he'd be in deep trouble.

[DonnyL]

Mike Love's speech that night is the best thing to ever happen to the R&R Hall of Fame.

It was a thing of beauty

Mike's speech was awesome. He didn't do it for the same reasons as I would like, but the end result is still highly entertaining. He seemed to be doing it more in an egotistical, whiney, slightly out-of-it way, as opposed to a really hardline fashion meant to just tell the R&R HOF that they suck. He was telling some of the artists they suck more than saying the R&R HOF sucks.

Maybe, but the people he singled out are all kind of lame showbiz types, so I'm on board for the whole speech.

[Sheriff John Stone]

I wonder what he would've done if "The Boss" actually did come up on stage and jam.

Sing?

[ontor pertawst]

Over the top of a guitar solo? Sing what? Awkward. I bet Paul Shaffer would've dug it tho. You can picture his head nodding as he plays some goofy organ riff.

I suppose he could've had Ali carrying his sax case for him that night. Might've come in handy.

[Pinder's Gone To Kokomo And Back Again]

The Beach Boys were/are too good for that room full of bloated over-praised jack-offs and Mike knew it!

[Sheriff John Stone]

Over the top of a guitar solo? Sing what?

"Well you knew all along that your dad was getting wise to you now..."

Come on, don't you know the Beach Boys' songs? "Fun, Fun, Fun", one of the greatest songs in the history of rock & roll, and a song that Mike Love wrote the lyrics for. Well, it has this instrumental bridge which features an organ and guitar; after that bridge Mike could sing the song.

Didn't you ever see the post-ceremony jam session from that night? That's basically what went down. People played instruments and people sang....