Mike Love: 'There are a lot of fallacies about me'

[Pinder's Gone To Kokomo And Back Again]

To paraphrase the great Joe Pesci, you're a funny guy Pinder. Funny like a clown!

Don't worry though...I plan to see Brian, David and Al stumble and bumble their way through their concert at Stage AE in Pittsburgh. I'll come home with a smile on my face, and I will share my glow with internet-land. This will no doubt bring you much sorrow. 

Hey, I'm going to see them at The Greek Theater!!!

I love all these guys!!!!

I'm just trying to point out that there is an alternate opinion to be considered. Marginal, yes, perhaps, but no less valid.

[Mike's Beard]

I wish Bruce would write something again. He is very overlooked as a songwriter by Beach Boy fans.

PS. CD issues of First Love and Looking Back With Love would be really cool.

[♩♬🐸 Billy C ♯♫♩🐇]

Well, this can't be right.

http://www.dailystar.co.uk/playlist/view/325039/Surf-s-up-again-for-the-Beach-Boys

Well, it will be interesting to see where this goes.

And if those indeed are really Mike's quotes. Especially about how "he and Brian didn't write anything together" for the last album. Since uh....THEY DID! Ya know, the second single and two other songs that include a line apiece about "Good Vibrations" and "Fun, Fun, Fun" respectively.

I don't think they wrote together like, in the same room. I think that's the qualifier. Well, that, and the fact Brian wrote more lyrics than Mike did on the album.

[MaxL]

Well, this can't be right.

http://www.dailystar.co.uk/playlist/view/325039/Surf-s-up-again-for-the-Beach-Boys

Well, it will be interesting to see where this goes.

Looks like the quotes are making the rounds

http://www.tv3.ie/entertainment_article.php?locID=1.803.810&article=107796
http://www.rte.ie/ten/news/2013/0708/461200-beach-boys-wants-brian-wilson-back/

All just recycling the same few sentences it seems but it's interesting this is a thing at the moment in the media.

[filledeplage]

To paraphrase the great Joe Pesci, you're a funny guy Pinder. Funny like a clown!

Don't worry though...I plan to see Brian, David and Al stumble and bumble their way through their concert at Stage AE in Pittsburgh. I'll come home with a smile on my face, and I will share my glow with internet-land. This will no doubt bring you much sorrow. 

Hey, I'm going to see them at The Greek Theater!!!

I love all these guys!!!!

I'm just trying to point out that there is an alternate opinion to be considered. Marginal, yes, perhaps, but no less valid.

Bravo! That is the difference! The Touring Band "regulars" (concert goers) almost always see Brian, Al and David, but the "exclusive Brian fans" don't/won't see the Touring Band, as though it was "beneath their (pseudo) artistic dignity."  And, I think they lose part of the whole music experience, to their detriment, because they might not see the "group dynamic" of switching "leads" because as a "solo" artist, Brian did most of them.  The BRI model set forth is the closest BB concept since "three brothers a cousin (and "friends".)

As far as Thomas goes, I try to find something redeeming in almost everything.  (A "spillover" from teaching sometimes aggravating and "challenging" children, I guess.)  Even Stars and Stripes, takes a different vantage point of the music and provides insght from "greats" like Willie Nelson or Tammy Wynette (unreleased In My Room) on Sounds and Stripes I.  And video of Carl that is now, of course, priceless.  And, it puts a "lens" of sorts from another group of well-regarded music professionals, who were at the top of their game.  What do they think of the BB music?  It is an "open mind" that gets a broad spectrum knowledge base of their history and context and not a smaller "Brian-defined" window. Or a perception that it is just Brian.  He wrote for voices, those of that "whole band."

And, I like Bennett and Sahanaja, too. My sense is that they/ he (Scott B.) "got" the whole BB experience at C50, while climbing on that piano "surfing." These guys and Melinda really supported Brian, from the beginning of his playing publicly for about 15 years, and getting solo recognition, with SMiLE, and the Kennedy Center award, until he was "ready" for C50 and reinforced by the fan response. Prior to this, Brian always disavowed being a BB. Until C50. And it might have triggered a concept of "permancy" of music model which was not part of the planning.  And everyone knew it was an "event" with a beginning and end. 

People can diss Mike til the cows come home and he is arguably still the primo BB lyricist. Get over it. Please. 

[Sheriff John Stone]

Well, this can't be right.

http://www.dailystar.co.uk/playlist/view/325039/Surf-s-up-again-for-the-Beach-Boys

Well, it will be interesting to see where this goes.

Do you mean this quote, "The anniversary tour was originally 50 dates, and got extended to 73. At that point Brian said: 'No more dates for us, please'".

That quote can't be right. It was Mike ALONE that ended the reunion tour. That quote can't be right. It was Brian Wilson who decided he wanted to be a Beach Boy again, who wanted to continue touring after 73 dates, who released a press statement saying he "was bummed". That quote can't be right. Mike must be lying. I guess Brian will come out with another press release and set the record straight, that it was Mike alone who ended the reunion.

[Smilin Ed H]

"Um, no...... Nothing Brian's done (since 1972, frankly) can touch Time Out Of Mind, Love & Theft, Modern Times, Together Through Life, or Tempest (seriously) ..... Not even close..... The fact that you could even suggest so is evidence of pure, blinded-by-the-light hero worship of the silliest sort."

Love the irony, even if you didn't intend it. Dylan hit gold with Love and Theft - a great album, but since then, he's been doing it by numbers. Tempest is a sham. A little faux-Crosby crooning, a little blues, a little boogie and a snootful of Americana set to some desperately repetitive musical phrasing (and don't get me started on that song about Lennon. That alone must have shifted thousands of units...). Artfully leaked and promoted by Sony-Columbia who were telling us how great the album was before it was released so dissent at your peril. I've seen Bob live numerous times, way more than than I've seen BW/the BB, and I have no problem with the voice - not in the studio anyway, but he's treading water as far as his recorded stuff goes.

[rab2591]

Well, this can't be right.

http://www.dailystar.co.uk/playlist/view/325039/Surf-s-up-again-for-the-Beach-Boys

Well, it will be interesting to see where this goes.

And if those indeed are really Mike's quotes. Especially about how "he and Brian didn't write anything together" for the last album. Since uh....THEY DID! Ya know, the second single and two other songs that include a line apiece about "Good Vibrations" and "Fun, Fun, Fun" respectively.

I don't think they wrote together like, in the same room. I think that's the qualifier. Well, that, and the fact Brian wrote more lyrics than Mike did on the album.

I have to side with Mike here. It has got to suck to be handed a backing track and told to write good lyrics for it. Anyone who writes songs knows it's a lot easier to sit at a piano and start from scratch - you have the option of changing the chords, tempo, to make the lyrics fit the mood of the song. I was one of the whiners who blamed Mike for the crappy lyrics on TWGMTR, but now knowing they didn't write together you can't really blame him.*

Edit: not saying you said any differently, just stating my opinion.

[Cyncie]

Well, this can't be right.

http://www.dailystar.co.uk/playlist/view/325039/Surf-s-up-again-for-the-Beach-Boys

Well, it will be interesting to see where this goes.

Do you mean this quote, "The anniversary tour was originally 50 dates, and got extended to 73. At that point Brian said: 'No more dates for us, please'".

That quote can't be right. It was Mike ALONE that ended the reunion tour. That quote can't be right. It was Brian Wilson who decided he wanted to be a Beach Boy again, who wanted to continue touring after 73 dates, who released a press statement saying he "was bummed". That quote can't be right. Mike must be lying. I guess Brian will come out with another press release and set the record straight, that it was Mike alone who ended the reunion.

Actually, I was referring to the headline. No need to get prickly. I haven't posted on here enough for you to know what my view of Brian is.

[drbeachboy]

Well, this can't be right.

http://www.dailystar.co.uk/playlist/view/325039/Surf-s-up-again-for-the-Beach-Boys

Well, it will be interesting to see where this goes.

And if those indeed are really Mike's quotes. Especially about how "he and Brian didn't write anything together" for the last album. Since uh....THEY DID! Ya know, the second single and two other songs that include a line apiece about "Good Vibrations" and "Fun, Fun, Fun" respectively.

I don't think they wrote together like, in the same room. I think that's the qualifier. Well, that, and the fact Brian wrote more lyrics than Mike did on the album.

I have to side with Mike here. It has got to suck to be handed a backing track and told to write good lyrics for it. Anyone who writes songs knows it's a lot easier to sit at a piano and start from scratch - you have the option of changing the chords, tempo, to make the lyrics fit the mood of the song. I was one of the whiners who blamed Mike for the crappy lyrics on TWGMTR, but now knowing they didn't write together you can't really blame him.*

Edit: not saying you said any differently, just stating my opinion.

You are absolutely right, but this is Mike that you are talking about here. According to some people, being thrown a few completed compositions should suffice. For me, the Joe Thomas comment in the article is the most telling piece in it. I think Mike fully expected to sit down with Brian and write from scratch. To make an album mostly consisting of new material. As it turned it out, it was nothing more than new vocals over previously recorded old tracks.

[ontor pertawst]

He's been bragging about writing the lyrics to Good Vibrations in the car on the way to the studio for how many years now? Does anybody think that song would've been vastly improved if they worked on it together from the ground up?
 

[Andrew G. Doe]

Well, this can't be right.

http://www.dailystar.co.uk/playlist/view/325039/Surf-s-up-again-for-the-Beach-Boys

Well, it will be interesting to see where this goes.

Do you mean this quote, "The anniversary tour was originally 50 dates, and got extended to 73. At that point Brian said: 'No more dates for us, please'".

That quote can't be right. It was Mike ALONE that ended the reunion tour. That quote can't be right. It was Brian Wilson who decided he wanted to be a Beach Boy again, who wanted to continue touring after 73 dates, who released a press statement saying he "was bummed". That quote can't be right. Mike must be lying. I guess Brian will come out with another press release and set the record straight, that it was Mike alone who ended the reunion.

Suppose he doesn't ?  Then what ?

[oldsurferdude]

He's been bragging about writing the lyrics to Good Vibrations in the car on the way to the studio for how many years now? Does anybody think that song would've been vastly improved if they worked on it together from the ground up?
  

Excellent point, and am greatful that myKe did not sit down and write TWGMTR with Brian from scratch. No doubt it would have contained even more trash similar to Daybreak Over The Ocean.

[drbeachboy]

He's been bragging about writing the lyrics to Good Vibrations in the car on the way to the studio for how many years now? Does anybody think that song would've been vastly improved if they worked on it together from the ground up?
  

That's one song, big deal! He and Brian came up with Fun, Fun, Fun in a cab, but they were together. Again, I think Mike had expectations that the bulk of the new album would be new stuff, written by he & Brian together. You know, we beat a dead horse in these threads. It seems that no matter what is said on either side, it just keeps going around and around. Taking Mike at his word here, as Brian has never really addressed it, it seems he was sold a bill of goods when he & Brian made plans for the new album. I may be way off base, but from that has been written about over the past 9 months tend to lead to that conclusion.

[ontor pertawst]

The guy's compositional process involves banging away at riffs and "feels" for months at the piano. You think that's going to happen with Mike Love in the room? You think Mike Love is gonna wanna be in the room to listen to Be My Baby for the 30th time that day? I can imagine he's got better things to do with his time!

If Mike wants to be the Beach Boys on stage, why not toss the big guy a bone and let him and his shadowy organization of constantly-fired puppetmasters and collaborators work the studio albums? Pop in after touring Japan and lay down some vocals. Rewrite some Joe Thomas. Sorted.

If Mike doesn't want to be in an actual functioning band with Brian so he can be the big deadeyed fish in a small pond, it's a bit rich to whine about not being in the same room writing songs. Maybe Brian likes a leaner, meaner songwriting operation where he can be the boss. Snicker.

[drbeachboy]

He's been bragging about writing the lyrics to Good Vibrations in the car on the way to the studio for how many years now? Does anybody think that song would've been vastly improved if they worked on it together from the ground up?
  

Excellent point, and am greatful that myKe did not sit down and write TWGMTR from scratch. No doubt it would have contained even more trash similar to Daybreak Over The Ocean.

I can'r take anything you say about Mike as anything more than Trolling or just plain hate speak. You couldn't even convince me that Mike is bald and sings nasally.

[drbeachboy]

The guy's compositional process involves banging away at riffs and "feels" for months at the piano. You think that's going to happen with Mike Love in the room? You think Mike Love is gonna wanna be in the room to listen to Be My Baby for the 30th time that day? I can imagine he's got better things to do with his time!

I don't really know. But if Brian has made music that way his whole life, then Mike knows exactly what it takes to write with him. TWGMTR was not the first album that the two wrote together for now, is it?

[SMiLE Brian]

But Mike is creatively bankrupt and Brian knows it. The best work the two could do these days would be "MIU" caliber because Mike is not honest with himself and forces out beach songs that have no moral or emotional bearing behind them. Such emotional bearing is what made the early songs great, not the beach,cars, and schools mentioned in them.

[ontor pertawst]

Plus, Mike keeps burning this horrible incense that says will "enhance creativity" but kind of smells like burning hobo.

I think they need to push their antagonism even further and if a new album is ever proposed, it has to be composed in a steel cage with the two of them trapped in it around a giant fake piano with a synthesizer in it. Fresh designer shirts and food shoved in thru a slot. Assorted weapons and a dogeared copy of "Wouldn't It Be Nice." A plastic palm tree for inspiration. A set end date of six months with the entire process streamed on the web at... oh, Beach Boys Central. Color commentary by cutrate celebs.

Sean O'Hagan? Don Was? f*** that sh*t. Clearly I'm the right producer for this project.

[oldsurferdude]

He's been bragging about writing the lyrics to Good Vibrations in the car on the way to the studio for how many years now? Does anybody think that song would've been vastly improved if they worked on it together from the ground up?
  

Excellent point, and am greatful that myKe did not sit down and write TWGMTR from scratch. No doubt it would have contained even more trash similar to Daybreak Over The Ocean.

I can'r take anything you say about Mike as anything more than Trolling or just plain hate speak. You couldn't even convince me that Mike is bald and sings nasally.

Yeah i t's fairly obvious that you can't handle much of anything that you don't totally agree with. Even worse, you're one of those dreaded, thin skinned myKinistas that luHv to drag out one of  the most overused terms on the board. You'll feel a whole lot better when you get out there and see your heroes, myKe and Br00th this summer for the 33rd time.

[Chocolate Shake Man]

The guy's compositional process involves banging away at riffs and "feels" for months at the piano. You think that's going to happen with Mike Love in the room? You think Mike Love is gonna wanna be in the room to listen to Be My Baby for the 30th time that day? I can imagine he's got better things to do with his time!

If Mike wants to be the Beach Boys on stage, why not toss the big guy a bone and let him and his shadowy organization of constantly-fired puppetmasters and collaborators work the studio albums? Pop in after touring Japan and lay down some vocals. Rewrite some Joe Thomas. Sorted.

If Mike doesn't want to be in an actual functioning band with Brian so he can be the big deadeyed fish in a small pond, it's a bit rich to whine about not being in the same room writing songs. Maybe Brian likes a leaner, meaner songwriting operation where he can be the boss. Snicker.

YES!

[Phoenix]

As someone else recently noted, Brian's shows with Al and Dave will feature the guy who wrote VERY close to all they music they're likely to perform, the best current singer of any of the Beach Boys, the best Beach Boys instrumentalist, plus (in at least mine and Brian's opinions ) the best Beach Boys non-Brian falsetto singer.  Mike and Bruce do have the original voice on most of the early stuff but it just seems odd when that group plays stuff like "God Only Knows", "Wouldn't It Be Nice", and "Help Me Rhonda", without Carl, Brian, or Al; especially in short sets like the most recent Hyde Park show. 

Brian's shows have always kinda been about "the music of Brian Wilson" and Al and Dave will probably make them seem even more like "the Beach Boys".

Seriously, have people been asleep like Rip Van Winkle for 15 years? What did they think Mike and Brian have done all this time? Skip big hits because the "original singer" on the recording wasn't there? Brian sang lead on Little St. Nick at a show I saw around 2005, to the great delight of the fans, in July! Of course they cover the core setlist.  He covers Mike's or Al's or Carl's leads.

At Al's shows, they cover GOK, WIBN, and Rhonda! They've always switched around leads.  Carl did Dennis' stuff, did Rhonda for a while; no one "owned" every song per se.

When Carl was singing Rhonda and Al was singing Brian's stuff, etc. there weren't two separate oldies acts with different members competing for the same live audiences.  There was one BEACH BOYS.  They were still an active band at the time and mostly a democracy, with all the autonomy and "right" to play whatever they wanted.  Mike and Bruce might be “the Beach Boys” now but the band is very different than they once were and I think their sets should reflect that.  Likewise, I think Al's solo show should have focused on pretty much all of HIS Beach Boys lead vocals and/or productions, peppered with just enough of the early hits to keep the casual fans interested.

Using another band as an example, Styx’s Tommy Shaw and James Young have enough songs between them to fill a whole show but still perform most of Dennis DeYoung's concert staples.  I think it's disrespectful to him and the fans to keep structuring the setlists like nothing’s changed (especially since they fired DeYoung).

On the other hand, I feel the Monkees do it right.  In 1986, when the three Monkees reunited for the first time without Nesmith, the set was comprised of a bunch of their songs, with only one original Mike song, done to acknowledge his contribution to the group.  When Peter Tork quit the tour in 1999, Dolenz and Jones returned the following year with a setlist that reflected his absence:  Most of Tork's songs were cut and replaced with more songs originally sung by the guys who were still there.  And when Davy Jones died and Mike returned to replace him, they dropped all but one of Davy's song (which was done as a tribute to him) and replaced them in the set with songs from Mike. 

When Brian performs, VERY nearly ALL of the music his band plays was originally composed or arranged for the Boys BY BRIAN.  Some of those songs were originally sung by him and some weren't but those that weren't WERE either composed, arranged, and/or produced by Brian.  I don't think it's weird for Mike to play stuff like "Good Vibrations" or "Darlin'" because while he didn't sing lead, compose, arrange, or produce them, he DID write the lyrics.  His role in those particular songs was as important as Brian's and even more important than Carl's.  I just think it's "wrong" for him to structure the setlists like it's the same Beach Boys it's always been. 

Another thing is that Brian just recently started utilizing other lead vocalists in his shows and even when he does it, NO ONE in the audience is EVER going to assume that Jeff or Darian are ALSO Brian Wilson!  Mike on the other hand presents his shows as being performed by “the Beach Boys” and sings his old background parts on some songs while (extremely talented) ringers do all the heavy lifting.  I'm not saying it's not his right as the licensee of the Beach Boys name in regards to touring.  I just think it feels like they're trying to put one over on the audience.  And now that there's two "name" groups out there (the Beach Boys and Brian Wilson) competing for the same audience, I think they should focus on what makes each of them unique.

[rab2591]

The guy's compositional process involves banging away at riffs and "feels" for months at the piano. You think that's going to happen with Mike Love in the room? You think Mike Love is gonna wanna be in the room to listen to Be My Baby for the 30th time that day? I can imagine he's got better things to do with his time!

If Mike wants to be the Beach Boys on stage, why not toss the big guy a bone and let him and his shadowy organization of constantly-fired puppetmasters and collaborators work the studio albums? Pop in after touring Japan and lay down some vocals. Rewrite some Joe Thomas. Sorted.

If Mike doesn't want to be in an actual functioning band with Brian so he can be the big deadeyed fish in a small pond, it's a bit rich to whine about not being in the same room writing songs. Maybe Brian likes a leaner, meaner songwriting operation where he can be the boss. Snicker.

Can't tell if sarcasm...but to those who have expressed similar opinions:

Given that Brian has worked his best material when sitting at the piano with his collaborators (Van Dyke Parks, Tony Asher), is it really that outlandish that Mike would want to sit at a piano and work with him?

Perhaps Mike didn't want to be in an "actual functioning band" because he wasn't being treated like he was in an actual functioning band (as far as creative collaboration goes)...why would he want to stick around that environment?

Personally, I dislike Mike's nostalgia BS and I'm glad he's not working with Brian anymore. But some of you guys need to look at this from all sides.

[Chocolate Shake Man]

Given that Brian has worked his best material when sitting at the piano with his collaborators (Van Dyke Parks, Tony Asher), is it really that outlandish that Mike would want to sit at a piano and work with him?

Is that how he did it, really? Heroes and Villains seems to have been a song way before Van Dyke was involved, and the same can be said about Tony Asher and You Still Believe in Me and Wouldn't It Be Nice. My thinking was that Brian typically had the basic music down before the lyricists got involved but I really don't know what the process was.

[ontor pertawst]

is it really that outlandish that Mike would want to sit at a piano and work with him?

It's not outlandish. I just don't think he is capable or actually interested in doing it beyond bleating about it in interviews. I really can't blame him either, it's one thing to do that in your 20s but I'd imagine you get pretty stuck in your ways by their ages. They both have significantly spoiled, rich guy comfort zones. I don't see what's the problem with writing lyrics to BW backing tracks. Jesus, what a gift. What a fun technical challenge for a songwriter and what an almost miracle to be even a possibility in 2012-3. Not enough, Mike?

And you want to own the name and rule the touring band? Stalin of the Studio meets the Sultan of SeaWorld. FIGHT!