3 years in bed-- myth or fact?

[punkinhead]

i know there's tons of interviews that's been said he did it...and even in American Band, we see him lying in bed...but i thought i read somewhere that it was one of the great BW myths that he kind of fed...could someone clear this up for me? i mean, i'd love it to be true like the next person, but i just have a slight doubt...maybe i dreamt reading that...like i dreamt seeing phil spector at a book store for a signing while he was sitting on a zambonie

[Old Rake]

Myth. I think Carlin's book will clear that up. Right?

[Ron]

I doubt he spent that long in bed.

When my father died, my mom went to bed (they were divorced, but still) and didn't get out of bed for a month or two.  I couldn't believe it, and didn't really believe anything like that was possible.  I don't even know when she got up to eat.

Paul McCartney claimed he stayed in bed for a month or two when the Beatles broke up and wouldn't shave or shower, etc.  Until Linda basically forced him to get up and on with his life. 

[Jeff Mason]

Yeah, but in Paul's case I doubt he literally stayed in bed 24/7.  I've been there before and you don't get up and around.  You stay home, you eat junk, you plop in front of the TV, you veg out because you can't handle real life at that time.

In Brian's case, it would be more intense and maybe more of a chemical issue than the type of depression that Paul was enduring, caused by exhaustion and emotional suffering.

[Peter Ames Carlin]

I think it's jive, mostly. I think Brian's life got screwier after Murry died in mid-73, and he might have been more reclusive in '74 and '75. But he was also out and about enough to do the Caribou sessions; plus also the Johnny Rivers session; plus also the stuff he was doing for Equinox. Plus (according to other friends) the usual partying and screwing around. Did he spend weeks or more knocking around the house? Possibly. But months or years in his bedroom? I don't think so.

[BananaLouie]

I agree, I seriously doubt he was bed ridden for three years straight, he would putter around the house, sometimes go out with friends and perform the occasional show with the Boys.

[Peter Ames Carlin]

I don't think he was performing during the '73-'75 era. But he definitely showed up for those sessions I mentioned, and perhaps others, and he was backstage at the big Anaheim show in '75 (and according to People mag wandered out onstage, but couldn't quite bring himself to sing). But '75 is also the era he got heavier into heavier drugs -- heroin, allegedly -- and thus came the breaking point when Marilyn sought a serious psychological intervention. Which turned out to be Dr. Landy. And the saga continued.

[Aegir]

He couldn't've been in bed for three years..

How could he use the bathroom, play piano, etc, in bed? He probably just laid around his house all day, but he definitely left the bed from time to time.

[runalot]

I have a question... when was Brian in his worse physical shape? Was it during the first Landy meeting (75?) or the second (early 80s). In pictures i've seen in the early 70's, he seems fine (I mean, a little chubby, but he was always a little chubby once the Beach Boys became famous)....

Because, he supposedly lost a lot of weight in 1976, right? So, was he like 300 lbs in early 70's or what? I know in the 80's he reached 300.

Can someone explain?

[Ron]

In 76 he was almost rail-thin, I've seen pictures. 

[♩♬🐸 Billy C ♯♫♩🐇]

Post them!


I think he was at his worst in like 1982 or so. I mean, people thought he was going to die .

[MBE]

He was super thin in 62. 63 about normal. 64- early 66 slightly overweight, late 66-72 somtimes chubby (circa Smile esp.) sometimes leaner (1970 in particular). Kind of like today. There are few pics from 72-5 but the cover of Holland is the first to show him look disheveled. A 1973 photo I saw he looks fairly heavy but not huge yet, no beard . By 1974 he looked pretty bad and 75 worse. I would not say he was skinny in 76 but by the end of the year looked ok. Now in 77 he was fairly lean, but by late 1978 he was getting pretty big. 79 looked a little better early in the year (after getting out of mental ward) but by the end of the year started looking obese. 80 pretty bad but 81-2 are the very worst . After that excepting maybe 1995 he was never too obese. 

[BananaLouie]

In 1972/73 Brian was still fairly slim, in the Passions/Holland photos he still resembled the Brian of old, then when he became a total shut in during 74, 75 he really got big but I think he truly hit rock bottom in terms of physical and psychological condition during 80-82, (Cocaine and McDonald's hamburgers anyone?) after that he got back into shape.

[runalot]

Thanks guys - that explains a lot. I would like to see photos from all these phases. (well, the ones that are hard to get).

[MBE]

I posted the one I have seen from 73 on the picture thread

[runalot]

Yep. DL'd it. Thanks. =)

[MBE]

Hope you liked it! He's getting big but still has his youthful features

[cta]

I think BW is a big bull-shyter at times.  He likes feeding it just for laughs. 

After all, he is just a songwriter and one of the best.  It's not like he's making laws or something.

No way in hell he spent 3 years in the sack.  It's probably just another one of his stories told by others and himself to keep the ball rolling for his own amusement...which I know I would do if I were that famous. 

Ever meet someone famous?  Most of them are bull-shiites to the CORE just for the plain fact they get a kick out of it and really there's no harm done. 

[Roger Ryan]

When Brian has been asked over the last ten years about the 70s bedroom stay, he usually responds that it was for a month or two; I don't think he's ever claimed, even in his moments of hyperbole, to have stayed in bed for three years.

Also, reportedly Brian wanted that 1976 interview footage shot with him in bed because he thought it would be funny. Of course now it has only furthered the myth.

[Bicyclerider]

But it's a great myth, isn't it?  And it spawned the Barenaked Ladies song.

In a metaphorical sense he spent three years in bed because those were not very productive years for Brian, at least as far as we knew - perhaps Peter's book will put the lie to that too, as he mentions various activities Brian participated in that were not common knowledge.

[Daniel S.]

To me staying in his bedroom means he spent a lot of time in his house watching television all day and not working with the Beach Boys. I don't think anyone mean't he was lying under his sheets drooling.

[the captain]

A person can easily discredit the myth of three years in bed: he never went three years without recording a song. Without a lot of extension cords, you couldn't record music in bed too easily in those days.

(You could now. A PC, a mixer, a few mics...think I've just had an idea. Off to bed with me.)

[Daniel S.]

Let's not forget he was doing a shitload of drugs. When you're stoned off your ass, its easy to sit around and do nothing.

[♩♬🐸 Billy C ♯♫♩🐇]

Let's not forget he was doing a merdaload of drugs. When you're stoned off your ass, its easy to sit around and do nothing.

Maybe with weed and heroin, but considering the MASSIVE amounts of coke he was doing, I cannot see how that was possible.

[MBE]

You know what I hate is then the documentaries make it like Brian wasn't around from 67-75 at all. I mean AB had Carl saying Brian wasn't around and then played Time To Get Alone. If that wasn't Brian then I'm Al Jardine's grandpa. The only doc that showed Brian as active in 68-73 was Carnie Wilson's bio. The Tv Movies made Brian seem like he was in bed for a decade too. Jeez I even heard from some reporters the Brian was in bed 20 years!