Mike Love "Vibe Room" Q&A

[alf wiedersehen]

I don't get why he is still hung up on the drug use, BW has been clean for decades and Carl was too before his death. Mike needs to look in the mirror as a TM addict in a cult before trashing his cousin plus his deceased brothers. Mike is bitter and petty joke when he talks like this.

Well, I mean, drugs totally f***ed up that side of his family. All three of the Wilson brothers used drugs, and two of them eventually died because of it. Smoking/nicotine killed Carl, and alcohol led to the end of Dennis' life. Brian is still alive, thankfully, but drug use has changed him and the band never recovered after Smile - and his condition only continued to get worse throughout the 70s. Look, I know he talks about their drug use a lot, but that guy witnessed first-hand some pretty terrible things happen to his family as a result of the drugs they used. 

Take, for example, Harry Nilsson and John Lennon. They were great friends in the 70s, until John was shot and killed in 1980. From that point on, Harry began advocating against guns and gun violence and personally appeared in a commercial that spoke out against such things: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E8MyMKkjEaw. Like Mike, Harry is speaking about something that took away someone he loved. You might say that Harry made more of an effort, but Mike has continued to speak plainly about how drugs affected his family.

Personally, I understand why he continues to talk about it.

[CenturyDeprived]

I was glad to see Mike avoiding the old "Brian/Carl/Dennis did drugs" mantra during his discourse about T.M. Maybe he's finally realized he doesn't have to hammer on that to make his point.

Sorry to disappoint.

http://www.shreveporttimes.com/story/entertainment/arts/2015/03/11/beach-boys-mike-love-opens-career-life/70161422/

That's a pretty awesome interview I have to say. I love this question and answer (emphasis is mine):

TT: "What is the biggest regret you have for about your career and life?"

ML: "It's not a regret, but the biggest thing that impacted our lives is drugs. ... Other than that, I can't complain. Last year we did 142 shows and we've traveled the world and had great success. There's way more positive things to be appreciative of with our group than negatives, that's for sure."

It's like having a job review, and they ask you to name something you could have done better, and your answer is "I'm kind of upset that other people are such a***oles to me."

I'm willing to give Mike the benefit of the doubt and take note of the fact that like folks like McCartney, he gets asked a lot of the same questions, and he's pre-programmed to give the same answers. Like "What did you have lunch for today?" "Transcendental meditation." Or "What's your favorite track from the 70's?" "Well, one we wrote about a decade after the 70s was 'Kokomo'."

Anyway, I get it, it's easy to go into autopilot on these interviews, especially if it's a quickie interview, probably on the phone, riding to a gig or something. But c'mon man, does it really have to so often be something so negative about *other* people, especially when it cost at least one of them the ultimate price of their lives, while one of them has picked up their life pretty well all things considered? You can't start an answer with something utterly negative (not to mention that the whole drug issue with members of the band is pretty well an "asked and answered" sort of issue at this stage), and then immediately go into "Mr. Positivity" mode.

Agreed. And Team Love is always complaining about "Wilson – based negativity"? Hmm...
There's quite a lot of Love – based negativity, unfortunately. Even if inadvertent, it's very negative to bring the stuff up and throw his cousins under the bus for the umpteenth time.

[GoodVibrations33]

.

[Mikie]

Thanks, GV33 - got the info earlier. Glad you deleted your post; not sure he'd want it known by the general populous. 

[GoodVibrations33]

Thanks, GV33 - got the info earlier. Glad you deleted your post; not sure he'd want it known by the general populous.  

Yea, my thoughts exactly.  Didn't want to cause any unnecessary crap, or invade someone's privacy.

[Chocolate Shake Man]

Oh -- was that in reference to me? Sorry, I missed Mikie's original post asking who I was!

Appreciate you not revealing without consent! But tis all good: I am rockandroll

Sorry for the confusion - I didn't change it for that purpose, just wanted to claim ownership over the nickname that I invented several months ago before someone else did!

[donald]

Mike seems to have distilled and tempered his rap about the Beachboys and his career.    I hear nothing really new here but rather a consolidation or distillation of his general rap but here with less of the abrasive ness or resentment he has sometimes expressed over the years.    I like Mike but I would like to hear more on a deeper level than what is expressed here.   I hope his upcoming bio  has more pith and depth.   MORE PITH!

[Cam Mott]

I bet Brian would give the same answer: drugs

I wonder if all of them, living and passed, wouldn't give the same answer.

[Chocolate Shake Man]

I bet Brian would give the same answer: drugs

As in his own drug use or someone else's?

[Jim V.]

Guys, please please please stop arguing with Cam. He's an ideologue. He has absolutely no intention of giving up once inch. He is not going to listen to reasoned argument. You'd have better luck trying to get OSD to tell us his favorite Mike vocal. It ain't gonna happen. I also think it's funny that certain people on this board get so worked up about people like OSD and SMiLEBrian, but they let this thing spew his indefensible nonsense.

But anyways, I do know of somebody who reminds me a lot of Cam. You know, unwilling to give an inch, living in an alternate reality. Actualy, I think I got it. Perhaps Cam is actually this guy.

[Cam Mott]

I'm sure a Mod is going to jump in here any second.

[Cam Mott]

I bet Brian would give the same answer: drugs

As in his own drug use or someone else's?

His own and maybe both.

[Vernon Surfer]

I find that there is sometimes too much argumentative posts here. I love the informative posts particularly from those members in the know but I get a little frustrated with some comments and arguments. This seems to be particularly evident when the subject of Mike Live is brought up. I have no strong sentiments for or against him. As a lead singer, he was marvellous. His bass background vocals were brilliant. He was a great lyricist for Brian's melodies. On the negative side, I found and still find his stage presence and particularly his chats between songs somewhat cornie and embarrassing. Poor Mike seems to be the Yoko Ono of the Beach Boys ( without the horrible High pitched warbles). I don't tend to contribute much here. I only recently joined but I have been  lurking here for years.
i love the bb's since I first heard Surfin' Safary on the radio when it was first released. I bought the single the next day and I still have that disk. I was14. I have just about everything that they have released and some things that they didn't.
I have been lucky to have seen them in concert when I was a teen ( with Glen subbing for Brian). I've been equally blessed to have seen the Smile concert in Montreal and most recently Brian's last Calgary concert. I wish that we could be a little more civilized here. Everyone has a right to their opinion but ............let us respect the opinions ...

[Cam Mott]

Guys, please please please stop arguing with Cam. He's an ideologue. He has absolutely no intention of giving up once inch. He is not going to listen to reasoned argument. You'd have better luck trying to get OSD to tell us his favorite Mike vocal. It ain't gonna happen. I also think it's funny that certain people on this board get so worked up about people like OSD and SMiLEBrian, but they let this thing spew his indefensible nonsense.

But anyways, I do know of somebody who reminds me a lot of Cam. You know, unwilling to give an inch, living in an alternate reality. Actualy, I think I got it. Perhaps Cam is actually this guy.

Is this one of those deals like in old movies where the girl (you) is all angry and jealous and obsessed with a boy (me) because she (you) is secretly in love with him (me) but his (my) heart belongs to another (Mike)?  Aaaaawwwwwww, that's so cute.

[Micha]

Even if inadvertent, it's very negative to bring the stuff up and throw his cousins under the bus for the umpteenth time.

That's your perception, my perception is Mike throws the drugs under the bus for the umpteen thousanth time. But maybe you're right, I'm far from being infallible.

When I listen to MiC disc 4 and skip forward from WIBNTLA to I Bet He's Nice, I do wish Dennis had taken to meditation instead of cocaine, alcohol, and smoking. His voice would have kept up better and he might still be alive. I'm not saying "damn Dennis, that stupid fool", I'm saying "so sad what drugs did to this very deep and sensitive person".

I bet Brian would give the same answer: drugs

I'm pretty sure I did read an interview where Brian did exactly that.

[Jim V.]

Is this one of those deals like in old movies where the girl (you) is all angry and jealous and obsessed with a boy (me) because she (you) is secretly in love with him (me) but his (my) heart belongs to another (Mike)?  Aaaaawwwwwww, that's so cute.

Yep, you got it right Ted. That's exactly what it is. And following that logic, Andrew Doe must have a mucho man crush on Old Surfer Dude.

[Cam Mott]

Is this one of those deals like in old movies where the girl (you) is all angry and jealous and obsessed with a boy (me) because she (you) is secretly in love with him (me) but his (my) heart belongs to another (Mike)?  Aaaaawwwwwww, that's so cute.

Yep, you got it right Ted. That's exactly what it is. And following that logic, Andrew Doe must have a mucho man crush on Old Surfer Dude.

Maybe we could double date. (batting my eyes your way)

[CenturyDeprived]

Even if inadvertent, it's very negative to bring the stuff up and throw his cousins under the bus for the umpteenth time.

That's your perception, my perception is Mike throws the drugs under the bus for the umpteen thousanth time. But maybe you're right, I'm far from being infallible.

When I listen to MiC disc 4 and skip forward from WIBNTLA to I Bet He's Nice, I do wish Dennis had taken to meditation instead of cocaine, alcohol, and smoking. His voice would have kept up better and he might still be alive. I'm not saying "damn Dennis, that stupid fool", I'm saying "so sad what drugs did to this very deep and sensitive person".

I bet Brian would give the same answer: drugs

I'm pretty sure I did read an interview where Brian did exactly that.

I agree with you that Mike is throwing drugs under the bus… But by doing that he is also repeatedly throwing his cousins under the bus, all while building himself up in a self – aggrandizing way. I've seen few celebrities pat themselves on the back more than Mike (can anyone name more than a few?), so it's pretty obvious that that is just a part of who he is and what he does. It almost seems like it has become his go – to thing to keep harping about, because it fulfills all those things/makes all those points simultaneously. It diminishes the Wilsons, builds him up to look better than them, and all the while he gets to make an actual, legitimate message about drugs being bad, which is inarguably true to some degree.  

Case in point... The infamous lifestyles of the rich and famous video, starting around 3:30.

While it's basically established that that this was recorded at a low point in the Love – Wilson relationship, around 1990, it's hard to watch this and not think there was any ill – will or patting himself on the back when you watch it. It just comes off as extremely snarky, and I don't think I'm imagining it. And I don't see how this is particularly different then all the current day interviews he gives mentioning Wilson drug use. Maybe this is just a little bit worse in terms of the tone and context in which he brings it up. But again, the context of bringing it up this time around (in the current interview) is similarly inappropriate, to use the term that Carl liked to use.

http://youtu.be/dlL7-j-IvVA

[SMiLE Brian]

He only cares about the drug use as a reason to trash the wilsons and be superior than them. Nevermind that BW saved him from a career of pumping gas in Hawthorne.

[ontor pertawst]

 I was shocked he managed to get through the Wink interview without this rant, he wasn’t able to keep it to himself for long was he?

 It's not just the drug use he'll use as a hammer, he'll go on about BW being "controlled" by prescription drugs. Because of course, going to India and listening to some guru drone on for a few hundred thousand makes him more qualified than doctors and stuff. If only Dr. Love were in charge of Brian's health, he'd be ever so much more productive and healthy. He'd write so much more commercial music...

 There was another crackpot who never had any regrets who wanted to force him to be in a room with him to write songs, wasn't there... no not Joe Thomas!

Does he even get what Brian's been through and appreciate he's in a much better place now? C'mon fact fans and interview hounds, dig up some magnanimous interview where Mike expresses gratitude to BW's doctors and family for helping him through some bad years and getting productive again. f*cker finished Smile! Surely that's worth the kind of paragraph this guy ladles on Stamos. "That Lucky Old Sun" may not be on the level of "Full House," but it's pretty neat "Cousin Brian" is able to pull off such work without TM. I guess it doesn't really help Mike's narrative that BW is happy and productive on PRESCRIPTION DRUGS (shock horror!) and without memorizing a corny mantra. Brian's recovery doesn't even make it into these rants, for Mike Love the guy was ruined by drugs end of story. No triumphant last act and redemption, no surging strings in the background....

[CenturyDeprived]

I was shocked he managed to get through the Wink interview without this rant, he wasn’t able to keep it to himself for long was he?

 It's not just the drug use he'll use as a hammer, he'll go on about BW being "controlled" by prescription drugs. Because of course, going to India and listening to some guru drone on for a few hundred thousand makes him more qualified than doctors and stuff. If only Dr. Love were in charge of Brian's health, he'd be ever so much more productive and healthy. He'd write so much more commercial music...

 There was another crackpot who never had any regrets who wanted to force him to be in a room with him to write songs, wasn't there... no not Joe Thomas!

Does he even get what Brian's been through and appreciate he's in a much better place now? C'mon fact fans and interview hounds, dig up some magnanimous interview where Mike expresses gratitude to BW's doctors and family for helping him through some bad years and getting productive again. f*cker finished Smile! Surely that's worth the kind of paragraph this guy ladles on Stamos. "That Lucky Old Sun" may not be on the level of "Full House," but it's pretty neat "Cousin Brian" is able to pull off such work without TM. I guess it doesn't really help Mike's narrative that BW is happy and productive on PRESCRIPTION DRUGS (shock horror!) and without memorizing a corny mantra. Brian's recovery doesn't even make it into these rants, for Mike Love the guy was ruined by drugs end of story. No triumphant last act and redemption, no surging strings in the background....

Mike will never (or rarely) mention those things (Brian finishing SMiLE, TLOS, etc), because those things do not have the dual effect of praising Mike Love. He almost never mentions something good about just Brian and/or the situation/lifestyle Brian is currently in; things which don't involve Mike Love. Nearly everything Mike Love says has to have some dual way of coming back to making Mike Love look better, either in a direct or subliminal way. Even when asked about Pacific Ocean Blue as a whole, Mike's answer focused solely on his own (relatively minimal) contributions to the album, when that wasn't even part of the Wink-ster's question! I wonder what would have happened if Wink asked Mike about Al's solo album. I suppose Mike would say he hasn't heard it, but if he had heard it, he'd probably solely talk about writing the original lyrics for the Help Me Rhonda remake, and not mention anything else.  Amiright?  I don't expect anyone to refute that.

I don't see how people can see this as being anything *but* off-putting behavior, unless the Kool-Aid is especially strong at Club Kokomo. And truthfully, I think the defenders deep down know this is lame behavior in general (not just Mike behavior, but human behavior), but just want to keep looking the other way simply because he's in their favorite band. And that's their prerogative. But that's the only real incentive to defend behavior like that. If he was the exact same guy who made terrible music and was never in the BBs, with the same-sized bank account and ego, nobody but nobody (except maybe people with a financial incentive) would defend these types of actions.

[filledeplage]

He only cares about the drug use as a reason to trash the wilsons and be superior than them. Nevermind that BW saved him from a career of pumping gas in Hawthorne.

How could you possibly know what another human thinks? How could you know their motivation?

Mike surely didn't act superior with Cal Saga.

It appeared that Mike was pretty tight with them and they seemed on the same page as regards the toll that drugs had taken on them.  

What don't you get when the Wilson children appear to be on the same page, being fatherless for 30 years?

And from what I remember, I think that Mike's family had a business.  Almost no one pumps gas for a lifetime; it is a means to an end, like an education or path to being the station owner, or mechanic, who get big bucks for repairing cars.

Just sayin'  

And, I get you don't like Mike.  That is fine, and your perogative.  Mike isn't Satan.  Someone else has that job. Satan.

[guitarfool2002]

Brian's recovery

redemption

Apologies for only pulling out those words from the quote, but they struck a chord with me. I'll open up about some of this and relate it to my feelings on the story.

There is something both uplifting and inspirational to the way history played out up to and including 2015. I'm repeating myself yet again, but rewinding to those years prior to, say, 1997-98, what were the odds in fans' minds of having the chance to buy tickets to see a Brian Wilson live tour, to purchase a string of new albums from Brian, and also to have Smile be presented both live and as a finished recording? I'd say slim to none.

And there it is, basically. By all assumptions and expectations, you could have counted the guy out, which many did. Let the past be the things we can go back to, assuming the excitement of something new in the works was lost to history. Yet look at the past 15 years, and what fans who would seek it out have had access to. Albums, tours, the works.

Here is a musician, again who many had written off by a certain point, who reduced grown, mature adults to tears in 2004 through the presentation of his music. Those at the first Smile premiere, including Van Dyke Parks himself, were overcome by the emotion of it. It was an accomplishment that was thought impossible. I wish I had been there - But from personal experience, when I did get an audience recording of the show, it was an experience where I put on the recording and those with me sat in stunned silence. I had to fight the emotions and pretend to have something in my eye to wipe away the tears numerous times...and this triggered by an audience recording of a show that had already happened.

I remember those low-bitrate preview samples of Smile that hit the web before the album came out. "In Blue Hawaii" came on, and I literally started to cry - tears of joy to the point I couldn't see the monitor. It was a culmination of many things, a feeling that something had been accomplished through many hardships and battles and personal demons and whatever else...and it was a triumph. I'm hearing music, I'm hearing dots connected that fans had wondered about for decades, how will all of this fit together? And here was the result, it was overwhelming.

And that was only a bad quality streaming preview, not even the real deal.

What else but music has that kind of power and effect over someone's emotions? Factor in the decades that led up to hearing that music, and the story-backstory took on as much of a role as the notion of having a finished album. Here was a guy who had gone through all sorts of hell and personal demons presenting this music which affected him to the core...yet he was putting it out there for us to experience. Man, that is powerful stuff for me.

That's where some of my strongest opinions in all of these issues may be rooted. I might see the big picture a little differently based on personal experiences and connections to the music. Not much hits me square in the gut like some of this music, and considering how bad things were and how much worse it could have been...that's the recovery and redemption part of the saga that really strikes a chord.

It's 2015 and fans are excited to be getting new music and a new tour from Brian. Again, consider all that led up to this point and how - had certain things happened a different way - we'd have none of it.

So I'm kind of disappointed in some ways that some of those feelings from a fan like me thousands of miles removed from any family connection can be so moved and inspired by this music and by the story, and yet when I read through interviews and topics like this, that pure joy and emotion and personal connection and even a feeling of "what a great ride it's been so far" doesn't come through.

[HeyJude]

How could you possibly know what another human thinks? How could you know their motivation?

I would say if interviews can't or don't give us an insight into what someone is thinking, then there's really no point in giving (or reading) interviews or even talking to each other. Seriously, anybody can be *thinking* anything. Some are simply more forthcoming (or transparent) than others, and even then, one never knows for sure what the truth is.

I've known people who talk like Mike does in many of these interviews. I'm not trying to be snarky when I say that I recognize it as a genuine trait. Some people, for whatever reason, are programmed to *NEVER* say something that can be turned around or in some way be interpreted as something negative about themselves. It's not coincidence that many people who are like this also don't realize how defensive it makes them sound; how it makes them sound like they are narcissistic and, in cases where they have nothing but negative things about *others* to make them look good, makes them sound overtly negative about others.

Some people can't just often say something positive about somebody else, and *nothing* else. It has to be qualified by either something equally negative about that somebody else, or something positive about themselves.

Sometimes it isn't even about positive things. Some people are narcissistic in the literal sense, that things have to revolve around them. We all know people like this. You tell them a story about something, and they HAVE to immediately relate it something about themselves. Sometimes this can be hilarious in its excess. "Yeah, so I'm feeling pretty crummy today, I had to do a pretty intense chemotherapy appointment." "Oh yeah, I know what you mean. I feel pretty crummy today too, my allergies are really bugging me today."

Mike clearly isn't programmed to just talk about others, especially other BB's, and he's even less prone to only talking about them and talking about positive, and only positive things. And again, I get it and sympathize to a certain degree. A lot of bad stuff DID happen because of drugs and alcohol, and those issues along with a myriad of other issues, I could easily see making it difficult for Mike to just edit that all out and talk about fluffy, rosey stuff. But you know what? A ton of other people can do it. The other BB's can do it. Al was subjected to drugs and alcohol impacting the band, and he has I'm sure countless political and personal BS tied into the half century of BB dealings. But he seems capable of giving and interview and being asked about Dennis' songwriting, or Brian's, or whatever, and just talking about those guys.

Mike surely didn't act superior with Cal Saga.

It appeared that Mike was pretty tight with them and they seemed on the same page as regards the toll that drugs had taken on them.  

What don't you get when the Wilson children appear to be on the same page, being fatherless for 30 years?

I don't think Carnie or Wendy Wilson still, decades later, bring up Brian's drug use consistently in many, many interviews. I've never seen Wendy or Carnie asked about their own personal regrets, and then skip over talking about themselves and start talking about Brian's past problems.

I was just watching the "I Just Wasn't Made for These Times" documentary; hadn't watched it in a number of years. In those interviews from *over twenty years ago*, Carnie and Wendy seem more empathetic, and seem to have gotten over Brian's past problems more than Mike has in 2015, and I would argue they were more *personally* impacted by Brian's drug use than Mike ever was.

The BB's have lost one member specifically to drugs and alcohol. Carl's death could well have been related to smoking. Everyone else in the band is still alive and presumably clean (though most of them presumably still drink alcohol). Why does it still need to be brought up, *repeatedly*, and sometimes unprompted? I will grant that Mike and the rest of the band may well have known other friends and family through the years who have had drug and alcohol issues, but that doesn't really related to being asked specific questions about the band. I would also say that many other folks have had experiences with friends and family of this sort, especially when it comes to alcohol. There's a point at which, while not meaning to trivialize the subject, I have ask: Who is particularly saying drugs *aren't* bad? There's a point at which it's kind of a painfully obvious thing to mention. "What are your regrets about yourself?" "It's not a regret, but people taking drugs is bad." Really? When these interviews start turning to flogging the horse of decades-old drug use within the band, I actually start to miss the "set end date" interviews.

[Mike's Beard]

Things that Mike might regret that are actually ABOUT Mike and not his drug taking cousins.

Not wanting to do Monterey.
Not wanting to sign Three Dog Night to Brother.
Bringing his Guru to lecture at gigs in the late 60s.
Letting Murry screw him out of song writing credits.
Those mid-70s fashion statements.
Over fasting in 1970.
Getting married/divorced half a dozen times before finding Mrs Right.
THAT speech.
Letting his a$$hole of a brother into the family business.
Never making peace with Dennis before he died.