Seeing all six guys on stage, with Dennis holding it together and Brian in good (physical) shape, it's so strange to see that they're teetering on the edge of things looking up, and also teetering on the edge of things crashing and burning. I guess we got a little bit of both as the decade progressed.
It's just kinda surreal in a way. Seeing Dennis there, Brian looking in better shape. Only two years later we have "Getcha Back." Only five years later we have the
Brian Wilson album and "Love and Mercy" and "Kokomo." It just gets the mind going: where would Dennis fit into all that? I have to admit I can't imagine Dennis as part of the group that they became after he passed away. And I'm not one for much of the "what if?" stuff, but one has to wonder how Denny would fit in The Beach Boys world through the '80s and beyond. I think that honestly might be a decent idea for a thread topic.
It has often been alluded to that there was some amount of discussion that took place in 1983 about Landy treating Dennis. There are a whole ball of what-ifs relating to Dennis concerning that, but I was just thinking: If Dennis would have at least stuck it out under Landy's care for some amount of time, would Landy's attention have been diverted away from Brian in 1984 as Brian improved?
Was there any chance that Brian would have been able to branch off in 1984 or 85 without Landy there with him 24/7? We've often discussed over the years about how the appropriate time for Landy to have stepped down would have been around 1984 or so.
I've never been big on what-if scenarios, but that's a compelling one. Who knows, it's just as likely Landy just would have left a strong-arm operative there to stay with Brian.