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Author Topic: Brian on SNL 1976  (Read 4112 times)
sixtiesstereo
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« on: May 30, 2021, 03:16:16 PM »

The Internet Archive has a literal goldmine of anything you can think of.  There is an archive of a huge number of
SNL episodes, and I was surprised to find this complete episode today.  From November of 1976, and hosted by
a young Jodie Foster, and while watching it, at the 12:00 minute mark is Brian doing "Back Home" from 15 Big Ones.
  While I'm sure most here are familiar with this, it blew me away.  Brian sounds great and looks healthy.
And the picture quality is such that you can watch full screen.
https://archive.org/details/saturday-night-live-s02e09
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« Reply #1 on: May 30, 2021, 10:55:57 PM »

Yes, Back Home, Love is a Woman and Good Vibrations.  Brian is among the few SNL musical guests to do 3 songs rather than the standard 2.  The rule of thumb seems to be if you have "legend" status, you get to do a 3rd song.  Off the top of my head, Roy Orbison, McCartney, Springsteen and U2 have been in the 3 song club.  I think I read somewhere that Coldplay is the only act to do a 4th song, but I don't think I saw that episode.
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« Reply #2 on: May 31, 2021, 01:34:44 AM »

Brian also appeared as a police officer on SNL:


saturday night live - airport metal detector (ft. brian wilson)

https://vimeo.com/336081792
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« Reply #3 on: May 31, 2021, 02:56:34 AM »

Once I knew that Brian was going to be on SNL with Jodie Foster as host, I was terrified and a nervous wreck.  Imagining Brian on live TV, imagining him having a meltdown, and his only backup to get him out of trouble being a young teenager - a recipe for certain disaster.  Once the show started, I could hardly stand to watch. But Brian survived and so did I. Barely.
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« Reply #4 on: May 31, 2021, 07:39:28 AM »

Probably the coolest part of Brain's appearance on SNL is when he slow dances with Gilda Radner during the closing credits - it's sweet.
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« Reply #5 on: May 31, 2021, 11:32:22 PM »

Brian also appeared as a police officer on SNL:


saturday night live - airport metal detector (ft. brian wilson)

https://vimeo.com/336081792

Looking nervous in the beginning - leg shaking... Thanks for sharing, I never saw this before!
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« Reply #6 on: June 01, 2021, 06:27:10 AM »

Yeah, c-man, seeing Gilda Radner kindly take Brian and start dancing with him was beautiful. By that point, the show was ending and Brian had survived, so I was greatly relieved.
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« Reply #7 on: June 01, 2021, 09:44:55 AM »

Have The Beach Boys ever been a musical guest on SNL?
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« Reply #8 on: June 01, 2021, 11:17:30 AM »

No, but they were the subject of an NBC special produced by Lorne Michaels. That's the show where Brian gets arrested by Dan Aykroyd and and John Belushi for not surfing.
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« Reply #9 on: June 01, 2021, 06:40:48 PM »

Yes, Back Home, Love is a Woman and Good Vibrations.  Brian is among the few SNL musical guests to do 3 songs rather than the standard 2.  The rule of thumb seems to be if you have "legend" status, you get to do a 3rd song.  Off the top of my head, Roy Orbison, McCartney, Springsteen and U2 have been in the 3 song club.  I think I read somewhere that Coldplay is the only act to do a 4th song, but I don't think I saw that episode.

The Band performed four songs on the October 30th 1976 episode - Life Is A Carnival, The Night They Drove Old Dixie Town, Stage Fright, and Georgia On My Mind
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« Reply #10 on: June 01, 2021, 07:04:05 PM »

I remember seeing reruns of that show years later, and feeling bad for Brian. What was the point of putting him out there alone? He wasn't a solo artist at the time, and hadn't performed live anywhere in ages - other than a few appearances during the Brian is Back tour where he just sat at his piano looking lost and lonely. Was this whole thing one of Landy's ideas?
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« Reply #11 on: June 01, 2021, 08:21:14 PM »

I remember seeing reruns of that show years later, and feeling bad for Brian. What was the point of putting him out there alone? He wasn't a solo artist at the time, and hadn't performed live anywhere in ages - other than a few appearances during the Brian is Back tour where he just sat at his piano looking lost and lonely. Was this whole thing one of Landy's ideas?
Brian's appearance was most likely the idea of SNL producer Lorne Michaels, and might have been part of a deal Brian had with NBC.  Michaels had co-produced the TV special "It's Ok" just a few months earlier: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Beach_Boys:_It%27s_OK!
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« Reply #12 on: June 02, 2021, 07:02:39 PM »

The whole Brian's Back campaign can be blamed on Stephen Love (and to the lesser extent the guys in the band) and Landy. It's clear there was no unity anymore in the band, but they were making bank and wanted the good times to continue. Brian started therapy fall 1975 and it only takes a few months for Brian to be suddenly back and ready to record, tour, promote, and interview! Love was the manager at the time and he hired a PR campaign for Brian's Back. It was a cash grab to follow up on the 74/75 revival. Landy got his hooks into the group process throughout the year and I think that's how he was able to finagle Brian only onto SNL. Dennis had the idea for the TV special. I am sure there was spite from within the group; and Brian wanted nothing to do with any of it. I just cannot imagine how no one ever stopped and said, "Hmm, this guy doesn't sound like he use to. In fact, he sounds terrible. You sure we should release this? Or have him tour?" At the end of the day, it was all about getting more money, no matter what. It would have been much better for the group had they performed SNL, with Brian just in the back on a keyboard. Could have promoted It's OK with Good Vibrations and God Only Knows; a performance like that would have been better for posterity than the one we got from Brian solo.
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« Reply #13 on: June 02, 2021, 11:50:22 PM »

Great to finally see the comedy skit too! Brian did well.

Has Brian ever commented on any of this later? All I know is that he has referenced the 76-77 time as some of his favorite times and "that's when it all happened to me" or something along the lines. It's quite a big contradiction to the common consensus of Brian not wanting to be there.
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« Reply #14 on: June 03, 2021, 07:40:41 AM »

The whole Brian's Back campaign can be blamed on Stephen Love (and to the lesser extent the guys in the band) and Landy. It's clear there was no unity anymore in the band, but they were making bank and wanted the good times to continue. Brian started therapy fall 1975 and it only takes a few months for Brian to be suddenly back and ready to record, tour, promote, and interview! Love was the manager at the time and he hired a PR campaign for Brian's Back. It was a cash grab to follow up on the 74/75 revival. Landy got his hooks into the group process throughout the year and I think that's how he was able to finagle Brian only onto SNL. Dennis had the idea for the TV special. I am sure there was spite from within the group; and Brian wanted nothing to do with any of it. I just cannot imagine how no one ever stopped and said, "Hmm, this guy doesn't sound like he use to. In fact, he sounds terrible. You sure we should release this? Or have him tour?" At the end of the day, it was all about getting more money, no matter what. It would have been much better for the group had they performed SNL, with Brian just in the back on a keyboard. Could have promoted It's OK with Good Vibrations and God Only Knows; a performance like that would have been better for posterity than the one we got from Brian solo.

Looking at the SNL performance(s) from the perspective of knowing everything that came before and afterwards, i don't really see BW has having done that badly or in any way embarrassed himself and the group.   Seems like he did fine overall, and it's a historical snapshot of a moment in a long, storied career.   I guess I could understand, though, if there were negative and/or bewildered impressions in 1976 among some casual viewers who hadn't seen or heard much about BW since, say,  the Ed Sullivan Show a dozen years earlier.
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« Reply #15 on: June 03, 2021, 09:38:35 AM »

The worst was having Brian do “Nighttime” on Dick Clark in ‘88. But that’s another topic.

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« Reply #16 on: June 03, 2021, 04:27:50 PM »

Cool to see Brian in control as bandleader and performing like a pro during Back Home. The Good Vibrations solo thing was unfortunate - it would've come across much better if they'd done it with the full band. Much criticised but not really Brian's fault - he did his best but ultimately that song just doesn't really work for for solo piano and vocal.

Also - this clip shows very early instances of the little shoulder shrug tic that Brian still does today. See end of Back Home and a few times during Love Is a Woman. Before seeing those performances I always assumed that Brian didn't start doing this til the 90's.
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« Reply #17 on: June 03, 2021, 10:28:19 PM »

The whole Brian's Back campaign can be blamed on Stephen Love (and to the lesser extent the guys in the band) and Landy. It's clear there was no unity anymore in the band, but they were making bank and wanted the good times to continue. Brian started therapy fall 1975 and it only takes a few months for Brian to be suddenly back and ready to record, tour, promote, and interview! Love was the manager at the time and he hired a PR campaign for Brian's Back. It was a cash grab to follow up on the 74/75 revival. Landy got his hooks into the group process throughout the year and I think that's how he was able to finagle Brian only onto SNL. Dennis had the idea for the TV special. I am sure there was spite from within the group; and Brian wanted nothing to do with any of it. I just cannot imagine how no one ever stopped and said, "Hmm, this guy doesn't sound like he use to. In fact, he sounds terrible. You sure we should release this? Or have him tour?" At the end of the day, it was all about getting more money, no matter what. It would have been much better for the group had they performed SNL, with Brian just in the back on a keyboard. Could have promoted It's OK with Good Vibrations and God Only Knows; a performance like that would have been better for posterity than the one we got from Brian solo.
Interesting information. I don't know much about Steve Love's work on behalf of the group; and I have to wonder if Dennis and Carl had any misgivings about their older brother being trotted out there in the shape he was in?
It's cool to think about a BB's SNL appearance in 1976. I've seen the clip of them on Fridays in 1980, thought that was really good, even if it didn't sell a boatload of albums.
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« Reply #18 on: June 04, 2021, 03:15:41 AM »

Yes, Back Home, Love is a Woman and Good Vibrations.  Brian is among the few SNL musical guests to do 3 songs rather than the standard 2.  The rule of thumb seems to be if you have "legend" status, you get to do a 3rd song.  Off the top of my head, Roy Orbison, McCartney, Springsteen and U2 have been in the 3 song club.  I think I read somewhere that Coldplay is the only act to do a 4th song, but I don't think I saw that episode.
The very first episodes of SNL were mainly musical. Simon and Garfunkel did several songs on one of the first episodes.
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« Reply #19 on: June 04, 2021, 07:49:37 AM »

There is so much history and backstory surrounding the period of time when Brian went on SNL that it would take a full chapter to cover! But just about SNL itself to start, and when Brian went on to perform solo:

Season 2 when Brian appeared was when the show was developing into a hit and finding its footing, though not what it would become soon after when it became a smash. As far as musical guests, Brian was on the show during a pretty amazing run of musicians appearing, and overall there was no set way the artists would appear, in terms of how many songs they would do. Sometimes if a skit was cut by Lorne last-minute, they'd add a song, or a stand-up routine, or one of the cast members doing something they did in previous troupe. Or they'd have a reserve of sketches available to plug in if one didn't work and got cut before air time.

So in the weeks before and after Brian appeared, the musical guests included:

The Band, who did *four* songs, and this was Chevy Chase's final appearance since becoming the breakout star of the cast and deciding to go Hollywood when the offers came in. This was also less than a month before The Band played their Thanksgiving "Last Waltz" concert in '76.

The week before Brian's appearance was the Paul Simon-George Harrison Thanksgiving episode, which is among the best in the show's history. Simon did multiple performances, including his single "50 Ways To Leave Your Lover" with Steve Gadd on drums, "Still Crazy..." as the opening monologue while wearing a turkey costume, and of course when he and George did the duets on Homeward Bound and Here Comes The Sun. The episode also ran promo films for George's current single Crackerbox Palace and another tune. This episode was literally packed with music...how could it not be with those two artists? And Paul Simon appeared on the show in those early days so often in part because he was a close friend of Lorne Michaels, and Lorne would pull his big name friends like Simon, Candice Bergen, Buck Henry, etc onto the show to boost ratings and it usually worked. It was also the episode where George Harrison tried to collect Lorne's $3,000 check (which had been upped to $3,200 along with hotel accomodations) as part of the running joke Lorne had going where he was trying to reunite The Beatles on the show.

Speaking of Candice Bergen, she hosted the show after Brian's week (the final SNL of 1976), with Frank Zappa as musical guest doing three songs, including "Peaches En Regalia", among his most well-known songs. 

When the show returned in 1977, it seems like the musical guests were mostly cut down to two songs, or sometimes one if there were multiple music acts on that night. And this also coincided with the show really getting attention and becoming a major hit after Chevy left, and Belushi/Aykroyd started to become the breakout stars. Along with Mr. Bill at some point...

So Brian was in some pretty heavy company during those weeks he was on, and it was during the time where the show did offer musical guests more on-air time as a general rule, again depending on the guest and what else was happening that week with the skits.

And I know it's readily available (and has been for years actually), but for those who haven't seen it, Brian plays "Back Home" with a full band, so he wasn't sitting solo in a sandbox playing piano for every song.

And my favorite part of the whole story is that Landy was actually on stage that night, just out of camera range, holding up cue-cards for Brian to read...and on one of them - irony of ironies - the word "SMILE" was written in large letters.

More later...
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« Reply #20 on: June 04, 2021, 08:02:07 AM »

Probably the coolest part of Brain's appearance on SNL is when he slow dances with Gilda Radner during the closing credits - it's sweet.

There was more to that with Gilda too - Just a few weeks after Chevy had left, the show staged a running gag during Brian's episode where Gilda was going to be written out of the show and let go from the cast. It developed as a running gag with Gilda doing a cold open saying she didn't have much to do on the upcoming show except say the "Live from New York" line, underneath commentary saying things like "she doesn't know it but she's being phased out..." and eventually late in the show one of the audience shots while going to a commercial break showed Gilda sitting in the audience. So seeing her dance with Brian at the end was extra sweet in context with the episode-long gag about phasing her out of the cast.
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« Reply #21 on: June 04, 2021, 08:09:36 AM »

Those were indeed great times to be following SNL. As I said earlier, I was terrified that Jodie Foster, who was about 14 at the time, was hosting Brian’s show!  I could only imagine Brian totally freezing on camera and having to rely on a teen to bail him out. Good Vibrations was pretty creepy for me at the time.  I was glad when the show ended and Brian was ok.
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« Reply #22 on: June 04, 2021, 09:09:30 AM »

It's interesting to consider why Brian went on the show solo versus with the full band, but piecing together what was happening in that second half of 1976 it's pretty easy to connect the dots.

One of the starting points - for anyone who hasn't read the article - is the Rolling Stone cover story featuring Brian and the band in the November 4, 1976 issue. Some of the action behind the scenes of Lorne Michaels' "It's OK" Beach Boys special is described, and a meeting of Brian, Belushi, Akyroyd, Lorne, SNL writer Alan Zweibel, and filmmaker Gary Weis who directed the films featuring Brian and the Boys is mentioned. Along with how they brought pizza and beer to the meeting and Landy threw a fit.

Brian was not in a good place in June '76 when they were there, so Landy tried to emphasize to the RS writer how much better he was that September when the interview was continued. That's all described in the article here: https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/the-beach-boys-the-healing-of-brother-brian-190679/

So why only Brian on SNL? I factor in several things. Lorne Michaels was a major fan of the Beach Boys and of Brian's music. So a deal was worked out for Lorne to do the TV special with his SNL staff members involved in writing and production, and that was that. Network TV, prime time. But SNL was still going for a pretty specific target audience with its show and its humor, and that included the musical guests. Right when Brian appeared that November, the show was still on the cusp of being what it would soon become...a juggernaut in terms of the 18-24 demographic. From its inception, Lorne wanted the show to be like the kids taking over the studio after the old guys had gone home. Late night versus prime time, edgy versus safe, hip versus square. And that target demographic bubbling under all of it from Season 1 Episode 1 was young adults who smoked a lot of dope, listened to records, and watched TV...and here was a show targeted squarely at them. George Carlin was the first host, does that explain who they were going for in the ratings?

Then there's The Beach Boys as an entity as of Summer 1976 - Nostalgia, greatest hits, American Graffitti and Happy Days...good for prime time TV. Hence, "It's OK" running on NBC helmed by Lorne Michaels. Then there's Brian Wilson himself, the mad genius recluse who had only been seen on stage in any capacity as recent as the NBC special after years of mystery. Brian was cool and mysterious, the stoner crowd knew the mythology and probably smoked plenty of dope listening to Good Vibrations through the years, along with other tunes Brian created. I'm thinking in terms of that targeted SNL audience in those early seasons, Brian Wilson as an entity and personality was a better fit than the Beach Boys as a whole. Brian was late-night hip in Fall '76, The Beach Boys were prime time nostalgia that previous summer when they were on NBC.

The Rolling Stone article linked above had been out weeks before Brian's appearance, along with Marilyn's description of the piano in the sandbox. I'm sure the SNL writers saw that rather bizarre anecdote as an opportunity to feature that during Brian's appearance singing Good Vibrations. The key SNL audience was also the primary target audience of Rolling Stone magazine in 1976 when it was still printed on newspaper stock and before it got really corporate, so the assumption was probably that the majority of people watching SNL would also have read the RS cover story on Brian within the previous month. And Beach Boys fans would have seen "It's OK" on NBC. So it was an in-joke to have Brian in a sandbox playing Good Vibrations with the sandbox stories still being "current" in the same audience circles who would be watching SNL.

Where it gets into *who* got Brian to do a solo spot is a little more difficult to narrow down, but again some clear lines can be drawn to figure it out. After Jack Reiley's plans to focus on the music, to bring Carl and Dennis more into the creative songwriting fold, and to create a different live band experience to appeal to the rock audiences of 1971-1974...after James Guercio's pairings of the Boys with Chicago and any recording efforts that never materialized in terms of a different album...Stephen Love gets the manager's chair and cooks up the "Brian's Back" promotional blitz.

Brian then became the focus of the promotional efforts to sell The Beach Boys to audiences, both in the studio efforts and on the live stage, even if he was just seen on stage with them. On the surface, and eventually on the books too, it was good PR and it did help the band's image and bank accounts. But as a result, too, Landy was hired to get Brian in shape.

And as controversial as it may be, the decision to hire Landy and his "team" at this time could be considered as much about getting Brian back in good shape and healthy enough to write and record new music for The Beach Boys as it was to get Brian in good health *period*. And that's where the whole thing gets a little slimy, in my opinion. Read the RS article above, and you'll see even then in Landy v1.0 how they had things set up, and how Brian was berated and penalized over things like hamburgers, or the Lorne Michaels crew bringing food and beer to a production meeting. Add that to other accounts of Brian trying to write new songs while a Landy employee stood over him holding a baseball bat, and the whole thing is sadly surreal if not just plain sad. That summer of '76 Brian was still not "ready", and Landy himself begged the RS writer to come back that fall to see how much progress had been made. Job security issues?

Factor in a promotional blitz designed by Stephen Love to tell everyone "Brian is back", add that to various magazine and TV appearances to promote the fact that Brian was "back" and get the Beach Boys more exposure, consider Lorne Michaels was still trying to build his SNL project (It was still called NBC's Saturday Night when Brian appeared in season 2) and appeal to his key demographic of people who liked to smoke dope, watched TV other than prime time network fare, dug outsider/underground musicians and comedians, and who read Rolling Stone magazine, and I think the whole thing was a mutual benefit situation. Brian himself as an artist with a mythology behind him was the SNL demographic, The Beach Boys were the NBC prime time demographic with their nostalgia appeal, and Stephen Love was using Brian as the face of his new promotional campaign for the group in general.

For whatever Landy was doing in 1976 and thereafter, including having staff members around to berate Brian and stand over him with a bat while he wrote songs, I don't think he was as much of a player in terms of the NBC/Lorne Michaels deals in '76 as some may think. He had not gone off the rails yet and fashioned himself as Brian's manager and Svengali like he would do in the 80's...I think he was more worried about his job security after Brian's health was on display for a major RS writer that summer of '76 than he was involved in negotiating deals with NBC.

Crazy times indeed.



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« Reply #23 on: June 04, 2021, 11:42:15 AM »

SNL in it's early days sure was a different beast than what it ultimately came. I remember staying up late to see one of the early eps that Paul Simon hosted. He did a couple songs (or more) on his own; Art Garfunkel did a couple songs with Paul, then sang his own current hit "I Only Have Eyes for You". Phoebe Snow might have sung with Paul, too.
a few years later, Rick  Nelson hosted an ep, and did four songs, plus Judy Collins was on as musical guest.
TV in general was better towards music guests back then. These days, it's always buried at the end of the show; back then, Johnny Carson, Mike Douglas, Merv Griffin, etc would let the guests usually do a couple of songs, and sit down for a chat with them. And they had real conversations - it wasn't all about setting up punch lines for the host.
I guess Brian being on Mike Douglas alone was part of the same Brian is Back campaign, but Mike and Al also appeared on the show - talking about TM.
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« Reply #24 on: June 06, 2021, 09:01:07 PM »

It's interesting to consider why Brian went on the show solo versus with the full band, but piecing together what was happening in that second half of 1976 it's pretty easy to connect the dots.

One of the starting points - for anyone who hasn't read the article - is the Rolling Stone cover story featuring Brian and the band in the November 4, 1976 issue. Some of the action behind the scenes of Lorne Michaels' "It's OK" Beach Boys special is described, and a meeting of Brian, Belushi, Akyroyd, Lorne, SNL writer Alan Zweibel, and filmmaker Gary Weis who directed the films featuring Brian and the Boys is mentioned. Along with how they brought pizza and beer to the meeting and Landy threw a fit.

Brian was not in a good place in June '76 when they were there, so Landy tried to emphasize to the RS writer how much better he was that September when the interview was continued. That's all described in the article here: https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/the-beach-boys-the-healing-of-brother-brian-190679/

So why only Brian on SNL? I factor in several things. Lorne Michaels was a major fan of the Beach Boys and of Brian's music. So a deal was worked out for Lorne to do the TV special with his SNL staff members involved in writing and production, and that was that. Network TV, prime time. But SNL was still going for a pretty specific target audience with its show and its humor, and that included the musical guests. Right when Brian appeared that November, the show was still on the cusp of being what it would soon become...a juggernaut in terms of the 18-24 demographic. From its inception, Lorne wanted the show to be like the kids taking over the studio after the old guys had gone home. Late night versus prime time, edgy versus safe, hip versus square. And that target demographic bubbling under all of it from Season 1 Episode 1 was young adults who smoked a lot of dope, listened to records, and watched TV...and here was a show targeted squarely at them. George Carlin was the first host, does that explain who they were going for in the ratings?

Then there's The Beach Boys as an entity as of Summer 1976 - Nostalgia, greatest hits, American Graffitti and Happy Days...good for prime time TV. Hence, "It's OK" running on NBC helmed by Lorne Michaels. Then there's Brian Wilson himself, the mad genius recluse who had only been seen on stage in any capacity as recent as the NBC special after years of mystery. Brian was cool and mysterious, the stoner crowd knew the mythology and probably smoked plenty of dope listening to Good Vibrations through the years, along with other tunes Brian created. I'm thinking in terms of that targeted SNL audience in those early seasons, Brian Wilson as an entity and personality was a better fit than the Beach Boys as a whole. Brian was late-night hip in Fall '76, The Beach Boys were prime time nostalgia that previous summer when they were on NBC.

The Rolling Stone article linked above had been out weeks before Brian's appearance, along with Marilyn's description of the piano in the sandbox. I'm sure the SNL writers saw that rather bizarre anecdote as an opportunity to feature that during Brian's appearance singing Good Vibrations. The key SNL audience was also the primary target audience of Rolling Stone magazine in 1976 when it was still printed on newspaper stock and before it got really corporate, so the assumption was probably that the majority of people watching SNL would also have read the RS cover story on Brian within the previous month. And Beach Boys fans would have seen "It's OK" on NBC. So it was an in-joke to have Brian in a sandbox playing Good Vibrations with the sandbox stories still being "current" in the same audience circles who would be watching SNL.

Where it gets into *who* got Brian to do a solo spot is a little more difficult to narrow down, but again some clear lines can be drawn to figure it out. After Jack Reiley's plans to focus on the music, to bring Carl and Dennis more into the creative songwriting fold, and to create a different live band experience to appeal to the rock audiences of 1971-1974...after James Guercio's pairings of the Boys with Chicago and any recording efforts that never materialized in terms of a different album...Stephen Love gets the manager's chair and cooks up the "Brian's Back" promotional blitz.

Brian then became the focus of the promotional efforts to sell The Beach Boys to audiences, both in the studio efforts and on the live stage, even if he was just seen on stage with them. On the surface, and eventually on the books too, it was good PR and it did help the band's image and bank accounts. But as a result, too, Landy was hired to get Brian in shape.

And as controversial as it may be, the decision to hire Landy and his "team" at this time could be considered as much about getting Brian back in good shape and healthy enough to write and record new music for The Beach Boys as it was to get Brian in good health *period*. And that's where the whole thing gets a little slimy, in my opinion. Read the RS article above, and you'll see even then in Landy v1.0 how they had things set up, and how Brian was berated and penalized over things like hamburgers, or the Lorne Michaels crew bringing food and beer to a production meeting. Add that to other accounts of Brian trying to write new songs while a Landy employee stood over him holding a baseball bat, and the whole thing is sadly surreal if not just plain sad. That summer of '76 Brian was still not "ready", and Landy himself begged the RS writer to come back that fall to see how much progress had been made. Job security issues?

Factor in a promotional blitz designed by Stephen Love to tell everyone "Brian is back", add that to various magazine and TV appearances to promote the fact that Brian was "back" and get the Beach Boys more exposure, consider Lorne Michaels was still trying to build his SNL project (It was still called NBC's Saturday Night when Brian appeared in season 2) and appeal to his key demographic of people who liked to smoke dope, watched TV other than prime time network fare, dug outsider/underground musicians and comedians, and who read Rolling Stone magazine, and I think the whole thing was a mutual benefit situation. Brian himself as an artist with a mythology behind him was the SNL demographic, The Beach Boys were the NBC prime time demographic with their nostalgia appeal, and Stephen Love was using Brian as the face of his new promotional campaign for the group in general.

For whatever Landy was doing in 1976 and thereafter, including having staff members around to berate Brian and stand over him with a bat while he wrote songs, I don't think he was as much of a player in terms of the NBC/Lorne Michaels deals in '76 as some may think. He had not gone off the rails yet and fashioned himself as Brian's manager and Svengali like he would do in the 80's...I think he was more worried about his job security after Brian's health was on display for a major RS writer that summer of '76 than he was involved in negotiating deals with NBC.

Crazy times indeed.




The more I read, the more amazed I am that a) Brian is still alive, and b) even half as "ok" as he seems today.
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A son of anarchy surrounded by the hierarchy.
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