Carl Wilson's drug years

[Magic Transistor Radio]

I haven't read much about Carl's drug years. I seemed to be fairly stoned on the CBS show in 1977. Does anybody know when Carl started taking drugs and when he quit. My guess is that he experimented like everybody else in the mid 60s, got hooked in the early 70s, was at a low in the late 70s. But he seems to have cleaned up by 1978 or 79 (at least on stage).

Anybody know more?

[MBE]

Jack Rieley said he and Carl did coke together in the early 70's but their seems not to have been an addiction until around the end of 1976. AGD says herion though I also heard he was mixing pain killers and booze after he hurt his back in early 1976. I really think that 1977-78 were the only time he was really messed up enough to let it interfere with his life. A fairly short period but becuase he was on tour so often and the Beach Boys profile was still fairly high, much of his "low" was captured on film or tape. I think EST (a kind of meditation I think) is what pulled him out of it.

[♩♬🐸 Billy C ♯♫♩🐇]

Smack, booze, and cigs.

[Jay]

I've read that he started doing cocaine and drinking when his marriage started top end. I also read that he started "dabbling" in cocaine out of "profound unhappiness" in the group. I also have read that he did heroin from around 1977 to 1979. I'm not sure how much of that is true. How can you get addicted to something that serious, and get clean that fast?

[matt-zeus]

Wasn't the incident on the Australian/David Frost tour in 1977 something to do with Carl trying to score some heroin?

[c-man]

Wasn't the incident on the Australian/David Frost tour in 1977 something to do with Carl trying to score some heroin?

Early '78.  All three Wilsons were reportedly doing that stuff on that tour.  Ironically, in the video of the Melbourne show, Dennis looks the most straight of the three...

Carl cleaned up by the end of that year.  Dennis also kicked horse about the same time, but sadly remained addicted to other things.

[Roger Ryan]

I think EST (a kind of meditation I think) is what pulled him out of it.

EST was not a "medication" but a controversial self-help program popular in the 70s. An acronym for "Erhard Seminars Training", an EST workshop promised a "personal transformation" but questions were raised about the cult-like methods employed by the practitioners.

[Emdeeh]

Early '78.  [...] Carl cleaned up by the end of that year. 

He also quit smoking in the early '80s. I think one of the main reasons we don't hear a lot about Carl's substance abuse years after the fact is that, by all I can tell, is that he wished to leave that part of his life behind him after he cleaned up. A closed chapter, if you will.

[MBE]

I think EST (a kind of meditation I think) is what pulled him out of it.

EST was not a "medication" but a controversial self-help program popular in the 70s. An acronym for "Erhard Seminars Training", an EST workshop promised a "personal transformation" but questions were raised about the cult-like methods employed by the practitioners.

Thanks for the info I was just repeating how Carl described it.

[DoubleVirgo]

I think EST (a kind of meditation I think) is what pulled him out of it.

EST was not a "medication" but a controversial self-help program popular in the 70s. An acronym for "Erhard Seminars Training", an EST workshop promised a "personal transformation" but questions were raised about the cult-like methods employed by the practitioners.

In MBE's defense, I think the word was "meditation".

My first post, by the way. Sorry.

[MBE]

Thanks I didn't catch the error. TO clarify things more Carl descibed it as a more active form of meditation.

[Roger Ryan]

My apologies for misreading your original post! Yes, EST could fall into the category of meditation, but it sounds a little closer to the kind of therapy that Landy put Brian through.

[Jay]

Here's an interesting question/thought. What would have happened had Carl gone under the care of Dr. Landy?

[Emdeeh]

Not necessary -- Carl wasn't that bad off. From what I heard, a close friend helped him get through withdrawal and get clean.

[Jay]

I know, but what if he was that bad into drugs? Do you think that Carl was more mentally "prepared" to not be suseptible to "mind control" or "brainwashing"?  People have comtemplated that Landy would not have been able to help Dennis, just because of Dennis's personality. Well, what about Carl?

[Chris Brown]

I know, but what if he was that bad into drugs? Do you think that Carl was more mentally "prepared" to not be suseptible to "mind control" or "brainwashing"?  People have comtemplated that Landy would not have been able to help Dennis, just because of Dennis's personality. Well, what about Carl?

I think Carl had an easier time getting off the drugs because unlike Brian, he didn't have the severe mental illness to deal with at the same time.  It seemed like his worst drug period was during and after his divorce with Annie, but after that I think he knew that he had to clean up.  Thankfully he had the strength to do it.

[Emdeeh]

Chris is right.

I didn't get acquainted with Carl Wilson until the '80s, after his drug days were past; but he had a strong sense of personal responsibility, and that's one of the reasons, plus some solid support from those close to him, that he was able to overcome his own substance abuse. As Chris said, Carl "hit bottom" during a divorce, so there was a triggering event for the worst of his misbehavior. That's why I don't think the scenario Jay proposed could have happened.

Carl and Landy became opponents while Brian was under Landy's care the second time around. What Landy was doing to Carl and Brian's family (isolating them from Brian at all turns) was profoundly painful to them. In the early days of Landy's second tenure, I would conversationally ask Carl "how's your brother doing?" on the occasions we met, and the responses were equally conversational. In the late '80s, the dialog changed one day and the previously innocent inquiry upset Carl greatly. I never asked him about Brian again. It became clear to me over the years that Carl suffered a lot because of Landy. That's why Jay's comments hit a nerve with me.

[Magic Transistor Radio]

I noticed in the Largo Highlights show of 1977, when they were performing 'All This is That', Carl looked at the camera, as if to say "Don't aim the camera at me. Aim it at Mike." Does anybody have any insights on this? My guess is that he was a bit embarrased about being under the influence, or the song itself.