Bruce interview posted here.

[MBE]

I have to say that while I don't agree with Bruce on a lot of creative decisions he made, his defence of Mike is very true.

[the captain]

Is there supposed to be a link to the interview?

[Mark H.]

Wow....what did he say?

[phirnis]

Mike Love gets the baddest rap, next to Hitler, I’ve ever seen. Hitler deserves it. Mike doesn’t.

Fucking priceless!

[Rocker]

Call me nuts, but I don't like him mentioning Hitler. I mean Mike is an entertainer and I never heard anyone saying that Mike killed millions of people. Kinda takes the seriousness out of the Nazi-regime. Maybe it's because I'm german, but I think you shouldn't compare such an unimportant thing like the Beach Boys with something terrible as WW2



That said, I like the Mike-interview much better where he talks about his good(-again) relationship with Al and Brian.

[MBE]

Well I agree Rocker it's a little extreme, but Bruce is right about how unfairly Mike is seen by the Leaf-Blueboard crowd. Do you have a link for the Mike interview where he talks about Brian and Al?

[Rocker]

Well I agree Rocker it's a little extreme, but Bruce is right about how unfairly Mike is seen by the Leaf-Blueboard crowd. Do you have a link for the Mike interview where he talks about Brian and Al?

Thanks to Jasper:

http://www.heraldtribune.com/article/20080327/FEATURES/803270704/1006/SPORTS

[MBE]

That is a good interview. If they record the symphonic show they same way I heard it, it will make for an amazing record.

[Fun Is In]

Link to Bruce interview

http://www.tcpalm.com/news/2008/mar/26/beach-boy-bruce-johnston-you-cant-tell-me-aging-ki/

[SurfingJorge]

Well I agree Rocker it's a little extreme, but Bruce is right about how unfairly Mike is seen by the Leaf-Blueboard crowd. Do you have a link for the Mike interview where he talks about Brian and Al?

Yeah, the Blueboard crowd IS rather overboard and sychophant.  Anything that doesn't involve Brian is seen as crap by them.  The pack mentality over there really has gotten on my last nerve.  This message board is much more objective which I dig.  But yes, I think Bruce really had some good points.  It was Mike's dedication to hardcore touring that kept the band in the public eye back when Brian checked out for the late half of the 60's and part of the 70's.

[endofposts]

I don't know if I agree with Bruce.  I've only seen the Mike-led Beach Boys once, and I was very disappointed.  Whereas I've been very pleased at Brian gigs, some more than others.  I think all bands sink or swim by the overall lineup.  Maybe Brian doesn't sing as well as he used to, and he does have gigs where he seems not to want to be there.  His band sometimes seems to phone it in, too.  But when Brian and/or his bandmates are engaged, they do a great job of recreating the Beach Boys sound and vibe.  There's nothing bummer-y about them, and they're totally professional.  I think it probably also depends on what band Mike is fronting, and what kind of night he and his band are having.  I caught them on a bad night, or maybe when there was a bad line-up, or both.  I'm sure seeing Al is a similar experience.  That's what made the lawsuits so dumb to me.  I don't think having Al performing with his "Family and Friends" (or Brian and his band, for that matter) necessarily diminishes the audience for Beach Boys live shows.  It might actually increase interest as all three acts can cover more geographically.  They should have let Al be as long as he wasn't explicitly using the Beach Boys name.  It's so dumb, and why Mike reduced himself in the fan's eyes.

[Mark H.]

What do you expect Bruce to say?  He essentially works for Mike.

[razorboy]

i've said it before, but bruce is such a tool... he's really irrelevant to anything i like about the beach boys, and he is far more annoying to me personally than mike. yes, he is justified in saying that mike gets an unfair amount of criticism sometimes, but he sounds like the company man that he is. some of the stick mike gets he has earned with flying colors. i hope bruce is joking with his disney comment... that coming from the guy who wrote disney girls... he IS nostalgia.

mike cracks me up with his "i like touring better than recording" comment... you think? haha... you wouldn't be milking that cow you're so proud of if _someone_ didn't like recording. it seems like it should go without saying, and i'm sure most people are laughing it off, but bruce's dismissal of BWPS and contention that mike fronts a better band than brian? do they really believe that?

mike is unjustly despised, and he deserves some measure of credit for leading the beach boys charge since the seventies, but good chunks of both interviews are pure comedy. it doesn't make it right, but that's why so many people, including many blueboarders, hate the guy and his lackey.

[Mark H.]

i've said it before, but bruce is such a tool... he's really irrelevant to anything i like about the beach boys, and he is far more annoying to me personally than mike. yes, he is justified in saying that mike gets an unfair amount of criticism sometimes, but he sounds like the company man that he is. some of the stick mike gets he has earned with flying colors. i hope bruce is joking with his disney comment... that coming from the guy who wrote disney girls... he IS nostalgia.

mike cracks me up with his "i like touring better than recording" comment... you think? haha... you wouldn't be milking that cow you're so proud of if _someone_ didn't like recording. it seems like it should go without saying, and i'm sure most people are laughing it off, but bruce's dismissal of BWPS and contention that mike fronts a better band than brian? do they really believe that?

mike is unjustly despised, and he deserves some measure of credit for leading the beach boys charge since the seventies, but good chunks of both interviews are pure comedy. it doesn't make it right, but that's why so many people, including many blueboarders, hate the guy and his lackey.

I'm ok with about 95% of that!

[Alex]

Well I agree Rocker it's a little extreme, but Bruce is right about how unfairly Mike is seen by the Leaf-Blueboard crowd. Do you have a link for the Mike interview where he talks about Brian and Al?

Yeah, the Blueboard crowd IS rather overboard and sychophant.  Anything that doesn't involve Brian is seen as crap by them.  The pack mentality over there really has gotten on my last nerve.  This message board is much more objective which I dig.  But yes, I think Bruce really had some good points.  It was Mike's dedication to hardcore touring that kept the band in the public eye back when Brian checked out for the late half of the 60's and part of the 70's.

I think the reason so many people don't like Mike is because of his resistance to SMiLE back in '66/'67, his over insistence on turning the Beach Boys into a cheesy oldies act, and for writing/recording travesties such as Kokomo and Summer in Paradise. I personally think he should've been booted from the group the second he questioned VDP's lyrics. No, it wasn't totally Love's fault SMiLE was scrapped, but causing Van Dyke to quit really threw Brian out of focus. No, I'm not a blueboarder who thinks anything not involving Brian is crap. I love Carl and Dennis' work. Al had some pretty good music, too, until he jumped on the oldies bandwagon for a while. I also think Blondie and Ricky were/are pretty awesome. I just can't really stand Mike. He hasn't written a good song since Big Sur. All the cheesy 4th of July concerts, the whole America's Band schtick, Kokomo, creepy old bald guy dancing around on the beach with young bikini clad females, the bad Wipe Out cover, the cheerleaders, the Full House appearances....Love turned the group into a mockery of itself. If Carl had kept his leadership over the group and they kept going in the direction they did on CATP and Holland, and Brian got proper psychiatric treatment instead of being "Landy-ized" and unwillingly forced into the spotlight only to lack the motivation to do anything remotely progressive...they could've established themselves as serious artists, but both personal and personnel shakeups created circumstances that allowed the Lovester to control the setlists in the late 70s and early 80s, and ultimately dictate their creative direction from Kokomo onward. Mike would've been just another blue-collar guy if Brian didn't ask him to join the Beach Boys, and he should be forever grateful to Brian for that. But no, he had to piss off Van Dyke and shatter Brian's confidence while he was in the middle of making one of the greatest albums of the rock era.

[phirnis]

Didn't Bruce quit the Beach Boys in '72 partly because he was sick of playing oldies? What irony!
That said, you have to give the guy some credit for at least trying to keep the group functioning as a recording unit in the late seventies and while it didn't stand the test of time in terms of both songwriting and production, he even called the 1985 record "our most important album since Sunflower". So obviously, it wasn't all about nostalgia for him up until a certain point.

[lance]

The truth is, while I dont have much of a problem with Bruce and Mikes nostalgia cheese-fest(I figure they work hard, employ a number of people and so on and it's their right), and I think that he is right about Mike Love not being Hitler, I do take exception to his dissing of Brian. As far as I can tell Brian Wilson is, at this point the only one of the members who is anything near a vital artist. He may have put out some subpar albums in the last few years...er, decdes, but at least he's still giving at least some effort. What has Bruce done in the last few years? The idea that some people are merely "dusting Brian off and wheeling him out" is mean-spirited and needlessly insulting.

[razorboy]

i agree... having a go at brian is where they really show their true colors. those types of comments come from insecurity and/or jealousy. mike and bruce should be banned from even _using the word_ creativity until they can get an album released. thing is, they probably can't unless the words 'brian' and 'wilson' are on the package, hence your rude comments. like i said in a previous post, we should be laughing this off due to the completely ludicrous nature of the men making the comments, but i can't let it go...haha. i think they actually believe the sh*t they say, which really bothers me too.

mike has earned his rep in most cases, and he has only himself to thank for a lot of people, BB fans or not, thinking he's a complete turd. but mike also deserves credit for all the lyrics he wrote with and for brian, and leading the band through some rough times... he's always been the beach boys biggest fan, right or wrong. and yes, he is cheesy beyond belief... part of the package, and we take it for what it is. bruce, while he has made 'contributions' to the beach boys, has given the least, and no amount of revisionist history or current 'beach boys' service time gives him the right to question or criticize anything brian wilson does creatively. the fact that brian writes, records and releases music sort of wins that argument... i'm still waiting for bruce's magnus opus.

[Eric Aniversario]

I think Al is making major concessions to be the peacemaker here.  I think that the original lawsuit about the name was frivolous, especially with other tribute groups out there that use the name "Beach Boys" in their name that were never sued.  I am glad that they all seem to be getting along now, and I do hope that they all collaborate in some way in the future, but I think that Al really had to bite the bullet in order to do it.

[Smilin Ed H]

Rather than harping on about what BW could've become, he might dwell on the waste of talent that is Bruce Johnston.  I have no beef about him supporting Mike, but if any of the Boys were going to make it writing movie music, it was Bruce and he kind of fizzled out.

[NHC]

I personally think he should've been booted from the group the second he questioned VDP's lyrics.

Why?  He was being asked to sing a bunch of words that made absolutely no sense to him (or a lot of other people).  Of course he had every right to question what was going on. Mike and the others weren't just Brian's studio tools, they were important parts of a group effort, and shouldn't have been expected to simply go along with everything that came along, particularly when there was such a radical shift.  A lot of Smile at the time had to sound like a bunch of gibberish, and for a group with such a successful history as a top-notch mainstream rock and roll band, who wouldn't have been a little taken aback?  If Carl or Dennis had no problem, fine, good for them, but Mike had legitimate questions.  He also ultimately, by all accounts i've ever seen, worked hard in the studio on the Smile sessions. 

And I'm not really sure exactly what is wrong with them playing huge 4th of July concerts at the nation's capitol.  Sounds good to me.

[Dancing Bear]

Rather than harping on about what BW could've become, he might dwell on the waste of talent that is Bruce Johnston.  I have no beef about him supporting Mike, but if any of the Boys were going to make it writing movie music, it was Bruce and he kind of fizzled out.

Fair comment. Bruce had lots of options after winning his Grammy in '76 (?). He could have done better than releasing a solo album he currently despises and going quietly back to the comfort of the Beach Boys' tour machine.

As for his comments about Brian, he's right on the money.

[mikeyj]

Why?  He was being asked to sing a bunch of words that made absolutely no sense to him (or a lot of other people).  Of course he had every right to question what was going on. Mike and the others weren't just Brian's studio tools, they were important parts of a group effort, and shouldn't have been expected to simply go along with everything that came along, particularly when there was such a radical shift.  A lot of Smile at the time had to sound like a bunch of gibberish, and for a group with such a successful history as a top-notch mainstream rock and roll band, who wouldn't have been a little taken aback?  If Carl or Dennis had no problem, fine, good for them, but Mike had legitimate questions.  He also ultimately, by all accounts i've ever seen, worked hard in the studio on the Smile sessions. 

And I'm not really sure exactly what is wrong with them playing huge 4th of July concerts at the nation's capitol.  Sounds good to me.

I really don't buy this whole thing of "the words didn't make sense to him".. so what? Firstly, if you don't understand something it doesn't mean that it doesn't make sense (eg: if you don't understand Einstein's concept of mass–energy equivalence, it doesn't mean that it doesn't make sense). Secondly, Brian had largely gotten the Beach Boys to where they were at that point (eg: he obviously wrote Surfin' Safari, Surfin' USA, I Get Around, Help Me, Rhonda, Surfer Girl, California Girls etc.. ) so I don't understand why Mike questioned Brian's move towards the SMiLE music. I mean Mike says it was the lyrics on SMiLE that he didn't like, but seriously can you imagine surfing or boy-meets-girl lyrics put to Cabinessence, Surf's Up etc..? Thirdly, I get fed up when people say "well Pet Sounds was a failure", umm number 2 in the UK, and number 10 in the US - I wouldn't consider that a failure.

And I know... I can sort of understand Mike's concern of "don't f**k with the formula" or whatever it was that he actually said, BUT why couldn't Mike just see the SMiLE album out and THEN if it is a failure (say #50) then I think Mike could start asking questions. I mean what came out instead? Smiley Smile which peaked at #41. And some of those lyrics are fantastic!! Like She's Goin' Bald, gee what a great message Mike And I'm sure SMiLE would've done better than Smiley Smile (especially with all the hype around SMiLE). I know it's easy to say that in hindsight, BUT up until Pet Sounds the Beach Boys hadn't really had an album that failed (besides their debut album the lowest charting album was #13 and every other album was in the top 10) so why not just go along with what Brian was doing (since they were so close anyway) and just see the damn thing out. If it was a success then go along with it, if it's a failure then you can complain and tell VDP off etc.. I'm sorry I just don't understand Mike and I don't understand people that defend him on this issue. Yes he gets a lot of crap and a lot of it is undeserved, and I'm not really even having a go at Mike here except for the fact that I'm saying he shouldn't have put Brian's project down. I mean maybe if he just sat there for 5 seconds and thought to himself "gee, Brian really has put a lot of work into this" then maybe he wouldn't have been so quick to put the project down. I mean how would Mike like it if Brian said to him in later years "Student Demonstration Time" is a load of crap and it's just a rewrite, stop wasting your time! Or whatever song it was, can you imagine Brian putting Mike down for something he created? The fact was that he rarely (if at all) objected to Mike's contributions. I just think Mike can be a little insensitive sometimes.

I agree with you on your last point, I don't think it's so much the fact that they played those 4th of July concerts, it's just the fact that the band wasn't in the best shape at those times.

[Sheriff John Stone]

I really don't buy this whole thing of "the words didn't make sense to him".. so what? Firstly, if you don't understand something it doesn't mean that it doesn't make sense).

I mean Mike says it was the lyrics on SMiLE that he didn't like, but seriously can you imagine surfing or boy-meets-girl lyrics put to Cabinessence, Surf's Up etc..?

Before I address the above point, I will say that I can NOT defend Mike Love when it comes to SMiLE. He was wrong then, and he's wrong now. It amazes me that someone as intelligent and worldly as Mike Love STILL does not "get" SMiLE. Anyway....

I think Mike's problem with the lyrics wasn't only that he didn't understand them. More importantly to Mike (I think) is that he felt THE FANS wouldn't understand or ACCEPT them.

The point about "Surf's Up" with boy-meets-girl lyrics....I think I understand the "Surf's Up" lyrics, and, to some extent, I can enjoy/appreciate them. But I don't necessarily love them. I admit that there have been times I have been listening to that gorgeous backing track and Carl's and Brian's tender vocal(s), and I have wondered how the song would feel with different, more mainstream lyrics. You know, to be touched the way "Don't Worry, Baby" or "Kiss Me, Baby" or "Caroline, No" can get to you. Again, I appreciate "Surf's Up" as a true work of art, I'm not knocking it, it's great, and I hope my comments are interpreted differently....

[the captain]

I think Mike's problem with the lyrics wasn't only that he didn't understand them. More importantly to Mike (I think) is that he felt THE FANS wouldn't understand or ACCEPT them.

The point about "Surf's Up" with boy-meets-girl lyrics....I think I understand the "Surf's Up" lyrics, and, to some extent, I can enjoy/appreciate them. But I don't necessarily love them. I admit that there have been times I have been listening to that gorgeous backing track and Carl's and Brian's tender vocal(s), and I have wondered how the song would feel with different, more mainstream lyrics. You know, to be touched the way "Don't Worry, Baby" or "Kiss Me, Baby" or "Caroline, No" can get to you. Again, I appreciate "Surf's Up" as a true work of art, I'm not knocking it, it's great, and I hope my comments are interpreted differently....

I know it's weird, but for the second time this week, I agree with SJS!

Mike himself has said he liked--or appreciated, I should say--those lyrics. But the man was in pop music, and he was trying to sell pop or rock 'n' roll records. Yes, the scene was changing and people were beginning to take it more seriously than they had been in previous years (Too seriously, if you ask me...most of that self-important psychedelic trash of the era can go to hell as far as I'm concerned. But I digress...), but he was coming from the perspective of a guy who had co-written a lot of hit songs and was still out performing rock 'n' roll sets to kids--kids who loved "I Get Around." There's nothing wrong with that music. Mike didn't mean he didn't understand the lyrics and so they were bad; he meant he didn't understand why you'd release those lyrics when they weren't what people (the people he thought should relate to the Beach Boys) would want to hear.

I disagree with Mike Love in that I think Smile was so brilliant to my ears, it's hard for me to imagine anyone thinking "this is too far out for our fans." I can only imagine "this is really far out ... and brilliant. We have to do it. We can do another moon-in-June record next."

As for mikeyj's discussion of Smiley Smile instead of Smile, well, I think that's a tough situation to make sense of. But it's important to keep in mind that Mike didn't ever say, "Smile sucks; let's do Smiley Smile!" He no doubt (well, I have no doubt...) would have preferred Smile, as it was obviously superior. But perhaps by the time Smile was done for, he was willing to work for whatever came next.