Beach Boy Blunders...

[Surfer Joe]

That's a good point.  Brian was once athletic enough to have been a high school quarterback; I hope he's still physically active to some appropriate degree.

Talking about things that should have gone differently from 1961-1998, anything regarding saving Dennis or Carl so far outweighs everything else that those seem like virtually a different discussion to me.  I wish they could all have had health, happiness, successful marriages and healthy, happy children far more than any additional artistic success.  But God and the devil are both in the details, and the story of the Beach Boys proves that repeatedly.

Blunders that weren't:

I'm glad they didn't give "Good Vibrations" to the other Wilson (the late Mr. Pickett) or "Don't Worry, Baby" to the Ronettes.

Take a lot of photos of Beach Boys recording sessions so obsessed fans could feel good for a few moments in the future when they look at them.

I had thought about adding that just for you, aeijtzsche, but didn't because, as I said earlier, I think a lot of those photos were taken and we'll have them some fine day.

[JRauch]

Brian still runs every day. Like a ritual. Everytime an interviewer asked him what he does on a normal day, jogging was about his first answer. Of course I don´t know how far or fast...

[monkee knutz]

I would've gone back to 1983 and stopped Dennis from "recovering" his belongings from the dock.

I'd have stepped back further than that. That was just the end result of the inner turmoil that was his life leading up to that fateful dive. It that didn't happen, some thing equally as tragic would have. Just the question of how it would have been played out.

[shelter]

I think it was Dennis's fate to die young. If he wouldn't have drowned in 1983, he probably would've found another way.

[donald]

Reminds me of a lyric sung by Lyle Lovett...............

"If I were the man you wanted, I would not be the man that I am"

[theeponymuseudonym]

Perfect thread, people!!! I will take time to ponder what my post will be...it's very deep.

I will ask this, have Any of the BB's ever been quoted about where they were when Lennon was asassinated??

[CosmicDancer]

If I had my way, I would most definately go back and stop Endless Summer from being released.  While they were'nt having tons of commercial success, the boys were at least still making an attempt to progress and make new music.  After Endless Summer and its massive appeal/success, it was almost as if they gave up.  It's nice that the album turned a new generation on to those great timeless tunes but it ruined the band.  There were still some flasshes of brilliance, but it would never be the same.

[theeponymuseudonym]

IF I HAD MY WAY...I'D HAVE THE BEACH BOYS KEEP
 PUSHING THE ENVELOPE AND SHOW UP
AT THE AMAERICAN MUSIC AWARDS AND ING SURFIN
 USA CALIFORNIA GIRLS GOOD VIBES WONDERFUL THIS WHOLE W
ORLD ROCK N RIOLL TO TRHE BREDSI-R[ U]LP DBH=0 YUQW

THEN DESTROY THEIR INSTRUMENTS IN ONE FELL SWOOP OPF PISSED OFFNESS

SCREW YOU ACADEMY!!!!!!!!
BEACH BOYS WITHOUT DENNIS REALLY BIT HARD!!!!!!!

Ignore me. I was dropped on my head at birth

[Surfer Joe]

But wouldn't that kind of be another blunder?

[Aegir]

I don't even read what he writes anymore.

[DUMB ANGEL]

When Brian cancelled out on the Monteray Pop Festival

[Mitchell]

According to Stephen Desper, they backed out because Monterey was a Coca-Cola-sponsored event and the Boys (led by Mike, I believe) didn't want to be affilated with/promote unhealthy products like that.

[♩♬🐸 Billy C ♯♫♩🐇]

They dropped out over THAT?!

[shelter]

Cause as we all know, none of the Beach Boys would ever have even considered consuming any unhealthy products.

[Aegir]

Would Brain have even played the Monterey Pop Festival, even if the Beach Boys were playing? Probably not, I'm thinking.

[Sir Rob]

Would Brain have even played the Monterey Pop Festival, even if the Beach Boys were playing? Probably not, I'm thinking.

He was on stage in Hawaii.

[Sir Rob]

1.) Write less songs in the years before 1965 with surfing or car themes.  Not to have been so pigeon-holed with the surf image.

2.) Have all round better image advice from the start, regarding album cover design, clothes etc.  (Compare BBs presentation in these spheres to that of the Beatles).

3.) Smile to have been completed and released in 66/67.

4.) Whatever it was that prevented the completion and release of Smile to never have happened.

5.) Whatever it was that made Brian become so ill to never have happened.

[carlydenise2]

   I would have done the following:

1.  I would have been the hitchhiker that Dennis would have picked up on the highway a couple of miles uproad, he definitely would have had NO reason to pick up the 2 manson girls 
2.  Taken the smokes away from Carl about 1 day after he started smoking \
3.  Would have seen that Brian was under stress and begged him not to go on tour until he got some help for his anxiety.
4.  Smile would have went to album
5.  Murry would have gone to some parenting classes

[punkinhead]

-keep Mike Love out of the picture during the Redwood days
-sign Redwood to Brother Records
-get a collaborator for Brian on 15 Big Ones, as apposed to the covers
-change 15 big ones cover
-keep jack riley as manager
-get the Love relatives out as manager and all that
-get brian to put Guess i'm dumb on Today! rather than Bull Session
-release better b-sides (little girl i once knew to wild honey) (except for singles on Pet Sounds and the GV single)
-keep Mike love in Rishikesh for longer period.
-keep 1974' tapes in a fire-safe container
-release California Feeling on LA
-make Holland a little less serious...
-shorten So Tough to at least a 10 song album
-release a better rarities comp in the early 80s! 

[voxnut]

I'm in the vast minority in that I'm not apologetic for loving the surf/car era Beach Boys. I prefer that much more to the post-Smile stuff, although I wince at how it was dragged through the mud and devalued from the mid-70's on. But hey, the same thing has happened with Marilyn Monroe, James Dean and '57 Chevys- the first reaction is to go "ugh" but when you take a step back and try to view them in their original context you can better understand all the hub-bub.

I'm just not that big a fan of a Beach Boys that didn't have Brian at the helm. Just like I'm not that big a fan of a Beatles that had McCartney at the helm. Sure there were some good songs still, but overall the impact as a band was diluted.

Anyway, that said as a prefix in my probably controversial  opinion, I would have the Beach Boys come to an amicable parting over the Smile stuff. Perhaps that would've allowed Brian the space to become a producer, the tour with the Marahrishi wouldn't have happened and countless lawsuits would've been avoided. Perhaps everyone would've worked out their intra-personal junk, Carl would've been free to do his thing much earlier, Dennis might still be alive and the prospect of a reunion would be simply to revisit some good times and some great tunes.

Who knows? This sort of thing is always difficult to second guess. If this had happened things could've turned out just as bad, or worse.

Dean

[punkinhead]

when carl was put into the producers chair, should he had more practice? let alone, what about his solo stuff, why are they looked sadly upon?

[voxnut]

Just speaking for myself, I'm not a huge fan of a lot of music from the late 60's-mid 70's so it's hard to separate what happened with the Beach Boys sound. Obviously the sans Brian version was trying hard to have hits, so it adopted much of the sonic and artistic qualities the era represents. As much as I love Pet Sounds and appreciate Sgt. Peppers, the monsters they created in the music world are sometimes painful. Suddenly rock n' roll became "rock" and had a lot of high art aspirations and everyone who picked up a guitar and wanted some sort of cred needed to have something important to say either lyrically or musically. For me, sometimes this works-  Pet Sounds, Smile as two examples and most of the time it doesn't. While I understand musician's can't go around repeating themselves endlessly without becoming a parody of their former selves (mid-70's Beach Boys,  or the Ramones anyone?) I just tend to respond more to rock n' roll as opposed to "Rock" and as a consequence, most of my favorite bands are the ones that made maybe 2 or 3 records before calling it a day.
 
I know there are a lot of people who love Carl Wilson's voice from that period, but I must sheepishly admit that I'm not one of them. When he was singing straight, it was cool, but when he tried to go for the soul thing to me it just sounds like a white guy straining his voice and singing out of his musical range. Wild honey is painful to listen to for me, even though I like the song itself well enough- it sounds like it's about a key higher than Carl can comfortably sing. Again, some folks love it and thats fine with me.

But in risking blasphemy, I just think that the Beach Boys with Brian Wilson at the peak of his powers are greater than the sum of it's parts. If Brian would've gone away to college and Murry only left Carl and Dennis the grocery money, it 'prolly would've just bought groceries. If they had started a band without Brian, I just don't see them ever getting out of the garage or the local battle of the bands.  With most of the Carl-led recordings, there is just an underlying vibe of despiration and uneasiness, like they were in over their heads and trying hard to figure out which way is up. I don't think they ever made it so they retreated to safe territory and created a more cartoony, less valid version of their early-60's selves. Again, just my opinion I know plenty of others around here completely disagree.

Dean

[Roger Ryan]

when carl was put into the producers chair, should he had more practice? let alone, what about his solo stuff, why are they looked sadly upon?

I can only speak for my own experience. With triumphs like "Long Promised Road", "Feel Flows" and "The Trader" behind him (heck, even "Angel Come Home" and "Full Sail" are pretty strong), I eagerly purchased Carl's first album when it came out. I found it disappointingly bland with little melodic invention and uninspired production. Basically, sub-Christopher Cross material. Say what you want about Brian's solo work, but he never delivered anything as dull as Carl's debut. I admit that I never purchased the follow-up "Youngblood" which many claim is better, but such was the effect of hearing that debut...

Yeah, Carl's debut solo album would be a blunder in my book and, by that point, he definitely had a great deal of production experience.

[incognito]

Carl's solo albums might have been weak (though I still love Heaven and a couple of the other ballads--the kind of music he was striving to turn away from), but I wouldn't categorize them as blunders. It was important for him to make the break from the group at the time, and I loved seeing him play solo.

As for blunders, Sir Rob pretty much read my mind w/ his list, from the problems with the image-making to Monterey to not releasing Smile.

And as for how much Carl smoked, years ago (I'd say in the early 70s or late 60s) I read that he smoked 2 packs a day, at least then. Amazing that he could sing the way he did, isn't it, given that habit?

[Sir Rob]

I'm in the vast minority in that I'm not apologetic for loving the surf/car era Beach Boys. I prefer that much more to the post-Smile stuff, although I wince at how it was dragged through the mud and devalued from the mid-70's on.

Just to clarify - though I said that I wished The Beach Boys did less surf/car material in the early days I didn't mean to imply I didn't like the music.  On the contrary, I'm with you - I'm a 62-67 man!  I just think the subject matter of the songs and the image of the band could have been less 'surf and car' specific, if you take my meaning.  Maybe not quite as many songs with a car and surf theme.  Of course, I understand the commercial pressures of the time that dictated all of this.

Yes, I'm totally with you on how the early catalogue has been demeaned and devalued by the oldies act touring and image.