I haven't seen this film yet, but I hope it shows Mike Love to be the only true Beach Boy. He only acted in a seemingly calculated (yet totally necessary) way because of Brian's mental health issues.
Mike Love is equally as talented as Brian Wilson and because of him I get to see The Beach Boys whenever they play in the UK.
In Mike Love we truly trust!!!
I have a suspicion you're not going to like the movie, Mike.
shareHahaha.
shareYeah it shows yourself I mean mike for what he was. Someone who wanted to milk his cash cow , so he could carry on singing songs that someone else has written
I was waiting for my hearse what came next was so much worse
I especially like a lot of the songs he wrote solo like Do It Again, Darling and It's OK.
Ladies and gentlemen, here he is Mr. Warmth himself, the one, the only - Mr. Don Rickles!
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"Do It Again" was a collaboration between Love and Brian Wilson. Love describes the genesis of it in the documentary "Endless Harmony." "Darlin'" and "It's OK" are also credited to the pair, not to Love solo.
shareHe is shown just as Murray is. They both don't like the direction that started with Pet Sounds. I didn't think it was too negative. The movie is about Brian, and doesn't show what happens to the Beach Boys after the attempt at "Smile"
--Will.
I'm sorry i detest Mike Love, i just hate the man and i have since i was a kid. if i had to choose having Dennis and Carl alive over him i'd pick both of them or Carl if given the choice. Mike love is not the beach boy of the band, the wilson Brothers are the band. after they died now it's Brian. Mike Love doesn't give a damn about the band all he cares about his Money and making money.
his Ego is Bigger than anything that's on this earth or off it if that is possible as well. Mike Love has written some good songs i'm not going to deny that. he's only at his best when working with Brian. cause Brian can make his music better i think. his writing better as well. but i've heard Plenty of Mike love's music that is just plain Awful. has anyone his heard his (1978) album Country Love? it was so bad it's NEVER even been released! i have a copy of it.
his other Album he did the same year is called First Love. and that one i think is a decent album. Looking Back with Love is terrible. his (1995) i think it was done that year called. Mike Love Not War i think is his best solo album. that's also never been released either.
when he was Suing everyone in the band in the 90's. for not getting his name on i forget what percent he Claimed he wrote. i think he did co-write some of the songs i'm not going to deny that. but some of them i don't think he wrote at all or even attempted to write. it's true Murray didn't like giving him any kind of Credit at all when he did write songs. but than Murray was like that for everyone in the band as well not just Mike Love. so i do think he did help co-write some songs. but he has been trying to show he's got talent that's better for years and it's never worked. it's a bit like Murray doing the same thing. he treated the boys like crap cause he thought he was the Talented one in the family and
he was Jealous as hell of his son's success that he never was able to Acheive.
i also think Mike Love is a dick. he HATED pet sounds in the 60's. he also hated Smile as well. pretty much anything Brian wrote that didn't give them hits or it wasn't in the same vein he hated. than you fast forward
to today and he's calling Pet Sounds a masterpiece and the same goes for smile.
why? because every die hard fan that buys it and raves on how good it is says so. otherwise he'd still be saying how bad they are. cause he always thought the Beach Boy's Music should be the same way it was in the early day's.
and he never accepted that when you write songs as the years go by your style does change. and Brian was a guy who NEVER liked to repeat himself. hence why
they started with Surf Songs, than they did Car Songs, than Girls, than relationship/love songs. Brian knew in the 60's that if you keep doing the same type of music it will at some point make you a nobody. and that 10 years from say (1965) he knew well enough that music wasn't still going to sound like anything he wrote on the Today album, or the Summer Days album. and Mike Love Never accepted it. and back than the public at least in the US i think thought like that as well. now all these years later they love their later 60's stuff i know i do. Anna the healer which i think is a mike love song? but i may be wrong on that is one of the worst songs they ever released.
but for me. (1965-1971) is their best years when they were at their peak writing wise. it's just a shame they didn't have a whole lot of success after Good Vibarations came out as a single. sorry for the ramble on here. this is just my opinion that's all. also if you listen to later Concerts
of the boys they are an oldies act. that was something they NEVER were for a number of years until Mike Love took over the band in the 70's at some point.
and i hate hearing the same songs over and over in their concerts, just the hits, i want to hear lesser known songs such as Cuddle Up Or Keepin the summer alive. they never play those in mike's version of the band.
mike and bruce johnston perform together as the beach boys now, don't they? mike doesn't allow al jardine to perform with them either if i'm not mistaken...sad. i guess mike owns the rights to the beach boys name, and has all the veto power.
shareYes, Mike Love is a good singer, but he's one of the luckiest human beings to ever work in the music business. No Brian songwriting = no Beach Boys, it's that simple. There's plenty of evidence that Love didn't like Pet Sounds no matter what he says now, really didn't like SMiLE, he resented that Brian stayed in Los Angeles making records while he and the others were doing those punishing tours playing the same surf songs every night.
shareI believe Al tours as "Al Jardine's Beach Boys Experience."
shareWell written and I understand your frustrations.
For me it is about seeing The Beach Boys Live (albeit Love, Bruce and occasionally David Marks) but hey, I get to live a co-founder singing Don't Worry Baby, Surfin USA and California Girls and for that a few times every other year in the UK I am in absolute Heaven.
I have seen Brian solo a few times and said to say due to his health and mental health issues, the shows are not very good in my opinion.
Of course I love Brian, but Mike is my man.
Mike has written some good lyrics and is a talented baritone harmony singer with a limited but distinctive nasal voice. As lead singer and frontman, the BB would have never become the live concert workhorses they were and are. The thought of Mike Love being anywhere near as talented as Brian or "the only true Beach Boy" is patently absurd on its very face, but Mike did have what Brian lacked - confidence. Brian had very little strength within and could not deal with the business of the band and with people in general, especially the parasites of L.A. He was a wunderkind, producing music that was much less straightforward, aggressive, and accessible as time went on and thus alienating the general American public. The more sophisticated audiences of Europe loved Pet Sounds and Brian's more avant-garde musical direction. America and maybe some other markets didn't get it, but I guess Pet Sounds has gone gold by now. I hope so.
shareMike Love, in my opinion, is shown to be a rather negative character, opposing anything innovative coming from Brian.
I am not attesting to the validity of this portrayal, but I think you need a little forewarning before you see it!
Look at the "music video" (though they were called "promo films" then) of Sloop John B. that's recreated in the film:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nSAoEf1Ib58
At about 23 seconds, Mike walks through the door and Brian and him barely acknowledge each other. I've always loved that bit.
in love and mercy they actually go pretty easy on Mike, prolly in fear he may sue them. saying it's something like defaming his character when he's got no character, yes he's a good singer/baritone and i dunno if the guys would be as successful with him in concerts. but everyone else in the band of the original band have more talent in their little finger than Mike Love has in his entire body. and yes he's a singer but Not a songwriter.
Even Blondie Chaplin left us some great songs, though Leaving this town is a song i just can't stand. that one should have been left in the vault!
and you want a really great Beach Boys Concert? listen to their (1973) live album. they were at a fair a few years back. Mike & Bruce and though they did some decent versions of some songs. they were TERRIBLE otherwise. even my folks who i was with said the same thing. we were glad we didn't have to pay to see them. Mike also has no sense of humor, you can listen to any concert going back to the 60's and he used to do jokes. i don't honestly know if he still does but none of them were funny. he has no personality, Brian has confidence now i think, and the reason he didn't have any back than was i think cause of Both Mike & his dad. they were bully's.
Brian is one messed up guy who did drugs and they only made it worse. and i believe even he's admitted that in recent years. i may be wrong about that though. some bands have talented people in them but not great at song writing. Ringo Starr is my favorite Beatle and he's written some great songs, but his song writing isn't up to par like the others. and it also doesn't help that
he goes years without doing a song himself and relies on working on songs with friends. so his writing suffers i think because of that. i have nothing against him writing with other people. i just wish he'd write more stuff by himself that's all. Mike is the same way, he writes best when he's got someone with him.
and when he's alone you have that terrible song Brian is back. that i've heard at least 10 different versions of. or damn near 10 different versions of
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It's not like people have to choose one over the other. It's possible to like/appreciate both of them...for different reasons, and for their own unique contributions to the legendary Beach Boys. It's that perfect storm of creative differences and struggles that eventually brought us the incredible catalog of songs they have today. Not to mention, over 50 years of great tours and live performances. Many great bands have creative differences. MOST do. The Beatles. The Eagles. Fleetwood Mac. Aerosmith, etc, etc.
Anyway......it's an easy, tired, played-out, knee-jerk, default....almost CLICHE thing to simply dump all sorts of hate on Mike Love. I happen to really appreciate his contribution to the legacy. Brian Wilson is definitely my favorite BB. I have mad respect for him. But I also like that Mike Love fought to keep the sun n' surf sound of Americana....rather than venture too far down a psychadelic, conceptual path that Brian wanted to take. I think that path was informed and inspired quite a bit by his mental state and the drugs he was taking.....and Mike was right in being leery of that. The formula the BB developed was not only their sweet spot....their bread and butter...but it was also what the fans loved. If Brian wanted to experiment, he could have done that with solo projects.
Mike also has a very distinct sound that cannot be replaced in the collective brilliance of the BB harmonies. It's irreplaceable. You can get Jeffrey Foskett or Randall Kirsch....or even Matt Jardine to try and duplicate the falsettos in BB songs....but Mike's sound is one of a kind. And his contributions to the songwriting catalog is priceless. But I think what I like most about Mike Love is that he has never let go of the original spirit of the band. And to this day, they bring a little Beach Boys sun n' surf magic to my town--and I never miss a concert. Sure, it's usually the same set list as the previous year. And to that I say.....thank goodness! I love those songs. And I love enjoying a cold beer with my girl, while the sun sets....listening to those great songs. Truthfully, I think they still sound terrific. The band they have assembled, now including Jeff Foskett, John Cowsill, Randall Kirsch, etc...really help contribute to creating that magic sound of the BB. Their harmonies are nice, and the music is special.
It's easy to be a "hater". And some people just feel better dumping on Mike Love in support of Brian Wilson. I love Brian Wilson. He is a legend. The architect of my all-time favorite band. But I really like and appreciate Mike Love......as well.
Okeelani, what an intelligent, well written post. You make some very valid points. The Beach Boys would not be the Beach Boys without the contributions of both Brian Wilson AND Mike Love. The key word hear being contributions. Mike obviously contributed to their sound on so many of the popular songs with his unique sounding voice but For me personally, BRIAN is the Beach Boys, which is why I clicked on this thread to begin with. I disagree with the OP, but this is opinion only which is why I liked your pragmatic approach, (Just my opinion though)
I do think that the person who writes and composes the material should get the lion's share of credit for any band though...and that was Brian with the Beach Boys.
Blondie Chaplin is definitely the most under-rated and under-appreciated "official" Beach Boy in the group's long history. I actually like "Leaving This Town" - as I think it fits into the "Holland" LP very well. "Holland" is also arguably the *only* place where you will find any sort of Mike Love lyrical contribution that is *not* corny and juvenile - the whatever little bit he contributed for "Big Sur."
shareanyone who could share the stage with John Stamos is a wretched shill, in my opinion.
However, to step off my soap box for a moment, Paul McCartney has admitted that he and John had written music solely for money.
John Stamos has shown nothing but respect for the BB, and became a drummer based on his childhood idol (Dennis Wilson). If they let him sit-in with the band on occasion, I see no harm in that. After all....the band is centered around summertime fun. That's kind of the point. They are the ANTI pretentious, "we're all about the art" band. Good times....surfin....girls....cars....summertime. Plus, it was a fun way to bring interest in the BB to a new generation. If you can forgive the BB for allowing Stamos to sit-in on the drums......I will forgive Paul McCartney for recording music with....Kanye effin WEST?? :) Or, sharing the stage with Miley Cyrus. Say it ain't so, Paul.
sharefair enough.
sharePlease tell me that isn't true. I daren't google it , Paul mcartney kanye west ? Nooooooo
I was waiting for my hearse what came next was so much worse
Mike Love only thinks he is The Beach Boys. In a business overrun with enormous egos he stands out as a major league douche bag.
shareI can appreciate how Mike Love tried to keep it real. Brian Wilson was overly fond of complexity, and that's the reason the band faded. At the same time, Brian was responsible for most of the output, and he understood the need to cover new ground. Does anyone remember Herman's Hermits? Peter Noone and his bandmates kept putting out the same stuff, and after the British Invasion faded, nobody was interested. If Mike had had his way, the same thing would have happened to the Beach Boys.
shareI want to sensitively make this post as I am NOT equating Herman's Hermits a/k/a Peter Noone with the Beach Boys. Clearly the Beach Boys music dwarfs HH in all measurable areas.
However, if you look at their relative discographies I can't see where either band made any significant contributions, in the terms of quality new music, after 1967/8. Significant.....as I recall BB made a contribution to a movie soundtrack that sold well but was drivel. My point is both bands created their lion share of new(not equal in terms of quality or impact) music by 1968. Once again, HH impact on the music world/culture dwarfs HH.
I want to sensitively make this post as I am NOT equating Herman's Hermits a/k/a Peter Noone with the Beach Boys. Clearly the Beach Boys music dwarfs HH in all measurable areas.
However, if you look at their relative discographies I can't see where either band made any significant contributions, in the terms of quality new music, after 1967/8. Significant.....as I recall BB made a contribution to a movie soundtrack that sold well but was drivel. My point is both bands created their lion share of new(not equal in terms of quality or impact) music by 1968. Once again, HH impact on the music world/culture dwarfs HH.