Weird Stuff That Happened to The Beach Boys.
The Beach Boys are my favorite band of all time, I think their sound is unique and the writing is brilliant. I believe that Pet Sounds is the best album ever made, with "Caroline No" being my personal favorite on the album; Brian is a genius. However, a lot of strange things have happened to them. I was having a conversation about them and could not stop talking about all the strange facts I knew and I thought I'd share my knowledge of the group. Lets go over some weird stuff that happened to the boys and maybe you will find out something new.
Brian Wilson had someone controlling his life for a long time.
Coverage with Donna Summer as Host,The Beach Boy's Brian Wilson, 1978.
Brian Wilson had gone through some hard times during the 70's and 80's. He had been having anxiety issues in which he didn't want to preform anymore, and eventually Brian had a nervous breakdown. In an interview with his brother Dennis Wilson, who was also in The Beach Boys, Dennis claims,
"he didn't want to travel... I saw him crying in his room and he said he didn't want to go out on the road no more...there's not one person in the group that could come close to Brian's talent... I'd give up everything as long as my brother would be okay."
Dennis Wilson, September, 6, 1976.
After Brian had stopped touring and began having mental health issues he started indulging in alcohol and drugs. His wife at the time, Marilyn Wilson-Rutherford, had got him a psychotherapist, Eugene Landy. Eugene had a past of wanting stardom, and maybe he saw a way to get that with Brian, nevertheless Eugene eventually would go on to attach to Brian like a leach. Eugene had a strange method of therapy, he would reportedly stay with Brian for 24 hours a day, never being away from him, not even for a minute, and almost ruining his career. He would monitor what he ate, monitor who he spoke to (not allowing him to talk to his family, telling Brian he spoke to them an unhealthy amount), would manage what songs were going to be his next album, and would prescribe him his medication. Eugene himself even said that he influenced everything that Brian did. In an interview with Rolling Stone in 1988, a writer who had been spending a couple of days with Brian for an interview wrote this about what he saw,
"during the course of eight days spent with Landy and Wilson, it became clear just how much control Landy exerts over Brian's life. With the exception of taking a brief drive by himself to the market to pick up groceries, Brian appeared to be incapable of making a move without Landy's okay."
Rolling Stone, 1988.
Eugene cut off contact between Brian and The Beach Boys, claiming they only wanted to use him. Eugene was charging Brian about $430,000 annually for the "work" he would do for him. He was receiving 25% of all of Brian's song royalties. Eugene had become Brian's executive producer, business manager, co-songwriter, and business adviser. Eventually, Brian had become Eugene's only patient, and Brian's family begun fighting for Eugene to get out of the singers life. After he broke free from Eugene they found that he was being prescribed pills that gave him Tardive dyskinesia, causing Brian neurological problems and causing him to act strangely. They also found that Eugene had gotten Brian to sign his will over to him, with Eugene getting 70% of all of Brian's assets if he had passed away. Eugene ended up getting his license for psychotherapy revoked for his behavior with Brian.
Today Brian is with long time girlfriend, Melinda Ledbetter, and still tour's and writes music, his medication is in order and it seems he has gotten over his anxiety... with the strange years far behind him. Below I'll attach the interview with Dennis, as I found it really interesting.
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Dennis Wilson and Charles Manson had a strange friendship.
"Never Learn to Love", 1969.
Everyone knows the story about what happen to the beautiful Sharon Tate, an actress best known for her role in Valley of the Dolls. She was eight months pregnant when the Manson family had broken into her Los Angeles home and murdered her for no apparent reason besides the fact that she was famous. Well it seems Dennis Wilson may have been involved in some small way. One day Dennis had found two hitchhiker's on the side of the road and invited them over to his house for some cookies, thinking nothing of it. One day Dennis came home to a bus parked outside and his lights on in his house, apparently the two girls had belonged to a cult, in which they followed Charles Manson. At first he thought they were going to hurt him and asked them what they wanted. Charles had come out and kissed Dennis' feet, literally, they were there to stay. Dennis didn't mind at first as Charles would supply drugs and woman who were willing to be with Dennis in anyway he wanted. Mike Love, another member of The Beach Boys has been very open in his memoir, Good Vibrations, about one time he came over to Dennis' while the Manson family was living with him, he was completely freaked out by what was happening. Mike claims everyone was naked and they were having an orgy, he wanted to get out quickly and went into the bathroom, in which Charles stormed in and yelled at him for not participating.
Charles had really wanted a record deal at the time and saw Dennis as his way into the music scene. Dennis had thought that Charles was really good as well and tried to help him, he helped him get recorded through The Beach Boy's label, resulting in Charles pulling a knife on the engineer working at the time. One day Dennis had had enough and wanted the Manson family out of his house. They refused to leave so Dennis ended up moving out of the house, and stopped paying the rent. They had reportedly cost him over $100,000 in medical expenses, damages to property, and food.
Eventually, Dennis and The Beach Boy's would go on to make the album 20/20 (Brian was not very involved due to his nervous breakdown.), in which Dennis took one of Charles's songs and reworked it, naming it "Never Learn to Love" claiming it was his own, this of course angered Charles. Soon after Charles would order the Manson family to murder the people at 10050 Cielo drive, Sharon's home. Saying later in an interview in 1991, that he had met Sharon when at Dennis' home. Dennis never spoke on the matter but apparently he felt tremendous guilt over what had happen to Sharon.
Dennis passed away in 1983 after having drank all day, he drove over to the open sea and jumped in, drowning in the ocean. Some rumors swirl that he may have tried to end his own life that day, but of course no one knows for sure. Dennis had wanted to be buried at sea, only members of the Navy and Coast Guard are allowed to be buried this way, however Present Ronald Regan made an exception for Dennis.
Their abusive father sold 100 million dollars worth of their music behind their back.
ABC 30th Anniversary, The Beach Boys, 1981.
The Beach Boy's former manager was the father of three of them, Brian Wilson, Carl Wilson, and Dennis Wilson. He believed that the band was washed up and didn't have any more fame or attention coming their way, just three years after Pet Sounds had come out. Growing up with him, the boys would claim, he was abusive and would hit them over anything, their father also had strange and unusual punishments, like taking out his glass eye and forcing his sons to stare at it. He also once hit Brian so hard that he lost hearing in his right ear, and stayed mostly deaf in that ear. Well, it gets worse... he reportedly sold most of their songs to the highest bidder, only receiving 700,000 thousand dollars, but today could have been sold at an estimated 100 million. The boys felt defeated after this decision, feeling that their life's work had just been sold off in an instant. They tried to come back but kept meeting obstacles after this point. Brian Wilson had wrote in his memoir, “He had taken the only thing that we knew would last, our songs, and sold it off like he was running a garage sale.” This would also lead to the boys branching out, with all members having their own manager. Lawsuits would soon embark, in which the boy's wanted more money, as Brian was receiving most of it for writing the majority of the music. They claimed that they would creatively help, and would go on to sue Brian, and win. Brian has since broken off from the band, the remaining Beach Boy's tour under the name The Beach Boys and Brian tours as a solo artist.