The Beach Boys are by now a legendary band whose vocal and instrumental.arrangements changed the face of pop music in the 60s. Part of their myth is that Brian Wilson was the musical genius whose various beakdowns--caused by drugs, past parental abuse, and the music business--brought an end to the Boys' most fertile period of creativity (1963-1968). While Brian more or less sat out the rest of the decade, the rest of the band, led by Brian's cousin Mike Love, kept touring and remained popular not due to any new music but to the repackaging of their classic material. I've read two books by outside authors about the group, and now we have two memoirs published this season by the two "leaders" of the band, and while Wilson and Love obviously have different takes on what happened, they somewhat surprisingly reinforce the myth in non-contradictory ways.
"I Am Brian Wilson" is Wilson's second book (the first, Wouldn't It Be Nice, from 1991, which I have not read, was not well-received). This is one the better celeb autobiographies I've read, largely because his
voice on the page sounds like what I imagine he actually sounds like: a little
child-like, lost and hurting (though not self-pitying), but also aware of his success and what his
music has meant for his fans. He lays bare most of the events of his
life, from his complicated relationship with his bullying father to his
ambiguous feelings about his brothers and bandmates, to the abuse he
suffered at the hands of his infamous psychiatrist, Eugene Landry, to what seem to be his very
rewarding years of the past decade. It's an interesting and briskly-paced read, but also depressing when you consider the great music that Wilson never made, or think about the band the Beach Boys might have become but didn't.
Mike Love, a lead singer and songwriter, is the Beach Boy who has the reputation for being hot-headed and contentious.
His style (or his co-writer's style) is smooth and very readable, but he
still comes off as a little pompous and not immediately likeable. Though he tries very hard to come off as sympathetic to Brian and his troubles, it seems clear that he carries some resentment about the collapse(s) of the band, and understandably so. This book works best as a complement and
corrective for Brian's book--I read Brian's first which may have affected my reactions. Love makes
a particularly good case that he was shafted for years by Wilson over
songwriting credits, a problem which led to a lawsuit that Wilson doesn't talk about in his book. I also have to give credit to Love for sticking
with the group all this time. Without him, the band would surely have
ceased to exist many years ago, and even if they haven't made truly
great music since the 70s (though I very much like the 2012 album That's
Why God Made the Radio), I still like knowing they're still out there
plugging along in some form. Both books are interesting, though if you only want to pick one, I'd go for Love's book which is more direct and less fuzzy than Wilson's.
"I Am Brian Wilson" is Wilson's second book (the first, Wouldn't It Be Nice, from 1991, which I have not read, was not well-received). This is one the better celeb autobiographies I've read, largely because his
voice on the page sounds like what I imagine he actually sounds like: a little
child-like, lost and hurting (though not self-pitying), but also aware of his success and what his
music has meant for his fans. He lays bare most of the events of his
life, from his complicated relationship with his bullying father to his
ambiguous feelings about his brothers and bandmates, to the abuse he
suffered at the hands of his infamous psychiatrist, Eugene Landry, to what seem to be his very
rewarding years of the past decade. It's an interesting and briskly-paced read, but also depressing when you consider the great music that Wilson never made, or think about the band the Beach Boys might have become but didn't.
Mike Love, a lead singer and songwriter, is the Beach Boy who has the reputation for being hot-headed and contentious.
His style (or his co-writer's style) is smooth and very readable, but he
still comes off as a little pompous and not immediately likeable. Though he tries very hard to come off as sympathetic to Brian and his troubles, it seems clear that he carries some resentment about the collapse(s) of the band, and understandably so. This book works best as a complement and
corrective for Brian's book--I read Brian's first which may have affected my reactions. Love makes
a particularly good case that he was shafted for years by Wilson over
songwriting credits, a problem which led to a lawsuit that Wilson doesn't talk about in his book. I also have to give credit to Love for sticking
with the group all this time. Without him, the band would surely have
ceased to exist many years ago, and even if they haven't made truly
great music since the 70s (though I very much like the 2012 album That's
Why God Made the Radio), I still like knowing they're still out there
plugging along in some form. Both books are interesting, though if you only want to pick one, I'd go for Love's book which is more direct and less fuzzy than Wilson's.
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