Heroes and Villains : The True Story of the Beach Boys

by Steven Gaines

Heroes and Story of the ''Beach Boys'' Gaines, Steven

Genres: Music, Biography, Nonfiction, History, Biography Memoir, American, Music Biography

448 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1986

Reviews

[Blaine DeSantis · Rating 3 out of 5]

Heroes and Villains, a very good title for a book on the Beach Boys and, by the way, one of my favorite songs. Unfortunately there are few heroes in this expose by Steven Gaines. So many issues, so many problems, and the author seems to relish those. There is little joy in this book, for a group that gave us so many classic songs the author seems to cram all of that into about 30 pages. We read about Dennis' wild lifestyle and death, Brian's genius and erratic and bizarre behavior. A totally whacko father in Murry Wilson. Just really a sad look at this group, and the book takes us to about 1984 and misses the rise of the band with Kokomo, etc. All in all a disappointing effort. I wish the author would have paid more attention to the joy of their music, but everyone loves to read about scandals and problems.

[Carol Storm · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brian Wilson -- The Shy Teen's Elvis!!!!

How well I remember high school -- the cruel taunts in the hallways, the jeers about my weight, my breath, my Latino complexion, my excessively endowed phsyique. (YOU try being a Puerto Rican girl in upstate New York in the late Seventies!)

But it's okay -- at home I had the music of the boys. The Beach Boys. The liberators of my heart. The guardians of my soul. The golden, smiling blue-eyed boys -- my dream lovers -- the Beach Boys.

They told me I was beautiful. They told me it was okay to be shy. Dennis was the boy I crushed on, but Brian was the hero I adored, the shy, sensitive genius who changed the world. Songs like In My Room and The Lonely Sea weren't about being popular -- they were about being marked out forever as an outsider. Wouldn't it be nice, they said, to find a place where we belong?

This is their story -- from the brutal nights of abuse in their hardscrabble home in Hawthorne, to the thunderous applause of their worldwide million selling concert tours -- these are the men. The Beach Boys. America's Band. The story is true. It's triumphant and heart-breaking. And it's all here!

[Jeanette · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's not edited well, nor are the transitions seamless. But if you want facts and context to this Beach Boys decades length saga, this is the book. I happened to read other material on them over the years and this one, although now dated itself, has most of the actual dish.

It always amazes me how celebs of this caliber, known far and wide for far more than the noted 5 minutes of fame, because they do one thing well- can still remain so muddled and inadequate within their own lives. Not to speak of the self-destructive vent that is not so uncommon in current celebs either. I am also flummoxed by the cult of celebrity, how people have such fixation upon a favorite celeb. Or how in social media the attention, even when there are beheadings on tv, the headline that day will be how some particular celeb "stunned" in her halter top and tennis skirt outfit. Celeb seems to give permission just in itself. Rarely even to committing felonies.

But in this case, the core personalities of Mike Love, Brian and Dennis Wilson- those three, are certainly specific to actions and to perceptions, defined. With the substitutions and the hate relationships, it does say something that the music could surmount (and the money it made, as well, we cannot forget that for an instant) all in order that they did perform together as much as occurred over such a long period of time.

I read this because of the Terry Mulcher connection and that house in which the horrendous Manson family murders took place. My interest was the association that enabled all that house sitting and squatting; one in which such a group of sick and decrepit people would be tolerated and hardly noticed to acknowledge their names. Not that I dislike the music, not at all. But living through all Beach Boys music days, it wasn't because of any musical progression interest. Always understood that Brian had serious mental health issues, btw.

I did see them live once. It might have been in Las Vegas. It had to be sometime in the 1970's, because I remember I saw The Rat Pack and Shirley Maclaine's combo act then too. Now THAT was a show, despite it being truly raunchy.

For all you readers out there who I know are interested- I also saw Smothers Brothers which was perfection. (They played every instrument in the orchestra and it went on for hours and your sides hurt from laughing.) In my top five was an Elvis (way too short- he was sick, you could tell)and a AWESOME Tony Orlando and Dawn which ended with their leading the entire auditorium/supper club audience/orchestra in conga lines through the washrooms and casino. Great fun! Never could happen now. Liability issues alone!

But the Beach Boys concerts didn't have much talk. After reading this, I certainly can understand why.

[Chana · Rating 4 out of 5]

I attended a Beach Boys concert in about 1976, in Santa Barbara CA if memory serves correctly. I was not at all interested in the concert, sadly, I was more of Led Zepplin and Pink Floyd kind of music fan. Now I would love to go back and listen to that concert and observe the band. I really enjoyed this book and have spent quite a bit of time on YouTube listening to the band especially in their early years. My pleasure in listening to their music was greatly enhanced by reading this book and understanding who the Wilson boys and the Love boys and Al Jardine, who these people were and what their lives were like. The talent of that early band and how the American people took to them is still exciting. You can see the terrible toll that both fame, lots of money, fans and the 1960's drug culture took on the band members though. They were so young when they obtained fame and so immature. Nevertheless, The Beach Boys are an American icon, beloved still. I love listening to Brian Wilson's compositions and hearing him sing falsetto with the band. It is all still cool, I am appreciating it in a way I never did before I read this book.
There really are some appalling things in this book also, although what I find appalling might be different than what other people think. The worst was the friendship between Dennis and Charles Manson, even though it looked like Dennis was eventually afraid to cross Manson in any way. Then there was that terrible person, Rocky Pamplin, that guy was a total pig in my opinion. And then I also was really upset with May and Irving Rovell, a nice Jewish couple who I felt were seduced by the idea of fame in the music business and let their daughters go this way rather than ensuring that their girls grew up strong in their heritage.

[Neil Griffin · Rating 5 out of 5]

After finishing 2/3 of this book, I fell asleep one night and woke up and realized that the story of The Beach Boys is one that David Lynch should tell. The juxtaposition between these innocent corn-fed "Hawthorne Hicks" drinking milk shakes, driving cars around, and harmonizing sweetly contrasted with their lifestyles revolving around sex, violence, and psychic breakdowns is so familiar to me through Lynch's films and Twin Peaks that it was almost a frightening experience reading this. Like his films could be set to their music.

The moment this tale really took resonance for me was when Charles Manson (!!!), out of the blue, walked into the story. And then you sprinkle some transcendental medication into it and domestic violence, alcoholism, drug abuse, affairs, soap operatic incest (Dennis with Mike Love's daughter), quack psychology, drownings, and family betrayal....Like holy shit. And, yet, Pet Sounds is so perfect. Something so beautiful made by the worst of the boomer generation.

The book was written in the mid 80's, so I had to pop up wikipedia to see what, if anything, had changed since, and my eyes glazed over vindictive law suits between band members to find that one of the last notable things members had done recently, was help out at a Trump fundraiser. After reading this book, I'm not surprised. What a band. What country.

[Marti · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm not a huge fan of Beach Boys although I can appreciate their pre-1970 music in small doses. However, I will still read practically anything about bands from this time period, and this book, written in 1986, was given to me and has been sitting on my shelf for a few years now. Because I just finished Weird Scenes Inside the Canyon (in which many of the events here were mentioned) I decided the time was now or never.

This might be one of the darkest group biographies I have ever read and almost no one comes off as entirely likable. It's easy to see why the Wilson brothers, who hail from the nondescript and somewhat dismal Los Angeles bedroom community of Hawthorne, were driven crazy by having to walk on eggshells around their abusive father for whom nothing was good enough. However, Mike Love (a cousin who did not grow up in that household) was even more of an arrogant jerk. The people they surrounded themselves with were also a motley mix of charlatan psychotherapists and roadies/handlers who began life as full-time thugs. They also fell prey to more than a few business managers with dubious credentials who fast-talked themselves into the role, costing the band a fortune. Dennis Wilson was beaten so badly by two of the band's henchmen -- one of whom was Mike Love's Brother -- it's a wonder he didn't end up in a hospital after they finished by tossing him through a plate glass window. The other perpetrator, Rocky Pamplin, a former Marlboro Man, was not fired.

I guess it is no surprise that most interesting parts of the book revolve around Dennis, a somewhat sympathetic child/man who spent money like water; allowed the Manson Family free reign in his house; and finally, went on one last Herculean drinking and drug binge in a seedy part of Venice Beach just before his death in the last week of 1983. Brian, who was even more mentally unstable, would also disappear for days, only to be discovered unconscious on a sidewalk in the city's skid row district. The Beatles were no angels, but they were never this acrimonious or out of control. The Beach Boys might even make the Sex Pistols look like Brownies.

At least now I understand where fellow Hawthorne natives, Redd Kross, got the title for their song "Dumb Angel." Of course Beach Boys aficionados would know it was the working title of the ill-fated Smile album, which was deemed so unsaleable at the time that it was shelved for 30 years. Having sampled it on You Tube, I am not convinced it is listenable now, although I like "Heroes and Villains," the only releasable thing to come from those sessions.

[Tiffany · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the most interesting books on a band I have read. The Beach Boys seemed so sunny and happy and all about the good times. Not so. From the opening sequence of Dennis Wilson's death (which I remember that very day like it was Elvis), to the whole downfall of Brian Wilson's stability and sanity, this book is a roller coaster of drugs, drama, family squabbles, Manson Family connections, in-fighting, and wierd 'sixties groupies. Brian Wilson is, no doubt, a musical genius. Incredible sounds come together and issue forth from his brain and instruments and voice. But, wow, madness and genius have such a fine line of distinction. From a year staying in bed, to a sandbox floor in his music room, to a doctor that only fuels his instability, I am amazed that he was able to produce such brilliant pieces that everyone knows and loves and even the Beatles stated were true masterpieces. AND he is still alive and creating to this day!!!! I was a fan of the band, and I came through this book mostly unscathed, in fact, was even more of a fan, seeing the immense hills the Boys each surmounted to achieve their status, after reading this. Scandalous bio-trash? Maybe, but this was their story, and their music continues to be riding on top of the wave as others crash under after one success. They will still be tops for many years to come.

[Owen Goldin · Rating 2 out of 5]

Flat, gossipy book. The author is clueless about Brian Wilson's musical accomplishments -- ok, I can understand why in the mid 80s before even the bootlegs came out he might have dismissed Smile as a bunch of incoherent fragments, but anyone so deaf to the artistic triumphs of Friends or Love You has no business writing this sort of book. The author focuses on commercial success to the exclusion of art . . . . The band and those around them don't really come alive as people -- everyone in the book comes off as a villain, except Brian and Marilyn, who are depicted as victims rather than heroes -- and Carl and Al, who to their credit having successfully guarded their privacy, managed to have little said about them.

That said, through Marilyn the author had the confidence of many in the inner circle, and there is info here not available elsewhere -- a very full account of Dennis' last days, the ill-fated 1978 Australian tour, and more about the late 70s early 80s legal wrangling than anyone would care to know.

[Jim Townsend · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent 1986 biography of one of the most successful American pop-rock bands in music history, in which Gaines details the drugs, women, money and squabbles that nearly tore this iconic band apart.

[Murray · Rating 5 out of 5]

A little background, first. While I am too young to remember listening to the Beach Boys music in the 60s, they were one of my favorite bands in the 70s, before I could even drive a car. I remember buying "Endless Summer" and fell hard for their music from that point on. I bought every one of their albums, saw them perform at least 4 or 5 times, and even went so far as to join their fan club. At a time when I contemplated becoming an artist, I redrew their album covers.

That said, while I thought I knew a lot about the band and its members, "Heroes and Villains" was a real eye-opener to me. Writer Gaines was aided by the fact that the Beach Boys made so many enemies in the first half of the band's career that he was able to find dozens of people to spill disturbing details about the behavior of several band members. While Brian and Dennis Wilson and Mike Love are easy targets - and Carl Wilson and Al Jardine are mostly spared -- this is truly a sad story of musical genius, madness, jealousy, and sex, drugs and rock and roll gone beyond amok.

I think I bought this book for about 49 cents in the 90s and it sat on my shelf for a long time. At 355 pages, it chronicles both well-known and obscure incidents that occurred pre-1985. Anyone trying to cover the complete 50+ year career of The Beach Boys would need 1000 pages to tell the whole story. In the last 2 years I've read more rock bios than in the previous 20, and this one is truly unique. While books about Led Zep, Springsteen, Keith Richards, Queen, and Peter Gabriel tell interesting stories, this book is filled with drama and sadness as it tells the story of an American family permanently scarred by a crazed father, and the ripple effect of this horrible, brutal man. No other rock bio comes close to wrenching your heart out, with the possible exception of the story of the Jackson 5.

I will continue to listen to the Beach Boys for the innocence that their music represents, although some of the fun, fun, fun has been taken out.

[Lance Lasalle · Rating 4 out of 5]

All great rock bands and musicians have a good story behind them. A narrative arc. Most of them are familiar to us, from tv or cinema biopics. Typically, the RockStarHero, makes his first splash, rising from the rank and file of normal musicians due to some musical quality that sets him apart. As his fame grows, so grows his appetites for life and love as everything he can wish for is set before him on a silver platter. Women, money, fast cars, big houses. Drugs. And then it happens. What begins as a curiosity or a way to cope with enormous pressure or just becomes an increasingly large problem for the musician as he struggles to remain on top and maintain and control his various addictions and his career and lifestyle. Eventually he sinks under the weight of it all. Someone he knows dies. It becomes a nightmare. He loses everything, He goes down as far as he's come up...eventually he grows up and gets out of the hole he's in and continues making his music, older and wiser.

that's one story arc.
Another is the Beatles' arc. It starts with one small success leading to a bigger one and that to a bigger and so on. A friend once told me that the Beatles had the greatest story of all rock bands. He wasn't a big fan, but I was. I hadn't thought about it, but I immediately realized he was right. The scrappy beginnings, the Hamburg struggles, the mounting super-fame, the pressure of the road and the darker events of 1966 leading to the transformation from rock band to psychedelic studio band, the trip to India and embrace(and subsequent rejection) of Eastern Mysticism, the last 'perfect' album, the sudden disintegration right at the point that the rot started to set in and then the final, unexpected splintering into four distinct artists, leaving behind a body of work almost perfect...After that, it gets messy, with slagging off in the press and suits and counter-suits and nasty rancor, but, hey that's the POST-Beatle story. The Beatle story itself...There's just something so...neat about it. So Beatle-y. Like the almost cheesy final twelve-string guitar lick in "If I Fell."

I mean, it works so well, you almost don't want to like it.

The Beach Boys' arc is not like that. IN fact, I'm not sure if there is a Beach Boys arc. Or maybe it's that there are so many narrative arcs, each contradicting the other.

Were they a band whose foundations on Brian Wilson's undoubted genius were sabotaged by the ungrateful, greedy others, causing the leader's artistic, delicate soul to completely shatter? Were they a band of hard-working talented individuals whose careers were sabotaged by Brian Wilson's self-indulgent excesses and flat-out insane behaviour? Is it a story of a group of super-talented brothers, tortured by a physically and psychologically abusive childhood, triumphing in music only to be pulled down and destroyed by the talented but ordinary efforts of the rest of the band, a group too narrow-sighted to give the Wilson's their creative head because it would mean decreasing revenue for their high-flying lifestle?Or is it the story of several talented musicians generously struggling to keep the geniuses in their midst from fatal self-destruction by any means necessary? Is it a story of a hard-working man who made his ungrateful sons and their ungrateful friends stars only to be stabbed in the back by them at the height of their success...or is it the story of an abusive man who attempted and almost succeeded in destroying his own childrens' futures...? Is it a story of artistic triumph or greed? Fun or depression? Sanity or madness?

The thing is, it's all of these.

The Beach Boys are probably the most confounding of the 'great bands of the sixties.' I mean, a quarter of their music is absolutely sublime, really, some of the most amazing and complex progressive pop music EVER; and a good 50 percent of it is superior pop-rock, a little on the soft side for some people's tastes, perhaps, but no less brilliant for all that.

And then there's the last quarter. The worst, most crass commercial pap ever released, arguably. Just letting the music tell the story doesn't help because the music itself is as contradictory as the various members and their respective points of view.
Gaines does a pretty good job of uniting the strands of these various narratives and twining them together into one complex story. But no one could make this story into one as neat as most bands'. Gaines doesn't talk too much about the music,(and when he does, I don't always agree with him) but then, the music speaks for itself, for the most part, good and bad.. Instead he focuses on the personality and actions that they take. And well...

None of the Beach Boys or their various associates come off particularly well, with the possible exceptions of peace-maker Carl Wilson and the loving easy,going mother, Audree Wilson. I mean, it's called Heroes and Villains...but it could have just been called 'Villains.'

Gaines doesn't spend much time on 'lesser egos' of the band,: Alan Jardine, Bruce Johnston; and especially Blondie Chaplin, Ricky Fataar and original guitarist David Marks; all remain sort of enigmatic and colorless.

Much light, however, is shed on, Brian Wilson's mad, uninhibited actions and the groups never-ending attempts to tame his mental illness for his(and their) own good. Mike Love's anger management problems are stressed. The choleric, abusive father/manager Murry Wilson emerges surprisingly well drawn. Some supporting characters, like Brian's long-suffering wife and the violent and perhaps leechy Love brothers, who worked for the organization in the late seventies, are also fairly prominent. Youngest Wilson Carl, whose production talents and band-leading skills got them through the seventies is sadly, undemphasized.

But the real triumph of the book is in the well-drawn portrait of Dennis Wilson, the also-ran genius of the band, the slightly less brilliant and slightly less mad(though still incredibly talented and incredibly fucked up) middle brother, whose tender and incredibly sad last days are set down in painful detail. His is a story of substance abuse trumping all else. Unlike addicted icons like Ray Charles or JOhnny Cash, once Dennis Wilson went down, he never hit rock bottom and resurfaced. He stayed down there and died.

Gaines treats his death as a sort of cathartic sacrifice, as he ends the book on positive note for the rest: 1985:The Beach Boys band as one of the top ten American concert draws; Brian Wilson fit and healthy and heading towards productivity again thanks to the eccentric but effective techniques of since-defamed 'doctor' Eugene Landy. It's a tidy, neat ending to a long story of changing fortunes and rock star ego-clashes, drugs, and murder, and even incest...the Beach Boys were indeed, a 'diseased group of motherfuckers' as Lester Bangs put it.

With hindsight, thirty years after it's publication(in 1985, less than two years after Dennis Wilson's death) the optimistic ending seems...well, almost comical. For the story did not end there. It trudged on in the same confounding tradition, through the late-career commercial re-peak in the late 80s(and simultaneous descent into kitsch and cheese); the fitful, faltering solo career of Brian Wilson; the 'divorce' between the Landy/Wilson team, resulting in Landy being prohibited from practicing medicine; the many law suits of Mike Love against various other members; the emerging oldies act for seniors; the surprising 50th anniversary tour and album of 2012, when the Beach Boys released the best album they had done since the late seventies(some would say the early seventies) and the all-too-predictable disintegration into bitterness of 2013...

The book needs a sequel.

But for now, it's probably the best, i.e., least syncophantic and complete biography of the Beach Boys as a band we have. (Catch a Wave by Peter Ames Carlin is a great, even revelatory, Brian Wilson biography, though.)
I recommend it for anybody who's a fan of the music or thinks that they could be. But ultimately, as mentioned above, the music tells the story in all it's absurd contradictions just as well...

[Kelly · Rating 5 out of 5]

Heroes and Villains is my book of Summer 2019, wandering around reading and listening to Pet Sounds and Smiley Smile anytime I wasn't reading. I've always loved the Beach Boys. I knew vague things about them, but wanted to understand more. So much tragedy but also so much genius!

Brian Wilson built a sandbox around his grand piano so he could feel the sand under his feet while he played. Was this the drugs or the mental illness or just being a rock star in the 60's? Or- was it just an amazing thing to do? It sounds fabulous.

[J.J. Lair · Rating 2 out of 5]

Older book when I read this. The book is very Dennis heavy as he had the more tabloid life. He is painted as a cliche, a drummer in a band, on drugs, or drunk asleep on his girlfriend’s couch. He goes through a lot of girlfriends and wives.
Mike Love leaves his first family and gets married several times to several women. Brian’s issues have been documented for years. This really details his drug use. Carl is just as bad but less so. Al and Bruce escape the tabloid life.
The music the Beach Boys made isn’t written about as much as the drugs.
Because I read many other books over the years, there isn’t much new material to discover and this feels more tabloid than biographical.
I’m torn between two and three stars.

[Seth Arnopole · Rating 4 out of 5]

Plenty of other books have come along to fill the considerable gaps, but this one gives a reasonable view of the subject from a mid-1980s perspective. The band members who attracted the most attention and/or controversy (Dennis, Brian, and Mike) get the most coverage, while the others are practically invisible. There is little focus on or understanding of the music. On the plus side, there are quotes and perspectives from people who don't seem to have opened up for subsequent bios, and there are useful insights into business matters that get glossed over or under-analyzed in other books.

[Paul Bryant · Rating 4 out of 5]

Anybody would think I cared about these creeps.

[William Aicher · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book - just wish it were more up-to-date. Would be great if it had a new edition released with info on Carl's death, Brian revisiting and releasing Smile, etc.

[Trevor Seigler · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's fair to say that the fortunes of the Beach Boys have mirrored the ups and downs of their beloved waves (though as it turns out, Dennis Wilson was the only real surfer of the bunch). From their height of popularity in the early to mid Sixties to their peaks and valleys as a recording and touring enterprise ever since, from the inter-family fighting between Brian Wilson and Mike Love, and the deaths of Dennis and Carl Wilson at far too early ages, the Beach Boys have stood in many ways as the ultimate expression of the American dream, rock and roll version. The Brothers Wilson, cousin Love, and good friend Al Jardine have seen the heights of commercial success and felt the bitter sting of critical and cultural irrelevance, but they've managed to continue on in some form or another (even now, a touring version of the band with only Love and Bruce Johnston is still making the rounds, while Brian does solo tours). It's fair to say that the Beach Boys (or 'Le Garcons de la Plage') have managed to leave a lasting legacy in popular music that will far outlast even the most cash-grab reunion tours.

Steven Gaines highlights much of the history of the group, often in salacious detail, in "Heroes and Villains: The True Story of the Beach Boys." In the interest of full disclosure, the edition I've read is the original 1986 hardcover, not the more recent paperback edition that's listed here, but that's no matter. I can only imagine the newer editions of this book would merely be updated with the details of Carl Wilson's passing in 1998. At any rate, this is one of the most gossip-ridden and enjoyable group biographies of a major band that I've come across in a while. I was disinclined to like it if only because I'd read Timothy White's "The Nearest Faraway Place" in high school and honestly, I'd recommend that to anyone looking for a first book on the history of the Beach Boys and the southern California sound that they invented. But this book is juicy and chock-full of details that will leave you breathless in places because of what the Beach Boys not only did but what they went through. When you grow up with the tyrant Murry Wilson as not only your father but your business manager, Charlie Manson is almost like a light breeze in an otherwise troubled thunderstorm.

Gaines, who co-wrote "The Love You Make" with former Beatles associate Peter Brown, does spend some time examining the music that the Boys made and which made them so prominent in the early to mid Sixties. But the real thrust of the story is the personal drama, and boy is there a lot of it. I wasn't inclined towards thinking much of Mike Love before reading this, and it's safe to say that there's little here to give me pause in thinking of him as one of the least likable rock stars ever (think "Chevy Chase of rock and roll" in terms of his talent and ego). Brian Wilson is the main subject of the book, being the main creative force behind the band initially before retiring into seclusion and legendary status as a rock and roll hermit for a period of years. Dennis, the middle Wilson brother, is something of a tragic figure, a lost boy who enacted disturbing patterns of behavior with underage girls and whose temper could be reminiscent of his own father, with whom he had a bitter, unpleasant relationship (not that Brian or Carl had it any better).

The Beach Boys went through a lot over the course of their many decades of existence, and while the touring operation is still going around (and Love is vocally supporting that fraud of a 45th president to this day, further besmirching the legacy that he and Brian built in the Sixties), it's safe to say that the Beach Boys really came to an end with Carl's passing in 1998. What's still passing itself off as "The Beach Boys" is anything but. The music remains, and the story is harrowing. Like I said, "Nearest Faraway Place" in my memory gives a wider scope to the story of the band and their southern California existence. But this isn't too bad, either. If you love American rock music, you need to read up on the Beach Boys. Critics years ago came around on their importance, and their story is compelling, one of the most epic and tragic in rock music.

[meggmayo · Rating 3 out of 5]

jinkies (i can only consume content related to the beach boys at the moment. )

[Ed Schmauder · Rating 4 out of 5]

Didn’t really expect The Beach Boys to be the most decadent rock band, surprising. An endless stream of drugs, sex, divorce. And songs about surfing.

[Tom Laskey · Rating 4 out of 5]

good book

[Shay Caroline · Rating 4 out of 5]

Like so many others, I grew up listening to the Beach Boys on the radio. I liked their songs, but as a grade schooler, I had no idea what a Little Deuce Coupe might be. (Still not sure!) But, over time, I really came to love their famous hits. Again like so many others, I sort of thought of them as "surfing Doris Days", as Bruce Johnston summed up the public's view of the group, as quoted in this book. Guess again.

The Beach Boys were three brothers, Brian and the late Dennis and Carl Wilson, joined by cousin Mike Love and also Alan Jardine. Their father, Murry, is revealed in this book as having been a real piece of work, a demanding, demeaning, meddlesome, narcissistic nightmare, who loved music, but was crazy hard on his sons.

The oldest son, Brian, was not only a brilliant songwriter and producer (though he usually needed help with lyrics from Mike Love and others), but is the amazing voice with the fantastic range. However, he is also a casualty of his family's dysfunction, drugs, rock n roll excess, and mental illness.

The middle brother, Dennis, had the looks, but until later in the band's career, not so much musical ability. (He was the drummer, not even holding his sticks in the usual way.) He was charming, sexy, and generous to a fault, but was perhaps the most scarred by father Murry's machinations. Dennis was quite definitely a drug addict and alcoholic, and almost certainly a sex addict as well. He died in a diving accident, or perhaps let himself drown, beneath the empty berth where his beloved boat Harmony had once been kept. By then, Dennis had been married and divorced many times, was homeless and penniless, and had fallen about as far as a soul can do.

Singer Mike Love was a man dedicated to meditation and Eastern religion, who also beat on his wives and had on stage fights with Dennis Wilson.

Nonetheless, this troubled group of men created some of the most memorable, catchy, feel-good music ever recorded. Rolling Stone magazine ranks their album "Pet Sounds" second only to the Beatles' "Sgt. Pepper" on their list of the hundred top albums of all time.

As far as the book itself in concerned, once I got into it a little ways, I found it very hard to put down. It *is* dated, having been written in the mid-80s and then reprinted, so it doesn't even include any mention of the band's late-career smash "Kokomo", or anything about the death of Carl Wilson in the 90s, but even so, I heartily recommend it to anyone with any interest in the band's music or in cautionary tales about damaged genius, the 60s, or how the creation can be perfect even if the creator is not.

[Blakely · Rating 4 out of 5]

Here are the best lines of the book:

Suddenly, Mike Love took off for Leysin, Switzerland, where the Maharishi was running a study center. Mike believed the Maharishi was going to teach him how to levitate. But it was a most inopportune time for Mike to learn how to float....

But really this is a very interesting biography (is that what it's called when it's about a group of people?). Some of the things the Beach Boys experienced are beyond belief: the three Wilson brothers had a very abusive Father who managed their group and screwed them over multiple times both before and after they fired him; serious drug issues and mental breakdowns by Brian Wilson; Dennis Wilson became close friends with Charles Manson, hosting the Manson family in his house for months and then recorded a song written by Charles Manson (it's pretty scary sounding) shortly before the infamous Manson murders.

This book is also a great example of why young people should never be given vast amounts of money as really it probably hurts them more in the long run than it helps. No matter how much money came in for the Beach Boys it never seemed to be enough, multiple band mates bankrupted themselves by purchasing stupid, expensive items. Oh, and then there is the fact that each of the bandmates divorced at least once with two members divorcing more than four times (by 1985). The vast amounts of professional athletes who end up declaring bankruptcy shortly after retirement are also good supporting evidence for this theory.

The downsides to this book: levitation aside, Mike Love and Al Jardine are rarely discussed, and Carl Wilson is also mostly overlooked - hearing more about these band mates would have been appreciated; it ends around 1985, and yes, I knew it before I got the book from the library but plenty of interesting things happened to the Beach Boys after that date and it would have been interesting to read about them.

[Katherine Basto · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a perfect summer read! As a Beach Boys fan I enjoyed all the juicy, well written gossipy truths about the early life of the Wilson brothers. Steven Gaines has certainly done his research regarding the "true story" of the Surfer Band that changed the course of history with their unique blends and harmonies. The cast of characters is dazzling and they of course include Dennis Wilson's involvement with the Charles Manson gang as well as Brian's eccentric behavior and heavy drug use.
This book has it all. After the first half, the book is studded with so many hangers on and groupies that come and go that it's tough to keep track of all the names. The Beach Boys went through multiple managers and producers as well as money and wives and it can be tough to keep up with the changes they went through. Of course, the complex relationships Brian and Dennis had with their controlling manager father Maurie would explain a great deal regarding their destructive yet creative behaviors. Gaines has done his research into how this fatherly relationship affected the boys for good and bad and it's a theme that runs throughout the book.
This is a fascinating and riveting chronicle of the genius and magic we know as The Beach Boys and the metamorphosis that they experienced over the years. The opening chapter really draws the reader in since it focuses on Dennis Wilson's last day of his life. Steven Gaines keeps the reader hanging on to find out exactly what really happened and he connects the first chapter of the book with the ending. It's truly a great summertime read and will make you want to turn on the Beach Boys music, "All Summer Long".

[Bob Schnell · Rating 3 out of 5]

Steven Gaines' history of the Beach Boys, "Heroes & Villains", is a tell-all, gossipy affair and a lot of trashy fun. While the tales of rock-n-roll excess don't make me think more or less of their music, I now have plenty of reasons to dislike them as people. Mike Love comes off as the most detestable while Dennis and Brian Wilson battle it out for the most wasted. I had no idea they had released so many albums after "Pet Sounds" and now I know why, they were generally terrible. This is a classic tale of financial mismanagement, in-fighting, infidelity, debauchery on a grand scale and then, of course, there was Charles Manson.

I suppose much of this would not have been new to me if I had been paying any attention to them in the 1970's and 80's. Real fans probably think this is a terrible book for airing so much dirty laundry, but for a casual fan like myself it is a bit of a revelation. And now I'm pretty sure I can tell which Beach Boy is which in the group photos.

[Carole Tyrrell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Heroes & Villains
This is the story of the Beach Boys and their very complicated lives and loves. Who would have thought that such clean-cut looking boys could have such problems? It sure isn’t dull and it was difficult at times to keep track of their many wives and children and girlfriends and feuding and simmering resentments. In fact their concerts often involved band members attacking each other on stage. ‘People were being fired all the time’ said one interviewee and there was always ever changing personnel in the line-up. I was amazed that they found time to create and produce such timeless, beautiful harmonies and music. In fact, I recently rediscovered ‘Surf’s Up’ and appreciated once more van Dyke parks incomprehensible, but in a good way, lyrics and the harmonies.
It begins with Brian Wilson, the lynchpin of the group, taking his very first surfing session on 3 December 1976 in public on a Californian beach. I felt sad for him but he was the leader of a group once associated with the ‘80’s surfing craze who had never surfed. I felt sad reading it.
The Wilson grew up in a household where bullying and physical chastisement were the norm. Murry Wilson, their father was a frustrated songwriter who decided that once he realised how successful his sons were becoming that he would join in. Whether they liked it or not. He never let up on Brian, the eldest, ‘never a kind word, a drip feed of criticism,’ one interviewee commented. There was also physical abuse and Murry’s tantrums. One of his party tricks was to take out his false glass eye at the dinner table. Another added that, when walking into the Wilsons home was like walking into 12 soap operas In one day. You never knew what was going to happen. It was always some scene…’
The Beach Boys were formed by the Wilson brothers; Brian, Carl and Dennis with their friends, Mike Love and Al Jardine. The Beach Boys went through several name changes until the Californian surf craze hit and the rest is history.
Murry then tried to take over as producer and formed his own publishing company Sea of Tunes to handle Brian’s songs. He made sure that he owned the controlling interest in it. Eventually the band fired him after he called Brian a loser while recording the classic I Get Around and told anyone that would listen to him that he had the real talent in the family. Murry had his revenge when he sold Sea of Tunes for a one-off payment of $700k as he considered that now the surfing craze was over the Beach Boys were finished. It was a single one-off cash payment of which the band saw none. My jaw dropped at the cruelty behind it. By 1964 Brian was beginning to have psychological problems which would result in the aborted Smile album and the sand box era. As someone is quoted as saying in the book ‘Murry raised a brilliant genius of a son, raised him as a total neurotic. Look what could have been and what is.’ This book was published in 1986 and includes Dr Landy’s involvement with Brian. In fact I thought I could detect some of Murry’s domineering in some of the quotes from him in the book. It was the Beatles publicist, Derek Taylor, who called Brian a ‘genius; which might have not been the compliment that he meant if you’ve spent most of your life being bullied and humiliated.
Meanwhile the Manson family moved in with Dennis in 1968 and he tried to get Charlie a recording contract. Dennis was very pleased and so were the other Beach Boys with the sudden supply of young women. This has been described as Charlie’s Sunset Boulevard period and cost Dennis over $100k. Unfortunately Dennis introduced Charlie to Terry Melcher who lived at an address that would soon become infamous – 10050 Cielo Drive.
There are tantalising hints throughout the book about what might have been as the Beach Boys dipped in and out of fashion; sometimes seen as washed up and then they would have a creative resurgence as with 1971’s Surf’s Up. They were a no-show at the Monterey festival and after the cancellation of Brian’s project, Smile, in 1967 Greil Marcus commented ‘ that the Beach Boys artistic reputation would be forever based on unheard, unreleased music’ and there is some truth in that. But Brian has toured successfully on his own performing the Smile album in recent years.
Tragedy was to hit the band on 4 December 1983 when Dennis accidentally drowned in a Los Angeles marina. It was on his 39th birthday and he wasn’t in great shape after years of drinking and drugs. But he was the first of the Wilson to release a well-received solo album, Pacific Ocean Boulevard.
This book doesn’t cover the banishment of Dr Landy who has since died and Brian’s return to performing. He apparently still has mental health problems – maybe from LSD trips or bullying. Dr Landy seemed to be almost as much a control freak as Murry. The pressure Brian must have always been under to create the next hit and the next album. Mike Love and Brian have both written their own books with their own opinions on how the hits were created. There is a sadness to this book in that a group who produced some of the most beautiful harmonies and songs, that make you think of summer days whenever you hear them had such difficult lives and lifelong rivalries. Glen Campbell was in the group for a while before launching his own career. It’s not an It’s incredible to read that the harmonies were created by a man who could never hear in stereo due to only having 6% hearing in his right ear.
A well researched book which had good reviews at the time and is still in print. I’m not sure if it’s been updated. It’s not an easy read by any means and you may feel that you read rather too much of the feuds, money, the family resentments – but why is it that dysfunctional families sometimes produce highly creative people? Ultimately it’s the music that lasts.

[Hugh · Rating 3 out of 5]

Intense book about the effects a tyrannical father, teenage success, money, drugs, minimal business judgement, and personal jealousies can have. Fascinating and sad at the same time. Lots of characters in this book to keep straight and at times I lost track of which year the events were occurring, but this story of personal self destruction kept my attention. Amazingly, on stage they continued to thrill their fans who were mostly unaware of the dysfunctionality behind the scenes.

[Stephanie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book sometimes gets criticized for being salacious, but it really makes no claims to being anything else. Is it poorly edited and pretty clearly rushed onto shelves? Yes, and it's obvious. Was it difficult to tear my eyes away from the craziness unfolding on the printed page? Uh huh.

[Rebecca Kovacs · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read this during my Brian Wilson obsession. (Did it ever really end? No...)

Good stuff! He led a very interesting life.

[Jimi · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Beach Boys lives were a lot crazier than you might think.

[Rebecca Bregman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very depressing, but very interesting. Ending in mid-80's so no mention of Mr. John Stamos.