In June, the legendary Beach Boys sonic mastermind Brian Wilson passed away at the age of 82. Dennis and Carl Wilson, Brian's brothers and bandmates, both died decades ago. Today, Mike Love and Al Jardine are the only surviving members of the original Beach Boys, and those guys are not happy with one another right now.
Al Jardine got to know Brian Wilson when the two of them played high school football together in Hawthorne, California, and they remained close for many years. Jardine parted ways with the Beach Boyd after Carl Wilson died in 1998, and he helped out on Brian Wilson's later solo records, including his 2004 version of the unfinished Beach Boys album Smile. When Brian played solo shows, Jardine usually performed with him. Earlier this year, Jardine released his solo EP Islands In The Sun. Right now, Jardine is on tour with Brian Wilson's former backing band, and they're playing the cult-favorite 1977 album The Beach Boys Love You in full. That's why Jardine is the subject of a new Rolling Stone profile, which is how we know about the latest rift between Jardine and Mike Love.
Mike Love, Brian Wilson's cousin, had a famously turbulent relationship with Wilson, including multiple lawsuits over the years. These days, Love continues to tour with the current version of the Beach Boys. After Wilson's death, both Love and Jardine shared eulogies, and both of them also spoke at Wilson's funeral. In the Rolling Stone profile, Jardine says, "Mike wanted everybody to know that he wrote every single word of 'Good Vibrations'... I didn’t feel the compassion, let’s put it that way. Mike’s got some serious megalomania problems."
In a response to Rolling Stone, a rep for Mike Love says, "That's not true. Mike’s focus has always been on uplifting audiences around the world through the music he helped create with his bandmates and cousin Brian. His commitment has been to preserve and share this great American songbook while providing resources to fellow Beach Boys shareholders, including Al Jardine. In addition, Mike and The Beach Boys have dedicated significant time and support to nonprofit organizations using their platform to give back to communities in need."
According to Rolling Stone, Jardine spoke after Love at the funeral, and he opened his eulogy by saying, "Mike, I’ve written some songs with Brian myself. We wrote one called 'Surfin' Down The Swanee River.' It just wasn’t as big as 'Good Vibrations.'" Jardine tells Rolling Stone, "I was focusing on Brian, and Mike was more focused on Mike. I think that is what it boiled down to." Check out the full profile, which goes much deeper into Jardine's history and his current work, here.
In other Beach Boys news, a new book claims that Brian Wilson really wanted to be a part of "Kokomo," the Beach Boys' 1988 comeback smash. Wilson always had nice things to say about "Kokomo," and entertainment lawyer John Mason talks about it in his new memoir Crazy Lucky. According to Mason, Wilson's therapist Eugene Landy prevented him from participating in "Kokomo," demanding a writer credit for Wilson even though Wilson didn't have anything to do with writing the song. Here's what Mason tells Fox News:
Mike [Love] and Carl [Wilson] came into my office and said to Brian, "Hey, we have the opportunity to write a song for this movie Cocktail. It’s going to be starring Tom Cruise. It’s really great. We’d love you to join us." And Brian was really excited. He said, "Oh, I’d love to do that." But later in the evening, Brian called and said, "I shouldn’t do that. Dr. Landy said I shouldn’t do that." Well, that turned out to be "Kokomo," the biggest hit the Beach Boys had had probably forever. And Brian felt really badly about not working on "Kokomo"... When he heard it, and when I heard it, we went, "Oh my gosh, was that a missed opportunity?"
Also, Jacob Collier just shared a cover of the Beach Boys' 1964 song "Keep An Eye On Summer."
