Defend the Indefensible: Mike Love

Mike Love: (shoots gorilla in the temple) Namaste.

LOL'ing in dentist's office; thanx, O.L.

I've always wondered - what is the source/story behind that photo of stripe-shirted Mike Love screaming from the stage, apparently in a white hot rage? you know the pic I mean...

no

https://www.gannett-cdn.com/media/Louisville/Louisville/2014/02/05//1391609558019-Beach-boys-65-7.jpg?width=1280

this one, apparently from a show at Freedom Hall in Louisville in 1964

*mike love voice* my buddies and me are gettin real well known/for our bad faith takes and the brutal self-owns

— brad shoup (@bshoup) February 2, 2020

he's probably singing

Pretty sure that photo was from the first live performance of 'Transcendental Meditation'? I think they made the right choice in giving Brian the lead in the recorded version.

I'd like to speculate that 'Transcendental Meditation' was Brian taking the piss out of the concept by making an atonal jazz-influenced song

The most effective pisstake of TM imo is that thing where Mike Love practiced TM for decades. Good one, Mike!

Chippy sourpuss George Harrison was not exactly a great advert for TM either. Not to mention crazed egomaniac, Donovan.

Or noted weirdo David Lynch!

People also cite the extremely cranky David Lynch, who dedicates much of his time & energy to promoting TM, as a poor advocate for it. But imagine how much more visibly angry these folks would be without spending hours a day centering and calming themselves.

of all the most famous proponents, Lynch is probably the best one tbh

lol xpost

But imagine how much more visibly angry these folks would be without spending hours a day centering and calming themselves

Very fair point

Maybe it’s been asked before, but what makes Transcendental Meditation better than regular meditation?

Listen to the song, it explains everything.

It's cool!

gets you feeling grand iirc

Sixty plus years of existence and the Beach Boys will always be this tangled mess, finally turning into the full Jarndyce v Jarndyce it always was. The lawsuits will never be resolved in the end, I suspect.

― Ned Raggett

it's spelled "jardine"

this one, apparently from a show at Freedom Hall in Louisville in 1964

― Οὖτις

having seen the cover to "chunga's revenge" he's obviously bored out of his skull and yawning

I'd like to speculate that 'Transcendental Meditation' was Brian taking the piss out of the concept by making an atonal jazz-influenced song

― PaulTMA

if that was true johnny carson would have a lot to be mad about

Always felt Mike "Boris" Love was really getting into character for "Monster Mash" in that pic.

I’ll sign Brian & Al’s petition, on the condition that this online protest doesn’t involve saying nasty things about Southern policemen's mothers.

Is this the thread where we linked the 80s interview with Mike in the hot tub getting greased up before a massage and what not? If so, I never want to see that again.

I don’t even want to read your description of it again.

Does anyone have the photo of Mike getting a manicure from about two years ago

I’ve seen that hot tub interview

hot tub love machine

CHALLOPS TRIGGER: The "Beach Boys"-influence thrown around at early Jesus & Mary Chain records was not Brian Wilson songs but the Mike Love songs.

Surfin' USA is a Chuck Berry song, if that's what you're thinking of.

https://secondhandsongs.com/artist/3798/works

didn't know how much love wrote with brian

Love is famously an "add a word, take a third" practitioner.

haha

I think that's fair enough though, didn't he get royally screwed by Murry Wilson while Brian stood idly by? Or should that be royalty screwed?

It's arguable that Mike Love is largely responsible for ensuring that a lot of people who weren't around in the '60s know who the Beach Boys are. I mean, a ton of bands had +/- a dozen hits in that era and pretty much got stuck in the classic rock gravity well. Like, they aren't really broadly remembered for any of their actual new material issued from then until the late '80s. Now, one might argue that that's like Charlie Chaplin being remembered nowadays largely on the back of a popular line of Chaplin-branded handguns, but, well, being remembered is literally all that matters in the end. It's a value-neutral sitch.

They are remembered and revered in spite of Mike Love's antics, not because of them.

He's a terrible guy but it's not like I skip over Mike-heavy tracks

I definitely enjoy his presence on the classic tracks

Mike is the lead singer on nearly all of the best and most iconic '60s tracks... I'll call BS on the Beach Boys being remembered and revered "in spite of" him.

In spite of his antics. Not his voice or performance skills.

Also lead singers on the best of their 60s material were the Wilson brothers.

IT'S STUDENT DEMONSTRATION TIME!

I think it's just folly to try to discount the fact he was a distinctive part of their vocal presentation

One consistent source of amusement over the years has been imagining Mike Love scanning Van Dyke Parks's Smile lyrics for the first time.

Like just the growing look of consternation on his face, occasionally looking up at an eager Brian and Van Dyke sitting side-by-side all like 'Well? It's genius, right?' as Mike's conservative core swelled and calcified with every lyric he read about how great it is to eat vegetables.

Love's an asshole, but he was the bass, and his voice is well-recognized.

that said, hope he dies this year

I think it's just folly to try to discount the fact he was a distinctive part of their vocal presentation

― Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Tuesday, November 10, 2020 10:18 PM bookmarkflaglink

otm

Yes but the issue on the table is "Love is largely responsible for ensuring that a lot of people who weren't around in the '60s know who the Beach Boys are."

Afaict he's a memorable thing about the band that people who WERE around information the 60s are familiar with. Hence his current career.

In