What Happened to The Beach Boys — Where They’ve Been and Where They Are Now

Brian Wilson

In some ways, the success of The Beach Boys became more of a burden to Brian than anything else, finding that the mania that greeted the group was zapping his energy. For this reason, at the end of 1964, he decided to leave the touring aspect of the band so he could focus on songwriting and production. As he explained to Rolling Stone, “I felt I had no choice. I was run down mentally and emotionally, because I was running around, jumping on jets from one city to another on one-night stands, also producing, writing, arranging, singing, planning, teaching — at the point where I had no peace of mind and no chance to actually sit down and think or even rest.”

It wasn’t long from then that he was introduced to pot and acid and found himself feeling creatively free and more energetic, but it also triggered “auditory hallucinations” (i.e. he was hearing voices) that have plagued him ever since, stripping him of the idealism that had been a part of the group’s earliest days. In his 1991 biography Wouldn’t It Be Nice: My Own Story, he writes, “For the past 40 years, I’ve had auditory hallucinations in my head — all day, every day — and I can’t get them out. Every few minutes the voices say something derogatory to me, which discouraged me a little bit. But I have to be strong enough to say to them, ‘Hey, would you quit stalking me? Don’t talk to me — leave me alone!’ I have to say these types of things all day long. It’s like a fight.”

Over the decades, Brian (born Brian Douglas Wilson on June 20, 1942) would deal with bouts of deep depression, total drug addiction, massive weight gains and for a time turned over the keys to his life to psychologist (and a former record distributor and drug counselor) Eugene Landy. Claiming it was necessary to help him, Landy did everything he could to cut Brian off from friends, family and The Beach Boys, and things got to the point that Brian wouldn’t make a move without him — paying Landy huge sums of money for the privilege.

As Mike Love told ABC News in 1991, “[Landy] said he’d be there a year, a year-and-a-half. Well, when it got to be about five years, we realized that he had no intention of leaving Brian on his own.” Later that same year, Brian’s new girlfriend, Melinda Ledbetter (who had to sneak around with Brian to avoid Landy) and Carl Wilson finally made Brian aware of what was really happening, driven home by the fact that Landy was getting 50% of sales of Brian’s autobiography.

Brian starts to find his footing in life again.

As Brian revealed to Larry King in 2004, “I wasn’t allowed to call my family or my friends at all for nine years. He [Landy] doped me up with medication. He kept me doped so I couldn’t resist what he told me to do. He was a control freak. He gets off on controlling.”

In between all of this, Brian would sometimes work with The Beach Boys, seldom performed concerts with them, recorded and produced his own solo albums and did his best to keep making music while battling his personal demons. He and The Beach Boys did enjoy some truly glorious moments in 2012 for the group’s 50th anniversary, playing some concerts and releasing the album That’s Why God Made the Radio. In more recent years, Brian has done a world tour celebrating the 50th Anniversary of The Beach Boys’ classic album Pet Sounds, and published the autobiography I Am Brian Wilson.

In that book, he looks back over the years, reflecting on his mental illness, “Not only wasn’t I completely in control of the group, but I wasn’t completely in control of myself. How do you know when a problem starts?… Did it start in the ’40s when my father whacked me, because he didn’t like how I was acting? Did it start in the ’70s with drugs or long before that with the beginnings of mental illness that no one knew how to handle? What did it matter when it started? What mattered was that for a while it wouldn’t end… I felt like I was slipping away from myself. The time in my life when I had complete control and confidence in the studio was behind me, and I didn’t know what was ahead. I didn’t know how to get that control and confidence back. I once called it ‘ego death.’ I didn’t know if anything would ever come back to life.”

Thankfully, despite the struggles he continues to deal with, much of it has.

Solo Albums: Brian Wilson (1988), I just Wasn’t Made for These Times (1995), Orange Crate Art (1995), Imagination (1998), Gettin’ in Over My Head (2004), What I Really Want for Christmas (2005), That Lucky Old Sun (2008), Brian Wilson Reimagines Gershwin (2010), In the Key of Disney (2011), and No Pier Pressure (2015).

Books: Wouldn’t It Be Nice: My Own Story, by Brian and Todd Gold (1991); I Am Brian Wilson: A Memoir, by Brian Wilson and Ben Greenman (2016)

Mike Love

There’s no denying that Mike Love has taken a lot of criticism over the years, some of it coming from what appears to be a combative attitude and some of it through misunderstandings on the part of the media and the public. So the question is, is he the keeper of The Beach Boys flame, steadfast in his devotion to the group when others — primarily Brian and Carl Wilson — faltered? Or is he the overly litigious hothead, forever complaining that his contributions to The Beach Boys have been undersold? Either way, as reported by Vanity Fair, he commented, “For those who believe that Brian walks on water, I will always be the Antichrist.”

Born Michael Edward Love on March 15, 1941, Mike is the cousin to Brian, Carl and Dennis Wilson, and, with them, launched The Beach Boys. Now, 50-plus years later, he and band member Bruce Johnston remain the touring ambassadors who continue to bring the music of the group to audiences around the world, a role Mike has played since pretty much the time Brian started dropping out.

His side excursions into music over the decades have been pretty minimal. In the mid-1970s he fronted a band called Celebration, which released the single “Almost Summer” (co-written by Brian and Al Jardine), he recorded a pair of unreleased solo albums, First Love and Country Love, and released Looking Back with Love in 1981. Where he really made headlines was in various lawsuits he launched against Brian, one for defamation of character for statements that Brian made in his book Wouldn’t It Be Nice: My Own Story (settled for $1.5 million), copyright claims for quite a number of songs for which he had co-written the lyrics (which found him awarded co-writing credit, $13 million and the license to tour as The Beach Boys), and then for a CD that was given away for free with The Mail On Sunday that featured the name of The Beach Boys and Mike’s image as a promotion for 2004’s Brian Wilson Presents Smile, his claim being that the CD resulted in the loss of income for the band — a suit that he actually lost.

Update on Mike’s Life

In the pages of Life Story, Mike comments, “Listen, I didn’t really want to sue Brian at all, because I knew he was sick and I’ve been very understanding because of that. The facts are that I wrote words to 79 songs for which I didn’t receive a credit, let alone royalties. Just one example: ‘Good Vibrations,’ the song that people associate with The Beach Boys more than any other. When Brian played his finished version to us, we were all knocked out. it was incredible! It was like nothing anyone had ever heard before. I said, ‘Brian, this is really cool, but it’s a bit weird. Don’t you think it’ll alienate our fans? Let’s give people something they can hold on to while it’s happening, something they recognize.’ I wrote this simple boy/girl thing, the ‘I’m picking up good vibrations/She’s giving me excitations’ part. When I didn’t make it onto the label copy, I was very upset. It’s always been ‘Brian Wilson this’ and ‘Brian Wilson that.’ There was never any mention of Mike Love’s contribution, and I was sick of hearing it.”

Married five times and fathering six children (one of whom, Shawn Marie, who he never acknowledged, married Dennis Wilson), Mike has just continued to push onward. A personal moment of triumph came with the song “Kokomo,” written by him, Scott McKenzie, Terry Melcher and John Phillips, which was released as part of the soundtrack of Tom Cruise’s Cocktail in 1988 and went to number one, being the only Beach Boys song to reach that position that didn’t have Brian’s involvement.

“We tried to get him to sing with us, but he turned us down,” Mike explained. “I’m not sorry that it went to number one. I’m kind of digging on that I co-write ‘Good Vibrations,’ and 22 years later had an even bigger hit. ‘Good Vibrations’ was so avant-garde, still unique to this day. ‘Kokomo’ is what it was, written to conform to a spot in Cocktail — songwriters for hire.”

Wherever he goes in the future, there’s no question that The Beach Boys never gets old for him. “The beauty of The Beach Boys’ music,” he noted to the Yorkshire Post, “the stuff that we’ve created for going on five decades now, it seems to transcend generations. Not only do our original fans still love to hear those songs, their children and some of their grandchildren like The Beach Boys, which is kind of miraculous if you think about it.”

Carl Wilson

On December 21, 1946, he was born Carl Dean Wilson, and, like Brian and Dennis, was a founding member of The Beach Boys. Playing lead guitar, when Brian retired from the stage, his role became more prominent. For quite some time he was more or less the leader of the group (eventually succeeded by Mike Love), and served as on-stage musical director and produced many of their albums. Unfortunately, like Brian he was plagued with issues of depression and eating binges, often finding himself high on cocaine and over-indulging in alcohol. He did try to clean up his act in the 1980s and turned to recording the solo records Carl Wilson (1981) and Youngblood (1983). Gradually becoming more spiritual, Carl ended up becoming a minster in the Movement of Spiritual Inner Awareness in 1988.

Carl was married twice, first to Annie Hinsche, with whom he had two children over the course of their four-year marriage; and, then Dean Martin’s daughter Gina, from 1987 until his death from lung and brain cancer in 1998. Quoting from a 1981 interview, Life Story magazine notes Carl reflecting, “I feel very fortunate. I’ve had the opportunity to travel around the world a few times and meet many people, and I’ve really learned to love this place and the people in it. I think that’s a really incredible gift.”

Al Jardine

Born Alan Charles Jardine on September 3, 1942, Al was one of the founding members of The Beach Boys, leaving the band in 1962 to pursue his studies, but persuaded by Brian to rejoin a year later. He may not have been center stage with Brian and Mike, but he certainly had his place and is very comfortable with his role in the group. As he was quoted saying in Life Story magazine, “I was happy. We locked, our harmonies locked. That’s all I cared about. Carl and I were the anchors in the back.”

He remained a part of The Beach Boys until Carl’s death in 1998, at which point he felt it was time he went off on his own. That being said, he nonetheless went on tour as The Beach Boys Family and Friends (which featured his sons Matt and Adam as well as Brian’s kids, Carnie and Wendy Wilson — two-thirds of Wilson Philips). That is until Mike Love, who had licensed the name The Beach Boys himself, sued and the group name was ultimately dropped from Al’s efforts.

His first “solo” album was 2001’s Live in Las Vegas (actually featuring the Family and Friends), followed by 2010’s A Postcard From California, which featured, among others, David Crosby, Stephen Stills, Neil Young, Glen Campbell and The Beach Boys (seems he was missing the point of a “solo” album).

Between those solo albums, he wrote the 2005 children’s book Sloop John B: A Pirate’s Tale, which was published in 2005 and illustrated by Jimmy Pickering. Of how it came about, Al told swaves.com, “A gentleman approached me to write a children’s book on behalf of a publisher in New York who unfortunately recently passed away. The idea was to get artists like myself and movie stars to lend their name to a project and of course that will help sell books. And my angle was through folk music, which I still love very much, and of course the production of the song ‘Sloop John B.’ So that kind of tied in to the idea of doing a little travelogue you might say, with a young character going on a trip on the Sloop John B with his grandfather. So it was like a little takeoff on a very familiar tale which coincided with the recent popularity of pirates vis-a-vis Johnny Depp, and we thought it would really be kind of cool. So it all kind of worked out.”

He was also definitely excited by the notion of The Beach Boys getting back together for their 50th Anniversary, and the album they recorded for it. “Collectively,” he said, “they’re extremely powerful, and I think they remind us of a better time — a more positive time of growing up as a culture. What we’ve always done in the music industry is to create memories for people. What I call ‘forever memories’. And that’s what it is for me, too.”

Dennis Wilson

The middle Wilson brother, Dennis, born on December 4, 1944, was actually the only real surfer among The Beach Boys, embodying the lifestyle that the group so often sang about. In fact, Dennis — who became the band’s drummer and, as it turns out, was the perfect harmonizer — is the one who suggested to Brian and their cousin, Mike Love, that surfing become a theme of the songwriting. Needless to say, he was right. He was married five times and fathered four children. His last wife, who he married in 1983, was Shawn Marie Love.

In the late ’60s, Dennis grew as a songwriter, and had some sort of connection with Charles Manson, which he wouldn’t really talk about; and in 1971, he suffered an injury to his hand that prevented him from drumming for several years. Like his brothers, Dennis had issues with addiction, using cocaine, uppers, and alcohol. As a result, his behavior became more erratic, he battled with other members of the band and ran naked across the stage during concerts. He also feared that The Beach Boys were losing their relevancy, which led to his 1977 solo album Pacific Ocean Blue. At the time of its release, he tried to counter concern about his well-being by saying, “I have great faith in life itself. I’m religious and I’m not religious. I get stoned, and I don’t get stoned. I live my life, period. All I say is, enjoy life, try to be an example.”

On December 28, 1983, after drinking all day, he dove into the Pacific Ocean to look for items that he’d thrown overboard from his yacht three years earlier. The Beach Boys’ member drowned and was buried at sea on January 4 of the following year. On the liner notes for The Beach Boys’ 1964 album All Summer Long, he was quoted, “They say I live a fast life. Maybe I just like a fast life. I wouldn’t give it up for anything in the world. It won’t last forever, either. But the memories will.”

Bruce Johnston

At the time Brian had decided to quit the road so he could focus on songwriting and producing, first Glen Campbell played bass for the band in concert and, then, replacing him was Bruce Johnston (born June 27, 1942). Not only was he a member of The Beach Boys, but he was a massive fan as well, and in 1966 actually flew to London so he could personally give copies of their seminal album, Pet Sounds, to Keith Moon, John Lennon, and Paul McCartney. The Beatles have often referenced the fact that Pet Sounds resulted in them upping their game, ultimately leading to the following year's Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.

Bruce left the band in 1972 to begin a solo career, actually penning "I Write the Songs" for Barry Manilow, which went to number one on Billboard and won a Grammy in the category of Song of the Year for Bruce. Accepting a request from Brian to return in 1978, he's been a part of The Beach Boys ever since. In fact, he's the only member of the group to tour with Mike Love under the name The Beach Boys following Carl's death.

When the band's 50th Anniversary album, That's Why God Made the Radio, was released, Bruce was quoted at smilesmile.net, "I do everything exactly the same way I did it 50 years ago. I play piano every day, I sail, I have tons of friends. This is just a Beach Boys album, not a record to save the planet. I don't have enough ego for that, to think that I can do something like that. I'm just a tiny dot in the big picture. I've got my own charity for clean water, that's my humble contribution. Many people in arts unfortunately use their position to preach. They often become instant experts on all kinds of issues. Maybe I sound like a spoiled child that lives in his own protected little world. That's not true. But I only know about music, and I'll leave it at that."

Solo Albums: Surfers' Pajama Party (1962), Surfin' Round the World (1963), Going Public (1977),

The induction to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

In 1988, The Beach Boys were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, along with singer/songwriter Bob Dylan and The Beatles, yet something was apparently rubbing Mike Love the wrong way, which was made clear when he delivered his acceptance speech from the stage.

“The Beach Boys did about 180 performances last year,” he said. “I’d like to see the Mop Tops match that! I’d like to see Mick Jagger get out on this stage and do ‘I Get Around’ versus ‘Jumpin’ Jack Flash,’ any day now. And I’d like to see some people kick out the jams, and I challenge the Boss to get up on stage and jam. I wanna see Billy Joel, see if he can still tickle ivories. I know Mick Jagger won’t be here tonight, he’s gonna have to stay in England [actually, he was there]. But I’d like to see us in the Coliseum and he at Wembley Stadium, because he’s always been chickens— to get on stage with The Beach Boys.”

Some time later, he would chalk up his comments to the fact he hadn't meditated that morning.

The band embarked on a 50th anniversary tour.

In 2012, Al Jardine, Bruce Johnston, original guitarist David Marks, Mike Love and Brian Wilson embarked on a 50th anniversary concert tour (the first full tour Brian had done since 1965). Things kicked off on April 24 at the Anselmo Valencia Tori Amphitheater in Tucson, Arizona, and wrapped up a total of 73 shows later on Sept. 28 at Wembley Arena in London, England. For the group and the fans — between the tour and the album That's Why God Created the Radio — it was a whirlwind, but one with a finite lifespan.

"I had a wonderful experience being in the studio together," Mike told The Guardian. "Brian has lost none of his ability to structure those melodies and chord progressions, and when we heard us singing together coming back over the speakers, it sounded like 1965 again. Touring was more for the fans. Brian has a great band and he does his own thing, and Bruce and I have a fabulous band and we enjoy going places, big and small. But that configuration that happened last year you can only do in so many places and so often. So it was an agreed 50 shows that grew to 73, because of demand. But there was always a term, then we were always going back to what we do. Brian is in the studio again. He loves the studio. It was a great experience, it had a term to it, and now everyone's going on with their ways of doing things."

The Beach Boys Discography

1962: Surfin' Safari

1963: Surfin' U.S.A., Shut Down, Surfer Girl, Little Deuce Coupe

1964: Shut Down, Vol. 2, All Summer Long, Beach Boys Concert, The Beach Boys' Christmas Album

1965: Today!, Summer Days (and Summer Nights!!), Beach Boys' Party!

1966: Pet Sounds

1967: Smiley Smile, Wild Honey

1968: Friends, Stack-o-Tracks

1969: 20/20

1970: Live in London, Sunflower

1971: Surf's Up

1972: Carl and the Passions: So Tough

1973: Holland, The Beach Boys In Concert

1976: 15 Big Ones, Beach Boys '69

1977: Love You

1978: M.I.U. Album

1979: L.A. (Light Album)

1980: Keepin' the Summer Alive

1985: The Beach Boys

1989: Still Cruisin'

1992: Summer in Paradise

1996: Stars and Stripes, Vol. 1

2002: Good Timin': Live at Knebworth England 1980

2006: Songs From Here & Back (live)

2012: That's Why God Made the Radio

2013: Live — The 50th Anniversary Tour

2014: Live in Sacramento 1964

2015: Live in Chicago 1965

2016: Graduation Day 1966: Live at the University of Michigan

2017: 1967 — Live Sunshine

2018: The Beach Boys With the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra