Editing The Beach Boys (section)

====''Friends'', ''20/20'', and Manson affair====
The Beach Boys were at their lowest popularity in the late 1960s, and their cultural standing was especially worsened by their public image, which remained incongruous with their peers' "heavier" music.<ref name="Christgau1975">{{cite news|last=Christgau|first=Robert|author-link=Robert Christgau|date=June 23, 1975|url=https://www.robertchristgau.com/xg/music/chicago-75.php|title=Beach Boys at Summer's End|newspaper=[[The Village Voice]]|access-date=September 14, 2018|archive-date=September 15, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180915001824/https://www.robertchristgau.com/xg/music/chicago-75.php|url-status=live}}</ref> At the end of 1967, ''[[Rolling Stone]]'' co-founder and editor [[Jann Wenner]] printed an influential article that denounced the Beach Boys as "just one prominent example of a group that has gotten hung up on trying to catch The Beatles. It's a pointless pursuit."{{sfn|Badman|2004|p=207}} The article had the effect of excluding the group among serious rock fans{{sfn|Badman|2004|p=207}}{{sfn|Leaf|1978|p=123}} and such controversy followed them into the next year.<ref name="scullati">{{cite journal|last1=Sculatti |first1=Gene |author-link=Gene Sculatti|url=http://www.teachrock.org/resources/article/villains-and-heroes-in-defense-of-the-beach-boys/ |title=Villains and Heroes: In Defense of the Beach Boys |journal=Jazz & Pop |date=September 1968 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140714191639/http://www.teachrock.org/resources/article/villains-and-heroes-in-defense-of-the-beach-boys/ |archive-date=July 14, 2014 }}</ref> Capitol continued to bill them as "America's Top Surfin' Group!" and expected Brian to write more beachgoing songs for the yearly summer markets.{{sfn|Carlin|2006|p=62}} From 1968 onward, his songwriting output declined substantially, but the public narrative of "Brian as leader" continued.{{sfn|Matijas-Mecca|2017|pp=xxi–xxii, 83}} The group also stopped wearing their longtime striped-shirt stage uniforms in favor of matching white, polyester suits that resembled a Las Vegas show band's.{{sfn|Matijas-Mecca|2017|pp=83, 85}}

[[File:The Beach Boys 1968.jpg|thumb|left|The Beach Boys in 1968, left to right: Dennis Wilson, Mike Love, Carl Wilson (top), Al Jardine, Bruce Johnston]]

After meeting [[Maharishi Mahesh Yogi]] at a [[UNICEF]] Variety Gala in Paris, Love and other high-profile celebrities such as the Beatles and [[Donovan]] traveled to [[Rishikesh]], India, in February–March 1968. The following Beach Boys album, ''[[Friends (The Beach Boys album)|Friends]]'', had songs influenced by the [[Transcendental Meditation]] the Maharishi taught. In support of ''Friends'', Love arranged for the Beach Boys to [[The Beach Boys' 1968 US tour with Maharishi Mahesh Yogi|tour with the Maharishi in the US]]. Starting on May 3, 1968, the tour lasted five shows and was canceled when the Maharishi withdrew to fulfill film contracts. Because of disappointing audience numbers and the Maharishi's withdrawal, 24 tour dates were canceled at a cost estimated at $250,000.{{sfn|Gaines|1986|p=196}} ''Friends'', released on June 24, peaked at number 126 in the US.{{sfn|Schinder|2007|p=120}} In August, Capitol issued an album of Beach Boys backing tracks, ''[[Stack-o-Tracks]]''. It was the first Beach Boys LP that failed to chart in the US and UK.{{sfn|Schinder|2007|pp=120–121}}

In June 1968, Dennis befriended [[Charles Manson]], an aspiring singer-songwriter, and their relationship lasted for several months. Dennis bought him time at Brian's home studio, where recording sessions were attempted while Brian stayed in his room.{{sfn|Guinn|2014|pp=168–70, 340}}{{sfn|Love|2016|pp=202, 208}} Dennis then proposed that Manson be signed to Brother Records. Brian reportedly disliked Manson, and a deal was never made.{{sfn|Guinn|2014|p=168}} In July 1968, the group released the single "[[Do It Again (The Beach Boys song)|Do It Again]]", which lyrically harkened back to their earlier surf songs. Around this time, Brian admitted himself to a psychiatric hospital; his bandmates wrote and produced material in his absence.{{sfn|Carlin|2006|pp=140–141}} Released in January 1969, the album ''[[20/20 (The Beach Boys album)|20/20]]'' mixed new material with outtakes and leftovers from recent albums; Brian produced virtually none of the newer recordings.{{sfn|Gaines|1986|p=213}}

The Beach Boys recorded one song by Manson without his involvement: "Cease to Exist", rewritten as "[[Never Learn Not to Love]]", which was included on ''20/20''.  As [[Manson Family|his cult of followers]] took over Dennis's home, Dennis gradually distanced himself from Manson.{{sfn|Badman|2004|p=224}} According to Leaf, "The entire Wilson family reportedly feared for their lives."{{sfn|Leaf|1978|p=137}}

{{Multiple image
| image1            = Carl Wilson.jpg
| total_width       = 275
| image2            = Dennis Wilson 1971 cropped.jpg
| caption2          = [[Dennis Wilson]] in 1970
| caption1          = [[Carl Wilson]] in 1969
}}

In August, the Manson Family committed the [[Tate–LaBianca murders]]. According to Jon Parks, the band's tour manager, it was widely suspected in the Hollywood community that Manson was responsible for the murders, and it had been known that Manson had been involved with the Beach Boys, causing the band to be viewed as pariahs for a time.<ref>{{cite book|last=O'Neill|first=Tom|title=Chaos: Charles Manson, the CIA, and the Secret History of the Sixties|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zG92DwAAQBAJ|year=2019|publisher=Little, Brown|isbn=978-0-316-47757-4|access-date=December 2, 2020|archive-date=June 6, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210606182949/https://books.google.com/books?id=zG92DwAAQBAJ|url-status=live}}</ref> In November, police apprehended Manson, and his connection with the Beach Boys received media attention. He was later convicted for several counts of murder and [[Conspiracy (criminal)|conspiracy]] to murder.{{sfn|Gaines|1986|p=219}}