Editing The Beach Boys (section)

=== 1967–1969: Faltered popularity and Brian's reduced involvement ===

====''Smiley Smile'' and ''Wild Honey''====
From 1965 to 1967, the Beach Boys had developed a musical and lyrical sophistication that contrasted their work from before and after. This divide was further solidified by the difference in sound between their albums and their stage performances.{{sfn|Lambert|2016|p= {{page needed|date=May 2018}}}} This resulted in a split fanbase corresponding to two distinct musical markets. One group enjoys the band's early work as a wholesome representation of American popular culture from before the political and social movements brought on in the mid-1960s. The other group also appreciates the early songs for their energy and complexity, but not as much as the band's ambitious work that was created during the formative [[psychedelic era]].{{sfn|Lambert|2016|p={{page needed|date=May 2018}}}} At the time, rock music journalists typically valued the Beach Boys' early records over their experimental work.{{sfn|Lambert|2016|p=218}}{{refn|group=nb|For example, critics from ''Rolling Stone'' were wary of the group's changing music, with [[Ralph J. Gleason]] writing in January 1968: "The Beach Boys, when they were a reflection of an actuality of American society (i.e., Southern California hot rod, surfing and beer-bust fraternity culture), made music that had vitality and interest. When they went past that, they were forced inexorably to go into electronics and this excursion, for them, is of limited scope, good as the vibrations were."{{sfn|Lambert|2016|p=218}}}}

In May 1967, the Beach Boys attempted to tour Europe with four extra musicians brought from the US, but were stopped by the British musicians' union. The tour went on without the extra support, and critics described their performances as "amateurish" and "floundering".{{sfn|Love|2016|p=169}} At the last minute, the Beach Boys declined to headline the [[Monterey Pop Festival]], an event held in June. According to David Leaf, "Monterey was a gathering place for the 'far out' sounds of the 'new' rock&nbsp;... and it is thought that [their] non-appearance was what really turned the 'underground' tide against them."<ref name=SmileySmileliner>{{cite AV media notes|title=Smiley Smile/Wild Honey|others=The Beach Boys|year=1990|first=David|last=Leaf|author-link=David Leaf|publisher=[[Capitol Records]]|type=CD Liner|url=http://www.albumlinernotes.com/Smiley_Smile_Wild_Honey.html|access-date=May 26, 2014|archive-date=May 22, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140522030643/http://albumlinernotes.com/Smiley_Smile_Wild_Honey.html|url-status=live}}</ref> Fan magazines speculated that the group was on the verge of breaking up.{{sfn|Leaf|1978|p=125}} Detractors called the band the "Bleach Boys" and "the California Hypes" as media focus shifted from Los Angeles to the happenings in San Francisco.{{sfn|Leaf|1978|p=9}} As [[authenticity (art)|authenticity]] became a higher concern among critics, the group's legitimacy in rock music became an oft-repeated criticism, especially since their early songs appeared to celebrate a politically unconscious youth culture.{{sfn|Sanchez|2014|pp=18, 33–36}}{{refn|group=nb|Music critic Kenneth Partridge blamed the lack of "edginess" on the group's early records for why they are "rarely talked about in the same breath as the Beatles and the Rolling Stones, and when they are, it's really only because of two albums".<ref name=PartridgeCoS2015>{{cite magazine|last1=Partridge|first1=Kenneth|title=Why a Comprehensive Beach Boys Biopic Would Likely Fail|url=https://consequence.net/2015/06/why-a-comprehensive-beach-boys-biopic-would-likely-fail/|magazine=[[Consequence of Sound]]|date=June 5, 2015|access-date=May 13, 2018|archive-date=October 13, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151013063343/https://consequence.net/2015/06/why-a-comprehensive-beach-boys-biopic-would-likely-fail/|url-status=live}}</ref>}}

[[File:Beach Boys 1967.jpg|thumb|left|The band at [[Zuma Beach]], July 1967]]

Although ''Smile'' had been cancelled, the Beach Boys were still under pressure and a contractual obligation to record and present an album to Capitol.{{sfn|Priore|2005|p=124}} Carl remembered: "Brian just said, 'I can't do this. We're going to make a homespun version of [''Smile''] instead. We're just going to take it easy. I'll get in the pool and sing. Or let's go in the gym and do our parts.' That was ''[[Smiley Smile]]''."<ref name=Himes1983>{{cite magazine|last1=Himes|first1=Geoffrey|author-link=Geoffrey Himes|title=The Beach Boys High Times and Ebb Tides Carl Wilson Recalls 20 Years With and Without Brian|magazine=[[Musician (magazine)|Musician]]|date=September 1983|issue=59|url=http://troun.tripod.com/carl.html|access-date=May 13, 2018|archive-date=May 25, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180525211740/http://troun.tripod.com/carl.html|url-status=live}}</ref> Sessions for the new album lasted from June to July 1967 at [[Beach Boys Studio|Brian's new makeshift home studio]]. Most of the album featured the Beach Boys playing their own instruments, rather than the session musicians employed in much of their previous work.<ref name="Jarnow">{{cite web|last1=Jarnow|first1=Jesse|date=July 1, 2017|title=1967 – Sunshine Tomorrow|url=https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/the-beach-boys-1967-sunshine-tomorrow/|website=[[Pitchfork (website)|Pitchfork]]|access-date=April 21, 2020|archive-date=May 22, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200522093644/https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/the-beach-boys-1967-sunshine-tomorrow/|url-status=live}}</ref> It was the first album for which production was credited to the entire group instead of Brian alone.{{sfn|Schinder|2007|p=119}}

In July 1967, lead single "[[Heroes and Villains]]" was issued, arriving after months of public anticipation, and reached number 12 in US. It was met with general confusion and underwhelming reviews, and in the ''NME'', [[Jimi Hendrix]] famously dismissed it as a "psychedelic barbershop quartet". By then, the group's lawsuit with Capitol was resolved, and it was agreed that ''Smile'' would not be the band's next album.{{sfn|Dillon|2012|p=134}} In August, the group embarked on a two-date tour of Hawaii.{{sfn|Matijas-Mecca|2017|pp=80, 82}} The shows saw Brian make a brief return to live performance, as Bruce Johnston chose to take a temporary break from the band during the summer of 1967, feeling that the atmosphere within the band "had all got too weird".<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://bellagio10452.com/unreleased.html|title=UNRELEASED|website=Bellagio10452.com}}</ref>{{sfn|Carlin|2006|p=128}} The performances were filmed and recorded with the intention of releasing a live album, ''[[Lei'd in Hawaii]]'', which was also left unfinished and unreleased.{{sfn|Badman|2004|pp=198–201}}  The general record-buying public came to view the music made after this time as the point marking the band's artistic decline.{{sfn|Lambert|2016|p={{page needed|date=May 2018}}}}

''Smiley Smile'' was released on September 18, 1967,{{sfn|Badman|2004|p=200}} and peaked at number 41 in the US,{{sfn|Schinder|2007|p=119}} making it their worst-selling album to that date.{{sfn|Carlin|2006|p=124}} Critics and fans were generally underwhelmed by the album.{{sfn|Lambert|2016|p=216}} According to Scott Schinder, the album was released to "general incomprehension. While ''Smile'' may have divided the Beach Boys' fans had it been released, ''Smiley Smile'' merely baffled them."{{sfn|Schinder|2007|p=119}} The group was virtually blacklisted by the music press, to the extent that reviews of the group's records were either withheld from publication or published long after the release dates.{{sfn|Badman|2004|p=200}}  When released in the UK in November, it performed better, reaching number 9.{{sfn|Badman|2004|pp=200, 203}}  Over the years, the album gathered a reputation as one of the best "[[chill-out music|chill-out]]" albums to listen to during an LSD [[comedown (drugs)|comedown]].{{sfn|Kent|2009|p=44}} In 1974, ''NME'' voted it the 64th-greatest album of all time.{{sfn|Matijas-Mecca|2017|p=80}}

{{Quote box
| quote = When we did ''Wild Honey'', Brian asked me to get more involved in the recording end. He wanted a break [because he] had been doing it all too long.
| source = —Carl Wilson<ref name="MF1976"/>
| width = 25em
| align = right
}}

The Beach Boys immediately recorded a new album, ''[[Wild Honey (album)|Wild Honey]]'', an excursion into [[soul music]], and a self-conscious attempt to "regroup" themselves as a rock band in opposition to their more orchestral affairs of the past.{{sfn|Harrison|1997|pp=49–50}} Its music differs in many ways from previous Beach Boys records: it contains very little group singing compared to previous albums, and mainly features Brian singing at his piano. Again, the Beach Boys recorded mostly at his home studio.<ref name="SmileySmileliner" /> Love reflected that ''Wild Honey'' was "completely out of the mainstream for what was going on at that time&nbsp;... and that was the idea".<ref>{{cite web|last1=Hart|first1=Ron|title=5 Treasures on the Beach Boys' New '1967—Sunshine Tomorrow'|url=http://observer.com/2017/07/beach-boys-1967-sunshine-tomorrow/|website=[[New York Observer]]|date=July 20, 2017|access-date=May 13, 2018|archive-date=June 23, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180623193937/http://observer.com/2017/07/beach-boys-1967-sunshine-tomorrow/|url-status=live}}</ref>

''Wild Honey'' was released on December 18, 1967, in competition with the Beatles' ''[[Magical Mystery Tour]]'' and the Rolling Stones' ''[[Their Satanic Majesties Request]]''.{{sfn|Badman|2004|p=208}} It had a higher chart placing than ''Smiley Smile'', but still failed to make the top-twenty and remained on the charts for only 15 weeks.<ref name="SmileySmileliner" /> As with ''Smiley Smile'', contemporary critics viewed it as inconsequential,{{sfn|Leaf|1985|p=125}} and it alienated fans whose expectations had been raised by ''Smile''.<ref name="SmileySmileliner" /> That month, Mike Love told a British journalist: "Brian has been rethinking our recording program and in any case we all have a much greater say nowadays in what we turn out in the studio."<ref>{{cite magazine|magazine=Beat Instrumental|author=P.G.|title='Personal Promotion is the thing' say Beach Boys|date=February 1968}}</ref>

====''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}}

==== Selling of the band's publishing ====
{{Further|Sea of Tunes}}
In April 1969, the band revisited its 1967 lawsuit against Capitol after it alleged an audit revealed the band was owed over $2 million for unpaid royalties and production duties.{{sfn|Gaines|1986|p=221}} In May, Brian told the music press that the group's funds were depleted to the point that it was considering filing for bankruptcy at the end of the year, which ''[[Disc & Music Echo]]'' called "stunning news" and a "tremendous shock on the American pop scene". Brian hoped that the success of a forthcoming single, "[[Break Away (The Beach Boys song)|Break Away]]", would mend the financial issues.<!-- <ref name="May69"/> -->{{Citation needed|reason=ref name May69 not defined.|date=December 2018}} The song, written and produced by Brian and Murry, reached number 63 in the US and number 6 in the UK,{{sfn|Badman|2004}} and Brian's remarks to the press ultimately thwarted long-simmering contract negotiations with [[Deutsche Grammophon]].{{sfn|Carlin|2006|p=149}} The group's Capitol contract expired two weeks later with one more album still due. ''[[Live in London (The Beach Boys album)|Live in London]]'', a live album recorded in December 1968, was released in the UK and a few other countries in 1970 to fulfil the contract, although it would not see US release until 1976, under the erroneous re-title ''Beach Boys '69''.{{sfn|Badman|2004|p=238}} After the contract was completed Capitol deleted the Beach Boys' catalog from print, effectively cutting off their royalty flow.{{sfn|Gaines|1986|p=221}} The lawsuit was later settled in their favor and they acquired the rights to their post-1965 catalog.{{sfn|Carlin|2006|p=}}

In August, [[Sea of Tunes]], the Beach Boys' catalog, was sold to Irving Almo Music for $700,000 (equivalent to ${{Format price|{{Inflation|US|700000|1969|end_year={{Inflation-year|US}}}}}} in {{Inflation-year|US}}).{{sfn|Love|2016|p=226}} According to his wife, [[Marilyn Wilson]], Brian was devastated by the sale.{{sfn|Gaines|1986|p=224–225}} Over the years, the catalog generated more than $100 million in publishing royalties, none of which Murry or the band members ever received.{{sfn|Love|2016|p=227}} That same month, Carl, Dennis, Love, and Jardine sought a permanent replacement for Johnston, with Johnston unaware of this search. They approached Carl's brother-in-law [[Billy Hinsche]], who declined the offer to focus on his college studies.{{sfn|Badman|2004|p=253}}