The Beach Boys’ Brian Wilson and his summer of milestones

For half a century, Beach Boys songs like “Fun, Fun, Fun” have promised unending summers of fun in the sun — not at all like the life founding Beach Boy Brian Wilson actually led for many years, as Anthony Mason tells us now in our Sunday Profile:

On a warm summer night at the Greek Theatre in Los Angeles last month, Brian Wilson — backed by a band that included fellow former Beach Boy Al Jardine — was running through his repertoire of classics when a cake was wheeled out from backstage by the extended Wilson family.

On this night, the man many regard as one of America’s greatest living songwriters turned 73.

Well, East coast girls are hip,
I really dig those styles they wear.
And the Southern girls, with the way they talk,
They knock me out when I’m down there.
The Midwest farmer’s daughters really make you feel alright.
And the Northern girls with the way they kiss
They keep their boyfriends warm at night.

I wish they all could be California
I wish they all could be California
I wish they all could be California girls.

— “California Girls,” by Brian Wilson and Mike Love (1965)

Wilson, who created the sun & surf sound that’s still the soundtrack for the American summer, has had a summer of milestones. On tour again, he has just released his 11th solo album, “No Pier Pressure,” and is the subject of a new film about his life, “Love & Mercy.”

Mason asked, “How did you feel when you saw the film?”

“I was very happy to see the good parts,” Wilson said. “But the dark periods were, like, very rough to watch.”

John Cusack plays an older Brian Wilson, the artist struggling to recover from depression, mental illness and drug abuse. Paul Dano pays the younger Brian Wilson, the musical genius who dreams up the Beach Boys’ intricate harmonies and orchestrations.

Wilson was just 20 when the Beach Boys signed with Capitol Records and made their first album in an L.A. studio.

Mason asked, “Do you remember recording in this room?”

“I remember recording ‘If everybody had an ocean across the USA …'” Wilson said.

He would create the most successful band in America, blending the voices of his brothers Dennis and Carl, cousin Mike Love, and close friend Al Jardine. “Mike on bass, Al and Dennis and Carl in the mid-range, and me on falsetto. We all sang together. And the harmony just happened.”

“Love & Mercy” focuses on two pivotal points in Wilson’s life: First, the recording of The Beach Boys’ highly-influential “Pet Sounds” album in 1965, that featured “Wouldn’t It Be Nice” and “God Only Knows.”

“I was so proud of that album, I could have cried,” said Wilson. “Very proud of it.”

“Your father fought you about it, and the band fought you about it,” said Mason.

“Well, they didn’t like it. Mike and the guys didn’t like it. They, you know, thought it was too advanced music. They wanted to keep making car songs and surf songs. I said, ‘Guys, we gotta grow. We’ve gotta grow musically.'”

The film’s other focus is the 1980s, and Wilson’s troubled relationship with Dr. Eugene Landy, the psychologist accused of making him a virtual prisoner.

It took nearly two decades for the film to be made. And when Brian’s wife, Melinda, first saw it, she said, “I got up and I bolted. I drove around the city for two hours, And it was tough. It was tough to watch.”

“What were you doing while you were driving around the city?” Mason asked.

“Just thinking. ‘Oh my God, did we do the right thing? It’s been 19 years and this is how it’s ending.'”

“And how did you make peace with it?”

“It was the truth,” she said. “So that’s how I made peace with it. When you tell the truth, everything works out.”

The film tells the story of how Melinda (played by Elizabeth Banks) first met the troubled musician in 1986.

“I went to a Cadillac dealership to buy a car,” recalled Wilson. “And she was working there, and when I saw her I liked her the first time I saw her. And she sold me a car!”

Wilson gave Melinda a card that read, “Frightened, scared, lonely.”

“Did you look at that card right away?” Mason asked.

“Oh yeah, I was just like, What is he trying to tell me? I knew I liked him. I knew I liked him a lot. And then when he left the card I was just like, what’s going on here?”

Brian was then under the 24-hour care of Dr. Landy (Paul Giamatti in the film), who was controlling every aspect of his life, even co-writing songs, co-producing his records, and screening who could see him.

Mason asked Wilson, “When you think of that period of your life, what do you think of?”

“Unhappiness,” he said. “Being tortured. All that stuff.”

“Is it something you try not to think of?”

“Yeah. Yeah.”

About six months into their relationship, Melinda decided she had to act: “I called the Attorney General and he said there was nothing that could be done unless his family got involved. So a lot of times with Landy I had to be play-acting because I knew he was a bad guy.”

“That’s got to be an extremely difficult position to be in,” said Mason.

“It was like I said to my mother: ‘You know, I feel like a child is being abused.’ And I couldn’t find anybody that wanted to help. As much as I hate to say it, I think the family just — they were at their rope’s end with Brian and they didn’t really know what to do.”

Landy eventually cut Melinda off from Brian.

“I saw her for three years. And then Dr. Landy severed the relationship,” said Wilson.

And how did he respond to that? “Negatively,” he said. “I said, ‘Tat’s not fair, Gene. That’s not fair.'”

Melinda recalled Brian telling her, “I want outta this hellhole.” And that, she told Mason, gave her all the impetus she needed.

Landy’s grip on Wilson was finally broken in 1991, when the family discovered that Brian’s will had been revised — with Landy named as his main beneficiary.

They eventually won a court order barring the therapist from any further contact with his patient. Brian Wilson’s nine-year ordeal was over.

Brian and Melinda were married in 1995. They have five adopted children together.

The song “One Kind of Love,” on Brian Wilson’s new album, “No Pier Pressure,” is dedicated to Melinda. (To hear Wilson perform the song click on the video player below.)

Just driftwood floating on the sea,
Searching for the me and all that I have known to be.
Thank God that you noticed me,
And brought back harmony to this lonely soul.

Mason asked, “How important was Melinda in you getting through that?”

“Well, she got me bailed out of it,” Wilson said. “She got me out of the program. She was my hero.”

“He is really strong — people don’t get that about him,” Melinda said. “They think he’s passive and just sits around. But he’s strong.”

“Was there a moment when you knew you’d actually won?”

“When we got married, I won,” she laughed.

To watch a trailer for “Love & Mercy” click on the video player below.

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