Mike Love
Michael Edward Love (born
March 15,
1941 in
Los Angeles, California) is an
American singer and
songwriter who was one of the lead singers and lyric writers of
The Beach Boys. He formed the band along with
Brian Wilson,
Carl Wilson,
Dennis Wilson, and a school friend
Al Jardine. Mike Love is
first cousin to the Wilson brothers.
Although he tried the saxophone in the early days, Mike Love was mainly a singer. He shared the role of lead vocalist with Brian Wilson during the band's early years, singing many of the Beach Boys' biggest hits, including "
Surfin' Safari", "
Surfin' USA", "
Little Deuce Coupe", "
Be True To Your School", "
Fun, Fun, Fun", "
Little Saint Nick", "
I Get Around", "
When I Grow Up (to be a man)" and "
California Girls". His lead vocal roles later diminished as other members' voices began to be heard more, but he remained one of the most recognized voices in the group, on songs such as "
Do It Again" and "
Kokomo". Onstage, Love has always served as the Beach Boys' "
MC".
Love also wrote or co-wrote lyrics to many of the Beach Boys early songs, mostly with the themes of surfing or love. He later won a lawsuit for his uncredited contributions to many early songs to which his name was then added. Throughout his career he continued to co-write numerous songs, and wrote some songs on his own.
In the late Sixties, as founder Brian Wilson was sidelined by mental illness and drug problems, Love played an increasingly contentious role in the Beach Boys career, and rightly or wrongly, he has often been identified as one of the "villains" in the band's story. According to most sources, Love was the most vehement among group members in his opposition to the lyrical content and avant garde modalities of the
Pet Sounds and
SMiLE projects (see below), fearing that the band had strayed too far from their tried-and-true hitmaking formula.
Interestingly, Love was one of the first pop musicians to become involved in the practice of
Transcendental Meditation, through his meeting with the
Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. As a result he accompanied
The Beatles and
Donovan on their famous trip to the self-styled guru's
ashram at
Rishikesh in
India in early 1968; at the time, it seemed quite aberrant that the most politically conservative and least psychedelically inclined Beach Boy had taken upon the appearance of a full-bearded mystic. Love has remained an advocate of the benefits of TM to the present and contributed a rare songwriting effort on the subject to the Beach Boys' 1968 album
Friends.
In the late sixties (with Brian no longer touring), Carl Wilson initially took over leadership of the band (with contracts reading that venues hired "Carl Wilson plus four other musicians"), but by the early 70s Love quickly reasserted his dominance over the band; setlists were often limited to the hit catalog, with more recent and experimental material confined to the group's moderately successful albums of the time period. This approach alienated the Wilson brothersbut it capitalized directly on the first wave of late 50s/early 60s rock and roll nostalgia (spurred by the success of
American Grafitti and
Happy Days) and managed to keep the group's business interests viable. The success of this approach was confirmed in 1974 when Love supervised the release of the compilation
Endless Summer. Containing only one song from the post-
Pet Sounds era ("Good Vibrations"), it reached the top of the charts and introduced new generations of listeners to their music, cementing the creation of a veritable cottage industry of touring and repackages that continues to pay dividends to this day.
While Love has often (and in some instances, rightly) been perceived as a negative creative force in the Beach Boys, there are occasions on which he has exhibited sound commercial instincts, such as his co-writing, lead-singing, and sax solo on the 1988 US number one hit "
Kokomo", the only number one the band had that wasn't co-written by Brian Wilson. Mike Love (along with "Kokomo" co-writers Scott Mackenzie, Terry Melcher, and John Phillips) was nominated for a Golden Globes Award (1988) in the Original Song category.
After the death of Carl Wilson in 1998 the Beach Boys split up, and Love took over the name, touring with no other original members but with longtime member
Bruce Johnston and various musicians formerly of
tribute bands.
The Beach Boys were the introductory act in the televised 2005
Fourth of July celebration on the grounds in front of the
United States Capitol. The Beach Boys performance featured five hits originally sung by Love and was their first Fourth of July appearance there since 1985. While detractors criticize Love for carrying on The Beach Boys name, supporters point to shows such as this as evidence of Mike Love's dedication to the millions of people who love the hit music of The Beach Boys.
Probably motivated in part by anxiety over his replacement as Wilson's writing partner (as Wilson increasingly relied on
Pet Sounds lyricist Asher and, later,
SMiLE collaborator
Van Dyke Parks), Love became increasingly hostile towards Wilson and his new material between late 1965 and early 1967, a period that critics and fans now widely acknowledged as the most creative phase of Wilson's career.
He reportedly led the group's opposition to the
Pet Sounds material and particularly objected to the song "Hang On To Your Ego"which at his insistence was partly re-written and re-titled as "I Know There's An Answer." However, at this stage Brian Wilson still held sufficient sway to overrule his opponents, and the album was completed more or less as Brian had intended.
Another factor that is likely to have influenced Love's views is that, while Brian had withdrawn from touring in late 1964, Love and his bandmates had to perform Brian's increasingly complex music on stage. There is no doubt that Brian's rapid musical development placed the group in an increasingly difficult position, since they were being asked to perform material that, in the case of "
Good Vibrations" Brian had recorded over a period of many months using the best musicians available. While the Beach Boys were of course equal to the task as vocalists, Brian's intricate arrangements were becoming all but impossible for them to perform as a five-piece band.
Love's trenchant and vocal opposition to Wilson's new direction came to a head over the songs they were recording for their follow-up to
Pet Sounds, the legendary
SMiLE album, which was begun in mid-1966 but was eventually shelved near its completion in mid-1967. Some who have listened to
Smiley Smile, the album that was released after
Pet Sounds, concur that Love's supposed rumored pleas of not messing with the "formula" made sense. The release of Smile in 2004, however, laid any concerns of that to rest.
Love is reported to have vehemently objected to Parks' oblique lyrics, reserving particular scorn for the song "Cabinessence". During a heated argument at a recording session, Love demanded that Parks explain the song's meaning; Parks demurred and walked out; some few weeks later he officially terminated his partnership with Wilson, effectively scuttling the album only weeks before its scheduled release. Although Love had nothing personal against Parks (who plays on the "Summer in Paradise" album and whom Love has defended several times as being a nice guy, despite Parks' admitted hostility against him), he feared the lyrics were too abstract for a Beach Boys record.
Many critics feel that Love's dogged opposition to
Smile was the major reason that Brian finally abandoned it, and that his opposition was motivated in part by professional jealousy, as well as the fear that Wilson's departure from the Beach Boys' proven formula would cause them to lose ground. In a 2004 interview with
Mojo magazine, Love argued that he was not opposed to
Smile, as claimed, and that he liked and respected Parks' work, but this claim was strongly denied by Parks himself, who wrote to the magazine to protest at what he described as Love's "revisionism" and stated unequivocally that Love's hostility to
Smile was indeed the chief reason why the project was shelved.
Love wrote the lyrics to their famous 1966 single "
Good Vibrations", although the song also has an earlier set of lyrics written by Wilson's main
Pet Sounds collaborator,
Tony Asher, which Wilson restored on the 2004
SMiLE version.
Partly in response to the band's concerns, articulated by Mike, Brian began writing songs that were easier to perform live, which turned up on the late 1967 album
Wild Honey.
In the late 1990s Brian Wilson went to court to regain his rights to the publishing company,
Sea of Tunes, which owned the copyrights to most of the Beach Boys' hit songs. The suit stemmed from Wilson's forced decision to sign over his publishing rights to his father
Murry Wilson in
1969, but when the suit came to court it was found that the contract Wilson had signed was not valid because of the mental problems he was suffering from at the time. (It was even suggested that Murry had signed his son's name on the document.) Wilson failed to regain the copyrights, but won a $25 million settlement.
Following Wilson's win, Love launched his own lawsuit, claiming that he had made significant writing contributions to many Beach Boys songs, including two titles on
Pet Sounds and "California Girls", and never received due credit (or the accompanying royalties). Love won the case, due in no small part to Brian's statements that Mike's assertions were correct (although Tony Asher has unequivocally stated that Love had no input into at least one song involved,
Wouldn't It Be Nice). As a result, he was granted $13 million of Wilson's award, and his name was retrospectively added to the writing credits on all subsequent releases of those songs. (Love and Wilson reportedly had no malice toward each other in the lawsuit; unable to come to terms, they resorted to going to court to settle matters.)
Love has also initiated successful lawsuits against
Al Jardine (mostly the Beach Boys' company, Brother Records, suing Jardine at Love's instigation, but also personal lawsuits) for Jardine's use of the band name
Beach Boys Family And Friends in his solo work.
Most recently, Love initiated a lawsuit on
November 3, 2005 against Brian Wilson and the
Mail On Sunday newspaper, arguing that both misused the Beach Boys' name and Love's image in a promotional CD that was given with the paper to promote the 2004 Smile release, and also arguing that Wilson has misused the Beach Boys' name in other promotions relating to Smile, resulting in loss of income for the band. He is seeking several million dollars in damages, and also a million dollars to cover costs of advertising to correct the perceived damage to the band's reputation.
Mike has stated: "Once again the people around Brian, my cousin and collaborator on many hits, who I love and care about, have used him for their own financial gain without regard to his rights, or my rights, or even the rights of the estates of his deceased brothers, Carl and Dennis, and their children... Unfortunately, history repeats itself. Because of Brian's mental issues he has always been vulnerable to manipulation. I simply want to stop the infringers and stop the deception!"
The legal document filed is purported to contain many half-truths and inaccuracies. Among these it credits Mike Love as the primary force behind the Beach Boys, accuses Al Jardine of mental instabilities and incorrectly refers to one of Brian Wilson's songs as ‘Love and Money' instead of ‘Love and Mercy'.
Brian Wilson's website listed the following statement in response: "The lawsuit against Brian is meritless. While he will vigorously defend himself he is deeply saddened that his cousin Mike Love has sunk to these depths for his own financial gain."
Recently, however, Brian Wilson, Mike Love and Al Jardine have appeared in front of the cameras together again in what seemed to be one the many attempts to reconcile. They even jokingly stated "to start a new tour if they weren't stopped to do so by Brian's management."
Love has attempted several times to have a career outside the Beach Boys. In the mid 1970s he recorded two albums with side band
Celebration, including the top 20 hit single
Almost Summer (co-written by Brian Wilson and Jardine). In the late 1970s he also recorded two unreleased solo albums,
First Love and
Country Love.Some tracks from
First Love were used on later Beach Boys releases.
In 1981 he released a solo album,
Looking Back With Love. Consisting mostly of cover versions, this was neither critically nor commercially successful.
After that point he confined himself to guest spots on recordings by people like
Dean Torrence of
Jan And Dean and to re-recordings of old hits released on packages like
Mike Love, Bruce Johnston & David Marks of the Beach Boys Salute NASCAR and Union 76 Gasoline, released to gas stations as promotional items on Love's own
MELECO label.
However, in 2003 he announced plans for a new solo album, consisting partially of rerecorded
First Love and
Country Love material. This album, which has been announced under the working titles
Unleash The Love and
Mike Love, Not War (not to be confused with the Beach Boys bootleg of the same name), has been completed (and bootleg recordings circulate among fans, the consensus of whom is that it is Love's best solo work, released or otherwise), but has yet to find a label or be released.
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Looking Back with Love (1981)
The Fall's song "Mike's Love Xexagon", from their "
The Real New Fall LP" album, alludes to Mike Love in its title and lyrics, calling him
"the worm in the bacon of BB" and mentioning "
Good Vibrations", no doubt referring to the aforementioned legal controversies.
Scottish band
Belle & Sebastian mention Mike Love in their song "I Love My Car" on the "
I'm Waking Up To Us" single, singing ''"I love my Carl / I love my Brian, my Dennis, and my Al / I could even find it in my heart / to love Mike Love"''
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The Beach Boys*
List of Beach Boys songs by singer - Mike Love*
List of songs by Mike Love*
Mike Love Fan Club
