The Beach Boys Album Dennis Wilson Called an “Embarrassment” That He Wished Would “Self-Destruct”

In 1976, Brian Wilson was at the helm again producing the Beach Boys‘ 20th album 15 Big Ones. It was the first time Wilson was the sole producer on a Beach Boys album since his 1966 masterpiece Pet Sounds and all the group’s previous releases from Surfer Girl in 1963. The years following Pet Sounds, and their unreleased Smile album—and its compromise, the lower fi Smiley Smile in 1967—proceeded around the aftermath of Wilson’s mental breakdown on a flight in 1964, which eventually led to his reclusion and further struggles in the years to come.

“I used to be Mr. Everything,” said Wilson in 1971. “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—to the point where I had no peace of mind and no chance to actually sit down and think or even rest. I was so mixed up and so overworked.”

By the 1970s, Wilson’s drug use and and depression kept him in bed for infinite amounts of time—as long as two years or more—from 1973 through 1976, while the Beach Boys were navigating the new decade. The ’70s weren’t starting as prosperous for them as the ’60s. Their 1970 release Carl and the Passions – “So Tough” managed to hit No. 50, while Surf’s Up peaked at No. 29, but it wasn’t until Wilson was the sole producer that the group had a bigger hit.

The 15 Big Ones went to No. 8 on the Billboard 200, followed by another Wilson-helmed The Beach Boys Love You at No. 53, the final album Wilson would produce until his 1988 self-titled solo debut.

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‘M.I.U.’ Replaces ‘Adult/Child’

The Beach Boys were in a state by 1977 but still moved ahead on their 22nd release, M.I.U. Album. Despite the internal rifts and Wilson’s still-frail mental health, work on M.I.U. went forward since the Beach Boys were still under contract to release another album after shelving Adult/Child.

Mostly co-written by Wilson, Mike Love, and Al Jardine, M.I.U. featured Brian’s previously recorded “Hey Little Tomboy,” which was pulled from the Adult/Child sessions, along with a cover of Buddy Holly‘s 1957 hit “Peggy Sue” and the Del-Vikings’ “Come Go With Me.”

At the time, Love and Dennis Wilson were also butting heads on heading the band’s decisions. Wilson was also opposed to the group recording the album at the Maharishi International University in Iowa. Love had previously leaned more into the transcendental meditation similarly followed by the Beatles while Wilson became wary of any “gurus” after his many too-close encounters with Charles Manson and his entourage leading up to the Manson-led murder of actress Sharon Tate and six other people in 1969.

“An Embarrassment to My Life”

Ultimately, the album was recorded by Brian Wilson, Love, and Al Jardine with minimal contributions from Carl and Dennis Wilson, who also released his solo debut Pacific Ocean Blue in 1977.

In a 1995 interview with Record Collector, Brian said he barely remembered recording the album due to a “mental blank-out,” while Love called it too democratic. “It was too democratic,” said Love in 1992. “Everybody coming into it with their song, which is okay. It’s like if you have an album and have a hit song on it, and it’s very commercially viable. Doesn’t it make sense to have another song that would also be commercially viable? And a third and a fourth.”

Dennis, who died just five years after the release of M.I.U. at age 39, had a stronger lasting impression of the Beach Boys’ 1978 album.

“I hope that the karma will f–k up Mike Love’s meditation forever,” said Wilson. “That album is an embarrassment to my life. It should self-destruct.”

Photo: Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images