Mike Love nominated for induction into the Songwriters Hall of Fame*

Brian being called a genius has actually done a lot of damage to The Beach Boys and their fans. Why can’t he just be a kick ass songwriter and leader of a great band? The minute he’s a genius, it creates a need to angrily defend him and prop him up like some kind of personal blowup doll/circus freak. Take away the genius term and all that comes with it, I doubt anyone would bother being offended by some other guy in the band getting a little award.

 

Has Brian been inducted or at least nominated?

 

Yep, some people on this board HATE Mike Love. For what, exactly? There’s so much about this band that nobody actually knows. I love Brian but, man, he’s worshipped. They both did stupid things.

 

Here’s a list of some awards Brian has deservedly won, not including his Kennedy Center Honor in 2007.

No, the planet it not off it’s axis with Mike being lauded as a genius from all corners of the world:

Brian Wilson - Awards - IMDb

 

It's a bit late to complain about that now. The Beach Boys themselves chose to market Brian as a genius, the tag, whether deserved or nor, stuck.

There are always going to be arguments within large fandoms, if it was not about Brian's 'genius' it would be about something else, and the Beach Boys have a lot of 'something elses' for fans to disagree about. It's one of the reasons, other than the music, why they have remained so popular.

 

Uh, wasn't it Brian himself declaring that he wasn't a genius, but just a hard working guy?? The Beach Boys had one and only one musical genius and that was Brian Wilson. No one in their right mind would label Mike Love a genius, maybe a hanger on, but definitely not anywhere near a genius.

 

Cool.
Overall, Mike still co-wrote many classic songs with Brian back in the day and there are definitely some solid writing from him on those mid period efforts (“Big Sur” anyone?) Beyond lyrics, he was also responsible for many of the books in those early tunes.
For all the criticism that’s been thrown his due, he was still an important part of the band.

 

I’ll give Mike credit for Warmth Of The Sun among his best work. The lyrics are evocative and work perfectly with Brian’s music to convey exactly the feeling they were trying to achieve.

 

He's in the A*****e Hall of Fame for sure. Let's not forget this pearl of wisdom. Start at 3:49

 

I think Dennis came damn close to genius.

 

Regarding Good Vibrations, from Wikipedia:

‘His cousin and bandmate Mike Love contributed the song's lyrics and its bass vocalization in the chorus’

Good enough for me!

 

Well deserved, as genius lyrics like "she's givin' me excitations" and radically original, not at all stupid songs like "Student Demonstration Time" show.

 

They pale in comparison to the genius of Brian's "Smart Girls".

 

I’m so sorry you can’t enjoy the music of The Beach Boys. It must be hell. My condolences.

 

Oh God!?!

 

Oh God!?!

 

Of course I hope you get all the chords correct!
Great changes in this one.
We wait in vein lol!

 

This. 100% this. To offer up an imperfect analogy which is actually much more sympathetic than this reality, Levon Helm would tweak little things here or there in a number of The Band’s songs, but it’s pretty well understood that the themes, melodies, and general bulk of these songs were composed by Robbie, whatever your views of these two as individual human beings. Does that merit getting into a songwriter’s hall of fame? Not to me, it doesn’t.

And now replace Levon with Love, and see how much less sympathetic his case is. He’s basically a baker who adds a layer of frosting on a masterpiece cake that’s already been made. I mean, come on...adding “Good night, oh baby, sleep tight oh baby?” That’s masterclass songwriting? Have you ever heard his solo albums?

If this merits inclusion into the Songwriter’s Hall of Fame, I nominate Ashlee Simpson and Milli Vanilli for consideration to be nominated.

 

His name is on the credits for some of the greatest songs produced in the last 60 years. Whether his input was necessary to make those songs great is arguable, but it would be difficult to deny him his place.

Agree Dennis is more worthy. Carl wrote some fantastic stuff but, to my mind, there wasn’t enough of it and it didn’t leave much of a legacy.

 

There's such an interesting thought that has bothered me.
Carl wrote 'Long Promised Road' which he exclaimed as being the first song he wrote,
which is perfection!
But then nothing really emerged after that.
How can a guy write something like this, then not deliver....
Unless he also has more great stuff unreleased.
Puzzling to me.

 

I think Love added the most memorable hook of Wouldnt It Be Nice - as quoted by you. Did he come up with the melody there or just the words? If he came up with both, I think that's an argument towards including him.

 

Indeed. Without Brian Wilson's music his lyrics would be absolutely nothing.

 

Yes, he’s been nominated, not inducted. The thread title is jumping the gun. There are a multitude of songwriters who have been nominated this year; the inductees won’t be announced until next summer.

The 2020 Nominees for the Songwriters Hall of Fame

 

Now, be careful. You don't want to bruise Brian's feelings. He might become so upset at the criticism that he won't want to share his music with us anymore.