Murry Wilson / Brian Wilson / The Beach Boys -- I Am Speechless

A hard and brutal man.
He scared the daylights out of many people.
Both Brian and Dennis never even went to his funeral, what does that tell ya?

 

BS. This is criminal behavior, pure and simple.

 

The winning combination right here:

 

I have been on the receiving end of a family member conducting a decade long campaign of fraud against me. I can tell you -- the moment you realize the truth it is devastating. It beggars belief, but when you are faced with incontrovertible proof, there it is. The gamut of emotions runs powerful and in the end some people simply can't take it. I am thankful that my case didn't involve a parent, but still, I have newfound appreciation for Brian Wilson.

 

The flip side of that argument is that Murry knew that Brian was already fragile, and therefore needed someone to manage his business affairs.

Not that I'm defending Murry's actions, mind you. But it's clear that Brian (and the Beach Boys in general) needed a competent business manager. Murry (being the narcissist that he was) naturally assumed that he should be that person.

Also, it really wasn't uncommon to sign over 100% of your publishing royalties back in those days. Publishers worked very hard to promote songs and collect royalties, so it often made sense to give them a cut of the profits in exchange for doing all that work.

Anyway, it seems like Murry's root instincts were in the right place, but his motives were not pure.

 

Sadly, the Beach Boys are a perfect example of the old saying about never mixing business with friends and family. But unavoidable for a family band! But it’s very much like Elvis and they needed to change manager.

 

My typo.

 

The Beach Boys are just another prominent name in a long list of artists screwed mightily by management, although being that the manager is your father in this case adds some extra excrement icing to the cake. But there have been many other bands who put up with incompetent and thieving management for many years. The Who, for example, could have made millions more in the 60's and 70's if Pete hadn't been so blindly loyal to Kit Lambert and Chris Stamp, although they were finally canned after "Quadrophenia". Then there is Colonel Parker, who made Murry Wilson look like an honest man by comparison.

 

You wrote: "Publishers worked very hard to promote songs and collect royalties, so it often made sense to give them a cut of the profits in exchange for doing all that work."

Compare and contrast "giving a cut" to taking 50%, then lying to take 100%, then lying again to steal the whole catalog to sell for yourself. No cuts here, just wholesale theft IMO.

 

Gotta take the good with the bad.

 

Well said, and as our thread starter said, having greater appreciation for Brian.
The guy got tortured.
Let alone, trying to live a humbling lifestyle of a rich rock star at a young age.
Fame and Money, really affects people in many ways.
Not to mention, the 'deli-sh of treats' that were to come his way.

 

Mrs. Wilson and Murry separated in 1964 and divorced in 1966.

Murry kicked the bucket at 55 years in 1973. I'll bet a lot of people said good riddance and champagne for everyone!

 

Music will screw you up. Not so much that it should make you behave as abhorrently as Murry. I've known fathers who've done similar things in the music business. Brian's story is especially cruel, but I suspect Brian's is one of many such stories.

 

Brian inherited some of father Murray's musical instinct obviously but Brian was light years ahead of his dad.

All Murray's abuse both physical and mental tore this mans well being apart. It's incredible Brian produced all the incredible music he did under this pressure along with Beatlemania and the rest of the British invasion.

 

Let's not forget the era either.
Women weren't allowed to 'step up' and confront their husbands, let alone a Murry Wilson.
It would be a whole different thing now, but you have to look at things in context, and the time it was.
Audree does seem to be a bit of a 'missing link' in the story, but she was always supportive of her sons,
and even toured with them in their later career.
It would be great to know more about her and the life she endured.

 

One of the last public gasps of Brian's old personality and great sense of humor before Dr. Landy's prescriptions turned him robotic.

 

And let's not forget Norman Petty who ****ed over Buddy Holly every which way but loose.

 

I sometimes wonder if anyone back in this era had good management

 

Combining underlying mental issues with drugs like lsd, amphetamine, cocaine, etc is never a good idea. Brian had a poor support system and many willing to judge & take advantage rather than get him the help he needed

 

My understanding is that Murry took 100% of the publishing royalties only, which would have been 50% of the overall songwriting royalties. So, Brian (and Mike) still would have received songwriting royalties throughout the '70s and '80s. (But please correct me if I'm wrong.)

If so, this was not an uncommon practice, and many songwriters felt that it was fair compensation (i.e., it was better to collect 50% of something than to collect 100% of nothing, which is what often happened when songwriters tried to act as their own publisher).

 

Ain't that the truth. He wrote and produced the band's first #1 at the height of Beatlemania with a tune Murry Wilson said wasn't any good.

As an aside -- that same tune sparked a lifelong love of music in me at the age of ten.

 

Poor Brian. One of the greats, and the name that will be remembered in the Wilson family lineage.

I read a hand written piece Brian wrote when he was in high school. He wrote how he was determined to succeed as a musician and what it meant to him. So much passion and commitment at such an early age. He was meant for greatness.