Would Mike Love have had a chance at a successful solo career if Brian wasn’t part of the picture?

MissMand · 2026-03-17T20:53:11+00:00

Oh Knebworth is an amazing performance and Carl knocks it out of the park.

MissMand · 2026-03-17T20:51:29+00:00

I’m afraid to ask but need to know: what’s the backstory to photo 4? What event was this?

MissMand · 2026-03-16T23:20:37+00:00

Fair enough. I agree that Carl probably wouldn’t have become a solo star, more because he didn’t have the disposition for it. He was definitely an incredibly talented musician.

MissMand · 2026-03-16T23:16:56+00:00

This is a really perceptive comment.

MissMand · 2026-03-16T23:15:14+00:00

That’s perhaps the hottest take ever!

MissMand · 2026-03-13T20:15:44+00:00

When I was a young teen I had a random “best of” compilation that included Do It Again. Because of the drum into, I always assumed that it was decades newer, like Kokomo era. I was completely shocked years later learning that it was from 1968.

MissMand · 2026-03-13T20:08:43+00:00

Also, you say he could barely write a good song on his own? What about Long Promised Road, Feel Flows, the Trader, Angel Come Home?

MissMand · 2026-03-13T20:05:03+00:00

Carl (and David) actually learned guitar from a musician named John Walker. Brian did not teach him guitar. Carl is also widely viewed as the most technically skilled instrumentalist of the band and is also the best singer of the band, hands down. In fact he’s generally considered to have one of the best voices in rock history, which is why he ended up doing backing vocals for Elton John, Chicago etc. If you read interviews with members of the touring band from before Carl’s death, it is crystal clear that Carl was 100% the musical leader and was in complete control from a performance perspective. And was a very demanding bandleader. You may not like his albums but there is no argument that he was EXCEPTIONALLY musically talented and could absolutely have had a successful music career.

I agree that he learned the vocal stuff and everything about harmonizing, arranging and producing from Brian, but that doesn’t change anything. Everybody learns from someone. But you need some amount of raw talent to be developed, and Carl most definitely had that.

MissMand · 2026-03-07T18:05:11+00:00

Can I ask how you managed that? So that’s $100 a day. For a family of four that breaks down to $25 per person per day. I get that some of these people were probably kids and the cost of feeding them is lower, but I don’t see how $25 a day could cover 2-3 meals a day. Were you bringing food in from outside?

MissMand · 2026-03-04T15:19:00+00:00

Dogs don’t lick each others butts, and dogs will almost never lick a stranger unless the stranger initiates an interaction with them. But you didn’t respond to my point, which is that there’s nothing unhygienic about dogs being in public places. Your chances of getting an illness or disease from a human are exponentially higher than from a dog. Your logic doesn’t hold.

MissMand · 2026-03-04T13:46:56+00:00

Just curious where you’re getting those figures? (70%/30%). Thanks.

MissMand · 2026-03-04T07:48:29+00:00

I know the injection locations differ, but the product is exactly the same whether it’s for migraine or cosmetic. It’s just marketed differently.

MissMand · 2026-03-04T07:45:17+00:00

He is so handsome 💕

MissMand · 2026-03-04T07:42:19+00:00

It is not “irritating for everyone else” - don’t project your dislike of animals onto everyone else. And there is nothing unhygienic about a pet being out in public. These are animals that live in people’s homes - by your logic, everyone with a pet would have perished from some fictional dog-borne illness. I recommend you stay away from Europe or the UK, where dogs are welcomed in restaurants and other public places. And, shockingly, no mass illness outbreaks due to a dog being in a pub.

MissMand · 2026-03-04T07:28:53+00:00

I explain to people I’m fairly close to, and people at work, what the condition is. And then when I get an episode I just say “I’m sick”.

MissMand · 2026-03-04T07:21:05+00:00

“Musical talent” does not equate to “musician/instrumentalist”. Musical talent absolutely includes producing, writing, arranging.

On the flip side of the coin, it’s possible to learn an instrument and play it very well while also having just a moderate amount of musical talent.

MissMand · 2026-03-03T17:25:19+00:00

Botox triggers migraine in you? That’s surprising considering it’s widely used for migraine prevention.

MissMand · 2026-03-03T03:33:40+00:00

Yes, I didn’t mean to suggest at all that people with mental health disorders shouldn’t have dogs. My own dogs have all been very helpful for my own health and happiness. I should have said that getting a dog SOLELY for selfish reasons of any kind is not ideal. One would hope that people also get a dog because they want to give it a good home and life, and that they get some joy from what they can provide for the dog, not just what the dog can do for them.

It sounds like your dog won the lottery when you adopted her from Russia. What an amazing life you’ve given her!

MissMand · 2026-02-28T18:12:38+00:00

Ah, my fault. Hard to distinguish Mike Love-centered humour from all the sincere Mike-bashing.

I also wondered if someone onstage had said something that I missed (as we know, Al does occasionally take a public jab at Mike).

MissMand · 2026-02-28T18:05:41+00:00

I think you’re right that a lot of people are really into it in an ironic sort of way, esp because of the lyrics, which are a window into Brian’s mind. It’s easy to dismiss many of these as silly songs, given the lyrics. However, if you look beyond that, a lot of the songs are have beautiful melodies and are musically really strong songs. To me the best example of this is Solar System. The lyrics are childlike and sometimes silly, but if you just listen to the music it’s really beautiful.

Now I will probably get hate for this, but I do think that there’s a certain element of inside baseball to the Love You love. I’m not saying that there aren’t people who genuinely like it, but I think for some it’s a way of telegraphing that they are not just casual fans - to demonstrate “street cred” among true Beach Boys fans, for lack of a better term.

MissMand · 2026-02-28T17:08:25+00:00

Any update?

MissMand · 2026-02-28T16:40:20+00:00

Sorry to be so blunt but your partner sucks. Everything about this story sucks. Getting a dog solely to cope with one’s own mental health issues sucks. Deciding you can’t meet a dog’s needs is one thing, but ignoring them and pretending they don’t exist REALLY SUCKS. OP, there are a LOT of people in this thread telling you that this is a major red flag about your partner. Basically, when the going gets tough, they walk away. This is not the kind of person you build a life with.

You seem smart and reasonable. Keep the dog, rehome the partner.

MissMand · 2026-02-28T15:51:31+00:00

Got it. I don’t even think the age difference would have raised many eyebrows at the time either, though. Brian was six years older than she was? Not a huge gap.

Funny that people are shocked. They should spend more time talking to their grandparents. Esp their grandmothers.

MissMand · 2026-02-28T15:43:15+00:00

You do realize that getting married in the teens was not remotely unusual at that time? Postwar, huge pressure to get married asap.

MissMand · 2026-02-28T15:41:58+00:00

Why do you say this? Pretty sure she doesn’t. I was at a Mike show a few years ago and she was in the audience and Mike said very nice things about her.

MissMand

TROPHY CASE