Some bands experience career turmoil because of interpersonal feuds, drugs, commercial failures, or a tumultuous mix of all three—for the Beach Boys, they felt they could trace their lowest point as a band back to Charles Manson. The leader of the harrowing “Helter Skelter” movement of the 1960s struck up a friendship with drummer Dennis Wilson.
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This friendship came much to the chagrin of Wilson’s brothers, Brian and Carl Wilson, and their cousin and Beach Boys vocalist Mike Love. During an interview with Dan Rather for AXS TV’s “The Big Interview,” Love revealed why he connected his band’s worst moments to the infamous cult leader.
Beach Boys’ Low Point Was Because Of Charles Manson
The Beach Boys’ sunny, West Coast pop seems far removed from Charles Manson’s criminal cult that wrought havoc throughout Los Angeles during the infamous Manson family murders of 1969. However, the band and the cult were cultural contemporaries of sorts, which is how Beach Boys drummer Dennis Wilson became friends and roommates with Manson.
Decades later, vocalist Mike Love told AXS TV’s Dan Rather that the Beach Boys’ low point was “my cousin Dennis’ choice in roommates. That was rough. My cousin, Dennis, wanted us all to join Manson’s family.” Wilson was not only a friend to Manson; he was a collaborator, too. Manson was an aspiring musician, and Wilson, believing in his artistic vision, wanted to help him kickstart his career. But his bandmates were less enthusiastic.
Love told Rather he never believed that Manson would become murderous at the time, although he found his presence generally off-putting. Love recalled a party he attended at Manson and Wilson’s residence. After Love left the main group in the lower level of the house to take a shower, Manson followed him to the bathroom and reprimanded him for “leaving the group.” “I got out of there as quickly as possible,” Love recalled. “As I’m driving back to the studio, I was thinking, ‘Well, Dennis, you really got a live one on your hands.’”
The Cult Leader Wrote A Song For The Band
While cult leader Charles Manson was living with Beach Boys drummer Dennis Wilson, tensions between Wilson and the rest of his band became so palpable that even Manson and his followers picked up on it. In a 1970 interview with Rolling Stone, Manson said he wrote the band a song “to bring them together. ‘Submission is a gift, give it to your brother.’ Dennis has true soul, but his brothers couldn’t accept it.”
The Beach Boys ended up recording the song, which Manson titled “Cease to Exist,” with a new title, “Never Learn Not to Love.” The band took creative liberties with both the musical arrangement and the lyrics, the latter of which incensed Manson. (He was okay with the former.) Nevertheless, they continued with their new version of the song and released it in December 1968 as a single before including it on their 1969 album 20/20.
Manson received no writing credit, and according to vocalist Mike Love, his bandmate didn’t disclose the songwriter to the group, either. “I was never told the origins of the song,” Love later said. “As far as I knew, Dennis had written it.”
Per Wilson, Manson forwent writing credits for monetary compensation, which the drummer said he provided. But Wilson’s decision to change Manson’s lyrics enraged the cult leader, who had requested those remain the same. Manson sat on his anger in the hopes that Wilson’s friend, Terry Melcher, could get him a recording deal without Wilson’s help. When that didn’t work out, Manson and his followers devolved into their violent escapades that resulted in at least nine deaths in southern California.
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