I knew he had problems in the past, and in a recent interview I saw he just seems very … “off” I guess is the best way to say it. Is it drug, burnout, mental illness… what?
yes
From http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/0,2106,3074464a4500,00.html
Covers it pretty well, I think. He never was too stable, consumption of mind altering substances and the pressures of his early career certainly didn’t help, and he wound up being treated by Landy, who medicated him to his eyeballs for 20 years.
Does this account for Wilson’s odd manner of speaking?
I know a guy who like to lie in bed like Brian Wilson did.
My cat’s breath smells like cat food.
I remember lots of Beach Boys concerts and albums coming out during this period. Was Brian involved with any of it? I definitely remember a Saturday Night Live appearance in 1976. He palyed “Good Vibrations” solo.
They let him out sometimes, but I guess they kept him on a pretty short leash.
Given his past excesses and battles with mental illness, I’d say he’s lucky to be alive and as “together” as he is. It’s not like he’s totally incoherent, after all.
What’s weird is that Dennis Wilson drank plain old alcohol, Carl Wilson smoked plain old cigarettes, and Brian did every known drug. And Brian is the only brother that survives?
Moved to CS.
-xash
General Questions Moderator
His odd manner of speaking is partly due to being deaf in one ear, the result of a hard right by his father.
(This also explains why he mixed The Beach Boys’ albums in mono. He can’t hear stereo separation.)
It’s a matter of instinct, it’s a matter of conditioning,
It’s a matter of fact.
You can call me Pavlov’s dog
Ring a bell and I’ll salivate- how’d you like that?
Dr. Landy tell me you’re not just a pedagogue,
cause right now I’m
Lying in bed just like Brian Wilson did
Well I’m lying in bed just like Brian Wilson did.
Nothing really to add. Just thought I’d chime in with a snippet of lyric from the only decent Barenaked Ladies song ever.
thwartme
There was a fascinating documentary on Brian Wilson and his attempt to finally finish Smile on cable a few nights ago.
The pressure to write hits, the pressure to compete with the Beatles, his inability to really finish the album, and the other Beach Boys’ disdain for the material finally proved too much for him, and, as he put it “I checked out.” His LSD use added to the mix.
Now, he’s fairly stable but still prone to crushing moments of self-doubt and episodes where he hears voices.
Nearly everyone interviewed for the film (including George Martin and Paul McCartney) think that Brian Wilson’s work is just head and shoulders above what anybody else was able to produce. They seemed to be in genuine awe of him.
I’d say so, personally. A little something called tardive dyskinesia, which occurs in a fair percentage of those prescribed psychoactives (for the nit-pickers, specifically neuroleptics) - especially those who could be considered overmedicated.
I’d agree that he is remarkably together considering all of the above; he’s not a journo’s dream, but then he seems, by his own admission to have done too many drugs and then spent a quarter of a century (approx for exaggeration) being drugged by some twat. that he does what he now does is astonishing to me.
BTW - I have always thought that the ambivilence of the opening line of God Only Knows is the truest line in any love song.
Well, here’s one man’s take on the life of Brian Wilson. Not mine, but that of a man you’ll recognize.
Lyrics for “Brian Wilson Said”, by Tears For Fears. Really, you’d be better off listening to the song, since the emotional tones contained in the lyrics are far better expressed through the music than the words themselves, but there you have it. Seems both relevant and poignant to me.
Ha, at least I know who the Barenaked Ladies are talking about now. Dr. Landy, not Brian Wilson, I’m not that out of it.
-Lil
I agree with you totally about Tardive Dyskinesia. It was after Landy (who had no right to administer drugs as a PhD) over and improperly medicated Brian is when the droop to the right side of his mouth began and his speech was affected.
I give his wife Melinda (Ledbetter) Wilson much credit for helping to get him back into a normal life. Landy had him in worse shape (with medications that he was not allowed to dispense) than he was prior. Once Brian met her, things began to slowly change. They married 10 years later and are now married 20 years adopting 5 children besides his 2 biological children Carnie and Wendy from his first marriage to Marilyn.
Note that this thread was originally from 2004. Between then and now, Brian has been actively performing and recording new music, and while I haven’t been paying real close attention, my impression is that nowadays he’s doing pretty well, all things considered. Would you agree?