SMiLE... and drugs
One of the factors affecting the unfinished SMiLE album was drug use. Here are a few snippets I found interesting from the internet:
In about early 1965, Brian Wilson first used LSD... It was described that "he had the full-on ego death. It was a beautiful thing."
He later prepared for the writing and recording of Smile by purchasing about two thousand dollars' worth of marijuana and hashish.
Famously, he relocated a grand piano to a sandbox in his living room. Between April and September 1966, Wilson and Parks spent many "all night sessions" co-writing a number of songs in the sandbox, including "Heroes and Villains", "Surf's Up", "Wonderful", "Cabin Essence" and "Wind Chimes".
Wilson touted Smile as a "teenage symphony to God"
The group was aware of Brian's LSD use, according to Al Jardine, who "wanted to be as far away from that as possible! Because I didn't want to know about it - I wanted the innocence!" He said that "everybody was high but me" and compared the experience to being "trapped in an insane asylum."
Bruce Johnston recalled listening to tracks from Smile, "and I don't feel any joy, I feel uncomfortable, I can hear Brian disintegrating. The music was cool but it's always tinged with the reality of making it."
"Brian degraded us, made us lay down for hours and make barnyard noises, demoralized us, freaked out ... we hated him then because we didn't really know what was happening to him." - Bruce Johnston, 1993
Following the recording session for the album track "Fire" on November 28, 1966, Brian became irrationally concerned that the music had been responsible for starting several fires in the neighborhood of the studio.
Van Dyke Parks deliberately stayed away from the session-during which Brian encouraged the musicians to wear toy firemen hats-and that he later described Brian's behavior as "regressive," something which band mates also observed during and after this session.
By the beginning of 1967, Brian's behavior became increasingly erratic, and his use of drugs escalated. For instance, taking advice from his astrologer who told him to beware of "hostile vibrations", Wilson holed up in his bed for days smoking cannabis and eating candy bars.
Other stories involve Brian cancelling a $3,000 string session because of the room's inexplicably negative atmosphere, delusions of Phil Spector taunting him with coded messages hidden in the newly-released John Frankenheimer film Seconds, and another delusion where he was convinced that a portrait of himself, painted by David Anderle, had literally captured his soul.
Carl Wilson recalled: "To get that album out, someone would have needed willingness and perseverance to corral all of us. Everybody was so loaded on pot and hash all of the time that it's no wonder the project didn't get done."
Danny Hutton disputed that the drugs "got in the way at all" and said that they actually helped Brian "work longer hours." Parks said: "Don't let the marijuana confuse the issue here. If you look at the amount of work that was done in the amount of time it took to almost finish it, it's amazing. A very athletic situation, very focused."
In about early 1965, Brian Wilson first used LSD... It was described that "he had the full-on ego death. It was a beautiful thing."
He later prepared for the writing and recording of Smile by purchasing about two thousand dollars' worth of marijuana and hashish.
Famously, he relocated a grand piano to a sandbox in his living room. Between April and September 1966, Wilson and Parks spent many "all night sessions" co-writing a number of songs in the sandbox, including "Heroes and Villains", "Surf's Up", "Wonderful", "Cabin Essence" and "Wind Chimes".
Wilson touted Smile as a "teenage symphony to God"
The group was aware of Brian's LSD use, according to Al Jardine, who "wanted to be as far away from that as possible! Because I didn't want to know about it - I wanted the innocence!" He said that "everybody was high but me" and compared the experience to being "trapped in an insane asylum."
Bruce Johnston recalled listening to tracks from Smile, "and I don't feel any joy, I feel uncomfortable, I can hear Brian disintegrating. The music was cool but it's always tinged with the reality of making it."
"Brian degraded us, made us lay down for hours and make barnyard noises, demoralized us, freaked out ... we hated him then because we didn't really know what was happening to him." - Bruce Johnston, 1993
Following the recording session for the album track "Fire" on November 28, 1966, Brian became irrationally concerned that the music had been responsible for starting several fires in the neighborhood of the studio.
Van Dyke Parks deliberately stayed away from the session-during which Brian encouraged the musicians to wear toy firemen hats-and that he later described Brian's behavior as "regressive," something which band mates also observed during and after this session.
By the beginning of 1967, Brian's behavior became increasingly erratic, and his use of drugs escalated. For instance, taking advice from his astrologer who told him to beware of "hostile vibrations", Wilson holed up in his bed for days smoking cannabis and eating candy bars.
Other stories involve Brian cancelling a $3,000 string session because of the room's inexplicably negative atmosphere, delusions of Phil Spector taunting him with coded messages hidden in the newly-released John Frankenheimer film Seconds, and another delusion where he was convinced that a portrait of himself, painted by David Anderle, had literally captured his soul.
Carl Wilson recalled: "To get that album out, someone would have needed willingness and perseverance to corral all of us. Everybody was so loaded on pot and hash all of the time that it's no wonder the project didn't get done."
Danny Hutton disputed that the drugs "got in the way at all" and said that they actually helped Brian "work longer hours." Parks said: "Don't let the marijuana confuse the issue here. If you look at the amount of work that was done in the amount of time it took to almost finish it, it's amazing. A very athletic situation, very focused."