In 1966, Brian Wilson was making his masterpiece. Mike Love dismissed the lyrics immediately
Brian Wilson began developing *Smile* in 1966 after *Pet Sounds* marked a more adventurous direction for the Beach Boys. The article says the album had not sold as well as expected on release, and that Mike Love’s doubts about the new project added to the difficulties surrounding Wilson’s next work.
Love objected to lyrics by Van Dyke Parks, saying he could not relate to them and questioning the circumstances in which Wilson wrote the songs. One example was “Surf’s Up”, which the article interprets as a song about finding a connection with God through music. Love’s resistance was one source of friction, though the article also notes that Wilson’s personal struggles contributed to *Smile*’s problems.
In short
- Wilson started developing *Smile* after *Pet Sounds*.
- Mike Love said he could not relate to Van Dyke Parks’s lyrics.
- The article presents Love’s objections as one factor among several.
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The case for
Love’s objections can be understood as a concern that the lyrics were too abstract or unfamiliar to connect with the band’s audience, and that the group needed to share a clear sense of what it was recording. As a band member, he could reasonably question whether the material served the Beach Boys’ musical identity and whether Wilson was in a position to carry the project through.
The case against
Wilson and Parks were pursuing a more ambitious, personal work, and lyrics need not be immediately accessible to be artistically meaningful. Love’s resistance may have narrowed the space for experimentation and strained collaboration at a critical point, even though the article also identifies Wilson’s personal struggles as a separate factor in the album’s difficulties.