Posted on 02/28/2005 4:02:39 PM PST by tame
I accidentally came across an interesting thing at www.goodnews.org, the website for a ministry know as the Good News Defenders. The following video "feed" documents Brian Wilson's (and the Beach Boys) troubled past, and alledged ties to Satanism:
"THEY SOLD THEIR SOULS FOR ROCK AND ROLL"
I found it fascinating, but presumptuous to assume that Brian's well known auditory hallucinations are actual demons (or the like).
Good News Defenders goes overboard in drawing false inferences from certain facts. Still, there are some interesting things mentioned that Are, in fact, true:
)1) Brian Wilson DOES here voices (auditory hallucinations) that scream obsenities and say things like "We're going to kill you", etc. This was well documented by Brian himself, along with his wife Melinda, on Larry King Live.
Also, Brian's keyboardist, Darian Sahanaja, spoke in an interview about his own eyewitness of one such event in Brian's home. Brian apparently screamed to Darian that "they" were going to kill him (Brian). Brian was apparently referring to the voices he was hearing.
2) Brian Wilson DID "freak out", thinking that some of his recording sessions for the legendary SMILE album (alledgedly a track titled FIRE) caused a rash of fires in the Los Angeles area.
3) The Beach Boys (especially Mike Love) DID get involved in Transcendental Meditation. This included an overseas trip with the Maharishi.
4) Charles Manson, and members of his "family" DID live with Beach Boy Dennis Wilson for a while (see Vince Bugliosi's book, Helter Skelter).
5)The Beach Boys DID record a song written by Manson BEFORE the Manson family murders (I know, spooky, huh?).
There are other things that are clearly documented as well which are mentioned or alluded to in this video.
But here's the thing. The makers of this piece assume far too much, engage in fallacies (ad hoc, etc.) and therefore draw faulty conclusions.
For instance, the Beach Boys had NO idea how wacked out Charles Manson was. In fact, most of the Beach Boys' circle apparently viewed Manson--an unfortunate friend of Dennis--as an irritating hanger-on.
How did Dennis meet Charles Manson? Dennis happened to pick up a couple of girls hitch-hiking on the freeway who also happened to be members of Manson's "family". Now, this might be a sure sign you shouldn't pick up strangers (Ya THINK?). But it hardly demonstrates premeditation to get involved with a cult, much less a murderous cult.
Yet the good fight ministry video makers seem to imply as much.
Also, they seem to fail to recognize a certain possible distinctions between mental illness (which Brian Wilson clearly has), and demonic activity and possession.
The video makers indicate that Brian was merely a channel through which demons passed their music.
Sorry, I don't buy it. I believe in demonic influence, too be sure. But to generally assign ALL of the Beach Boys/Brian's music to Satan and his demons? No.
Still, I enjoyed the video footage of Sean Lennon's (John Lennon's son) interview of Brian Wilson, and the great footage of Brian performing California Girls.
i hate to bother you with this, but at the beginning of my article i listed IN BOLD PRINT, no less, the group "Good news defenders". that was the wrong group, and it might bring unwanted and undeserved hostility toward that group. any way you could edit out the references to "GOOD NEWS DEFENDERS" in those couple of spots, and replace with "GOOD FIGHT MINISTRIES"??? Please, please, please :o)
tame.
I'll have to go along with you on that. Whenever I hear "Little Deuce Coupe" or "I get around", it simply does not conjure up images of Beelzebub,bub.
If i play a beach boys record backward and then i hear it say:
"everybody vote for the democrats"
or
"i wish they all could be democratic girls",
THEN i'll think there MIGHT be something to Good fight ministries' position :o)
i don't remember that one, but seems similar.
i agree with you in many cases. also, some of our most beautiful art comes out of intense pain, and...emotional trauma and instability. i write songs (see my profile page) from such pain, myself.
btw, one of my fave track on PET SOUNDS is LET'S GO AWAY FOR A WHILE. BEAUTIFUL!
The PET SOUNDS LIVE cd by Brian accomplished the almost impossible (thanks in large part to keyboardist Darian Sahanaja (truly a purist) who wanted to stay true to the originals: The live versions of the title track PET SOUNDS and LET'S GO AWAY FOR A WHILE sound as good as, if not better than, the originals.
they sound close to the originals while paradoxically they sound so fresh and new to our culture--beyond the originals.
Or "Beelzebub Only Knows."
I am certainly not an authority on Brian Wilson or the Beach Boys, but FWIW, my take on this is, Brian Wilson has been controlled by many things in his life; mind crippling drugs, a psychologist who literally held him captive for years, drug induced paranoia, etc., but I don't for a minute believe that he is "Satanic". Is it too simplistic to conclude that the hell he lived through for so many years was the consequences of drug abuse, pure and simple?
Now I have an overwhelming feeling of sadness for him and what he has lived through, even if it has been self-inflicted.....still, it's very sad.
He has an amazing talent and I am happy he is writing music and performing again, and that he finally won his Grammy. You are right, tame, it was long overdo.
LOL!!
Or "Beelzebub Only Knows."
and may we never hear, "Help me, Satan."
Amen to that!
BTW, I am listening to "Baby" as I surf. :-)
Ooh, those are good ones (and obscure.) Kind of like "Our Car Club" and "Don't Hurt My Little Sister."
Yep. Also "When I Grow Up To Be A Man." Sounds pretty innocent to me.
i believe he had a very strong disposition to mental illness with or without the drugs. the drugs played a major part, to be sure. but my own personal feeling is Brian would be dealing with a lo of stuff even if he'd never taken drugs. i may be wrong. just a guess.
i think Brian and Melinda indicated that Brian's drug use was really not that much by 60s rock and roll standards (he only did acid 3 or 4 times").
Now I have an overwhelming feeling of sadness for him and what he has lived through, even if it has been self-inflicted.....still, it's very sad.
Yes, i agree. If ever anyone needs the love that Jesus and his church provides--the love of the saints--it's Brian Wilson.
And, oh, whata love he would receive from the christian community. i remember once i ws reading a brian wilson/beach boys fan page, and there were christians on there who LOVE brian, and the non-christians who love brian were bashing the christians, and the debate was ongoing.
for some reason, brian has a lot of fans in christianity.
one popular christian artist put out a song titled, JESUS LOVES YOU, BRIAN WILSON. it was a very nice, moving biography of the influence brian had on this christian and how much brian means to the christian--a plea, of sorts, for brian to turn to the Lord who loves him for the final solution to brian's demons.
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