Description

Book Synopsis

The Beach Boys have been rolling, like the tide their great songs evoke, for more than thirty years, reaching professional peaks and tragic personal depths. In this electrifying account Steven Gaines reveals the gothic tale of violence, addiction, greed, genius, madness, and rock''n'' roll behind the wholesome, surf-and-sun image. Through candid interviews with close friends, family, and the Beach Boys themselves, Heroes and Villains portrays and evaluates all those who propelled the California myth, and the group who sang about it, into worldwide prominence: Murry Wilson, the corrosive father who abused them as children and exploited them as adults Dennis Wilson, who explored every avenue of excess (including welcoming the entire Manson family into his home) to his inevitable self-destruction the Wilsons'' cousin, frontman Mike Love, whose devotion to eastern religion could not quell his violent temper the wives (more than ten), mistresses, managers, and producers who consumed huge

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Winner of the ASCAP Deems Taylor Award for best Pop Music Book.

Heroes and Villains

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    A Paperback by Steven Gaines

    £18.66

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      Book details

      Publisher Da Capo Press Inc
      Published 22 August 1995
      ISBN-13 9780306806476
      978-0306806476
      ISBN-10 0306806479
      Also in:
      Popular music

      Description

      Book Synopsis

      The Beach Boys have been rolling, like the tide their great songs evoke, for more than thirty years, reaching professional peaks and tragic personal depths. In this electrifying account Steven Gaines reveals the gothic tale of violence, addiction, greed, genius, madness, and rock''n'' roll behind the wholesome, surf-and-sun image. Through candid interviews with close friends, family, and the Beach Boys themselves, Heroes and Villains portrays and evaluates all those who propelled the California myth, and the group who sang about it, into worldwide prominence: Murry Wilson, the corrosive father who abused them as children and exploited them as adults Dennis Wilson, who explored every avenue of excess (including welcoming the entire Manson family into his home) to his inevitable self-destruction the Wilsons'' cousin, frontman Mike Love, whose devotion to eastern religion could not quell his violent temper the wives (more than ten), mistresses, managers, and producers who consumed huge

      Trade Review

      Winner of the ASCAP Deems Taylor Award for best Pop Music Book.

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