The Beach Boys’ History With Charles Manson Explained (& What The Disney+ Doc Reveals Happened)

The new Disney+ music documentary, The Beach Boys, tells the story of the titular band’s journey to becoming one of the biggest bands in American history. The Beach Boys had many shocking reveals, including the band’s relationship with notorious cult leader and murderer Charles Manson. There have been many movies and TV shows about Charles Manson, but The Beach Boys provides an interesting perspective on him through the lens of the group’s surviving members. The Beach Boys is about much more than the band’s controversy, but their struggles and conflicts were some of its most interesting aspects.

The Beach Boys have a long history. They were formed in California in 1961 and are still performing today, even with band members in their early 80s. Through these concerts, iconic albums, “Greatest Hits” compilations, and the use of Beach Boys’ songs in movies, their legacy still endures and has already lasted for generations. The Beach Boys also included singer-songwriters Lindsey Buckingham, Ryan Tedder, and Janelle Monáe to speak about their love for the band and their influence on them. They tended to have a more wholesome image in comparison to their peers, but they had their own problems.

Charles Manson Wrote A Song With The Beach Boys

Charles Manson Co-Wrote A Song With Dennis Wilson

Charles Manson is understandably best remembered for leading the Manson Family cult that committed at least seven murders during “Helter Skelter.” Manson was a serial criminal, having spent over half of his life in correctional institutions before the murders, which occurred when he was 35. At the same time that Manson was growing his Family, which was thought to have approximately 100 members at Spahn Ranch, he was working as a singer-songwriter and trying to break into the mainstream Los Angeles music industry.

The Beach Boys started the 1960s performing fun surfer bro music aimed at younger audiences. In 1966, they took a turn with “Pet Sounds,” which is often considered their best album. Brian Wilson, the band’s leader at the time, started to delve into more important, and sometimes distressing, themes with his lyrics. In that time frame, Laurel Canyon became a center for counterculture and home to many top folk and rock musicians, such as Joni Mitchell, Cass Elliot, Carole King, Jim Morrison, and members of The Beach Boys.

Dennis Wilson was the middle brother of Brian and Carl Wilson and one of five original Beach Boys members alongside his brothers, cousin Mike Love, and their friend Al Jardine. In the late 1960s, Dennis started hanging out more with the fringe members of the LA music scene, including Charles Manson. They became songwriting partners, and Dennis reworked Manson’s song “Cease To Exist” into the 1968 Beach Boys single, “Never Learn Not To Love.”

Not Every Beach Boys Member Approved Of Manson

The Manson Murders Happened A Year After The Song’s Release

Dennis also tried to get his fellow Beach Boys members into the scene he was increasingly becoming entrenched in. While some members hung around Laurel Canyon, notably Brian, they weren’t as involved with the world of counterculture, drugs, and “consciousness” that people like Dennis and Charles were. As Love said in The Beach Boys, Dennis was a “wild person.” Yet, he was able to get The Beach Boys interested in meditation.

Love also shared that Dennis had once picked up a group of girls who were hitchhiking. When Dennis told them he was working with the now-controversial Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, the creator of Transcendental Meditation, they said they had their own “guru,” Charles “Charlie” Manson. Love claimed he only met Manson once, saying “that was enough for [him].” Love spoke more about that meeting in an ABC News interview.

Charles Manson Tried To Kill Producer Terry Melcher

The Mansor Murders Haunted Dennis Wilson

Famous producer Terry Melcher, the only child of actress Doris Day, befriended The Beach Boys in the mid-1960s and played on their “Pet Sounds” album. Knowing this, Manson asked Dennis to introduce them, assuming Melcher would be his ticket out of the fringe and into the mainstream. When Manson eventually auditioned for Melcher, the producer wouldn’t sign him, enraging the cult leader. Additionally, Dennis didn’t give Manson co-writing credits on “Never Learn Not To Love.” After many threats, Dennis and Melcher distanced themselves from Manson.

In August 1969, Manson sent four of his Family members to 10050 Cielo Drive to murder everyone in the house. He believed it to be the home of Melcher and his girlfriend, actress Candice Bergen. However, they’d sold the house and the new owner leased it to director Roman Polanski and his 8-months-pregnant wife, actress Sharon Tate. She was killed along with four other occupants.

In The Beach Boys Disney+ documentary, Love said he thought the murders “weighed upon Dennis pretty heavily.” Jardine added that while it wasn’t Dennis’ fault, “he always felt bad about it ever since.” Heartbreakingly, Dennis Wilson died at 39 of drowning while intoxicated. The Beach Boys was dedicated to Dennis and his younger brother, Carl, who died of lung cancer at 59.

Source: ABC News