The Disturbing Truth About Mike Love And Brian Wilson's Beach Boys Feud

Subscribe to the channel if you LOVE the Beach Boys:    / @rockstarsecrets3   In 1964, the Beach Boys had their first number one hit, "I Get Around." Mike Love wrote words for it, but his name wasn't on the record. It was left off thirty-five songs in all, by the family company run by his uncle, Murry Wilson. Thirty years later, Mike took his cousin Brian to court, at a time when Brian was so unwell that a court had put someone else in charge of his affairs. A federal jury agreed Mike had been cheated on purpose. Then Mike kept going: against Al Jardine, the friend who had been there since the first summer, and against Brian again, until a judge threw the case out. This is the story of the Beach Boys' longest family feud, told through the court records, the record labels and the people who were in the room, and of who really ended up owning the songs they fought over. SOURCES Court records Brother Records, Inc. v. Jardine, 318 F.3d 900 (9th Cir. 2003): https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/... Love v. Associated Newspapers, Ltd., 611 F.3d 601 (9th Cir. 2010): https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion... Contemporaneous press Los Angeles Times, "Beach Boys' Mike Love Wins His Case, Stands to Collect Millions," 13 December 1994: https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-x... Associated Press, "Mike Love Sues Brian Wilson," via Pollstar, 4 November 2005: https://news.pollstar.com/2005/11/04/... Rolling Stone, "Beach Boys' Brian Wilson Finally Defeats One of Mike Love's Dubious Lawsuits," 2007: https://www.rollingstone.com/music/mu... Ultimate Classic Rock, "Mike Love: 'I Did Not Fire Brian Wilson From the Beach Boys,'" October 2012: https://ultimateclassicrock.com/mike-... Associated Press, Brian Wilson's response in the Los Angeles Times, 9 October 2012, via KTAR: https://ktar.com/?p=110007 Rolling Stone, on Brian Wilson's 2021 sale to Universal Music Publishing Group: https://au.rollingstone.com/music/mus... Billboard, Brian Wilson obituary, June 2025: https://www.billboard.com/?p=7340676 Rolling Stone, "The Beach Boys Pull Remaining Summer Concert Dates to 'Recharge,'" 23 July 2026: https://www.rollingstone.com/music/mu... Ultimate Classic Rock, on the 2026 tour delays and Al Jardine at the Oregon State Fair: https://ultimateclassicrock.com/beach... Trial eyewitness account Michael S. Kenny, "Love vs. Wilson," parts 1–5, written for the Pet Sounds mailing list: https://surfermoon.neocities.org/essa... http://www.surfermoon.com/essays/love... Memoirs and interviews Mike Love with James S. Hirsch, Good Vibrations: My Life as a Beach Boy (2016) Brian Wilson with Todd Gold, Wouldn't It Be Nice: My Own Story (1991) Mike Love, interview, Goldmine (September 1992) Record labels The Beach Boys, "I Get Around" / "Don't Worry Baby" (Capitol 5174, 1964), original label credits: https://www.discogs.com/release/33726... The Beach Boys, "Good Vibrations" (Capitol 5676, 1966), original label credits: https://www.discogs.com/release/60464... Background histories Keith Badman, The Beach Boys: The Definitive Diary of America's Greatest Band (2004) Steven Gaines, Heroes and Villains: The True Story of the Beach Boys (1986) Peter Ames Carlin, Catch a Wave: The Rise, Fall & Redemption of the Beach Boys' Brian Wilson (2006)