Dennis and Chris

[michelej1]

Dennis Wilson Loves Christine McVie
Richard Williams
Melody Maker, March 24, 1979

The Beach Boys love good karma

HOLD PAGE nine! Rock 'n' roll's newest woosome twosome is – and you're not gonna guess it! – DENNIS WILSON AND CHRISTINE McVIE!

Yes indeed, the Beach Boys' all-American surfin', draggin', bikin' drummer is more than "just good friends" with the English blues thrush who went to California and found a crock of platinum at the end of the rainbow!

Nevertheless, the man from the Daily Mail is not impressed.

"They didn't have much to say," he confides, in the hotel bar. "The pix won't be much good, either. She grabbed his balls once, but the photographer wasn't ready."

Grabbed his balls?

The Beach Boys' image as goody-goodies, which persisted (to their detriment) through the era of drugs and filth, was destroyed, in the music industry, by a tale which went around a few years ago.

While in London, the story goes, one member of the group (not Dennis, as it happens) was found in bed by an executive of their record company. With the executive's wife. (Industry buffs go on to relate that the executive was ordered to forget the incident, so as not to upset the company's relationship with the group; the tale is used as a kind of musicbiz parable.)

Dennis, of course, has never been a goody-goody. Why, back in 1965, on the sleeve of Summer Days (And Summer Nights!!!), he wrote: "I love summertime most because we can get around to all the towns and I can meet all the girls."

Apparently he's requested my presence in order to tell me that, for Christine and himself, this is The Real Thing.

I am more interested in talking about disco records. About, in fact, the Beach Boys' new single, which is a full-blown disco version of their old album track, 'Here Comes The Night'.

Dennis, who has a disconcertingly oblique way of reaching the point, responds thus: "You really want to know about the disco community? Well, the gay community has made a tremendous mistake. Just like Hitler used Wagner, it's unfair to take an art-form and use it...what do you think?"

I fumble for a cigarette and mutter that a disenfranchised minority surely has a right to raise a flag for itself through the appropriation of...

"But some of your best friends are gay," says Christine to Dennis. From the look on his, face, it seems unlikely.

His further responses to questioning along this line are somewhat confused.

"I'm honoured to perform disco," he says. "On stage I translate the percussion into a Puerto Rican or Latin flavour...but I can't stand regimentation or formula or planned obsolescence. I'm not into disco."

Then: "I'm not on the disco record. I don't perform on it. I'm honoured that it's part of...it's nice to hear it. But you're talking about one of the finest groups in the world. 'Good Vibrations'...'God Only Knows'...Brian Wilson...it reminds me of the 'busy' signal on the telephone line."

Whatever Dennis Wilson is doing in London, he will not be promoting 'Here Comes The Night'.

HE PLAYS me a cassette of the new album, fiddling with the fast-forward and rewind switches, looking for a particular track. He can't find it.

"Cocksucker!" he shouts, apparently to the machine. Then: "Don't write that down!"

Christine giggles. "You get used to it," she says. "He said it in front of my father the other day!"

Dennis finds the track, 'Going South'. His brother Brian's voice comes in, above a whisper of harmonies.

Dennis bursts into tears.

He goes to the bathroom to clear his head, and returns after a couple of minutes with watery eyes and a red nose.

He tells me that he plans to put together all the film he has made of the group since 1964: "Every live performance we've ever done. I filmed it all. It could be a TV series – I might give it to CBS."

CBS, as well as being one of the three major American TV networks, is also the group's new record company, and Dennis launches into an unsolicited testimonial.

"I want to support that company. They're the hippest ****ing corporation on the planet. The chemistry is alive again between CBS and the Beach Boys. It's the same chemistry that Christine has with Warner Brothers. You're looking at history there" – he indicates Ms McVie – "to move that number of records without a movie, without a John Travolta. It's as historical as...as...as Admiral Lemnitz!"

Yeah! Right!

Sorry, what was that again?

I ASK him to tell me about his solo album, the thoroughly outstanding Pacific Ocean Blue, which appeared a couple of years ago to an unjustifiably cool response.

"It was a self-indulgent one-man-band thing, and I had fun doing it," he replies. "I was waiting for the Beach Boys to come down to Brother Studio and make an album. I'm there in this beautiful studio which Al and Mike and Brian tell me is losing money...so I used it. I kept it alive."

He tells me that the studio has been sold, its equipment – which was originally transported across the Atlantic to make the Holland album, before being shipped back to Brother Studio – now in the possession of saxophonist Tom Scott.

I asked him about their final release on Warner Brothers, The MIU Album, named for the Maharishi Institute University.

"They told me they were going to build a studio there, so I quit the group. I don't believe in that album.

"I sang a song on it, which my dear brother Brian wrote about Diane Rovelle," – Brian's sister-in-law, in case you wondered – "but I feel that the album...well, I hope that the karma will **** up Mike Love's meditation forever. That album is an embarrassment to my life. It should self-destruct."

Whew! Thank goodness I gave it a bad review!

So why did he return to the fold for the latest piece of product, which is rather tweely titled The Beach Boys' L.A. (Light Album)?

"Because I stood in a room with my family, around the piano, and we shared something together. That brotherhood is so loving and important that I'll stand behind this album with my absolute being. And God bless the Beach Boys. And I've done talking."

WELL, NOT quite. He tells me that the group runs democratically, which means that all five members have a vote, and that Brian's vote had been given to his wife, Marilyn, when she took over his power of attorney a year or so back. She had, apparently, voted with Love and Al Jardine against Carl and Dennis on a couple of crucial occasions.

But then Dennis says: "Look out for Brian Wilson!" He seems to be on the brink of selling me the standard Brian's-on-the-mend line when the telephone rings.

It's Brian, calling from Hollywood.

The karma, folks!

Dennis goes to the phone.

"Brian! I just want to tell you that I love you and I miss you. Brian...and tell Carl he's a ****-head!...and tell the rest of the guys to start supporting each other!"

He bursts into tears again.

"Why don't you come over to England, Brian?" he enquires through the sniffles. "I'll send you a ticket! Hey, Christine, Brian wants to talk to you!"

Christine takes the receiver, while Dennis returns to his chair and tells me that Brian just loves Christine. He never liked Karen, Dennis's last wife...wouldn't talk to her. Dennis seems to think that this is significant.

And then, quite suddenly, he declares that the interview is over.

WE ALL get up to leave, Dennis and Christine taking an elevator to their room, me taking another one to the ground floor.

The last thing I hear, as the elevator doors close, is Dennis's voice: "Hey, baby, those jeans make your butt look flat!"

I could tell that they're ascloseasthis, but I didn't have the courage to ask if they're infanticipating.

[jbrownsjr]

Originally Posted by michelej1

Dennis Wilson Loves Christine McVie
Richard Williams
Melody Maker, March 24, 1979

The Beach Boys love good karma

HOLD PAGE nine! Rock 'n' roll's newest woosome twosome is – and you're not gonna guess it! – DENNIS WILSON AND CHRISTINE McVIE!

Yes indeed, the Beach Boys' all-American surfin', draggin', bikin' drummer is more than "just good friends" with the English blues thrush who went to California and found a crock of platinum at the end of the rainbow!

Nevertheless, the man from the Daily Mail is not impressed.

"They didn't have much to say," he confides, in the hotel bar. "The pix won't be much good, either. She grabbed his balls once, but the photographer wasn't ready."

Grabbed his balls?

The Beach Boys' image as goody-goodies, which persisted (to their detriment) through the era of drugs and filth, was destroyed, in the music industry, by a tale which went around a few years ago.

While in London, the story goes, one member of the group (not Dennis, as it happens) was found in bed by an executive of their record company. With the executive's wife. (Industry buffs go on to relate that the executive was ordered to forget the incident, so as not to upset the company's relationship with the group; the tale is used as a kind of musicbiz parable.)

Dennis, of course, has never been a goody-goody. Why, back in 1965, on the sleeve of Summer Days (And Summer Nights!!!), he wrote: "I love summertime most because we can get around to all the towns and I can meet all the girls."

Apparently he's requested my presence in order to tell me that, for Christine and himself, this is The Real Thing.

I am more interested in talking about disco records. About, in fact, the Beach Boys' new single, which is a full-blown disco version of their old album track, 'Here Comes The Night'.

Dennis, who has a disconcertingly oblique way of reaching the point, responds thus: "You really want to know about the disco community? Well, the gay community has made a tremendous mistake. Just like Hitler used Wagner, it's unfair to take an art-form and use it...what do you think?"

I fumble for a cigarette and mutter that a disenfranchised minority surely has a right to raise a flag for itself through the appropriation of...

"But some of your best friends are gay," says Christine to Dennis. From the look on his, face, it seems unlikely.

His further responses to questioning along this line are somewhat confused.

"I'm honoured to perform disco," he says. "On stage I translate the percussion into a Puerto Rican or Latin flavour...but I can't stand regimentation or formula or planned obsolescence. I'm not into disco."

Then: "I'm not on the disco record. I don't perform on it. I'm honoured that it's part of...it's nice to hear it. But you're talking about one of the finest groups in the world. 'Good Vibrations'...'God Only Knows'...Brian Wilson...it reminds me of the 'busy' signal on the telephone line."

Whatever Dennis Wilson is doing in London, he will not be promoting 'Here Comes The Night'.

HE PLAYS me a cassette of the new album, fiddling with the fast-forward and rewind switches, looking for a particular track. He can't find it.

"Cocksucker!" he shouts, apparently to the machine. Then: "Don't write that down!"

Christine giggles. "You get used to it," she says. "He said it in front of my father the other day!"

Dennis finds the track, 'Going South'. His brother Brian's voice comes in, above a whisper of harmonies.

Dennis bursts into tears.

He goes to the bathroom to clear his head, and returns after a couple of minutes with watery eyes and a red nose.

He tells me that he plans to put together all the film he has made of the group since 1964: "Every live performance we've ever done. I filmed it all. It could be a TV series – I might give it to CBS."

CBS, as well as being one of the three major American TV networks, is also the group's new record company, and Dennis launches into an unsolicited testimonial.

"I want to support that company. They're the hippest ****ing corporation on the planet. The chemistry is alive again between CBS and the Beach Boys. It's the same chemistry that Christine has with Warner Brothers. You're looking at history there" – he indicates Ms McVie – "to move that number of records without a movie, without a John Travolta. It's as historical as...as...as Admiral Lemnitz!"

Yeah! Right!

Sorry, what was that again?

I ASK him to tell me about his solo album, the thoroughly outstanding Pacific Ocean Blue, which appeared a couple of years ago to an unjustifiably cool response.

"It was a self-indulgent one-man-band thing, and I had fun doing it," he replies. "I was waiting for the Beach Boys to come down to Brother Studio and make an album. I'm there in this beautiful studio which Al and Mike and Brian tell me is losing money...so I used it. I kept it alive."

He tells me that the studio has been sold, its equipment – which was originally transported across the Atlantic to make the Holland album, before being shipped back to Brother Studio – now in the possession of saxophonist Tom Scott.

I asked him about their final release on Warner Brothers, The MIU Album, named for the Maharishi Institute University.

"They told me they were going to build a studio there, so I quit the group. I don't believe in that album.

"I sang a song on it, which my dear brother Brian wrote about Diane Rovelle," – Brian's sister-in-law, in case you wondered – "but I feel that the album...well, I hope that the karma will **** up Mike Love's meditation forever. That album is an embarrassment to my life. It should self-destruct."

Whew! Thank goodness I gave it a bad review!

So why did he return to the fold for the latest piece of product, which is rather tweely titled The Beach Boys' L.A. (Light Album)?

"Because I stood in a room with my family, around the piano, and we shared something together. That brotherhood is so loving and important that I'll stand behind this album with my absolute being. And God bless the Beach Boys. And I've done talking."

WELL, NOT quite. He tells me that the group runs democratically, which means that all five members have a vote, and that Brian's vote had been given to his wife, Marilyn, when she took over his power of attorney a year or so back. She had, apparently, voted with Love and Al Jardine against Carl and Dennis on a couple of crucial occasions.

But then Dennis says: "Look out for Brian Wilson!" He seems to be on the brink of selling me the standard Brian's-on-the-mend line when the telephone rings.

It's Brian, calling from Hollywood.

The karma, folks!

Dennis goes to the phone.

"Brian! I just want to tell you that I love you and I miss you. Brian...and tell Carl he's a ****-head!...and tell the rest of the guys to start supporting each other!"

He bursts into tears again.

"Why don't you come over to England, Brian?" he enquires through the sniffles. "I'll send you a ticket! Hey, Christine, Brian wants to talk to you!"

Christine takes the receiver, while Dennis returns to his chair and tells me that Brian just loves Christine. He never liked Karen, Dennis's last wife...wouldn't talk to her. Dennis seems to think that this is significant.

And then, quite suddenly, he declares that the interview is over.

WE ALL get up to leave, Dennis and Christine taking an elevator to their room, me taking another one to the ground floor.

The last thing I hear, as the elevator doors close, is Dennis's voice: "Hey, baby, those jeans make your butt look flat!"

I could tell that they're ascloseasthis, but I didn't have the courage to ask if they're infanticipating.

haha!!! good lord...

[michelej1]

Interesting that Dennis says Brian loved Christine. I think Lindsey said Brian had a crush on her.

Michele

[jbrownsjr]

Originally Posted by michelej1

Interesting that Dennis says Brian loved Christine. I think Lindsey said Brian had a crush on her.

Michele

I loved and remembered the days when Chris, Brian, Lindsey and Brian all hung out...

[kick.inside]

Originally Posted by michelej1

Interesting that Dennis says Brian loved Christine. I think Lindsey said Brian had a crush on her.

Michele

Eh, I'm not surprised. Makes perfect sense to me. How could you NOT have a crush on her?

[Villavic]

According to Mick's book:

...Christine McVie's new live-in boyfriend, Dennis Wilson of the Beach Boys. I had known Dennis from years of gigging with his band and had introduced him to Chris while we were making Tusk. Within a few days after their meeting, Chris and Dennis fell wildly for each other. Our lighting director, Curry Grant, moved out of Chris's hillside recreation of an English country house, and Dennis moved in. It was December 1978, and for the next two years as long as that tempestuous relationship lasted there was never a dull moment, Dennis being the complete wildman so accurately depicted by his enduring legend.

.... (Mirage)...Chris's songs, especially "Hold Me," reflected her bittersweet reflections on her relationship with Dennis Wilson, which had almost resulted in marriage but had ended instead the previous December, when Dennis had moved out of Chris's house and her life. Christine had loved Dennis with all her heart (we all did), and he was a fascinating if exhausting episode in her life. I felt some responsibility, because I had introduced them. Dennis was -an utter loon, and Chris was like my sister. I watched in trepidation as Chris almost went mad trying to keep up with Dennis, who was already like a man with twenty thyroid glands, not counting the gargantuan amounts of coke and booze and pills he was always shoving into himself. I was very torn, because Dennis was a friend, and I'd see him ****ing up and chasing skirts and didn't know whether it was my role to say anything to Chris. In the end I didn't have to. She got tired of spending a fortune and her health on maintaining Dennis on the road to his eventual destiny. In any case, "Hold Me" was a great song, and became the first hit single of the new album.

[jbrownsjr]

Originally Posted by Villavic

According to Mick's book:

...Christine McVie's new live-in boyfriend, Dennis Wilson of the Beach Boys. I had known Dennis from years of gigging with his band and had introduced him to Chris while we were making Tusk. Within a few days after their meeting, Chris and Dennis fell wildly for each other. Our lighting director, Curry Grant, moved out of Chris's hillside recreation of an English country house, and Dennis moved in. It was December 1978, and for the next two years as long as that tempestuous relationship lasted there was never a dull moment, Dennis being the complete wildman so accurately depicted by his enduring legend.

.... (Mirage)...Chris's songs, especially "Hold Me," reflected her bittersweet reflections on her relationship with Dennis Wilson, which had almost resulted in marriage but had ended instead the previous December, when Dennis had moved out of Chris's house and her life. Christine had loved Dennis with all her heart (we all did), and he was a fascinating if exhausting episode in her life. I felt some responsibility, because I had introduced them. Dennis was -an utter loon, and Chris was like my sister. I watched in trepidation as Chris almost went mad trying to keep up with Dennis, who was already like a man with twenty thyroid glands, not counting the gargantuan amounts of coke and booze and pills he was always shoving into himself. I was very torn, because Dennis was a friend, and I'd see him ****ing up and chasing skirts and didn't know whether it was my role to say anything to Chris. In the end I didn't have to. She got tired of spending a fortune and her health on maintaining Dennis on the road to his eventual destiny. In any case, "Hold Me" was a great song, and became the first hit single of the new album.

Awesome excerpts!!

[aleuzzi]

Dennis Wilson was apparently a homophobe. Big surprise. Boring.

[jbrownsjr]

Originally Posted by aleuzzi

Dennis Wilson was apparently a homophobe. Big surprise. Boring.

as a gay man.. it's sometimes fun to watch a homophobe... especially when they don't know I'm gay.. but even more fun is when I tell them..

[ButterCookie]

Originally Posted by jbrownsjr

as a gay man.. it's sometimes fun to watch a homophobe... especially when they don't know I'm gay.. but even more fun is when I tell them..

YES!! People's faces are photo-worthy.

[michelej1]

Originally Posted by jbrownsjr

as a gay man.. it's sometimes fun to watch a homophobe... especially when they don't know I'm gay.. but even more fun is when I tell them..

Rather than the look on Dennis' face, I would be interested in the look on Christine's face when she told him "Some of your best friends are gay." I think she was trying to get a rise out of him and I don't think she's not homophobic herself. At least, I get the impression she was back then. A lot has changed over the last few decades.

As far as having fun telling people, it is probably because I used to watch soap operas, but I always especially enjoyed an All in The Family where Michael tells Archie his friend at a bar is gay, but doesn't tell him who that friend is. Archie assumes that the slight young man (played by Anthony Geary of Luke and Laura General Hospital fame) is gay and treats him in derisive fashion. Actually it is the big, burly football player (played by Phil Carey who played Asa Buchanan on One Life to Live), whom Archie rather admired and enjoyed talking to, who turned out to be gay. Michael relished the irony.


Michele

[jbrownsjr]

Originally Posted by michelej1

Rather than the look on Dennis' face, I would be interested in the look on Christine's face when she told him "Some of your best friends are gay." I think she was trying to get a rise out of him and I don't think she's not homophobic herself. At least, I get the impression she was back then. A lot has changed over the last few decades.

As far as having fun telling people, it is probably because I used to watch soap operas, but I always especially enjoyed an All in The Family where Michael tells Archie his friend at a bar is gay, but doesn't tell him who that friend is. Archie assumes that the slight young man (played by Anthony Geary of Luke and Laura General Hospital fame) is gay and treats him in derisive fashion. Actually it is the big, burly football player (played by Phil Carey who played Asa Buchanan on One Life to Live), whom Archie rather admired and enjoyed talking to, who turned out to be gay. Michael relished the irony.


Michele

I've seen that ep... great one..

[kick.inside]

Originally Posted by michelej1

I think she was trying to get a rise out of him and I don't think she's not homophobic herself. At least, I get the impression she was back then. A lot has changed over the last few decades.

I hate the thought of Christine being homophobic at all. Homophobia is awful in any case, but the fact that I'm gay myself and I love and admire her so much - it would just kill me if she really were a homophobe.
The thing is though, the one interview that often gets brought up in regards to that - Chris saying she didn't want to seem "dykey" or whatever and that she's glad the female fans didn't line up for her sexually - I never even saw that as overly homophobic, actually. I always thought she simply didn't want people to think she was a lesbian because she was in a rock band, and that's how she said it. She worded it in a weird way, but whatever. I also figured that she was grateful that the female fans didn't want her sexually because it would be awkward and she wouldn't know how to react - not because she didn't like them.
Maybe I'm being over idealistic or making excuses for her because I don't want to believe that she might be homophobic. Eh. I mean, have there been other instances that I'm not remembering that would indicate homophobia in any way?
I really don't think she's homophobic now, but the thought of her ever being homophobic at all, even years and years ago, just kills me.

[ButterCookie]

Originally Posted by kick.inside

I hate the thought of Christine being homophobic at all. Homophobia is awful in any case, but the fact that I'm gay myself and I love and admire her so much - it would just kill me if she really were a homophobe.
The thing is though, the one interview that often gets brought up in regards to that - Chris saying she didn't want to seem "dykey" or whatever and that she's glad the female fans didn't line up for her sexually - I never even saw that as overly homophobic, actually. I always thought she simply didn't want people to think she was a lesbian because she was in a rock band, and that's how she said it. She worded it in a weird way, but whatever. I also figured that she was grateful that the female fans didn't want her sexually because it would be awkward and she wouldn't know how to react - not because she didn't like them.
Maybe I'm being over idealistic or making excuses for her because I don't want to believe that she might be homophobic. Eh. I mean, have there been other instances that I'm not remembering that would indicate homophobia in any way?
I really don't think she's homophobic now, but the thought of her ever being homophobic at all, even years and years ago, just kills me.

I agree with you wholeheartedly. However, I think it was pretty normal to be even just a little homophobic in the 60s/70s right? Maybe not but it's nice to convince yourself.

I'm sure Lisa and I discussed the point she made about girls lining up for her because they fancied her and I'm sure the word "lezzie" was used. To be honest, if it were the other way round and she were gay and there were men lining up who wanted a bit she'd probably just as disagreeable on the matter. Lord knows I would and am. I hope that she said it because she wouldn't know how to react. It could also be possible she made the "dykey" comment because she didn't want it to affect her career, couldn't it? Maybe she thought that if her fans thought she was a lesbian that they wouldn't want anything to do with her, again, given the time period in which she said it.

[aleuzzi]

Originally Posted by jbrownsjr

as a gay man.. it's sometimes fun to watch a homophobe... especially when they don't know I'm gay.. but even more fun is when I tell them..

As a gay man I can relate!