I've seen any number of TL's (participated in some of them, in fact) where the Beach Boys manage to finish their masterpiece, SMiLE. Usually they involve some way of getting Brian Wilson back on track and overcoming (at least temporarily) his emotional and mental problems, which according to his book I Am Brian Wilson were even worse than we thought; he's heard voices in his head since the mid-60s. The corollary to this, usually, is that Mike Love is somehow persuaded to go along with the SMiLE album, or at least to STFU and get out of the way while Brian finishes it.
I don't think this idea has ever been tossed out there: what if the rest of the group lined up behind Brian on the SMiLE album, leaving Mike Love as the odd man out, and he quit the Beach Boys in disgust during the sessions? It's almost certain Carl and Dennis Wilson would have sided with their brother. Al Jardine and Bruce Johnston were a little harder, as they were more musically conservative, but they also would have realized that Brian's musical ideas where what had driven the group all along, and that might have been the key selling point. Brian would have been shaken badly by Mike's quitting the group, but Dennis in particular would have supported him ("you're better off without that asshole around, Brian").
So, if Brian gets past Mike Love quitting the group and is able to recover his bearings, can the Beach Boys finish SMiLE? Do they go shopping for a singer to replace Mike Love as frontman, and if so, any candidates? (Love's solo career would no doubt involve sinking like a stone and eventually crawling back to the group on his knees after a few years.)
I don't think this idea has ever been tossed out there: what if the rest of the group lined up behind Brian on the SMiLE album, leaving Mike Love as the odd man out, and he quit the Beach Boys in disgust during the sessions? It's almost certain Carl and Dennis Wilson would have sided with their brother. Al Jardine and Bruce Johnston were a little harder, as they were more musically conservative, but they also would have realized that Brian's musical ideas where what had driven the group all along, and that might have been the key selling point. Brian would have been shaken badly by Mike's quitting the group, but Dennis in particular would have supported him ("you're better off without that asshole around, Brian").
So, if Brian gets past Mike Love quitting the group and is able to recover his bearings, can the Beach Boys finish SMiLE? Do they go shopping for a singer to replace Mike Love as frontman, and if so, any candidates? (Love's solo career would no doubt involve sinking like a stone and eventually crawling back to the group on his knees after a few years.)