FAR OUT
SAT 15TH JUL 2023
Formed in California in 1961, The Beach Boys captured the carefree attitude of the Cali surf scene with their breezy melodies and inventive songwriting, blending doo-wop, rock, and R&B.
The irony was that nobody in the band actually surfed, apart from drummer Dennis Wilson, whose brush with the infamous Manson cult left a lasting stain on the clean-cut image of the group. As is the way with most cults, Wilson didn’t enter a relationship with them knowingly – in fact, it came about after a simple act of kindness, one that haunted him until his eventual death in 1983.
By the late 1960s, the Beach Boys’ popularity was slipping. A new guard was rising up in music; it was heavier and far more experimental than their sound, which caused Wilson to spiral into increasingly erratic behaviour and drug use. He had a habit of picking up hitchhikers, and in 1968, he unwittingly stopped by Patricia Krenwinkel and Ella Jo Bailey and gave them a lift. At the time, he had no idea they were Manson family members, and that one small gesture turned his life upside down.
Five days after initially giving them a ride, Wilson saw them again, this time bringing them back to his home on Sunset Boulevard. They’d built a rapport chatting about spirituality, him sharing that he was into transcendental mediation and The Maharishi. In response, the girls insisted they had a guru too, whose name was Charlie.
Wilson left the girls at his house, leaving to record tracks with the band, and returned to find they’d never left. His home was overtaken by throngs of hippies, and a dirty, bearded stranger was in his driveway. It was Charles Manson. Wilson, particularly vulnerable at this point because of excessive drug use, spent the best part of the next year partying with the freeloading ‘family’.
The cult members shamelessly took advantage of Wilson’s generosity, destroying his home, his cars, and his credit. In Mike Love’s memoir Good Vibrations, he argues Wilson was perhaps insecure, which drove him to be blinded by the women that aligned themselves with Manson. He wrote: “Dennis was all too happy to allow Manson and his girls to move in, use his charge cards, take his clothes, eat his food, even drive his Mercedes. Manson, after all, had something for Dennis: a stable of young women who catered to his every desire.”
But things started to sour over time. The Wilson brothers bonded over their love of fast cars, and both Brian and Dennis had a beloved Ferrari 275GTB each, but the Mason members crashed Dennis’ and borrowed Brian’s – only to do the same to his. They also destroyed his Mercedes, racked up ridiculous debts (including an $800 tab at a dairy farm in Wilson’s name) and took everything they could lay their hands on, from his clothes to his gold records.
Wilson resolved to distance himself from them but, potentially fearing repercussions, didn’t contact the police – instead moved elsewhere to avoid them. But Manson’s ego-maniacal tendencies wouldn’t allow Wilson to leave that easily. He left a note threatening Wilson at his new house, warning him: “You can’t get away from me”.
Part of Manson’s manipulation of Wilson included letting him record music, all of which Wilson footed the bill for. The Beach Boys ended up recording a version of his song ‘Cease to Exist’, but essentially reversed his entire input – what Manson wanted to be a blues-infused number became light and poppy. That indiscretion was said to have tipped Manson over the edge, and Wilson woke up to him hovering over his face holding a single bullet. “It’s a bullet,” Manson chillingly declared. “Every time you look at it, I want you to think how nice it is your kids are still safe.”
Long-time Beach Boys collaborator, Van Dyke Parks, has said Wilson then proceeded to pummel Manson in front of his crowd of hippies. That beating was what finally made Manson retreat, returning to the Spahn ranch to plot what would become the horrific ‘Helter Skelter’ murders, which left seven dead in 1969, including the then-pregnant actress Sharon Tate.
Wilson never forgave himself for his involvement with the family after the atrocities they committed under Manson’s orders, blaming himself for the deaths. He never spoke about it publicly, but those close to him have said the guilt is what fuelled the self-destructive path to drinking and drug use that led to him drowning at age 39.
https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/how-one-kind-act-ruined-dennis-wilson-life/
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