Film Explores Beach Boys' Evil Side
Aug 07, 2008
aversion.com
When the Beach Boys weren't busy confronting the evil that was Murray Wilson, they were flirting with dudes whose souls were almost as black: Charles Manson and Anton Le Vay.
Beach Boys and the Satan gets past he white-bred image of sun and surf pop music so associated with The Beach Boys to look at the dark undercurrents that surrounded the band in the late '60s. Drummer Dennis Wilson's brief pre-massacre fling with Manson's Family and front man Brian Wilson's flirtations with Le Vay and Kenneth Anger are explored in the hour-long video.
Originally produced for German television, the film features interviews with Brian Wilson, Don Was and Anger. It arrives in stores Sept. 30 from Zeit1.
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The Beach Boys' dark underbelly
August 7, 2008 by Jim Allen
prefixmag.com
How many degrees of separation are there between the most squeaky-clean, all-American band of the 20th century and one of the most depraved, evil, psychopathic killers of all time? Zero. This fact and others are amply underlined on the new DVD The Beach Boys and the Satan, set for release on September 30.
Originally seen on German television, it details the way in which Beach Boys drummer Dennis Wilson got mixed up in Charles Manson's world and wound up bringing him into the Beach Boys circle (they even recorded one of his songs) in the days before Manson's homicidal tendencies went public.
It also unveils Brian Wilson's involvement with notorious Satanist Anton LaVey, though unfortunately, no LaVey tunes ever made their way into the band's repertoire. It all sounds perfectly juicy, but we just have one thought: wouldn't it have been much simpler to make a film about the evil side of the Beach Boys by simply following Mike Love around for a few days?