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AKA

02-29-2004, 10:23 PM

Originally posted by MandieR1980
while I love his voice and he was great with The Beach Boys he stole it from the Wilson family didn't he? I remember hearing that there's some feuds going on with them because of him touring with the name.

Yeah. Here's how Beach Boys membership breaks down:

The main guys:
Brian Wilson - vocals, guitar, bass, keyboard, piano (1942-)
Carl Wilson - vocals, lead guitar, keyboard (1946-1998)
Dennis Wilson - vocals, drums, keyboard (1944-1983)
Mike Love - vocals, saxophone (1941-)
Al Jardine - vocals, guitar (1942-)

Also:
David Marks - guitar, vocals (1948-) [temporarily replaced Al Jardine from 1962-1963 while Jardine was studying dentistry]
Bruce Johnston - vocals, guitar, bass, keyboard, piano (1944-)
Ricky Fataar - drums (1952-) [band member 1972-1976; sang lead vocals on the single "Sail On, Sailor"]
Blondie Chaplin - guitar, vocals (1951-) [band member 1972-1974]

This is from the Beach Boys FAQ:

[b]What's the deal with all of the Beach Boys touring with different bands? Who is in the band touring as "The Beach Boys"? Did Al Jardine quit, or was he fired? What is going on with the lawsuits being filed between Mike Love and Al Jardine?

Well, it seems as though it would take an entire book to explain the sordid details. But to sum it up as quickly as possible, here it goes:

Up until 1998, the band touring as the Beach Boys consisted of Al Jardine, Bruce Johnston, Mike Love, and Carl Wilson. This is the basic nucleus of the group that toured after Dennis Wilson's death from 1983 until 1998 (with the exception of rare appearances by Brian Wilson with the group). Carl Wilson became ill in 1997, but continued to tour with the group on and off until August of 1997, at which point he had to take some time off due to illness. At that point, old member David Marks (who played with the Beach Boys for a string of albums in their early days on Capitol), was brought in to add more "authenticity" to the band and it's number of "original members". At some point in late 1997, Mike Love for unknown reasons reportedly declared that he did not want to appear on stage with Carl Wilson or Al Jardine anymore. The apparent reasoning for not touring with Carl was that Mike Love did not want to appear with Carl due to his deteriorating physical condition and appearance. Why he might have stated that he didn't want to appear on stage with Al Jardine anymore is unclear. Some suggest that Mike realized that Al was making an equal percentage from touring just as Mike was, and if Carl were no longer with the band, it would be more profitable for Mike to tour without Al and make more money for himself (the theory being that Al, just as Carl or any other Beach Boy, is "replaceable" to the masses that aren't familiar with the individual Beach Boys.)

Upon Carl's passing in February of 1998, Mike Love chose to continue touring and performing Beach Boys material. Al Jardine played a few shows in 1998 with the Beach Boys that had been booked prior to Carl's death. Jardine then stopped appearing with Love in concert (or Love stopped appearing with Jardine in concert, whichever way you want to look at it). Jardine did not leave "The Beach Boys" so much as the group splintered and Love continued on with his own touring band, that no longer were legally "The Beach Boys" as they had been with Carl or Al. So it is not as simple as saying Al "left the Beach Boys." It appears Al initially had no touring plans other than not wanting to appear on tour with Love and without Carl Wilson as "The Beach Boys." It also seems there simultaneously was a situation where Love did not want to tour with Jardine anymore.

For a short while in 1998 without Carl and Al in the band, Love, Johnston, and Marks (basically, the same band that had been touring in 1997 and 1998, only without Carl or Al) toured as "Mike Love and America's Band" or "America's Band featuring Mike Love", or some variation of this name. This was reportedly due to the fact that nobody was cleared at this time to tour as "The Beach Boys." During this time, it was very difficult for Love's band to book shows, because not being able to tour as "The Beach Boys" meant few venues or audiences would recognize his band at all. Some reports indicate that Mike Love's band also did use "The Beach Boys" as the band's name at some venues. Even after Al was no longer touring with Mike and Bruce, Al's son Matt Jardine (who had been touring with the Beach Boys since the 80's) continued on with Mike and Bruce. But Matt Jardine eventually left the group in 1998 after a relatively brief tenue with Mike's band while they were still touring under this interim moniker.

It appears as though when Carl Wilson passed away, "The Beach Boys" as they had existed as a touring unit (both literally and legally/contractually) ceased to exist. This seems to be supported by the fact that Love and Johnston, who continued to play live shows, and who clearly planned and wanted to be "The Beach Boys", were not able to use that name initially in 1998. It was later in the year that licenses were worked out regarding the "Beach Boys" name (see next paragraph). Regardless of whether Jardine was forced out or left on his own, or whether he wanted to continue playing with Love or not, he eventually went on to create his own band using a Beach Boys-sanctioned license (see next paragraph).

According to court documents, a few months after Carl Wilson died, and after Al Jardine had stopped appearing at live shows with Mike Love (due to, according to the court documents, Love and Jardine not wanting to appear on tour together), Love began negotiations on his own with BRI ("Brother Records, Inc.", the Beach Boys company and whose directors consist of Al Jardine, Mike Love, Brian Wilson, and the estate of Carl Wilson) for an exclusive license for his band to use the name "The Beach Boys." Before Love reached any licensing agreement, a BRI directors meeting in July 1998 took place in which Carl Wilson's estate suggested the idea of BRI granting all three surviving Beach Boys non-exclusive licenses on the same terms and conditions as the license that was being negotiated with Mike Love. By a 3-to-1 vote, with Jardine voting in favor, BRI voted to grant each Beach Boy a non-exclusive license. Carl Wilson's estate presumably voted in favor of this, as it was their idea, meaning either Love or Brian Wilson voted against it or abstained. As Love was in the process of negotiating his own license, it seems most likely that he was against granting all Beach Boys a non-exclusive license. The fairness of basing the terms of a non-exclusive license for all members on a previous in-progress license that Mike Love was attempting to get, is questionable. Nevertheless, the BRI board agreed with this setup. What seems to be debatable to this day is whether the licenses that were granted to each of the surviving Beach Boys were actually executed, meaning that they actually took affect. It is clear that Mike Love's license was executed (On October 1, 1998 to be exact, a license that at that time was a non-exclusive license). It seems to be unclear whether a license with Jardine was executed. Court documents indicate BRI and Jardine could not come to an agreement on a license. BRI initially wanted to hold Jardine to the same terms that Love's contract stated, even though Love was calling his band "The Beach Boys" and was using the same band that had been touring before, just minus Jardine, while Jardine ended up calling his band "Beach Boys Family and Friends" and had to start his band from scratch. Eventually, it came down to BRI wanting a large percentage of Jardine's initial profits from the group. Interestingly, BRI ended up offering to allow Jardine to pay a slightly lower percentage of his initial profits compared to Love, suggesting BRI realized Jardine shouldn't have to pay as large of a percentage as Love, since Love was actually calling his band "The Beach Boys" and was using the same touring operation and band that had been going for years, while Jardine was starting from scratch. It seems that Jardine was unwilling to pay BRI such a large percentage of his fledgling band's profits. It doesn't appear as though they ever came to a final agreement to execute a license.

However, Jardine has argued that he did have a valid license, and the judge in the most recent court appeal ruling did state that even he was unclear as to whether Jardine had a valid license. It would seem to be easy for BRI to prove that Jardine did not have a license, but as they haven't been able to, it would seem that that coupled with the fact that Jardine was able to tour as "Beach Boys Family and Friend" throughout 1999 while judge threw out BRI's attempts at getting injunctions against Jardine using the name, indicates that Jardine was allowed to use the name in 1999. In any event, by 2000 Love had an exclusive license. So while there are still lawsuits pending between Love/BRI and Jardine over what occured in 1999 (including their continued belief that Jardine shouldn't have used the name, as well as legal fees and the like), the bottom line now is that Jardine can no longer use the name in any fashion, and Love can continue to use the name exclusively.

Once the different licenses took affect Mike Love continued to tour in 1998 (and in fact to this day) without Al Jardine as "The Beach Boys", with a band consisting of himself, Bruce Johnston, David Marks, and backup musicians. David Marks left the group in July of 1999, so from that point on the touring Beach Boys consist of Love and Johnston.

It was late 1998 when Jardine finally launched his own group titled "Beach Boys Family and Friends." Jardine claimed that he had a license to use the Beach Boys name (this presumably being the non-exclusive license provided to all of the Beach Boys), and also contended that since he was not calling his group "The Beach Boys", but rather "Beach Boys Family and Friends", he did not need a license. These two arguments may seem contradictory, but not if they were both true, which Jardine believed was the case.

Jardine never contended or tried to lead anybody to believe that his band was "The Beach Boys" (if Jardine had wished to call his band "The Beach Boys", he presumably would have been able to under the terms of the license given to him, Mike, and Brian, even though that obviously would have created a great amount of confusion and would contradict Al's public disgust with Mike Love calling his band as "The Beach Boys"), and in fact Al spoke in interviews directly about the fact that Mike Love was touring as "The Beach Boys". Al explained how the concept of his band was different. The band consisted of Jardine, his two sons Matt and Adam, Brian Wilson's two daughters and former members of "Wilson Phillips" Carnie and Wendy, Owen Elliott, the daughter of Cass Elliott from the "Mamas and Papas", and a familiar cast of past Beach Boys veteran backing musicians that eventually included Billy Hinsche, Bobby Figueroa, Ed Carter, and Richie Cannata.

Brian Wilson began touring in 1999 and continues to tour, choosing to tour under his own name.

Litigation beginning in 1999 between BRI (protecting the interests of Mike Love and his touring band) and Al Jardine seems to stem from the fact that Love and BRI believed that Jardine's incorporating the Beach Boys' name into his band's name was misleading and inappropriate, and that Jardine no longer had a license to use the Beach Boys name, either because his license was never finally executed, or because he had violated the terms of the license by using female singers and performing more obscure material from the Beach Boys' catalog that did not go along with the Beach Boys' image of "fun, surf, and cars." It is unclear how legally sound these arguments were, since Love's own group was also performing songs that did not fall under the "fun, surf, and cars" image, and it is unclear whether these were legitimate complaints against Jardine or whether they were simply a ploy to get Jardine's band off of the touring circuit so Love did not have any competetion). Jardine contended that he was not mis-leading concert goers with his band, contended he was granted a license to use the Beach Boys' name in some form, did not need a license since he was not calling his band "The Beach Boys", and should still have been entitled to identify himself as a Beach Boy. But Love continued to tour as "The Beach Boys" in 1999 while Jardine toured as "Beach Boys Family and Friends", so the income generated from Love's tour was not in any great jeopardy by allowing Jardine to tour as "Beach Boys Family and Friends", and there is also some question as to whether Brian Wilson or Carl Wilson's estate truly believe that Mike Love, and only Mike Love, is qualified or deserving to call his band "The Beach Boys." For some reason that would seem to be unrelated to any potential loss of profits from Love's touring band or any action on Al Jardine's part, by the end of 1999 BRI granted Mike Love an exclusive license to use the "Beach Boys" name. This meant that Jardine not only could no longer call his band "Beach Boys Family and Friends", but could not even identify himself as a Beach Boys in his band's title.

There are four voting members in BRI: Al Jardine, Mike Love, Brian Wilson, and Carl Wilson's estate. When the vote was held by BRI for Love to be granted an exclusive license, Love obviously voted in favor of it and Al voted against it. This means that either Brian Wilson or Carl Wilson's estate, or both of them, voted in favor of Mike. All reports point to Brian Wilson voting in favor of Mike. (In actuality, Brian's wife, as his conservator, votes for Brian, Brian does not cast the vote himself). Carl Wilson's estate either voted in favor of Mike, or abstained. Either way, the vote was either 2-to-1 or 3-to-1 in favor of Mike Love getting the exclusive license to tour as "The Beach Boys."

BRI, in protecting the interests of Mike Love and his touring unit, filed an injunction several times in 1999 to keep Jardine from touring under the name "Beach Boys Family and Friends", and it was thrown out each time presumably because Jardine's license was still valid and the courts felt that any other accusations of Jardine breaking the terms of the license were invalid. A temporary injunction was finally granted at the end 1999, most likely because Mike Love's exclusive license had taken effect. But Jardine felt he had a right to continue to bill himself as being a Beach Boy. The temporary injunction that was granted was granted pending a hearing at some later date in 2000 or 2001. Jardine fought against the injunction on the basis of other similar cases where members of bands were allowed to advertise themselves as being a member of that band. In August of 2001, the court ruling went against Jardine. Jardine appealed this ruling, however. In any event, Jardine cannot use the "Beach Boys Family and Friends" moniker and was forced to change the title of the band, choosing to call the band "Al Jardine Family and Friends Beach Band", which is sometime shortened to simply "Al Jardine Family and Friends." In 2002, Jardine announced that he planned a second touring unit titled "Al Jardine's All Star Beach Band" which would have the same lineup as "Family & Friends", but minus Carnie and Wendy Wilson and featuring members of the "Rip Chords" and "Surfaris." It appears at this time that these are two seperate bands.

Not being able to use the "Beach Boys" name in any fashion has more or less crippled Jardine's ability to be able to tour on any sort of regular basis. Just as Mike Love had trouble booking any substantial number of shows in 1998 under the "Mike Love and America's Band" moniker, and even had booking cancellations due to lack of interest, Jardine cannot book any substantial number of shows without incorporating the Beach Boys' name into has band. At no time has Al ever used the name "The Beach Boys" for his band (even though his license in 1999 apparently allowed for him to do so if he had wanted), nor has he ever expressed any desire to name his own band "The Beach Boys." He simply wants to be able to advertise his band to indicate he is from the Beach Boys, while recognizing that just as Love's band is not really "The Beach Boys", neither is his.

While Love's band continues to play to the mass of public consisting of mostly common fans who know little of the detailed history of the Beach Boys and still has the support of a small faction of die-hard Beach Boys fans grasping onto him and anything that is still calling itself "The Beach Boys", a large percentage of the die-hard fans agree that Al's band puts on a much better show and that Love's actions leading to Jardine not being able to tour as "Beach Boys Family and Friends" are simply wrong, and that Love's continued use of the name "The Beach Boys" for his band is an even greater travesty. Some point out that all of the legal actions against Al are taken by BRI, not Love. While this is technically and legally true, we know that at the very least Love is a part of that action as a member of BRI (and we know Al isn't on their side, because he wouldn't sue himself, although there is a strange paradox in the fact that since the whole of BRI is suing Al and that Al is still a member of BRI, he is suing himself in one sense), and that many say most of the actions taken by BRI have been done basically in the interest of having Love's band as the one and only band that can tour and use any variation of the Beach Boys' name.

In July of 2001, only a month before the ruling against himself being able to use the "Beach Boys Family and Friends" moniker (which he may appeal), Jardine filed a seperate lawsuit against BRI (meaning Brian Wilson, Mike Love, and the estate of Carl Wilson). News reports indicate that Jardine claims he has been more or less frozen out of the Beach Boys, and has been excluded from recent tours. This lawsuit includes monetary damages as well as money Jardine claims he was owed after a lawsuit settlement several years ago with the publishers of Brian Wilson's ghost-written autobiography. According to news reports, Jardine also claims that Mike Love has promoted his touring group as the "real" and "genuine" group, when in fact Love is the only original member in that group. Although this lawsuit obviously involves the touring bands, it is a seperate lawsuit from the lawsuits BRI have engaged in with Jardine over the use of the "Beach Boys Family and Friends" name.

Reports in 2002 indicate that Jardine's lawsuit is still in limbo, having been rejected by the courts in April and again in July because the court believed the lawsuit addressed things that had already been address in a previous federal lawsuit (presumably this federal lawsuit was in relation to the "Beach Boys" name/trademark lawsuits). However, Jardine has been allowed to re-submit his complaint, so his suit may still be heard in court at some point. In mid-2002, prior to the latest rejection of his lawsuit in July, Jardine filed a malpractice lawsuit against one his lawyers who handled some of the issues related to these lawsuits. That lawsuit is also pending at this time, and the situation with his lawyer may have affected the execution or outcome of Jardine's other lawsuits. After the latest rejection of his suit in July, Jardine's (presumably) new lawyer indicated that they would appeal both this latest court decision as well as the previous federal lawsuit decision. The most recent appeal was rejected, and it is unclear where Jardine will go from here. After the latest rejection of the appeal, BRI turned around and sued Jardine for court costs among other things for having to defend the trademark back in 1999. So, as mentioned way above, while lawsuits continue to go back and forth in regards to what occured in 1999, the bottom line now is that Love can continue to take his band out on tour as "The Beach Boys", and Jardine cannot even identify himself as a Beach Boy.

The above details are taken from available news stories and other researched information and accounts surrounding these events. The details of the lawsuits have been very sketchy, so many details are still missing. Only one actual court document, the most recent rejection of Jardine's appearl, has been made public, and even that document poses as many questions as it answers. Even the reports that have come out in news articles and such, and the comments from both lawyers and the Beach Boys themselves, have often been vague, confusing, sketchy, and contradictory. But the basic events concerning name changes and touring lineups are correct. Other information can only be taken from the available sources, so when or if more information becomes available, this will be updated.

Why do people seem to dislike Mike Love so much?

To totally understand Mike Love and people who dislike him would take a lot of research through watching videos, listening to cd's, and reading and listening to the things that Mike Love has said in the past. Some feel Mike takes too much credit for the Beach Boys' success. Others simply don't like his singing. Some people seem to have a personal grudge against him. The most recent and common reason to dislike Mike Love is his continued use of the name "The Beach Boys" for his touring act that contains only two Beach Boys, and he being the only original member. Also, Mike Love's simultaneously touring his band as "The Beach Boys" while barring Al Jardine from touring under his band's name of "Beach Boys Family and Friends" or even indentifying himself as a Beach Boys, has not won Love any new fans. Some feel Love is unjustifiably criticized too much. But if one looks at the history of the Beach Boys and Love's actions both past and present, most seem to agree that it is not a misunderstanding or unfair to criticize Love, and that his actions more times that not, do seem to warrant that criticism. Unlike most "rockstars" that have a faction of "anti" fans that don't like their work or band, Love seems to have a strangely large amount of actual Beach Boys fans that have issues with him.