A Lively Conversation With Legendary Mike Love of The Beach Boys

Mike Love, lead singer of surf rock legends The Beach Boys, has been sending out good vibrations to music lovers of all ages and backgrounds for over 50 years.

His band has seen some changes – and so has the music industry as a whole – but some things, like his love for a good melody, have stayed the same.

Wouldn’t it be nice if you could see The Beach Boys for yourself? You can – they’re coming to the Bryce Jordan Center on October 29.

StateCollege.com recently caught up with Love to talk about his life and career as one the most influential musicians in rock and roll. 

Q: The Beach Boys have been through tons of lineup changes through the years. Is it difficult to keep a feeling of musical cohesion or authenticity through these shifts?

That’s a good question. Well, for one thing, I’m the lead singer on many of the hit songs, so there’s that level authenticity from that standpoint. The other thing is that in music, like sports, you can have a person that might play differently or hit a different note – but as long as they do it well, then it should be okay.

There are many, innumerable groups that have had personnel changes over the years, but a lot of their songs are still done to this day just beautifully. I’m glad that I was the lead singer and co-writer on so many of the hits, which lends that authenticity … The main thing has always been the music. We’ve always been obsessed with recreating those songs to make them sound like the record.

Q: Does it feel different on any level to perform with the Beach Boys today than it did in the 60s? In what way has the experience of performance changed, if it has?

In the 60’s, especially the early 60’s, the industry for rock was rather new and primitive. When we first started, the sound systems in some of the place we played were designed for calling wrestling matches or boxing matches. We played in memorial halls and armories and places where big band acts or country musicians used to play. The lighting, sound and production was all very primitive.

We were like the first boy band, then came The Beatles and The Rolling Stones and all hell broke loose. It became a big business, so then sound and production companies sprung up regionally, all around the country. So sound systems and quality grew by leaps and bounds – which is good, because our music started to get a little more complicated.

In the early days, though, the energy was fantastic. Rock was new, or newish, and the kids that were our fans were our age, plus or minus a few years. Technically speaking, today is infinitely better in terms of travel and accommodation and sounds systems. But one can not deny the energy and spirit and sheer fun was just fantastic in the early days.

Q: Have you seen that sense of energy or excitement change or decrease over the years?

I think that has to do with demographics That fans that started out with us, back in the 60s, 70s or even the 80s, are going to act different now than they would have 50 years ago. Now we have younger fans too, children and grandchildren of fans. We were in San Diego a couple years back in a beautiful arena overlooking the bar, and there was this nine-year-old girl in the crowd in a Beach Boys shirt. So I pulled her on stage and got her to sing “Barbara Ann” on stage. In the meantime, a 90-year-old woman was singing with us on the other side of the stage, and as she got offstage I heard her saying this was the best night of her life. That’s nine to 90. That’s an amazing spread of demographics. Our music appeals to all ages. It’s really an amazing phenomena.

Q: Do you still play the big hits at your shows?

I’ve heard of bands that leave out their hits, but that’s never been my philosophy. People come to see you based on what they know, and that’s the hits. Plus not everyone is fan. Some might be coming with a fan, or maybe it’s just a night out for them. Our mission is do our hits as well as they’ve ever been performed, plus maybe some things people have never heard that are interesting musically. So when people leave, hopefully there are some new fans created, and longtime fans are satisfied with the time and money spent to come see us.

Q: Do you ever wish people would request different songs, like some obscure b-side from the middle of your career?

Well, we do the obscure b-sides from the middle of our career too. Sometimes we do an a cappella song from before we were the Beach Boys. We do an arrangement by the Four Freshmen with just voices called “Their Hearts Were Full of Spring.” It’s a very beautiful song about lost love, so that’s something we do in the proper setting. If there’s a time for it, we like to get down to just a four part harmony called “The Warmth of the Sun.” We wrote that in 1963 for President Kennedy when he was taken to the hospital, and we all know what happened there. We have one song called “Ballad of Ole’ Betsy,” which is about a car that’s getting old but you still love anyway. No one sings a love song about the car but the Beach Boys!

Q: At any point, you can retire, stop touring, and enjoy an enduring legacy and immense respect as a musician. What is it that keeps you coming back to the studio, and coming back out on tour?

One of the things that comes to mind is there are a lot of wonderful things about music. It can get through to people in times of adversity and challenged. Like, just the other day, we were in Kentucky, and this beautiful blonde little girl named Anna Beck was at the show. She was brought backstage and I asked her favorite Beach Boys song, and she immediately says “409” – which was recorded 40 years before she was born. She apparently has some challenges, a tumor and other health problems. So we got her seated on the side of the stage, and I had her come out and sing 409 with me. When you can affect a young girl like that, that’s hard to beat.

It also makes me think of the bangle I wear on my wrist from a guy who gave it to me from the central highlands of Vietnam. He told me how much our music meant to them in Vietnam, that it helped get through what they went through. I’ve heard from many people from that time period who had to go to southeast Asia and do what they did, and how much our music meant for them.

I guess I could retire – but why would I want to? Tony Bennett has a number one album with Lady Gaga right now at 88-years-old, so he’s doing alright. As long as you have health and energy and people want to hear you, why not do music?

Q: Speaking of your tremendous legacy, do you ever wake up in the morning, look in the mirror and say “I’m Mike Love!”? What does it feel like to have reached the level of fame and influence that you have?

I feel honored and grateful that we’ve gotten to the level we’ve reached. But I also think there’s more to do, like using your celebrity to benefit other people. There’s more to do in life. Even after 52 years, we’re still going to places we’ve never been to and selling out real beautiful gems of places.

We’re just really blessed to be able to do our music. We don’t always go to the biggest places, and every once in a while we have a show that’s not sold out, but we’re pretty lucky and well-attended. We strive every year to do a better job at presenting our music at our shows. We do a VIP experience for people who can afford the experience, but sometimes we make exceptions for people who could really use some help or inspiration – like that girl I mentioned with the tumor. We’re just always trying to do the best job that we can in presenting the music for people.

Q: The Beach Boys most recent studio album was in 2012. How has the process of recording changed for the band over the years?

It’s changed dramatically, growing two track recordings for our first song to four to eight to 16 to 24. And now it’s all on a computer, which has an infinite number of possibilities. That’s good in terms of having a practically infinite capacity for innovation and all that, but you can sometimes loose spontaneity. As technology grew from the late 60s on, it can definitely get to be a little bit less spontaneous, and sometimes you loose something with a lack of spontaneity.

There are pros and cons to every phase of the recording studio, but for me it all boils down to a great song, great lyrics, great lyrics and good performance. A great song with a catchy concept, lyrics and arrangement can be done well as long as you got the goods. You can get a hit no matter what the time period or technology is.

Q: How many more tours or records do you think you have in you?

For me, as long as I’m happy and healthy and I feel that there’s a good purpose to what we do, I’ll keep going. If we can keep generating happiness for people, if we can somehow contribute to the betterment of people’s lives in some ways – not only though music but also lending our celebrity to causes we feel are worthwhile – then there’s not an end in sight.

Certainly there’s an end to a lifespan, but Tony Bennett is still doing pretty good at 88 with Lady Gaga. There’s no limit or constraint on creativity in a human life, so I think we can keep the legacy rolling for any number of years. I see no reason to hang it up for the sake of hanging it up. What am I going to do, play golf? I like golf, but there’s just something about being in front of audience of people all going nuts for your efforts.

Q: If you had to pick one moment from your career that you’re most proud of, or when you felt your work was most validated, what would that be?

That makes me think of this guy sitting next to me on a plane, years ago, going from Houston to L.A. He didn’t say two words to me the whole way, then on our approach into L.A. as the plane is descending, he turns to me and says, ‘Thank you for saving my life.’ And, of course, I was like, ‘What?’” He said, ‘You guys’ music got us through what we had to do in Vietnam.” We were just making music and having a great time in the 60’s, but we were making a difference. That really hit me like a ton of bricks.

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