Al Jardine has accused his former Beach Boys bandmate Mike Love of “megalomania problems” for his speech at Brian Wilson’s funeral.
- READ MORE: Brian Wilson, 1942-2025: culture-defining innovator who represented pop music’s awakening
Wilson, the band’s visionary leader, died in June from respiratory arrest at the age of 82 and his funeral was held in early July in Los Angeles, with many of his friends and former collaborators attending.
Singer/lyricist Love and guitarist Jardine, both founding members of The Beach Boys, gave speeches at the ceremony, and in a new interview with Rolling Stone, Jardine has taken a swipe at Love and accused him of drawing attention to himself.
“Mike wanted everybody to know that he wrote every single word of ‘Good Vibrations’,” Jardine said. “I didn’t feel the compassion, let’s put it that way. Mike’s got some serious megalomania problems.”
“I was focusing on Brian, and Mike was more focused on Mike,” he added. “I think that is what it boils down to.”
Jardine is also said to have referenced Love’s comments in his own speech at the funeral. “Mike, I’ve written some songs with Brian myself. We wrote one called ‘Surfin’ Down The Swanee River’. It just wasn’t as big as ‘Good Vibrations’,” he said, drawing laughter from the room.
Jardine and Love have been at odds ever since the passing of Carl Wilson in 1998, facing off in a series of court cases in the 2000s, with a judge eventually ruling that Love had the right to perform under the band’s name.
They did briefly reunite alongside Wilson in 2012 but it was to be a short-lived tour. In 2020, Wilson and Jardine strongly denied any involvement in a Beach Boys concert connected to a Donald Trump benefit show.
After news of Wilson’s death emerged, Jardine shared a statement, writing: “I think the most comforting thought right now is that you are reunited with [brothers] Carl and Dennis , singing those beautiful harmonies again.”
Love posted his own moving tribute to Wilson, writing: “Today, the world lost a genius, and I lost a cousin by blood and my partner in music. Brian Wilson wasn’t just the heart of The Beach Boys – he was the soul of our sound.”
“From the first time we sang together as kids in my living room, I knew there was something otherworldly in him. His musical gifts were unmatched. The melodies he dreamed up, the emotions he poured into every note – Brian changed the course of music forever.”
He also revealed that he and Wilson had sung ‘Fun Fun Fun’ and ‘Surfin’ USA’ together three weeks before his death.
