September 26, 2023 • 7 mins
Charles Manson and his "family" of followers went on a gruesome killing spree in L.A. during the summer of 1969. He claimed that his inspiration for some of it was the music of the Beatles (Helter Skelter in particular). But Manson had a much deeper connection to Dennis Wilson of the Beach Boys. It destroyed Dennis's reputation and his health, and changed his life forever.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Okay, tell me this. What's the connection between the Beach
Boys and mass murderer Charles Manson. I'm Patty Steele. Not
so good vibrations. Next on the backstory. So most of
us who paid any attention to the Manson murders in
(00:20):
the summer of sixty nine know that Charles Manson himself
claimed it was the Beatles music that inspired him to
order his followers to commit the murders. In fact, the
definitive book about the killings was called Helter Skelter, after
a song on the Beatles White album. I read that
book really chilling. So it was the summer of nineteen
(00:41):
sixty eight. Manson was desperately trying to have a music career.
He briefly met record producer Terry Melcher and decided he'd
stop by the house where he thought he lived, only
it was by this time being rented by red hot
twenty six year old actress Sharon Tate and her movie
director her husband Roman Polanski. This was about five months
(01:03):
before the murders. Sharon and a guy who worked at
the house told Manson Melcher had moved away. Ironically, the
house had also been rented before that to another music
guy Mark Lindsay, lead singer of the sixties pop band
Paul Revere and the Raiders. But back to this, how
were the Beach Boys connected to Charlie Well Mostly through
(01:25):
Beach Boys drummer Dennis Wilson. Dennis was living a California
fantasy surf son women's success music. I mean Dennis wrote
good vibrations. The problem is he also loved drugs, and
he was really into that sixties counterculture thing. He was
(01:47):
a true eccentric. He actually torched his wife's car because
he was just impossibly jealous. On the notes for the
Beach Boys All Summer Long album in nineteen sixty four,
Dennis wrote, they say I live a fat Maybe I
just like a fast life. I wouldn't give it up
for anything in the world. It won't last forever, but
(02:07):
the memories will. Dennis loved living on the edge, and
that's what drew him to Charlie Manson. The two became
pals after Dennis picked up a couple of Manson family followers.
They were very young women, and he was fascinated by them,
so much so that he invited Manson and seventeen of
(02:29):
his female family members to live in his house after
they showed up unannounced. They wound up staying for at
least six months. Ironically, most of the family members had
the same issues as Dennis, who had been physically abused
by his dad, which left him scarred for life. Charlie
Manson took advantage of broken people. Dennis actually worked with
(02:51):
Manson on his music. He said he saw some potential
in him. But eventually Manson's really abusive and hypnotic hold
of his followers started to freak Dennis out. He began
to see the darkness, but he didn't really know how
to escape. He told friends he'd seen Manson murder somebody.
The Manson family used his credit cards, they totaled his
(03:14):
Mercedes as well as his Ferrari. And get this, there
were by this time about twenty Manson followers living in
Dennis's house, and there was a lot of group sex.
They literally all wound up with gonorrhea, including Dennis himself.
Now he put the bill for repeated penicillin shots for
everybody in the house It's all in the house, which
(03:35):
got wildly expensive. In fact, those crazy six months wound
up costing Dennis, who was just twenty five years old,
way over one hundred thousand dollars, so it was time
to go right Except instead of them going, Dennis took
off without telling him, He just moved to another house,
simply left them behind. The house he'd left them in
(03:58):
was a rental and was finally up months later. By
the time the family left, they had stolen almost everything
Dennis had in the house. But then Charlie found out
where he lived, and he left a note for Dennis saying,
you can't get away from me. Get some chills down
your spine on that right. Well, it got worse when
(04:19):
the Beach Boys adapted one of Charlie's songs, changed it up,
chorded it, and gave him no credit. Charlie was furious.
He found Dennis and pulled a single bullet out of
his pocket. Dennis said, what's that? Charlie answered, you see this,
this is a bullet. Every time you look at it,
I want you to think how nice it is that
(04:40):
your kids are still safe. Dennis, a hothead himself, immediately
beat the heck out of Manson. Not long after, Charlie
and the family began to plan the Tate La Bianca murders.
It was the following summer August eighth, nineteen sixty nine,
Manson family members, under orders from Charlie, went back to
(05:02):
the house Charlie had visited the past March. They broke
in and tortured and murdered Sharon Tate, who was pregnant
at the time, at her four friends, and the next
night the Labiancas, a husband and wife who lived nearby.
It changed Dennis's life. He said he was so frightened
he couldn't even think about testifying against the family in court.
(05:25):
Dennis Wilson never got over his connection to the murders.
For over a decade after the summer of nineteen sixty nine,
he continued to get death threats from Manson family members
who weren't in prison, telling him You're next. He handled
it the way he handled all his problems, alcohol and drugs.
His bandmate Mike Love called him a drugged out, no
(05:48):
talent parasite. Dennis just couldn't recover His mental illness, addictions
and inner pain took a horrific toll. By nineteen eighty,
just thirty six years old, he was in the middle
of a nasty divorce from the third of his four wives.
They were on his yacht and he absolutely exploded, throwing
(06:08):
her jewelry and other stuff into the water at Marina
del Rey. By the last year of his life, he
was even worse. He'd lost his voice, he couldn't remember
how to play the drums, and he was now homeless. Finally,
December twenty eighth, nineteen eighty three, Dennis drowned at Marina
del Rey while diving in the water to try and
(06:28):
find the stuff he'd thrown overboard three years earlier. Doctor
say he suffered a blackout in the water. It was
an ironically sad life for Dennis Wilson, a guy who
made such beautiful, feel good music. Steele. The Backstory is
(07:01):
a production of iHeartMedia and Steel Trap Productions. Our producer
is Doug Fraser. Our executive producer is Steve Goldstein of
Amplify Media. We're out with new episodes twice a week.
Thanks for listening to The Backstory. The pieces of history
you didn't know you needed to know.
Okay, tell me this. What's the connection between the Beach
Boys and mass murderer Charles Manson. I'm Patty Steele. Not
so good vibrations. Next on the backstory. So most of
us who paid any attention to the Manson murders in
(00:20):
the summer of sixty nine know that Charles Manson himself
claimed it was the Beatles music that inspired him to
order his followers to commit the murders. In fact, the
definitive book about the killings was called Helter Skelter, after
a song on the Beatles White album. I read that
book really chilling. So it was the summer of nineteen
(00:41):
sixty eight. Manson was desperately trying to have a music career.
He briefly met record producer Terry Melcher and decided he'd
stop by the house where he thought he lived, only
it was by this time being rented by red hot
twenty six year old actress Sharon Tate and her movie
director her husband Roman Polanski. This was about five months
(01:03):
before the murders. Sharon and a guy who worked at
the house told Manson Melcher had moved away. Ironically, the
house had also been rented before that to another music
guy Mark Lindsay, lead singer of the sixties pop band
Paul Revere and the Raiders. But back to this, how
were the Beach Boys connected to Charlie Well Mostly through
(01:25):
Beach Boys drummer Dennis Wilson. Dennis was living a California
fantasy surf son women's success music. I mean Dennis wrote
good vibrations. The problem is he also loved drugs, and
he was really into that sixties counterculture thing. He was
(01:47):
a true eccentric. He actually torched his wife's car because
he was just impossibly jealous. On the notes for the
Beach Boys All Summer Long album in nineteen sixty four,
Dennis wrote, they say I live a fat Maybe I
just like a fast life. I wouldn't give it up
for anything in the world. It won't last forever, but
(02:07):
the memories will. Dennis loved living on the edge, and
that's what drew him to Charlie Manson. The two became
pals after Dennis picked up a couple of Manson family followers.
They were very young women, and he was fascinated by them,
so much so that he invited Manson and seventeen of
(02:29):
his female family members to live in his house after
they showed up unannounced. They wound up staying for at
least six months. Ironically, most of the family members had
the same issues as Dennis, who had been physically abused
by his dad, which left him scarred for life. Charlie
Manson took advantage of broken people. Dennis actually worked with
(02:51):
Manson on his music. He said he saw some potential
in him. But eventually Manson's really abusive and hypnotic hold
of his followers started to freak Dennis out. He began
to see the darkness, but he didn't really know how
to escape. He told friends he'd seen Manson murder somebody.
The Manson family used his credit cards, they totaled his
(03:14):
Mercedes as well as his Ferrari. And get this, there
were by this time about twenty Manson followers living in
Dennis's house, and there was a lot of group sex.
They literally all wound up with gonorrhea, including Dennis himself.
Now he put the bill for repeated penicillin shots for
everybody in the house It's all in the house, which
(03:35):
got wildly expensive. In fact, those crazy six months wound
up costing Dennis, who was just twenty five years old,
way over one hundred thousand dollars, so it was time
to go right Except instead of them going, Dennis took
off without telling him, He just moved to another house,
simply left them behind. The house he'd left them in
(03:58):
was a rental and was finally up months later. By
the time the family left, they had stolen almost everything
Dennis had in the house. But then Charlie found out
where he lived, and he left a note for Dennis saying,
you can't get away from me. Get some chills down
your spine on that right. Well, it got worse when
(04:19):
the Beach Boys adapted one of Charlie's songs, changed it up,
chorded it, and gave him no credit. Charlie was furious.
He found Dennis and pulled a single bullet out of
his pocket. Dennis said, what's that? Charlie answered, you see this,
this is a bullet. Every time you look at it,
I want you to think how nice it is that
(04:40):
your kids are still safe. Dennis, a hothead himself, immediately
beat the heck out of Manson. Not long after, Charlie
and the family began to plan the Tate La Bianca murders.
It was the following summer August eighth, nineteen sixty nine,
Manson family members, under orders from Charlie, went back to
(05:02):
the house Charlie had visited the past March. They broke
in and tortured and murdered Sharon Tate, who was pregnant
at the time, at her four friends, and the next
night the Labiancas, a husband and wife who lived nearby.
It changed Dennis's life. He said he was so frightened
he couldn't even think about testifying against the family in court.
(05:25):
Dennis Wilson never got over his connection to the murders.
For over a decade after the summer of nineteen sixty nine,
he continued to get death threats from Manson family members
who weren't in prison, telling him You're next. He handled
it the way he handled all his problems, alcohol and drugs.
His bandmate Mike Love called him a drugged out, no
(05:48):
talent parasite. Dennis just couldn't recover His mental illness, addictions
and inner pain took a horrific toll. By nineteen eighty,
just thirty six years old, he was in the middle
of a nasty divorce from the third of his four wives.
They were on his yacht and he absolutely exploded, throwing
(06:08):
her jewelry and other stuff into the water at Marina
del Rey. By the last year of his life, he
was even worse. He'd lost his voice, he couldn't remember
how to play the drums, and he was now homeless. Finally,
December twenty eighth, nineteen eighty three, Dennis drowned at Marina
del Rey while diving in the water to try and
(06:28):
find the stuff he'd thrown overboard three years earlier. Doctor
say he suffered a blackout in the water. It was
an ironically sad life for Dennis Wilson, a guy who
made such beautiful, feel good music. Steele. The Backstory is
(07:01):
a production of iHeartMedia and Steel Trap Productions. Our producer
is Doug Fraser. Our executive producer is Steve Goldstein of
Amplify Media. We're out with new episodes twice a week.
Thanks for listening to The Backstory. The pieces of history
you didn't know you needed to know.
Host
Patty Steele
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