After production of
SMiLE ceased in May 1967, Wilson prepared a single release of its central song, "Heroes and Villains". It stalled on the charts, briefly peaking at #12 in America. Psychologically overwhelmed by these failures and by the birth of
his first child in 1968, Wilson began to take on a diminished creative role within the Beach Boys. Until about 1970 he remained the group's principal songwriter, but increasingly production reins were handed to younger brother Carl. Wilson mostly oversaw the albums
Smiley Smile,
Wild Honey and
Friends, the first of which consisted mostly of recycled
SMiLE material. All three were considered failures at the time. After that, he all but stopped writing songs and was frequently seen partying in the company of songwriter
Tandyn Almer and
Three Dog Night singer
Danny Hutton. It was during this period that he was introduced to
cocaine. Any hope of Wilson assuming his former level of dedication were crushed in 1969, when the single "Break Away" - produced by Brian and co-written by himself and his father Murry - reached a dismal #63 on the American charts. The contemporaneous Beach Boys album,
20/20, the group's last for Capitol, was made mostly without Wilson's participation.
After the failure of "Break Away", Wilson spent the majority of the following three years in his bedroom sleeping, taking drugs, and overeating. Some of his "new" contributions were remnants of
SMiLE (e.g., "Surf's Up"); those that were genuinely new reflected his depression and growing detachment from the world ("Til I Die", the EP "Mount Vernon and Fairway"). Reportedly, Warner Brothers was so desperate for material from Wilson that the single "We Got Love" (co-written by Ricky Fataar, Blondie Chaplin, and Love) was scrapped in favor of "Sail On, Sailor", a song mostly written by committee (including Almer and Parks) that happened to draw its initial germ from a Wilson chord sequence.
In 1975, Brian's wife and family enlisted the services of controversial therapist
Eugene Landy in a bid to help Brian, and as a by-product, help revive the group's ailing profile. Brian did not stay under Landy's care for long, but during this short period, the doctor managed to help him into a more productive, social frame of mind. New albums were recorded, and for the first time since 1964, Brian started to regularly appear live on stage with the band. Brian was also deemed to be well enough to do a solo performance on
Saturday Night Live in November 1976. The situation continued for a few years, but by 1982, his mental state had deteriorated even further; he was taking large amounts of cocaine, he weighed over 300 pounds, and he was in danger of losing his life.
Eugene Landy was once more called into action, and a more radical program was undertaken to try to restore Brian to health. This involved firing him from the Beach Boys, isolating him from his family on Hawaii, and being put onto a rigorous diet and health regimen. This, coupled with long, extreme counselling sessions, brought Brian back to reality. He was certainly healthier and more conversant than previously, but he was also under a strict level of control by Landy. Brian's recovery continued as he joined the band onstage in Live Aid in 1985, and recorded a new eponymous album with the Beach Boys.
It was variously reported that Wilson had either
schizophrenia or
bipolar affective disorder. Dr. Landy's treatment regimen was not a recognised treatment for either of these mental illnesses. Landy had given Wilson high doses of
psychotropic drugs, which over time can cause significant neurological damage. When Landy was fired again, these drugs stopped. Some years later, during his second marriage, he was diagnosed with
schizoaffective disorder, bipolar type which caused him to hear voices in his head. According to the new Peter Ames Carlin biography of Wilson,
Catch A Wave, Wilson's drug regimen has been reduced to a mild combination of antidepressants, which keep him functioning far more normally than he has in decades, enabling him to record and tour.
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