So in 1968 on May third, the Beach Boys went on tour with Maharishi Mashesh Yogi co – headlining.
A disasterous idea if there ever was one, The maharashi’s “set” was interrupted consistently by cat calls and shoutouts for the Beach Boys to come out. The band’s rhythm guitar player and failed dentist Al Jardine was quoted as saying the only people that made money on the tour were the florists, as the stage was loaded with flowers.
I don’t know how many times Brian Wilson appeared during this tour if at all, but I do know that he wrote a song called “Trancendental Meditation” as the closer for the “Friends” LP. A dissonant cacaphony of loud jarring saxophones and other brass instruments set to a jazzy drum track, it’s arguably the last thing you’d want to have playing while trying to meditate. It’s little things like this that float the notion that Brian Wilson was not as mentally unstable during the ’70’s as much as he was really, really pissed off.