Charles Manson and the Beach Boys

Last updated on July 8, 2022

Dennis Wilson, brother of Brian Wilson and drummer for the Beach Boys, was driving through Malibu in 1968 when he noticed a couple of girls hitchhiking on the side of the road. He picked up the girls, Ella Jo Bailey and Patricia Krenwinkel ¹From Vincent Bugliosi’s Helter Skelter. and took them where they asked him. He saw them hitchhiking again later on and picked them up again, this time taking them to his home.

Dennis lived on Sunset Blvd in a house formerly occupied by Will Rogers, and he left Ella Jo and Patricia there while he went to a recording session. Upon returning home at 3 am, a man appeared at the back door of Dennis’ house.

Dennis, frightened, asked the man, “Are you going to hurt me?”

The man replied, “Do I look like I’m going to hurt you, brother?” and he dropped to his knees and kissed Dennis’ feet. He invited Dennis into his own house where about a dozen uninvited house guests, nearly all of them girls, were gathered.

The man was Charles Manson, and he and Dennis got along great. He and Manson would sing and talk about important things, while the girls cleaned house, cooked, and catered to their needs. Manson liked to write music, even though Dennis said he was not musically gifted, and Dennis introduced Manson around town to various people in the entertainment industry.

The Beach Boys eventually went on to record one of Manson’s songs, retitled from its original name “Cease To Exist” to become “Never Learn Not To Love” from the 1969 album 20/20. ²The rest of this piece was parsed together from the always excellent Answers.com website.