Rating: 
Summary: Inaccurate, low-rent, superficial
Review: "Heroes & Villains" is a gossipy mudball riddled with inaccuracies and barely-serviceable prose. A close reading indicates that Gaines' sources were mostly groupies, hangers-on, and the other assorted bottom feeders that tend to cluster around rock stars. With twenty years' worth (at the time the book was written) of drug dealers and "bodyguards" to choose from, it's no wonder the book wallows in shock and sleaze.Of course, the Beach Boys' story is twisted and sad enough to justify (and, indeed, require) a measure of this, but one is especially skeptical of the tales included herein when the author can't even get basic discographical details correct. For instance, he identifies the band's seventh record as "The Beach Boys;" not only was the LP called "Today," but the group never released a self-titled album. Though musical judgements are, admittedly, entirely subjective, Gaines further demolishes his credibility by summarily dismissing almost everything the band recorded except "Pet Sounds." Apart from faint praise for the occasional single like "I Get Around," he regards most of their oeuvre as discardable fluff. Yes, the lyrics were often trite, and "Pet Sounds" towers above most anything else the Beach Boys (or any other '60s group)recorded, but that run of surfing and car songs was the laboratory in which Brian Wilson and his alchemic cohorts turned pop dross into music more precious than gold. Without "Surfer Moon," "Hushabye," or "A Young Man Is Gone," there could never have been "God Only Knows." Avoiding hagiography is one thing; perpetrating a hatchet job is another. Timothy White's "The Nearest Faraway Place" offers a far more balanced picture of the band as a product, and shaper, of its time and place. He does not gloss the sordid aspects of the Beach Boys story, but he recognizes that they will ultimately be judged on what they created, not who they were.
Rating: 
Summary: Just See What you've Done
Review: A sometimes insightful and sometimes frightening book about one of the greatest songwriters of our time. Not enough written about the music itself and a lot of tabloid stuff, to be sure.
Rating: 
Summary: well done
Review: After seeing all of the criticisms here, I was surprised to find that the Gaines book is very skillfully written. I don't think Gaines is a hack, and this is not merely a sloppy expose. In fact, I found it to be more readable than Tim White's bio ("The Nearest Faraway Place"), and not merely because it's more scandalous. By focusing more on the (often sordid) details of the Beach Boys' personal lives, Gaines gives us a much stronger feel for their actual personalities than White. Nor do I think that Gaines is unsympathetic. For example, he details Dennis' problems, but he also reminds us repeatedly of Dennis' love for his children, and recounts details of Dennis' touching reconnection with his father before he died. He portrays Dennis as a charismatic individual who simply can't control his impulses. And by all accounts, that's what Dennis was. Gaines is sympathetic, but neither does he flinch from the truth. I've been around musicians and I can tell you that Gaines' portrayals, sordid as they may seem, probably aren't far off the mark. If the book often seems sordid, it's largely because the subjects' lives were often sordid (Uh . . . how many times have they been married? How many times have they been in rehab? Did Dennis really marry Mike's illegitimate daughter? Afraid so). I can't vouch for Gaines' accuracy, or the veracity of his sources, but it appears to me that Gaines tries to be even-handed. When an allegation is contested, he seems to take pains to point this out. White's book is more of a broad social history (it's subtitled "The Beach Boys and the Southern California Experience"). He goes into great detail about the Wilson geneology (all the way back to Ohio and Kansas), about their migration to California, about the settlement and development of LA, and about the evolution of the surf and car subcultures that the Beach Boys so beautifully evoked. It's a well-written and worthwhile account. However, one gets the impression that White may be too loyal to his subjects (perhaps because he wants to maintain access - he has a longstanding relationship with the family). When he writes of their darker moments, he usually does so with a great sense of detachment, as though he would rather not have to mention them at all. For example, he glosses over Dennis' involvement with Charles Manson, not even mentioning that Manson and his crew had lived in Dennis' house not long before the murders. Now, it may seem kind of him to avoid the sordid details, but if you're going to write credibly about "The Southern California Experience", you can't very well avoid exploring darker subjects like Manson, especially when one of your subjects became intimately involved in that scene. While I recommend the White book, it left me with the feeling that I hadn't really gotten to know the characters as flesh and blood individuals. Gaines may overdo it at times, but I like the more intimate feel of his book. I would note that Gaines' book ends just after Landy has resumed his treatment of Brian, and Gaines suggests that this is a positive thing. It may have seemed so at the time, but I imagine that Gaines would like to revisit that topic. Ideally, one would have time to read both books - Gaines for his details about the individuals, and White for his details about the milieu in which The Beach Boys first flowered.
Rating: 
Summary: Business, no pleasure
Review: Another relative hack job from Gaines, whose book about the Beatles was also pretty lurid. Here the problem is not only that he focuses almost exclusively on unpleasantness, (though there are very occasional good passages about the music), but also that he keeps taking time out to introduce every two-bit friend or advisor in great detail, while giving little personality to any of the Beach Boys themselves. He then delves numbingly into complicated business deals, none of which throw much light on anything.
Rating:
Summary: Hack Job
Review: Gaines turns in the same kind of lurid performance he did with the Beatles. He has dug up all the dirt he can find, all of which we could have imagined and none of which tells you much about any of the music or personalities involved. There's more information here about certain record company executives and swindlers than there is about Al Jardine or many of the other group members. It's amusing enough for an airplane ride, but that's about all.
Rating:
Summary: You've heard the music, now read the story behind it.
Review: Having read Steven Gaine's biography of the Beatles I knew this book was going to be a page-turner, and I was right. I literally could not put this book down. I'm a huge fan of the Beach Boys and found this book incredibly informative, candid, shocking, and beautiful.
Rating: 
Summary: the most fascinating Beach Boy Biography written so far
Review: Heroes and Villains is considered by many to be the most fascinating biography of the Beach Boys published so far. All the band members are brought into high relief and Gaines demonstates a keen and thorough understanding of the music business. There are some minor errors in the book, but most of the information, over time has proven to be accurate. It's controversial, yes, but it's definitely the most comprehensive and compulsively readable of all the Beach Boy biographies.
Rating:
Summary: Add some music to this book
Review: HEROES AND VILLAINS will tell casual Beach Boys fans things they didn't know about America's Band. Bigger fans who would like to read more about the making of the Beach Boys' music may wish to look elsewhere - but when you think about, even WOULDN'T IT BE NICE, the autobiography of Brian Wilson, was light in that department. HEROES AND VILLAINS tracks the personal tumult that followed the Beach Boys from inside the Wilson household throughout their career. One of many lowlights: a Beach Boys bodyguard punched out one group member and had an affair with another's wife - quite the opposite of the harmony the band created on record. I read HEROES AND VILLAINS in 1988 and don't know if it has been updated. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction, Brian Wilson's break with Dr. Landy, Al Jardine quitting the band, and Carl Wilson's death certainly merit a new chapter.
Rating:
Summary: Heroes and Villains- Book Portrays Beach Boys as Villains!
Review: Heroes and Villains, perhaps the most outraging book I've ever read. So many things in this book have been proven to be wrong, seeing that I have read several books on The Beach Boys. All wrong!
Rating:
Summary: Interesting, Well-Written
Review: I don't agree with some reviews that this book just trashes the Beach Boys. It doesn't white-wash them either, but I think Steven Gaines mostly wanted to tell it like it was. Only once or twice did I think Gaines seemed alittle hostile towards one or more of the group members. The book starts out with Dennis Wilson and the last month of his life. I remember hearing about Dennis drowning but never knew much of the details, only that he had been diving where his boat had been docked. I think it was very smart to start the book out this way because I was hooked from then on. Gaines ties up any loose ends about the day Dennis died towards the end of the book. Of course this book is not current with regard to Carl Wilson's death since it was published in the mid-1980s. What really gives this book credibility is all the people closely associated with the Beach Boys who talked with the author, even the Beach Boys themselves. After finishing the book, I have wondered if any of them regretted it. Its no tip-toe through the tulips. I gave this book 5 stars because I didn't get bored once while reading it. Its interesting from beginning to end.
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