Before Charles Manson Ordered People to Kill for Him, He Wrote Some Pretty Good Songs

For a brief period of time in 1968, Charles Manson was friends with Dennis Wilson, the drummer for the Beach Boys. It was widely known that Brian Wilson was the talent, and it was whispered that Dennis was the bad boy. Two of Dennis's vices were drugs and women, both of which brought him to Manson.

According to The Guardian, Manson and members of his Family lived with the Beach Boy for much of 1968. It was a symbiotic friendship that got Dennis access to women willing to "administer 'free love' on a daily basis," while Manson had unfettered access to the Beach Boys' recording studio. Manson learned to play the guitar during one of his many stints in prison, and had dreams of becoming a star. He actually got pretty close. What songs did Charles Manson write? Keep reading for details.

Less than a year after the infamous Manson murders, Rolling Stone interviewed the man behind them while he was in prison. He rarely made sense but when Manson talked about music, he had specific ideas. "Kids respond to music," he said. "Music seldom gets to grownups. It gets through to the young mind that’s still open." While he was in prison, Manson advocated for his music to be heard.

In 1967, Phil Kaufman was in prison with Manson. After Kaufman was released, he lived with Manson for two months, per The New York Times. For reasons we may never understand, Kaufman would often tell Manson that he needed to record an album. This led to a falling out between the two, with Kaufman leaving the Family. When Manson was arrested for the murders, he called Kaufman constantly, insisting that he turn his music into an album. That's how "Lie: The Love and Terror Cult," came to be.

There were 13 songs on the album and 2,000 pressed copies, of which 300 were initially sold. If you hop onto Amazon, you can purchase an original pressing for somewhere around $500. When asked why Manson changed his mind about making an album, Kaufman said, "He thought it would offset the yellow journalism. You know, it's gentle music. It's not slash, maim, kill." The backup singers were members of his Family, which is another reason why it was hard to sell.

Because of Manson's unlikely friendship with Wilson, his music made it onto a Beach Boys album. Manson told Rolling Stone that he wrote "Cease to Exist" for the band because they were "fighting among themselves" and he wanted to "bring them together." He described Wilson as the only one who had "true soul" in the group.

The Beach Boys ended up covering "Cease to Exist," but they renamed it "Never Learn Not to Love," which is honestly very confusing. It first showed up on the B-side of a 1968 single. In February 1969, six months before the murders, "Never Learn Not to Love" was included on their 15th studio album, "20/20." Dennis Wilson was credited as the writer.