Brian Wilson had his first nervous breakdown in (I think) 1964, 3 years before Pepper came out.
It was Strawberry Fields Forever that Wilson heard in early '67 while driving in his car with a friend that got him discouraged because, 1) the Beatles had sort-of beat him to it ("it" being the type of sound he was trying to create), and 2) he had self-doubts about being able to match the quality of it.
Even after that they still worked on Smile, but by then the project was already starting to unravel. Still, they concentrated on Heroes and Villains, which they did release as a single that summer.
|