section_path: 1967–1973: Decline/Reduced activity and "Bedroom Tapes"
section_name: Reduced activity and "Bedroom Tapes"
paragraph_text: Reduced activity and "Bedroom Tapes"
  
  For the remainder of 1968, Wilson's songwriting output declined substantially, as did his emotional state, leading him to self-medicate with overconsumption of food, alcohol, and drugs. As the Beach Boys faced impending financial collapse, he began to supplement his regular amphetamines and marijuana with cocaine, to which Hutton had introduced him. Hutton later stated that Wilson expressed suicidal ideation during this period, describing it as the onset of Wilson's "real decline".
  
  In mid-1968, Wilson was admitted to a psychiatric hospital, possibly voluntarily. His hospitalization was kept private, and his bandmates proceeded with recording sessions for 20/20 (February 1969). Once discharged later in the year, Wilson rarely finished any tracks for the band, leaving much of his subsequent output for Carl to complete. Journalist Nik Cohn wrote in 1968 that Wilson had become the subject of rumors describing him as "increasingly withdrawn", "brooding", and "hermitic", with occasional sightings of him "in the back of some limousine, cruising around Hollywood, bleary and unshaven, huddled way tight into himself".
  
  Brian went through a period where he would write songs and play them for a few people in his living room, and that's the last you'd hear of them. He would disappear back up to his bedroom and the song with him.
  
  Wilson typically stayed secluded upstairs while the group recorded below, joining sessions only to suggest revisions to music he had overheard. He occasionally emerged from his bedroom to preview new songs for the group. Melcher likened these appearances to Aesop delivering a new fable. Journalist Brian Chidester later coined the term "Bedroom Tapes" to refer to Wilson's unreleased output between 1968 and 1975, most of which remains unheard publicly.
  
  According to Mike Love, Wilson had "lost interest in the mechanical aspect" of recording, deferring technical work to Carl. Band engineer Stephen Desper said that Brian remained "indirectly involved" with the group's productions through Carl and that Brian's reduced contributions stemmed from "limited hours in the day", as well as his aversion to confrontation: "Brian doesn't like to hurt anyone's feelings, so if someone's working on something else, he wasn't going to jump in there and say, 'Look, this is my production and my house, so get outta here! ' " Conversely, Dennis stated that Brian had "no involvement at all" with the band beginning with the 20/20 sessions, forcing them to salvage and assemble fragments of his earlier work. Marilyn recalled that her husband withdrew because of perceived resentment from the group: "It was like, 'OK, you assholes, you think you can do as good as me or whatever—go ahead— you do it. You think it's so easy? You do it. ' "
  
  For the remainder of 1968, Wilson's songwriting output declined substantially, as did his emotional state, leading him to self-medicate with overconsumption of food, alcohol, and drugs. As the Beach Boys faced impending financial collapse, he began to supplement his regular amphetamines and marijuana with cocaine, to which Hutton had introduced him. Hutton later stated that Wilson expressed suicidal ideation during this period, describing it as the onset of Wilson's "real decline".
  
  In mid-1968, Wilson was admitted to a psychiatric hospital, possibly voluntarily. His hospitalization was kept private, and his bandmates proceeded with recording sessions for 20/20 (February 1969). Once discharged later in the year, Wilson rarely finished any tracks for the band, leaving much of his subsequent output for Carl to complete. Journalist Nik Cohn wrote in 1968 that Wilson had become the subject of rumors describing him as "increasingly withdrawn", "brooding", and "hermitic", with occasional sightings of him "in the back of some limousine, cruising around Hollywood, bleary and unshaven, huddled way tight into himself".
  
  Brian went through a period where he would write songs and play them for a few people in his living room, and that's the last you'd hear of them. He would disappear back up to his bedroom and the song with him.
  
  Wilson typically stayed secluded upstairs while the group recorded below, joining sessions only to suggest revisions to music he had overheard. He occasionally emerged from his bedroom to preview new songs for the group. Melcher likened these appearances to Aesop delivering a new fable. Journalist Brian Chidester later coined the term "Bedroom Tapes" to refer to Wilson's unreleased output between 1968 and 1975, most of which remains unheard publicly.
  
  According to Mike Love, Wilson had "lost interest in the mechanical aspect" of recording, deferring technical work to Carl. Band engineer Stephen Desper said that Brian remained "indirectly involved" with the group's productions through Carl and that Brian's reduced contributions stemmed from "limited hours in the day", as well as his aversion to confrontation: "Brian doesn't like to hurt anyone's feelings, so if someone's working on something else, he wasn't going to jump in there and say, 'Look, this is my production and my house, so get outta here! ' " Conversely, Dennis stated that Brian had "no involvement at all" with the band beginning with the 20/20 sessions, forcing them to salvage and assemble fragments of his earlier work. Marilyn recalled that her husband withdrew because of perceived resentment from the group: "It was like, 'OK, you assholes, you think you can do as good as me or whatever—go ahead— you do it. You think it's so easy? You do it. ' "