In 1967, due to numerous difficulties surrounding the project, Brian Wilson abandoned "Smile", an unfinished album that he had recorded with his band the Beach Boys, lyricist Van Dyke Parks, and numerous session musicians. The band substituted its release with "Smiley Smile", a downscaled version, and a legend subsequently grew around the original "Smile" recordings. In the 1980s, unreleased material from its recording sessions began circulating widely on bootlegs, which inspired many fans to compile a hypothetical version of the completed album. Among these fans were Los Angeles-based musicians Darian Sahanaja, Probyn Gregory, and Nick Walusko, all of whom later formed the band Wondermints.