Rock music has lost one of its true geniuses. Brian Wilson, leader of the Beach Boys has passed away just 9 days short of his 83rd birthday. Words fail us, but they never failed Brian, one of, if not THE greatest American songwriter of the rock era.
Born in Inglewood and raised in Hawthorne, California, Brian formed a band with his brothers Dennis and Carl, his cousin Mike Love, and a friend named David Marks. First known as the Pendletons (after a type of shirt that was popular in southern California), the group quickly latched onto the emerging surfing trend and renamed themselves the Beach Boys. Ironically, Brian was deathly afraid of the water, and only his brother Dennis was an actual surfer. Marks departed after the first LP and was replaced by another friend, Al Jardine.
Managed by their father, Murray, himself a very frustrated and abusive would-be music star, the Beach Boys landed a contract with Capitol Records in 1962. By the mid-1960’s, he had written or co-written more than 24 Top 40 hits in the U.S. Perhaps more than any single individual, Brian created the image of California as the land of sun, sand, and an endless summer that helped shift the center of popular culture from New York to Los Angeles as the 60’s moved on.
The stress of being the man with the most responsibility for the success of the Beach Boys coupled with what he imagined to be a competition with the Beatles (three of that band’s members were composers, compared to just Brian) led to a nervous breakdown at the end of 1964 and a retirement from performing live. Brian continued to work in the studio creating some of the most brilliant pop music of the 1960s. His “answer” to the Beatles' Rubber Soul, Pet Sounds, is frequently listed as one of the greatest albums ever released. It spawned two Top 10 singles (“Wouldn’t It Be Nice” and “Sloop John B”) and a pair of other songs that eventually became classics (“God Only Knows” and “Caroline No”).
He followed that up with two of the most complex and ambitious songs ever recorded, “Good Vibrations” and “Heroes and Villains.”
Work on what was supposed to be the Beach Boys' ultimate album, Smile, had to be shelved when Brian became convinced the recording sessions were causing fires to break out around Los Angeles. Drugs and alcohol contributed to Brian’s continuing mental decline as the band moved into the seventies.
Brian finally began to emerge from his mental health issues in the 1980s. He released a string of critically acclaimed solo albums and finally returned to the concert stage in late 1999.
On the 50th anniversary of the Beach Boys’ first album (2012), the surviving members of the original band, Mike Love, Bruce Johnston, David Marks, and Al Jardine, joined Brian for a very well-received album, That’s Why God Created Radio. Brian produced the album and contributed 11 of the album's 12 tunes. A subsequent reunion tour also went well. However, for whatever reason, Mike Love (now the legal owner of the name Beach Boys) announced that Brian would not be touring with the band anymore.
Wilson continued to record and tour with the Brian Wilson Band (which usually contained as many or more former Beach Boys than the act that toured as the Beach Boys) until Brian's worsening dementia made further recording and touring impossible.
Wilson was father of two daughters by his first wife, Carnie and Wendy, who have had a very successful career of their own as two-thirds of the vocal group known as Wilson Phillips.
As a songwriter, producer, musician, and singer, Brian Wilson is a true American original. He will be missed. His music will continue to entertain and delight us for many, many years to come.
