I never met Brian Wilson, but during his lifetime I met his songs, his music.
My first record purchase was a Beach Boys’ single. It was the Christmas hit “The Little Saint Nick.” On the flip side was a stunning a cappella version of “The Lord’s Prayer.”
From that first listen to that record, I was hooked.
Brian’s songwriting had a way of hooking people.
He took us to sunny California to surf the Pacific’s waves. To get to those famous west coast beaches, Brian put us in cars too— little deuce coupes and woodies. No matter if we were in one of those fast cars or watching surfers, we were surrounded by pretty California girls.
Brian was a marketer for California. He sold California to America and the world.
The lyrics showcased the lingo of surfers, hot rodders, and surfer girls.
The singable melodies locked into our instant recall. Irresistible harmonies as golden as sunshine became a trademark. Layers of instruments sometimes played with chord changes that weren’t supposed to work on paper showed the brilliance of his songwriting capabilities.
In 1961, their recordings and concerts started a legacy that lasted longer than anyone in the group could have imagined. Brian’s two younger brothers, Dennis and Carl, their cousin, Mike Love, and Brian’s high school friend, Al Jardine, formed the group.
Early on, the Wilson’s father, Murry, was the band’s manager. Despite his imperfections, Murry positioned the band for their early success as he smoozed disc jockeys, concert promoters, and dealt with the record company.
From 1962 through 1966, the band could do no wrong. Their hit songs raced up the charts. Screaming fans filled concert halls. But in 1964 while on a concert tour, Brian had a nervous breakdown.
That breakdown like a shift in a tectonic plate in the San Andreas fault broke the Beach Boys’ early formula—write songs, record, tour. Brian stopped touring. This allowed him to put his energies into writing songs and production work.
Brian worked with the gifted Los Angeles studio musicians who with great affection were named the Wrecking Crew. A new formula was born. Brian wrote the songs. He recorded the backing tracks with the Wrecking Crew. When the Beach Boys came off the road, they went into the studio and added the vocals.
This freedom to write and record allowed Brian to hone his skills as a producer. The studio became a second home. He pushed the traditional boundaries for the musicians and for his favorite recording engineer, Chuck Britz. Brian once asked Mr. Britz if he could bring a horse into the studio. Mr. Britz said no.
Brian also pushed himself to write and create beyond the band’s surfers, surfer girls, and fast cars image. From this came the legendary album Pet Sounds. Brian was twenty-three at the time. Released in 1966, initially, Pet Sounds was not a commercial success. The album’s success came from how it changed the way musicians from around the world wrote and recorded their songs.
The Beatles were listening. Brian’s work and innovations nudged them into their landmark album Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.
Brian continued to push. The stunning single “Good Vibrations” was released. The recording was another masterpiece. The back story of the song’s recording sessions shows Brian either as a mad genius or a master of the studio.
His next project Smile continued to push the envelope. With Smile, as beautiful as we now know it was, the album crushed the Beach Boys’ successful hit making formula like a monster rogue wave from the Pacific.
His bandmates, the record company needed hit records. Smile was aborted. Brian retreated.
From 1967 until 1975, Brian quietly worked behind the scenes with the Beach Boys. He contributed songs, produced in the studio with them, but his reclusiveness begin to spin Brian out of control.
By 1975, physically, Brian was a far cry from the high school athlete he had been. His appetite was out of control, constant smoking was destroying his beautiful singing voice, and his consumption of drugs was impacting his personal well being.
Brian’s first wife, Marilyn, sought an intervention. She brought in a controversial psycho-therapist, Dr. Eugene Landy. Despite the good and bad from Dr. Landy, no one can deny that his interventions saved Brian’s life twice.
Brian’s second wife, Melinda Ledbetter, was the spark for launching Brian’s career as a solo artist. Contributing to this redemption was another group of young Los Angeles based musicians, the Wondermints. This group with other gifted musicians formed what became known as Brian’s band.
This band was fearless. No matter the concert set lists they hit every note with their instrumental chops and vocal dexterity. For example, the entire complex Pet Sounds album was played in concerts note for note.
Dead in a studio vault for almost forty years, the Smile album was resurrected. It was re-recorded, released, and met with high critical acclaim. Again, the musical gifts of Brian’s band drove this redemption of Smile.
In 2012, the living members of the Beach Boys reunited for a fiftieth anniversary tour. Brian had lots of songs to contribute to a new studio album.
After this success, for Brian recordings and concert appearance continued. But then in a summer co-headling tour with Chicago in 2022, his demeanor on stage changed. Brian became less and less engaged with the audience. By the tour’s final date, it was clear Brian’s concert performances were over.
Part of me believes that Brian’s work with the gifted musicians in his band and those concert performances added to the quality of his life, and maybe even extended his life.
However, on January 30, 2024, we learned how much the quality of Brian’s life depended upon his wife, Melinda. Married for twenty-nine years, she had been his rock. Her passing was a devastating loss.
The impact of this loss came to reality in May of 2024. That’s when Brian’s family formally placed him in a conservatorship. Dementia was to be his end.
After all that he endured, I’m amazed that Brian made it to 82. He outlived his brothers, Dennis and Carl.
It always seemed to me that his heart was music, that music was his rescuer, his redemption, a lifeline.
And in its own unique way, I believe Brian’s music was a rescuer, a redeemer, a lifeline for people who needed something to hang on to when life challenges us.
I will miss Brian Wilson.
Despite all of life’s ups and downs that Brian endured, I’m thankful for my first record purchase. That purchase started a lifelong journey with Brian and the Beach Boys.
I have thought about citing a favorite song to close out this piece. But, I can’t. There are too many.
Just as Brian was relentless in his songwriting and studio production, I encourage you to be relentless in discovering the music Brian made beyond the hit songs. Your ears, heart, and soul will not regret this pursuit.
So, I leave you with these words from Brian’s youngest brother, Carl. These comments came from the Beach Boys boxed set Made In California.
Carl Wilson: “I asked Brian one time, I guess we were just having a long conversation talking about life and some of the stuff we had gone through, and I said: “Why do you think we succeeded in such a big way?” He said: “I think the music celebrated the joy of life in a real simple way, a real direct experience of joyfulness.”
I think Brian was right.
His music brought a joy into the world.
A joyfulness that will live forever.
Author’s note: On the afternoon of Wednesday, June 11, my dear college friend, Steve Hodge, who is also an accomplished musician, and long time fan of the Beach Boys, let me know that Brian Wilson had passed. In all of our road trips to see the Beach Boys in concert, I can only remember one show when Brian performed with the group. That was in the spring of 1979 at the Greensboro Coliseum. Additionally, my childhood friend, Joe Vanderford, another follower of Brian and the Beach Boys, has kept me in the loop with references to articles and podcasts related to Brian’s passing. Today, Friday, June 20 is Brian’s birthday. He would have turned 83. His website: https://www.brianwilson.com/ has posted a nice tribute to Brian.
might be baloney 