Brian Wilson’s Genius for Melody and Harmony Took Pop Music to New Heights of Creativity

Commentary

On June 11, the news broke that Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys passed away, nine days short of his 83rd birthday. The word “icon” is often overused, but for the baby boomer generation, Wilson and his band are firmly established as cultural icons of an iconic, colorful decade—the 1960s.

Often emulated, but never equaled, much less excelled, Wilson’s genius for melody and harmony invented the California sound and took pop music to new heights of creativity. No less a musical giant than Paul McCartney has said that it was the Beach Boys’ “Pet Sounds” album that spurred the Beatles on to more adventurous musical ventures. (To be fair, the impact between the Beatles and the Beach Boys was mutual. Wilson stated that the Beatles’ album “Rubber Soul” spurred him to produce “Pet Sounds.”) McCartney publicly praised Wilson as “a great composer” and said that his song “God Only Knows” was “the greatest song ever written.”

Not to contradict Sir Paul, but millions of Beach Boy fans, as much as they might appreciate the quiet beauty of “God Only Knows,” would say that it wasn’t even the greatest song ever written by Wilson and performed by the Beach Boys. “I Get Around,” “Surfin’ USA,” “Sloop John B,” “Fun, Fun, Fun,” “California Girls,” “Help Me, Rhonda,” “Good Vibrations,” “Wouldn’t It Be Nice,” “Barbara Ann,” “Wendy” (not a top hit of the group, but a personal favorite)—the list goes on. We boomers who tuned in to the ’60s music scene had our lives imprinted and enriched by a whole string of great songs from the Beach Boys.

The carefree joy and exuberance of Wilson’s songs sadly did not carry over into his personal life. His father was abusive, both psychologically and physically. (Wilson said that his near-deafness in one ear was a result of his father hitting him in the head with a two-by-four, although there are conflicting accounts of how that injury happened.) His desire to create perfect sounds combined with the pressures of cranking out hits created so much stress that he suffered a breakdown. How sad that the very tunes that brightened the lived of millions brought such hardship on the songs’ composer.

Wilson would go on to spend years living as a recluse, ballooning up to more than 300 pounds, smoking as many as five packs of cigarettes a day, and struggling with alcohol and substance abuse. Eventually, he climbed out of his depression and slowly rebuilt his life to the point where he could sing publicly again.

One of the ironies of life is that sometimes those who suffer the most, live the longest. That was the case with Wilson and his two younger brothers, Dennis and Carl. The younger Wilson brothers were also charter members of the Beach Boys, with Dennis, the drummer, being only 18 when the group started, and Carl, the lead guitarist, being only 16. Dennis, a handsome, quirky lad who was on friendly terms with Charles Manson, died in a drowning accident at 38, and Carl, the gentlest and most stable of the three, passed from lung cancer at age 51.

The other two members of the original Beach Boys lineup—family friend and guitarist Al Jardine, and the Wilsons’ cousin, Mike Love (with whom Brian had an often-adversarial relationship)—survive.

Wilson had two daughters from his first marriage. Wendy and Carnie apparently inherited some of their father’s musicality as they went on to win fame as part of the pop music trio Wilson Phillips. Wilson and his second wife adopted five children. His second wife predeceased him, but his children all survive him. You can learn more from reading his two autobiographies or watching the 2015 movie “Love and Mercy.”

Here is some interesting Brian Wilson trivia:

1. He wrote the song “Surfin” for a high school music theory class. His teacher gave him an “F” on the project, but the song later earned more than a million dollars.

2. Although his and his band’s earliest hits were about surfing, Wilson hated to surf. Better to write songs about it and make a mint, I guess.

3. The best-selling Beach Boys hit of all time was not one of Wilson’s many brilliant compositions. It was the 1982 hit “Kokomo” that was co-written by John Phillips of the Mamas & the Papas; Terry Melcher, who produced and co-wrote some of the hits of another ’60s group, Paul Revere & the Raiders; Scott McKenzie who sang the 1967 hit “San Francisco (Be Sure to Wear Flowers in Your Hair)”; and Beach Boy Mike Love.

Thank you, Brian Wilson, for all the great memories your music gave to me and my contemporaries. You were truly a musical superstar. RIP.

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.