https://www.theguardian.com/music/2025/jun/11/brian-wilson-beach-boys-dies
Not sure there are enough superlatives to address this man's impact on music. A true original and musical genius.
https://www.theguardian.com/music/2025/jun/11/brian-wilson-beach-boys-dies
Not sure there are enough superlatives to address this man's impact on music. A true original and musical genius.
What a legacy. That's a true legend.
The term musical genius is often overused. In the case of Brian Wilson it is spot on.
Some people just have that special something when it comes to creating music.
There definitely something to brilliant people being a bit "off" in regards to the general population. Clearly their brain works differently than the common man. He absolutely left a legacy.
An interesting comparison, makes you feel a bit disgusted by some of the modern autotune crap:
Damn. This hurts. But I'm so glad for all the music he gave us. True genius. I know what I'll be listening to the rest of the week. And all summer, like usual.
I tried to pick a favorite song. I couldn't. Maybe his version of Sloop John B.
God only knows what I'd be without you.
The cute girl who lived across the street from us bought their first album for my 16th birthday. I still have the album and I remember her.
Three years ago we saw the Beach Boys at Beau Rivage casino in Biloxi. The best $25 I ever spent. Brian wasn't with them but it was still a great concert.
He wrote the soundtrack for every small town car show.
It was probably 1974, I would have been 12. My dad and I were at the ex - the Canadian national exhibition, like we were at the end of every summer. They had a grandstand and big shows back then, and as we were walking by the gate there was some sort of brouhaha. And as the ticket takers ran to break it up, my dad said, let's go, and we ran into the grandstand, sat on the stairs and watched The Beach boys.
A few years later when we were 15, me and a buddy were at the ex the night the Beach boys were playing, also walking by the grandstand when an older woman approached us. Her daughter had seats, couldn't make the show, we got them for a few bucks a piece. I was never really a fan, they were bit before my time, but I managed to see them twice, and enjoyed both shows.
From the Wiki .....
The Beach Boys Historic Landmark is a memorial which commemorates the site of the childhood home of Brian, Dennis, and Carl Wilson of The Beach Boys. The monument, located at 3701 W. 119th Street, Hawthorne, California, stands on the former location of the Wilsons' house, which was demolished in the mid-1980s during construction of the Century Freeway.
Its over by Space X , Hawthorne airport
In reply to californiamilleghia :
There's six people on that landmark, is the guy at the front their dad?
stuart in mn said:In reply to californiamilleghia :
There's six people on that landmark, is the guy at the front their dad?
from the Wiki
The image face of the landmark was inspired by the album cover of their third album Surfer Girl (1963). The lineup of the Beach Boys at that time was Brian, Carl, and Dennis; their cousin Mike Love; and David Marks, who grew up in a house across the street from the Wilson home.[2] Al Jardine, the group's original bassist,[2] would later rejoin the band soon before David's departure. Six gold 45 records are embedded in the base of the landmark, each with the name of one of the Beach Boys; the three Wilson brothers to the left, and Love, Marks and Jardine to the right.
In the '60s the Beach Boys were my favorite group. I distinctly remember bunking school one day in April or May'64 to finish a project for school in my junior year (poor planning on my part and I learned a lesson from that). Radio on, and I heard "I Get Around" for the first time and immediately liked it. Not their greatest song but Brian's falsetto carried it. It remains one of my favorite Beach Boy songs. RIP Brian.
From another source:
"I Get Around" is a song by American rock band the Beach Boys and the opening track from their 1964 album All Summer Long. Written by Brian Wilson and Mike Love, the autobiographical lyrics describe the group's reaction to their newfound fame and success, as well as their restlessness concerning the status quo, and their desire to find new places "where the kids are hip". It was released as a single in May 1964, with the B-side "Don't Worry Baby"."
From Wiki:
In a 1976 interview, Carl Wilson recounted an anecdote about "Little Honda",
[Brian] does exactly what he wants to do. I remember [sits back and laughs] — this is so funny — when we did "Little Honda," Brian wanted me to get this real distorted guitar sound, real fuzzy. "This guitar sounds like E36 M3," I said. "Brian, I hate this." And he goes, "Would you berkeleying do it? Just do it." When I heard it, I felt like an shiny happy person. It sounded really hot. That was before fuzz became a big deal.
RIP, Brian, and thanks.
I believe it's at the very end of Wilson Phillips' first album that you can hear just a snippet of a delighted Dad saying, "I love your sound!!"
In other news, if you look up Wilson Phillips on Wikipedia, there's a note saying "Not to be confused with Wilson Pickett." I can't decide whether this is Wikipedia trying to be funny or it actually happens often enough to prompt a warning. Kinda weird either way.
A group of friends and I went south to see the Beach Boys at QE2 Park (Christchurch, New Zealand) way back in 1978. To be honest I can’t remember a lot of the music as the person to my left (not someone I knew 😀) was passing half smoked joints to me every few minutes, a quick toke and pass them to the right … I have no recall of any of them ever coming back 🤣 Good times and great memories …
RIP Brian Wilson
Man. First Sly Stone and now Brian Wilson... damn...
I saw the Beach Boys once, in a double concert with Chicago. It was during their Kokomo period, so of course Brian wasn't appearing with them.
stuart in mn said:I saw the Beach Boys once, in a double concert with Chicago. It was during their Kokomo period, so of course Brian wasn't appearing with them.
Yeah, I saw that tour in about 1988-89 at Pine Knob in Detroit. It was a good time.
I had recently rewatched The Wrecking Crew, a documentary on Netflix. The Wrecking Crew was the amazing group of LA based studio musicians who played on the actual recordings of more hit songs than you may realize.
The documentary speaks very favorable of Brian W and the recording of the album Pet Sounds which was recorded without any other Beach Boys actually playing in the recordings. The true Beach Boys only played at the live shows, which you may know, don't sound as perfect as the recordings.
I watched that too, it was a really terrific window into how popular songs get made, and by whom.
I have an autobiography of Brian, written after and detailing how he survived his recovery from his addictions, it was pretty eye opening.
There are a ton of YouTube video's from back in the day about their recording days, well worth looking for and watching.
I'll also suggest the movie "Love and Mercy", about how he escaped his manager that was controlling and abusing him in the early 90s. Brian is played by John Cusack.
Lotta Carol Kaye on bass in those early Beach Boys recordings. She’s the GOAT.
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