RIP Brian Wilson

Bummer news this week.

Brian Wilson, the key creative force behind The Beach Boys, died at 82. He is, rightly, considered one of the greatest songwriters of the previous century, and his influence looms large over the landscape of popular music.

I’ve seen a lot of friends and a lot of news outlets publishing posts about Wilson’s career and the high points of his songbook. Some have been writing about his work in the studio, creating expansive and innovative recordings that even influenced The Beatles! Usually you hear about The Beatles influencing other people.

These posts and articles have all been on point! Brian Wilson produced songs and albums that were deeply innovative and still hold great depth of craft and depth of meaning. When I think about The Beach Boys, though, I don’t first think about albums like Pet Sounds, which is – I think – agreed upon by many to be one of the greatest albums of its time and of pop/rock music in general. I have a soft spot for the early Beach Boys material. The goofy, fun-lovin’, surf-obsessed rock n’ roll stuff.

The Beach Boys were my first favourite band. I don’t often find a reason to talk about this. My wife didn’t know this about me. But when I was in Grade 2 (or somewhere around there), I got a pack of four Beach Boys cassette tapes for my birthday, and I played the hell out of them. I don’t even know if they were proper albums, or just four different compilations, but a bunch of the classic songs were included. “Surfin’ USA”, obviously, but also tunes like “Help Me, Rhonda”, “Fun Fun Fun”, “Little Deuce Coop”, and my all time favourite, “I Get Around”.

I adored “I Get Around”, and I was particularly drawn to the high falsetto lead vocal – performed by Brian Wilson himself. I would think to myself “I want to be in a band, and I want the band to sound like this band, and I want to be the high-voice guy in my band”.

I would go on to have a very long, perhaps never-ending, list of people who I would look at and think “I want to be in a band, and I want the band to sound like this band, and I want to be the *insert rock star here* in my band”. But Brian Wilson was the first, and certainly one of the best.

Thank you for all of the amazing tunes, Brian Wilson.