Brian Wilson

 

One of my Facebook Groups is devoted to a Sacramento of the past. Comprised mainly of Boomers like myself, we talk about the old times and places. Someone brought up the time the Beach Boys came to Sacramento in 1963 to play at our Memorial Auditorium. Admission was something that would seem foreign today – something like $3. It seems these days with the near collapse of the recording industry (and pirated and cheap tracks on Amazon), a band must make their money on tour. Anyway, the concert was so good they made an album of it.

When it was over, a commenter said that the Beach Boys had set up a table for autographs and as the crowd filed out, they thanked everyone for coming.

Brian’s father Murry, who was their manager, was there too. He said something to him – whatever it was – that stung so badly that this commenter remembered it 61 years later.

The father made a stage mother look like a nun. How bad did he have to be for Brian and his brother Dennis to fire him shortly after?  When he died in the 70s, Brian and Dennis did not come to his funeral.

From that time, there was emerging a “California sound”. With songs of surfing and cars, and of course, girls and teenage angst.

Plenty of groups emerged, some one-hit-wonders, others more long-lasting. Groups like Jan and Dean, who were two guys who started recording while in high school. I think they would have gone on to more music greatness, but for Jan Berry’s horrific wreck in 1966 on Sunset Blvd that left him brain damaged. A song that most have forgotten but really evoked surfing was Pipeline, by the Chantays. Wipe Out, by the Surfaris, was big. And for some obscure trivia, Murry Wilson, as a reaction to being fired by his sons, started to manage the Sunrays, with one big hit. If you think they sound and dress like the early Beach Boys, it’s no coincidence. I could list a dozen other groups that started the California sound…

But the heart of the Beach Boys and for the most part, their guiding force, was Brian Wilson. He wrote most of the songs.

Only one Beach Boy,  brother Dennis Wilson, actually surfed. But he is the one that convinced the others to sing about the surfing lifestyle back in 1961. He would help Brian compose his songs by telling him about the world or surfing.

“Hey, surfing’s getting really big. You guys ought to write a song about it”, Dennis once told his brothers, Carl and Brian Wilson, back in 1961.

Almost all of The Beach Boys’ tunes had something to do with warm weather, sand, beach, waves, ocean, girls, and parties.

Dennis Wilson made sure the band kept aligned with the Californian surfing lifestyle. They introduced their first album, Surfin’ Safari October 1, 1962.

Songs about surfing and hot cars is what initially drove them to world-wide acclaim. The band “caught the wave” to super-stardom.

I thought the other day that Brian had to have been a gearhead. His songs about the “Little Deuce Coupe” (32 Ford Coupe, popular with hot rodders in the 50s and 60s), the 409 (a high performance motor from Chevrolet from 1961-65), or the fuel-injected Stingray (Corvette) drag racing the 413 (a Dodge) he was singing to us.

 

Over the years, I have read how the Beach Boys considered the Beatles, who exploded onto the US scene in 1964 (with the “British invasion”) rivals. However, as I read up on Brian recently, I think a more accurate description would be that they inspired each other to write music with even more creativity. Brian said how much the Beatles album Rubber Soul influenced him, and inspired him to make what many consider to be his best album, Pet Sounds. Norwegian Wood was one of his favorite songs on that album. Paul McCartney in turn, loved Pet Sounds and inspired him to write the music for Sgt Pepper. God Only Knows is one his favorite songs. He has said that it brings him to tears.  Both albums are considered to be ground breaking and among the best of the respective groups.

“I played it to John so much that it would be difficult for him to escape the influence. If records had a director within a band, I sort of directed [Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band] and my influence was basically the Pet Sounds album.”

Each composer brought out the best in the other.

The Pet Sounds album didn’t achieve the sales success that was hoped at the time, but it was considered to be a masterpiece by fellow composers. Along with the writing, Wilson used some unorthodox instruments such as a wind chime and a bicycle bell.

And in that album, along with Paul McCartney, no less than Hans Zimmer and George Martin consider God Only Knows to be technically perfect.

I have almost always had a Beach Boy playlist on my cars. Here’s some previously lost footage of them recording Good Vibrations in the studio. There is an interesting story behind its creation.

One of my favorites is the Beach Boys Medley, that are their remixed songs of the early 60s.

Here’s Billboard’s top 20 Brian Wilson songs. And a tribute from the Grammy Awards. And a list of songs Brian wrote.

And to show you what musical arrangement does, here’s one of the few songs the Beach Boys adopted that wasn’t from Brian.  “Come Go with Me” is a song written by C. E. Quick, who was with the 50s group the Del-Vikings. It was a big hit in 1957. See how they perform it vs the Beach Boys when they released it in 1981. Both were hits, but I prefer the Beach Boys version.

My favorite Beach Boy song? Well, there are dozens that I like but if I am forced to pick just one, I’d have to agree with Paul, Hans, and George. It has beautiful lyrics and composition.

Brian Wilson and George Martin dissect God Only Knows in a sound studio.

Carnie Wilson, Brian’s daughter, tells you something about him you probably didn’t know.

If you subscribe to SiriusXM, every now and then they have a Beach Boy’s channel, hosted by the one of the last 2 surviving members, Mike Love. I’ve heard some pre-surf songs that I had never heard before.

Thanks for the music, Brian.