'Hi, Queen!' Brian Wilson of The Beach Boys passes...
- Jon Wheeler
- 3 days ago
- 3 min read
It’s 2002, the Golden Jubilee. ‘Hi, Queen!’ Brian Wilson says to her Majesty, with the childlike innocence that dementia, mental breakdowns, and let’s face it, far too much LSD had left him with. It was saddening to see the mastermind of The Beach Boys, and such classic, era defining records as ‘Pet Sounds’ in such a state, but Brian Wilson always struggled.
In the early 60’s, Brian Wilson, with his brothers Carl and Dennis, and friends Al Jardine and Mike love became the architects of the quintessential southern California dream : sun, sea, sand, girls, more girls, hot rods and surfing. That vision became over two dozen top 30 hits, including ‘California Girls’, ‘Fun, Fun, Fun’ and later ‘Wouldn’t It Be Nice’, (and I don’t mean the song about getting on with your neighbours).
The album ‘Pet Sounds’ allegedly blew Paul McCartney “out of the water”, and was almost certainly highly instrumental in the writing and inception of ‘Sgt. Pepper’. This reciprocal inspiration only seems fair, as it was The Beatles album ‘Rubber Soul’ which lead Wilson away from the beach towards more thoughtful pieces such as ‘God Only Knows’.
Born in 1942 to an abusive father and ordinary housewife, Wilson learnt the piano and accordion at an early age. Good at sports (but ironically not surfing) Brian was a heavy set child, emotionally delicate, and deaf in his right ear, which he claimed had been as a result of a beating from his father, Murry, who later bullied his way into being The Beach Boys manager.
In 1961 a band was formed, and released the single ‘Surfin’. Named The Beach Boys at a record executive’s suggestion they soon won a contract with Capitol Records and had hits with ‘Surfin Safari’ and ‘Surfin USA’. By 1964, they had their first number one in ‘I Get Around’ and Murry was fired, but not before he appropriated all of the band’s song rights, which he promptly sold for $700,000. This cascade of events nearly broke Wilson, and with The Beach Boys becoming bigger and bigger stars, Wilson increasingly confined himself to the solitude of the studio, devised ever more convoluted arrangements until at the age of just 23, ‘Pet Sounds’ was released. It was The Beach Boys eleventh album. Such a work ethic in music these days I don’t think exists.
Hailed as a genius, his brother Dennis said : ‘Brian Wilson is The Beach Boys. He is the band, he’s all of it, we’re nothing, he’s everything’. In an attempt to live up to this mantle, Brian commenced work on his most ambitious album yet, ‘Smile’, but his use of LSD to boost his creativity left him erratic and paranoid, eventually leading to a 24 hour therapy programme that took over his life.
Legal battles ensued between his psychologist, Eugene Landy and Wilson’s first wife, Marilyn over the control of Brian’s life, constantly adding to the pressure Brian was already far too ill equipped to deal with. Landy even introduced Brian to Melinda Ledbetter, who would become his second wife, potentially in some kind of power play to separate Brian from his family.
Brian and Melinda ultimately married in 1995, and adopted five children, and Brian was also able to reconcile with the children from his first marriage, who had found success as the pop band ‘Wilson Phillips’. The Golden Jubilee came and went, and two years later in 2004, Brian finally completed ‘Smile’, almost forty years after its inception.
In one of his final interviews, Wilson remarked that he felt The Beach Boys had done ‘quite well’ and that he was proud of the records he had finished. Still though, one wonders that if he had in some way managed to achieve even a fraction of his initial output throughout his life, what musical wonders would have existed.
Even though he died at 82, he almost feels like Brian Wilson belongs to that club of musical wonders that had in some way had his life cut short, by achieving greatness at such a young age. God only knows what else he might have created.
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