The Beach Boys, circa 1968
The Beach Boys’ brilliant, visionary leader Brian Wilson died last week at the age of 82. I’ve been a Beach Boys fan since I was, well, a boy. When I was 10 years old in 1991, the music I was into was Harry Belafonte and The Beach Boys. Very cool, I know. The music of the Beach Boys has stayed with me through all of those years, even during times when I wasn’t seeking their music out. Like the music of the Beatles, the Beach Boys songs were deeply ingrained in me, and I’ve known all of the words to their biggest hits for so many years now.
I saw the Beach Boys in concert at the Minnesota State Fair when I was young, and that was a highlight of my early concert experiences. Since the Beach Boys played the Minnesota State Fair every year from 1988-1993, I can’t narrow down which year I saw them. I also saw Brian Wilson in concert when he was the co-headliner of a tour with Paul Simon in 2001. It was magical to hear those Beach Boys songs live.
Brian Wilson went through so many hard times during his life. His later years were a joy to behold, that this man still toured the world and shared his songs with audiences was an amazing and powerful thing. Brian Wilson was proof that it’s never too late to start over.
When I was a kid listening to the Beach Boys, I didn’t know their albums, I was only familiar with cassette tapes of their greatest hits that stopped after “Heroes and Villains.” In 2019, I dove into their back catalogue, listening to all of their original albums. It was a wonderful voyage of discovery. Sure, there were oddities, the goofball spoken-word tracks that they recorded as album filler, the whole Love You album, the 11-minute-long disco version of “Here Comes the Night.” But I was astonished at how much beauty I found. The Beach Boys will always be defined by their greatest hits, but fans will know their catalogue is so much deeper than that. That beautiful blend of voices elevated early album tracks like “In the Parkin’ Lot” and “All Summer Long” to things of beauty. Take the first 16 seconds of “In the Parkin’ Lot,” which features the 5 members of the band wordlessly harmonizing. Brian’s falsetto soars over the gorgeous harmonies of Al, Carl, and Dennis, with Mike taking the bottom “bau-bau” part. It’s simply beautiful—whatever disharmony existed among those 5 men, their voices combined so amazingly well.
I think that one of Brian Wilson’s gifts was bringing an increased sensitivity to pop music. Songs like “In My Room” and “Don’t Worry Baby” show the sensitive soul that would flourish on the Pet Sounds album in songs like “I Just Wasn’t Made for These Times.” Speaking of Pet Sounds, one of the most amazing songs Brian Wilson wrote was the sublime “God Only Knows.” And Brian let his younger brother Carl sing the lead vocal, a wonderfully generous gift.
I was perhaps dimly aware of this, but it really struck me last week that Brian Wilson was born on June 20th—a day that is often the summer solstice, the first day of summer. How fitting for a man whose songs will always be a reminder of sunshine, beauty, and endless good vibrations.
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