Brian Wilson is DEAD TO ME!!!

A musical genius and an incredibly fucked up guy. RIP Brian Wilson.

RIP, amazing talent.

A genius on the level of Eminem or just below Eminem's genius? /s

The Beach Boys represented a Southern California world that has completely vanished.

RIP Legend.

r4 completely agree. Southern CA beach life - surfers, woodies, tanned CA guys and girls at the beach.

We're the last generation that really will remember even small remnants of that life. It's gone forever.

The word genius is bandied about far too often, but Brian was indeed a genius. How richer we are that we had him.

No big loss!

A complete genius, on level with McCartney, Lennon and Dylan, the other greats of that age. One of the few artists that Lennon felt were on par with the Beatles.

Deeply troubled life, unfortunately. Agree with other posters that the life he wrote about and lived in his youth - bright, sunny, post-war Southern California - is long gone. Now memorialized in the the many Beach Boys songs. RIP.

Who will spill coke all over my back now?

Part 1 of one of the better Kennedy Center Honors presentations:

Part 2.

[quote]A genius on the level of Eminem or just below Eminem's genius? /s

Equal or above. To be fair, Eminem is still relatively young and his output is still being assessed, historically speaking.

When people think of Southern California now, their image of it is pretty negative.

DEAD

This is the one that always haunts me.....

The California of the Beach Boys vs. the California of today. I know which one I'd rather live in.

A sad day.

WTF? I could have swore he died about a year ago. I guess it was just arguing over his conservatorship.

R7, you think surfers and beach bums don't exist anymore? 🤔

[quote]I could have swore he died about a year ago.

Oh, dear.

R18 = conservative propagandist, probably not even gay. You're idea of California is a female model posing with a surfboard?

R15, no, just conservatives.

Same conservatives whose states are propped up with $$$ from NY and California

"With Ledbetter, Wilson adopted five children: Daria, Delanie, Dylan, Dash and Dakota Rose. "They're good kids," the singer told PEOPLE in December 2012.

Wilson is survived by his children"

Let the vicious in-fighting begin.

Shut the fuck up you dumb fuck conservatives. California gives tons of money to poor shitty hell hole red states. You’re welcome. Go fuck off with all your bullshit talking points.

He and his brother were both magnets for unsavoury characters. Dennis was briefly pally with Charles Manson (pre-murder), and then there was Brian's dependence on his manipulative therapist.

RIP. I've never been to California, but the Beach Boys gave the world a fantasy version of it.

The point is that the Southern California of the Beach Boys is long gone, and the Southern California of today is much different and not viewed anywhere near as fondly.

Has anyone checked on John Stamos?

R28 we know your point. We know exactly what you’re trying to say. So go fuck off. That California never existed anyway.

RIP, Beach Boy.

Your records were part of the soundtrack of my teenage years.

I just checked the Beach Boys' Spotify account and was amazed that "God Only Knows" is only their fifth-most streamed song. I thought that was by far their most popular. It actually has less than half the streams of "Wouldn't It Be Nice".

R28 - there's still a lot of surfing culture, beach, good vibes. It was just the boomer teen culture of the 60s that is gone.

His heart couldn't stand all of the olive skinned people's infiltrating California beaches. He shall remain in our thoughts and prayers.

I’m seeing the exact same conservative talking points already infiltrating everything about this story. It’s almost like they got the same text message at the same time to say that The Beach Boys California is so different than today’s California. So goddamn sick of current day conservatives.

I remember reading that years ago (early 80s?) he was so out of it that at one point an unscrupulous housekeeper and her grifting relatives were just sponging off him and stealing him blind. Where was his family?

I saw the Brian Wilson-less Beach Boys in concert in the ‘70s. Great time.

The Southern California of the Beach Boys ended on August 9, 1969.

[quote] Wilson adopted five children: Daria, Delanie, Dylan, Dash and Dakota Rose

What a Tragedeigh.

R36 - that is when the family hired Dr Eugene Landy to get him away from the housekeeper. He got him off drigs and he lost about 200 lbs and he started functioning. Brian had stopped driving years before. Dr Landy made him buy a car - gave him a Thomas Huide and made him “figure it out” and drive by himself to New York. If he could do that he could do anything. I don’t remember the details but that relationship went SOUR. Lawsuits etc ….. God - beautiful music ….

Drugs not drigs! ^

Apparently he couldn't hold on for one more day

R40 Landy was initially effective as a therapist, but he didn't know professional boundaries and was very manipulative and basically controlled Brian. He even got Brian to give him co-writing credits on his music.

Sly Stone and Brian Wilson both pass the same week. A sad time for those who love great popular American music and the great artists who created it.

And today all we have are whores, thugs and pole dancers as pop stars.

And they were both 82, R44. Paul McCartney needs to watch out. They come in threes.

In the 70s, going to see the Beach Boys in concert was a yearly event. Great music, good times.

McCartney has called "God Only Knows" one of the best songs ever written.

Dang, this one hit hard.

Mick Fleetwood (Fleetwood Mac)

Sean Lennon

Micky Dolenz

Randy Bachman

Not sure why some people here are offended by the simple truth that some things change for the worse? It’s just a fact, not a “conservative talking point.”

Carnie Wilson just made a FB post of.....her and (maybe the other Wilson Phillips members? Or at least her sister) singing Never Gonna Get It by En Vogue.

Weird choice.

Brian shows up via video in this performance of God Only Knows by Kelly Clarkson, Carnie and Wendy, 2021.

RIP Brian Wilson

Love this song

Which one was connected to Manson?

R57 Get lost.

I'm lyin' in bed, just like Brian Wilson did

Sly Stone and now Brian Wilson. That's two - the Grim Reaper is on the prowl this week looking for a third...Paul McCartney best sleep with one eye open this week.

Dennis Wilson, r57

R52, well, when you're using anti-Trump protests to say that California is worse...

Conservatives hate and fear social progress, so they insist that everything was better in the past

r62 California is getting worse and worse. Unaffordable, overcrowded, third world shitbags everywhere, psychotic homeless, etc. The days of California being a golden state full of promise and a carefree lifestyle are long over in the collective consciousness.

Incredible that he made it to 82

R63, cool, then tell everyone in the red states to stop benefitting from the tax dollars that come in from CA (the fourth largest economy in the world)

r65 that's not the subject.

I prefer the original lyrics that the evil hippie Mike Love demanded be re-written as "I Know There's An Answer".

P.S: Mike Love is MAGA-adjacent if not outright fascist (his version of The Beach Boys has performed at Mar-a-Lago in recent years).

Mike Love was such an asshole.

Does anyone else remember when the Beach Boys were once banned from playing at the National Mall?

Hard to believe he outlived his brothers. I would say aspie and musical savant.

Genius.

Elton John, Bob Dylan, John Stamos, John Cusack and More Pay Tribute

Why does the grieving family have to post Please respect our privacy at this time?

Nice words from John Stamos. Thanks for posting that R72.

R4

I'm gittin' bugged drivin' up and down the same old strip

I gotta find a new place where the kids are hip

My buddies and me are gittin' real well known

Yeah the bad guys know us and they leave us alone....

So sad, why couldn’t he outlive that bastard Love? How unfair.

Any lesser known songs we should check out?

You all stop giving Paul McCartney the evil eye! He’s going nowhere.

R77 I think Surfs Up, here performed by the Fendertones, is his masterpiece.

Brian Wilson is 5 months older than me. Our high schools were 10 miles apart.

I was living that life in Redondo Beach before I went off to college. Ah the gpod ole days.

His father once forced him to squat in front of him and defecate.

R77, here is a favorite of mine.

Or this one

Favorite cover

I read about how he was obsessed with the song Shortnin’ Bread and forced everyone to sing along all night at parties.

R8

I could have written your comment - such a loss but now we get to soak up his glorious music all together.

(Also, I strongly recommend The Beach Boys documentary on Disney+.)

[quote]Conservatives hate and fear social progress, so they insist that everything was better in the past

It was in many ways better. It was indeed a very different California.

For starters, the California of 1964 had a population of around 18 million people. Today its population is nearly 40 million. The quaint, the bohemian, the peace is mostly gone.

There's still plenty to love about Los Angeles. But I do have a very romantic view of the LA of the late '50s and '60s. The Screen Gems lot where they were filming The Monkees, Bewitched, I Dream of Jeannie and Gidget- the Whisky a Go Go when The Doors were the house band- the watering holes where the Rat Pack reigned supreme. Ben Franks on Sunset. Rexall Drugstore on Beverly and Schwabs. I'd give anything to live in that time.

I do feel lucky to have moved to LA in 1992, when some of those things were still around. And I worked at Tower Records and met... Brian Wilson!

Mike Love taunted Mick Jagger at the Rock Hall of Fame and it did not go well.

Mike Love has a lot of fucking nerve.

Thank you Brian and crew for the best sounds of my childhood. Camping, surfing and the Beach Boys, such memories.

R82, Thank you for “The Warmth of the Sun,” it’s beautiful.

Wilson's key changes were thrilling. Genius like this will never come again.

Will someone please post Susan Dey's statement on his passing?!

Gorgeous song

This might not be every one's cuppa tea but the BBC chose God Only Knows as their song to signify their support of music.

Brian makes an appearance. I loved it.

Finally!

That entire family seemed cursed with his brothers dying so young.

r#88 Thanks #88 - that was a great post!! I STILL love living in LA!

From Paul McCartney's Facebook:

[quote]Brian had that mysterious sense of musical genius that made his songs so achingly special. The notes he heard in his head and passed to us were simple and brilliant at the same time. I loved him, and was privileged to be around his bright shining light for a little while. How we will continue without Brian Wilson, 'God Only Knows'. Thank you, Brian. - Paul

R29=John fucking Stamos

R96 Farrell fucking Willliams and his fucking crouch step bullshit.

[quote]In 1968, the Beach Boys recorded Manson's song "Cease to Exist", renamed "Never Learn Not to Love" as a single B-side, but Manson was uncredited. Afterward, he attempted to secure a record contract through Melcher, but was unsuccessful.

R57 it was Dennis Wilson.

Shut up R58 it’s a valid question.

Perhaps, R42 if he had strut down the boardwalk now and again he’d still be alive.

When I am in an unsettled mood, I put on Pet Sounds and let it play all the way through. And then my brain is settled and all is ok in this crazy world. Brilliance... RIP Brian.

PS, I still love California... nothing is the same as it was anywhere. Humans will always romanticize the past... but at least we have digital music and air conditioning now.

The Dennis Wilson/Manson connection is endlessly fascinating to me. Dennis was rich, famous, and fucking HOT. The best looking Beach Boy, and he had BDF to boot!

This article from December of 1968, 7 months before the murders, is wild. Dennis describes the family fully, and even name checks Charlie. It seems like he was a full fledged family member, and was availing himself of all the "free" sex, and I'm sure diseases, they had to offer.

How BORED must this hot, rich rock star have been to get involved with, and promote, this cult of misfits.

Great post at R88. Some of those things are sadly lost (RIP Tower Records!) but of course those losses aren't specific to or limited to California. Most cities across the country have lost their unique, specific flavors, replaced by any number of corporate chain stores and restaurants.

In Brian's opinion, "the best song ever recorded."

Another gorgeous song.

Thanks for posting that r85, now I'll never get that song and melody out of my head today! Brilliant stuff though.

Beautiful r112. It was Pet Sounds that inspired McCartney to write much of what he did on Sgt Pepper. There was a lot of back and forth between the Beach Boys and the Beatles, in the mid-60s.

Team Beatles

I always loved the title tune for The Monkey's Uncle - and I think it's the only single that credited the Beach Boys and another singer.

And this.

The last Beach Boys song to reach the top of the charts, in 1966, R117, before the execrable Kokomo (sans Brian) in 1988.

From Mike Love's Facebook (sorry if the formatting messes up)

[quote]Today, the world lost a genius, and I lost a cousin by blood and my partner in music. Brian Wilson wasn’t just the heart of The Beach Boys—he was the soul of our sound. From the first time we sang together as kids in my living room, I knew there was something otherworldly in him. His musical gifts were unmatched. The melodies he dreamed up, the emotions he poured into every note—Brian changed the course of music forever. Our journey together was filled with moments of brilliance, heartbreak, laughter, complexity and most of all, LOVE . Like all families, we had our ups and downs. But through it all, we never stopped loving each other, and I never stopped being in awe of what he could do when he sat at a piano or his spontaneity in the studio. Brian’s unique artistry and our collaboration gave the world the American dream of optimism, joy, and a sense of freedom—music that made people feel good, made them believe in an endless summer and endless possibilities. It was one of the greatest blessings of my life to experience that creative space with him. It was our privilege to make the world believe in sunshine, surfing, and teenage dreams. My life was forever changed by Pet Sounds, God Only Knows, In My Room, Good Vibrations, The Warmth of the Sun and a hundred other pieces of his soul wrapped in music. He allowed us to show the world what vulnerability and brilliance sound like in harmony. He was fragile, he was intense, he was funny—and he was one of a kind. My wife, Jacquelyne, and I are heartbroken. She stood beside me through so many chapters of this story, and we both send our love and prayers to Brian’s family, his children, and all who were touched by his life and gifts. Brian, you once asked, “Wouldn’t it be nice if we were older?” Now you are timeless. May you rest in the peace you so deeply deserve, surrounded by the heavenly music you helped create. May your spirit soar as high as your falsetto, may your wings spread in effortless flight. Thank you for the harmonies, the memories, and the love. Death leaves a heartache no one can heal, Love leaves a memory no one can steal. I’ll miss you forever, my beloved cousin. – Mike

^ Some p.r. spin from the evil hippie, Mike Love.

"They come on like they're peaceful but inside they're so uptight." Brian Wilson, [italic]Hang On To Your Ego[/italic]

Bob Dylan posted a personal message about BW's passing. He usually only comments on those artists he respects or considers an equal.

[quote]Bob Dylan posted a personal message about BW's passing. He usually only comments on those artists he respects or considers an equal.

My philosophy as well. Which is why I've never commented. No one is my equal.

I had forgotten that, R69! I was just a kid but I still knew the Beach Boys were nowhere near "hard rock."

Saw someone call Brian Wilson the "poet laureate of summer," I thought that was very nice.

Fuck you, Mike Love.....FUCK YOU.

Brian was Schizophrenic, he suffered from anxiety he heard voices and "saw things" and was on the spectrum of autism. He last all the hearing in his right ear because his abusive father punch and beat him repeatedly. And yet out of all of that came some of the most innovative, sublime shit ever created. Genius. Seriously.

R80 not 10 miles. If you went to Redondo High… no more than 7 to Hawthorne High.

Ask me anything—I grew up in Hawthorne. Our first house was one block over from the Wilson house (that section is gone…it’s now underneath the 105 Freeway). I went to the same elementary school, intermediate school and high school as the Wilson brothers, with many of the same teachers they had.

Dr. Fred Morgan was head of the HHS music dept. for too long, from Brian’s era well into the 80s. He was an odd fuck, but for a long while Hawthorne was known for its marching band and drill team.

Morgan famously gave Brian an F for one of his surfing compositions, because he ignored the actual assignment. It was later changed to an A.

One reason Brian seems so discombobulated in that clip: in the 2000s, Hawthorne High was essentially torn down and rebuilt. The only parts remaining were the old boys’ gym, the railroad tracks that ran between the main campus and the sports fields, and the address—4859 West El Segundo, just off the San Diego Freeway (405).

On top of all his other issues…. ;)

Coach Bravo discussed in the article ^was my Spanish teacher. We all learned Spanish with a Mexican accent. When I got to college, my Spanish instructor insisted that I must speak with a better (Castilian) accent..oh well.

Alex Bravo later turned Hawthorne into a track & field powerhouse —he coached more than one Olympic gold medalist.

That was a touching link at r128. From 2022 - Wilson is frail, but understands what's going on around him and answers questions. The panning shot of his childhood photos is nostalgic, given his passing this week.

I know southern California doesn't do a lot of historical remembrance, such as naming buildings, schools, parks, etc, unless it's republican politicians or right-wing movie stars (Reagan, Wayne, etc) - but it would be nice to see some eventual respect for the Beach Boys and the Wilsons in LA County.

He wrote a couple really cute songs, but he's no genius.