Legendary Bands - The Beach Boys Posters

As Brian Wilson stated in his 1991 autobiography, Wouldn't It Be Nice, had he started his musical career in a later decade, chances are very good he'd have been Brian Wilson--solo artist and musical auteur--producing his own albums and providing all the parts (with a session musician here and there), much like Prince in the '80s. After all, Wilson primarily used session musicians in the studio to produce most of the music credited to the Beach Boys. As it was, however, Wilson was the architect behind the Beach Boys, one of America's greatest musical contributions to the world of pop and, prior to the Beatles, the most popular rock band in the world.

In fact, the Beach Boys were probably the world's first real rock band; prior to their formation, most of rock's major artists were solo performers (even if they had their own bands, it was always Buddy Holly & the Crickets, Gene Vincent & the Bluecaps, Bill Haley & His Comets, etc., etc.). Wilson was the first major rock artist to be granted full studio control--and the fact that this happened when he was still in his late teens makes the fact all that more awesome.

Thanks to Mike Love's latter-day influence over the band, the Beach Boys (an oxymoron if there ever was one in the late '90s) are primarily viewed as a nostalgia act, still singing the praises of rock's greatest themes--cars, girls and surf. In that manner, it could be argued that the group invented the mythology that's come to be known as the California Dream. However, there was a time when Brian Wilson was the most creative and experimental voice in all of modern pop--an intuitive musical genius in a league with such earlier American musical legends as George Gershwin, Stephen Foster and Rodgers And Hammerstein.

Wilson displayed a certain musical genius as a child prodigy in his native Hawthorne, Calif.--a small, working-class town about a half an hour from L.A.--and his mother Audrey recalls that he could hum the entire melody to "The Marine's Hymn" before he could speak. Audrey was in many ways responsible for his musical development, as she first introduced him to the Four Freshmen, who became his childhood heroes and paved the way for the four-part harmonies that he would immortalize via the Beach Boys--although it was his father Murry, a failed songwriter, who pushed his sons into the music business. (Murry is portrayed by most biographies as a tyrannical disciplinarian whose methods were at least partially responsible for Brian's later mental problems.)

As a kid, Brian would force his younger brothers Dennis and Carl to gather around the family piano, where he taught them to sing harmony. Eventually, the Wilson's cousin Mike Love joined in, providing the final element needed for four parts--and augmented by a high school friend (who was later replaced by Love's pal Al Jardine), they formed a high school band named the Pendeltones in 1960. It was Dennis--the only member of the band to ever surf--who suggested that his older brother write a tune about the new beach craze. The tune, "Surfin'," made local charts via an independent label. Murry Wilson brought his boys to the attention of visionary A&R man Nic Venet at Capitol who signed them (as the Beach Boys)--and the rest, as they say, is history.

Brian had developed a love for rock 'n' roll via brother Carl who was crazy about all the early greats--and by blending Chuck Berry sounds with the California surf music craze (invented by local acts like Dick Dale) and most notably those Four Freshman harmonies, he created a sound that was totally new and original. His other passion was for the production techniques of eccentric rock producer Phil Spector (to this day, Wilson still claims Spector's "Be My Baby" as his all-time favorite record)--so the young producer originally tried to copy Spector's techniques. He even went so far as to use the Wrecking Crew, Spector's stable of brilliant session musicians, in the studio. Of course, it can be safely argued that Wilson eventually surpassed Spector's "Wall Of Sound" technique, which is evident on classic tracks like "I Get Around," "Good Vibrations" or anything on his classic Pet Sounds LP.

His musical gift was evident as far back as the perfect hit single "Surfer Girl" (the simplicity belies the underlying complexity of its melody), but the Beach Boys were considered teen music back then...and teen music wasn't to be taken all that seriously. Pushed by both his father and Capitol, Wilson proceeded at a backbreaking pace throughout the '60s, producing hit single after hit single, and at least two albums a year. This strain helped lead to his first major breakdown in 1966; while on a plane for a European tour, he flipped out and had to be returned to California. Since that point, he has only been seen on stage--with or without the Beach Boys--sporadically.

This first breakdown did give Wilson the opportunity to create his acknowledged masterpiece. While the band toured England and the continent, Wilson, along with lyricist Tony Asher, created the songs for what would become Pet Sounds, which Brian then completed in the studio, awaiting his band to merely add their voices to the finished product. Although it provided several hit singles, the commercial failure of Pet Sounds, combined with family/band pressures and the competition provided by the Beatles-led British Invasion, led to more mental problems.

While working on the even more ambitious Smile (still considered the most infamous "lost" rock LP of all time), Brian seemed to lose more and more touch with reality, which was only compounded by his heavy consumption of psychedelic drugs. The lyrics to his "In My Room" eventually became all too true, with Brian fading away from an active role in the band and literally spending several years in bed. There have been sporadic moments of brilliance over the years--a song here, a production there--but though every so often the Beach Boys trot out a "BRIAN IS BACK!" campaign, even the most romantic of fans have given up hope that we will see a return to his once-classic form.

The drowning death of his closest brother Dennis in the late '80s, and the fact that the Beach Boys scored their last No. 1 hit with a song that had no Brian involvement whatsoever--the dreadful "Kokomo"--hasn't helped his fragile mental state. Nor has the fact that his 1988 solo LP, Brian Wilson, was a commercial flop (a second solo LP, Sweet Insanity, which some critics felt was a stronger effort, was flat out rejected by the label). And the fact that that the band's last effort, Stars And Stripes Vol. 1, was a Mike Love idea--and a terrible one at that--only reveals that Brian is all too willing to go with the flow these days.

Love even mounted and won a multi-million dollar settlement against his cousin for "uncredited songwriting royalties" in 1995, a travesty in the eyes of most Brian Wilson fans. It's never safe to totally write off a "comeback" for someone who once displayed the genius that Brian Wilson did in his heyday, but nobody is holding their breath at this point. On the other hand, even if he never produces another note, his music will live on after all of us, including Mike Love, are long gone.

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