The 1979 Beach Boys song Iggy Pop was scared of: “This guy is nuts”
While there’s plenty to be intimidated by when it comes to the sheer quality of Brian Wilson’s songwriting, there is virtually nothing that could be construed as terrifying about The Beach Boys and their music.
Even when they’re in a more introspective mood, which became an increasingly common characteristic within some of their material as they entered the late 1960s and early ‘70s, there’s still a sweetness to what they do, and the way they’ve always delivered ought to be seen as friendly, inviting and accessible. How anyone could possibly be put off by them for being too extreme or unpalatable is absurd.
In fact, I’d wager that nobody has ever listened to ‘God Only Knows’ and thought of it as remotely threatening. At its core, it’s a love song that comes across in a tender fashion, and it often gives off the impression that the spritely nature of the song is a reflection of the awesome beauty Wilson is singing about.
If there’s one thing that highlights a darker side, it’s the fact that Wilson’s unpredictable mental state could often lead to irrational behaviour. This isn’t frightening per se, but it underlines a fragility to Wilson that was tough for others to navigate their way around, and could be considered as potentially unnerving to have to witness when he was in his most heightened states.
In fact, Iggy Pop, who built an entire career around frightening audiences, once found himself utterly perplexed and fleeing from the scene when he encountered Wilson at a party in the late ‘70s. While the two are rarely ever mentioned in the same sentence, having occupied very different ends of the spectrum of rock and roll, the Stooges frontman was left at a loss for words when it came to dealing with Wilson’s obsessive nature.
In the biography, Catch a Wave: The Rise, Fall & Redemption of The Beach Boys’ Brian Wilson, writer Peter Carlin noted how one of Wilson’s most rampant obsessions came in the form of playing the traditional folk song, ‘Shortenin’ Bread’, which he recorded a dozen different versions of throughout his career, most notably on The Beach Boys’ 1979 album, LA (Light Album).
His infatuation with the song wasn’t just limited to endlessly putting it on record, though, and at many a cocaine-fuelled party, he would perform the song endlessly for guests to sing along to. However, Pop didn’t exactly take kindly to being treated to Wilson’s looped renditions, especially not while under the influence.
Singer Danny Hutton later recalled how Pop had to forcibly remove himself from the party upon hearing the song countless times, reportedly turning to him to say: “I gotta get out of here, man. This guy is nuts!”
Granted, Wilson was a bit on the nutty side, and hearing ‘Shortenin’ Bread’ on loop, regardless of the version, is bound to drive anyone insane. But, in all honesty, this level of commitment to subjecting an audience to psychological torture isn’t exactly something Pop himself was averse to, and for him to back out of the situation so easily comes as a surprise for someone who was notorious for testing people’s limits to the extreme.
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