“A pretty nice man”: The only Beach Boy Brian Wilson didn’t have a problem with
The talent and potential that The Beach Boys had was fairly evident almost immediately. The way that their voices could come together in harmony and create something equal parts angelic and uplifting was enough to propel them into the limelight straight away. Even now, decades after the band’s inception, the power of their vocals is enough to evoke strong feelings in all of those who listen.
Courtney Love once spoke about the power of the band’s vocals, saying that not only do they sound great, but that they’re proof of the existence of God. When she was asked what song she wanted to play at her funeral, the Hole lead singer said, “The only vocal, Beach Boys, ‘God Only Knows’, because that is proof of a higher power, actually.”
One of their most accomplished pieces of work was Pet Sounds, an album that is considered by many to be perfect from start to finish. The songs on that record continue to inspire those who listen, and many of the recording techniques we hear in modern music have been taken directly from said record.
Questlove, the drummer from The Roots and musical encyclopaedia, once commented on the impact of the album. “He’s a modern day Stravinsky, the way he constructs his music,” he said, “He was doing stuff (40 years ago) that modern people do now, looping his work and stuff […] Pet Sounds is gonna last forever because everyone’s gonna know Brian Wilson was a genius.”
Brian Wilson was able to spend a lot of time working on songs for the album Pet Sounds because he didn’t go on tour with the rest of the band. Wilson suffered with his mental health a great deal, which led to him having a nervous breakdown when the band were on tour in 1964. Following his difficulty with life on the road, he decided to stay home and work on the songs while the rest of the band stayed on the road. This gave him a lot of time and freedom to work with, which led to the production of some of these great songs.
While this distance led to the creation of some of the band’s greatest songs, it also created friction within the group. Wilson became a perfectionist, whereas the rest of the band had more knowledge about what music would work during a live show and what wouldn’t. Therefore, they had to put their foot down on some of his ideas, deeming them unreasonable.
Friction grew within the band, and this, paired with the increased stress of becoming famous and Wison’s pre-existing struggles with his mental health, meant that they ended up splitting up, and there was animosity between the members. Brian Wilson fell out with the majority of his fellow bandmates; however, there was one that he still felt fond of, even if he admitted they weren’t the most musically talented on the planet.
“Well, there’s probably five or six real good reasons why they don’t like me. One is they’re jealous. Two: erm, they’re assholes. Three: they’re too businessmen and too businesslike. And four: there’s no respect. They have no respect for me […] Al’s cool, man. He’s not too good a singer, but he’s a pretty nice man.”
