“I love them so much”: Brian Wilson’s go-to band for rock and roll
A truly great songwriter transcends genre conventions and time periods, a universal voice for art and culture. In that sense, it is clear why The Beach Boys founder Brian Wilson is so often hailed among the greatest songwriters to grace the airwaves. Wilson’s stunning body of work has never been limited to one particular sound or genre, spanning from romantic ballads to far-out psychedelic pop, but the infectious sounds of rock and roll have consistently been at the heart of his musical material.
Wilson’s adoration of rock and roll should come as no real surprise. After all, The Beach Boys were founded in the wake of the rocking age of the 1950s, taking inspiration from the likes of Fats Domino, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Chuck Berry. In fact, Wilson’s outfit was often accused of plagiarising the duck-walking guitarist during their early period, taking his defiant rock and roll styling and making it more marketable and digestible for white audiences throughout the United States.
Before too long, Wilson found his feet as a truly original songwriter, penning works like Pet Sounds, which forever changed the landscape of pop music. The 1960s was a revolutionary period for music, with rock and roll leading the charge. Wilson and company certainly made their mark upon the scene, inspiring groups like The Beatles to take rock in entirely new directions on albums like Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. Nevertheless, Wilson himself always gravitated towards the wilder end of the rock spectrum.
Within the music scene of the United Kingdom, The Beatles and The Rolling Stones represented two distinct camps within rock music. The Fab Four were considered mature and expansive, whereas The Stones were the harbingers of anarchic and rebellious rock excess. Wilson always adored The Beatles, but even he could not deny the brilliance of The Rolling Stones when it came to rock rebellion.
“My favourite rock ‘n’ roll band to listen to are The Rolling Stones,” the songwriter once told Mojo. “They are always my go-to rock ‘n’ roll band. I love them so much.” It is easy to see why the Mick Jagger-fronted outfit holds such a special place in the heart of Brian Wilson. Typifying the sound of the British Invasion, the Stones crafted a wealth of infectious tunes backed up with unparalleled energy. What’s more, the band seemed to live and breathe the rock and roll lifestyle both on and off the stage.
For all the innovative qualities of The Beach Boys, the group was never going to be quite as wild or anarchic as The Rolling Stones, and perhaps that is why Wilson holds such a love for the group. In particular, the songwriter has been outspoken about his love of the relatively obscure Stones track ‘My Obsession’ from 1967’s often overlooked record Between the Buttons. At one point, Wilson said the song “blew me away”, adding, “I couldn’t believe that record. It had one of the most unbelievable grooves on a record that I’ve ever heard in my life.”
Wilson’s love of the song is indicative of why he holds The Stones so dear; it is raw, energetic, and inventive but with an air of darkness to it. They are rarely given credit for it, but The Rolling Stones have always been pretty expansive in their output, blending old-school blues and R&B with dark atmospheres and innovative arrangements. Their core appeal, however, inarguably lies within the fact that they embody rock and roll in every aspect of their existence. It is no surprise that they are a “go-to” for Brian Wilson.
