Brian Wilson names the biggest recording of his life: “I’ve had a few high points”
Brian Wilson, often dubbed as a genius pioneer of pop music, is no stranger to making massive hits. As his surfing approach to psychedelia swept through the 1960s, the Beach Boys leader cemented himself as an icon of the genre whose indelible sonic imprint changed the game in every aspect, from mainstream chart success to technical composition.
Of course, as much as this all sounds like the high life, famously, Wilson’s career hasn’t always been an endless slew of champagne and roses. Plagued by mental health issues and at times ravaged in the darkness of drug addiction, there have been moments when his musical tenure has been on the rocks. But never one to shy away from these starker periods, Wilson channelled so many of his struggles into his songs – and created some visionary masterpieces as a result.
To that end, when looking back over all the times in his life, both good, bad, and ugly, Wilson holds a wise perspective on which seminal moments shaped the man he is. Discussing this very idea with Rolling Stone in 2016, he reminisced on the biggest thrills of the Beach Boys rollercoaster, which, in turn, became the most significant recording process of his entire life and career.
When asked about his standout happiest memories, Wilson responded: “When I met my wife, Melinda. The night we recorded ‘Good Vibrations’ at CBS Studio in Los Angeles was the biggest moment of my life. Recording ‘California Girls’. When I first saw the ocean, when my dad took me and my brothers down to the ocean. I’ve had a few high points in my life.”
Interweaving the personal with the professional, it’s clear that for Wilson, the two are as intrinsic as the other in painting the portrait of his story, especially when it comes to those cherished moments. The part of the first seminal hit he mentioned truly established Wilson as a musical innovator through his pioneering idea for the modular structure, which was the crucial key to the song’s rapture.
Equally, on the front of the second tune, ‘California Girls’, Wilson took his esteemed techniques to a whole new dizzying level, inspired by the notion of acid trips, which became so pertinent not just to his own style but to the dominating forces of music as a whole at the time. Though some may recognise the master’s artistic genius more through the medium of the likes of ‘God Only Knows’ or his later solo effort Rio Grande, evidently in his own estimations as well as that of other heavyweights of the ‘60s, Wilson defined the sound of an era, for which his impact can never be understated.
As those blazing beacons of the swinging era increasingly enter their twilight years, perhaps there’s no time like the present to truly celebrate their monumental contributions to music and culture at large for shaping the soul of music in every generation since. Wilson, as much in his life as in his artistry, rightly deserves those plaudits, showing that sun-soaked California had just an equal place in psychedelia than the heights of British shores.
