Brian Wilson: your favourite musician’s favourite musician
Brian Wilson was a total sonic visionary. There’s no understating that fact. He was not only the king of the charts with The Beach Boys, but also a musical pioneer, soaring to the top of the tree as the kingpin of sonic sorcerers; the one who could make the industry’s head turn in awe as they revelled at this master. In short, he was your favourite musician’s favourite musician.
This was exemplfied myiad times over the years when musicians from up and down the sonic scale would wax lyrical on singing his praises, not only for the chart invigoration he provided in the 1960s but how this transcended the rest of his lifetime.
One of Wilson’s biggest admirers was Paul McCartney, when he said: “I figure no one is educated musically ’til they’ve heard Pet Sounds. I love the orchestra, the arrangements – it may be going overboard to say it’s the classic of the century – but to me, it certainly is a total, classic record that is unbeatable in many ways. I’ve often played Pet Sounds and cried.”
This was only backed up by Bob Dylan, who lauded the Beach Boys frontman by noting: “Jesus, that ear. He should donate it to the Smithsonian. The records I used to listen to and still love, you can’t make a record that sounds that way. Brian Wilson, he made all his records with four tracks, but you couldn’t make his records if you had a hundred tracks today.”
But more than just purely the memories that emanate from his sonic catalogue, there’s the innate sonic skill he possessed that many artists admired, simply because you’d be hard pressed to find it anywhere else. Paul Simon once said: “The melodies are so beautiful, almost perfect. I began to realize he was one of the most gifted writers of our generation. Brian Wilson’s music has made a lot of people happy for a long time. I love his music.”
Meanwhile, Art Garfunkel also recalled: “Brian showed us all the endless possibilities in what’s been recorded and how it can be layered and combined or subtracted to create something that certainly came from his California roots, which to me, has always represented the promise and sweetness in America. With that joyousness, he became our Mozart of Rock ‘n Roll.”
Indeed, the comparisons to classical composers didn’t end there, such was Wilson’s prolific ear for all things new and advancing in the musical world. In that vein, he was also praised by Neil Young, who noted: “He’s like Mozart or Chopin or Beethoven or something. This music will live forever. It’s going to be these melodies and these words, and it’s just fantastic. I can’t describe it. There’s very few writers I feel the emotional and spiritual contact with that I feel with Brian.”
One of Wilson’s own favourite musicians, Randy Newman, also ratified this, commenting, ”Brian Wilson is one of the greatest creative artists in the history of popular music. Pet Sounds is a remarkable achievement.”
The list could go on, with artists from Stevie Wonder to Carole King and Linda Ronstadt all universally lauding the king of the surf. In that sense, although his passing has rocked a seismic shift in the world of rock music, and to sonics at large, they will all forever be grateful for the path that Wilson laid in creating a fresh musical vision. The world has lost a star, but artists have lost their favourite muse. Those ‘Good Vibrations’ will forever be felt.
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