The first rock song that Brian Wilson called “art music”
There are hardly any other rock and roll geniuses who were able to carry themselves with such grace as Brian Wilson.
He certainly had his ups and downs with his mental health throughout his life, but even when crafting some of the greatest masterpieces that the world has ever heard, he was more than satisfied with people saying that they liked his music rather than being treated like some musical god. Even if he was one of the finest musicians in the world, he was more interested in making songs that would last than being celebrated in the moment.
I mean, there’s a certain timeless quality about many of The Beach Boys’ old surf hits, but there’s a lot more going on there than typical “fun in the sun” style songs. Half of their catalogue was centred around that kind of sound, but when listening to ‘I Get Around’, there’s hardly a single note out of place throughout the entire tune, which is all the more impressive considering how many times it manages to change key.
But by the time everyone properly entered the 1960s, there were already artists pushing the envelope for rock and roll. Half of the biggest names were still cribbing from the likes of Chuck Berry, and while Wilson was certainly one of them, you couldn’t think of a more potent lyricist than Bob Dylan. He may have been preaching about the issues of the day in a few of his songs, but there were also love songs like ‘It Ain’t Me Babe’ that took a more mature approach than anything Wilson was singing about.
If Wilson was listening, though, then the Beatles were attuned to everything else coming out of the British invasion. The Beach Boys’ mastermind had no problem calling an album like Rubber Soul one of his personal favourite records, but it was about more than the complete experience. He wanted to get down to specifics, and he was knocked out listening to the song ‘You Won’t See Me’ for the first time.
Whereas most people would focus on the actual tune, Wilson was interested in how each instrument played off each other, saying, “In ‘You Won’t See Me,’ Paul sings low and George and John sing high. There’s an organ drone in there, a note that’s held down for the last third of the song or so. Those were touches they were trying, almost art music. What was so great about the Beatles was you could hear their ideas so clearly in their music.”
What McCartney is singing isn’t exactly the hardest thing in the world, but looking at how the parts are orchestrated, it’s easy to see what Wilson is talking about. Aside from the vocals bouncing around the stereo image, the bassline is all over the place, almost like the kind of line that James Jamerson would have come up with, especially in the bridge when the chords start sounding a little bit dissonant.
While a lot of that mentality went into Wilson writing Pet Sounds, the supposed “rivalry” that he had with the Fab Four wasn’t about trying to outdo them in their own game. He was taught by them how to quote his own heart, and even though his British contemporaries would admit that they could never make a song like ‘God Only Knows’, it all came from Wilson’s heart before his mind half the time.
Although Rubber Soul is far from being the greatest Beatles album, the fact that it stands as the first pillar for rock and roll expanding was a warning to the rest of the world. They may have been trying new things, but if you look at the timeline, hearing Rubber Soul being followed by Pet Sounds and eventually records like Blonde on Blonde was a way of showing the world that rock and roll was about more than a catchy tune.
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