CDA: Brian Wilson

Brian Wilson died the other day at the age of 82, the tortured genius of The Beach Boys. I was crazy for The Beach Boys in my late 20s. I had a CD of their greatest hits and my preferred mode of exercise was to roll up the rug in the living room of my cute little one-bedroom apartment on West Wash, put on my sneakers, put on The Beach Boys, and dance my ass off. I would dance however I want during the sung portions of a song but would do a heavy cardio raising of the knees on every beat during the instrumental breaks. I might revive this idea and/or start my own Dance Your Ass Off franchise.

Here's a beloved early Beach Boys tune:

I encourage you to read Wilson's NY Times obituary and/or see the movie Love and Mercy, which hauntingly dramatizes his mid-life struggles with mental illness, drugs, fame, and a truly bizarre relationship with his psychotherapist. Wilson's struggles made him very difficult to work with but the results were out of this world, truly. I think we can all agree that his masterpiece is "Good Vibrations." This video is wonderfully peculiar:

"Good Vibrations" was recorded around the same time as their album Pet Sounds. Pet Sounds marked a shift in the way people thought about pop music - - it was experimental, defiantly odd, but still the songs felt natural. In many cases, as the kids used to say on American Bandstand, "It's got a good beat, I can dance to it." Allegedly The Beatles listened to Pet Sounds and felt like they needed to step up their game, leading to Sgt Pepper. Paul McCartney (according to Wikipedia) said this was his favorite album and that "God Only Knows" was "the greatest song ever written."

Another peculiar video. The song itself is so lovely and touching but its impact is immeasurably amplified by the arrangement. My impression is that we can give Wilson exclusive credit for the arrangement.

Pop music is often seen as a disposable resource. Is anyone talking about The Jamies, The Tempos, or The Ad Libs? I have a feeling that The Beach Boys will stand the test of time and we primarily have Brian Wilson to thank for that.