Brian Wilson, One of the Greats, Dies at 82

A few favorite songs here. "These things I'll be/ until I die."

Jun 11, 2025

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Word just emerged on the passing of Brian Wilson, not exactly a shock due to longtime health issues. He did enjoy, as we did, his many years of “comeback” performances, once thought unthinkable. Here is The New York Times obit. More later. Whatever you think of his songwriting—his producing and vocal innovations influenced everyone who followed, most notably The Beatles.

Of course, I was old enough to hear the first Beach Boy tunes hit the radio in the early 1960s, bought a few of the singles, and then followed his late-60s oddness. Then in 1976, at Crawdaddy, we published the exclsuive major interview pieces, by Timothy White, on his first “semi-comeback” from mental and medical difficulties. Tim would later write a popular book about him. I last saw Brian at LiveAid in 1985.

Early response this afternoon from one of my favorite all-time singers, Linda Thompson:

Just like John Kennedy’s assassination and a few other major moments, I remember distinctly where I was when I heard “God Only Knows.” I all but died! And before that I was obsessed with “I Get Around,” one of my favorite singles ever. Troubled as geniuses often are.”

John Cale: “To me, Brian Wilson was not merely about surf music, rather a true musical genius toiling away at melding POP into startling sophistication. He will be missed mightily.”

Carole King:

Brian Wilson was my friend and my brother in songwriting. We shared a similar sensibility, as evidenced by his 4 over 5 chord under “Aaaah!” in “Good Vibrations” and mine under “I’m Into Something Good.” We once discussed who used it first, and in the end we decided it didn’t matter.

From Questlove, who admitted he was not a Beach Boys fan for many years until he went through a down period “and NO album spoke to me more than ‘Pet Sounds.’….I know Orbison is the king of emo, but man if there was a human being who made art out of inexpressible sadness….damn it was Brian Wilson. I hate he went thru what he went thru to create this album (also: ‘Smile Outakes’ is my North Star) but man—without him I dunno how so many that came after felt safe to express a feeling of sadness that most humans would be otherwise ridiculed/punished for.”

Three of my favorite Wilson songs below, by no means his biggest sellers, live from his solo tours, then our usual cartoons.

”Til I Die” original

Plus footage of Brian in the studio producing “Good Vibrations.”

When Dylan sang Happy Birthday on his 80th. And lot of people quoting Bob on Brian: “Jesus, that ear. He should donate it to the Smithsonian.” And another: "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."