On Brian Wilson
Two days ago Brian Wilson passed away. Brian is one of my musical heroes. I think we can all appreciate his musical greatness and his fortitude if we know anything about his life history.
I want to add that Brian is a huge inspiration to me, both through his music and through his perseverance. What most inspires me about him is that following the release of "Pet Sounds", when he was nearing his creative peak and losing his edge due to various pressures and increasing self-abuse, he had conceived and begun working on his "Smile" album, which was to take the innovations of the former album even further. But he would not finish "Smile" for more than thirty years. He went through his own personal hell and near-death, and whenever asked about "Smile" he would avoid talking about it. But he came out on the other end and got it done. What I find peculiar about this is that in a documentary he was shown saying that he just pep-talked himself into finishing "Smile" (simple as that).
That's my take on Brian.
I also want to share a link to one of many YouTube videos by Evan Lovett, the "L.A. In A Minute" guy. He is a lover of our wonderful city, and in this video he tells the story of Brian Wilson very well and succinctly with great pictures. Brian was, after all, a product of the greater L.A. area.
Evangel
Wow. Thank you for this great tribute to Brian Wilson and the added video by Evan Lovett. I greatly appreciate you mentioning his challenges and perseverance. We can all learn from him that no matter how tough life gets, god continues to call us to our mission to utilize our innate gifts, whatever those may be.
Wilson's passing affected me in a surprising way, without processing it intellectually, tears just started to flow. I don't know why, but it may have something to do with his genius moving on from this world. When I first heard "God Only Knows" I felt something indescribable that may be a bodily sensation of "perfection." That feeling still returns whenever that song starts playing, even off somewhere in the background. I'm sure his originality was also god's grist for the mill of California's dynamic social and cultural changes that ultimately spread throughout the world.
Well Street
Paul McCartney was quoted as saying that "God Only Knows" is the greatest song ever written.
In a radio interview last week, biographer and longtime friend of Wilson, David Leaf, said that Brian believed himself to be a channel through which music came to him from a higher power and that music was God's voice.
Thank you for sharing this piece honoring Wilson and his work that has impacted countless people over the decades.
Here's a link to the David Leaf interview:
https://www.kcrw.com/news/shows/press-play-with-madeleine-brand/ice-bria...
Slipstream
Thank you for your beautiful tribute. We look at celebrities and think they have it made—money, fame, screaming fans. But, that good stuff isn't all there is. Brian suffered greatly most of his life with what he called "auditory hallucinations" that drove him to self medicate which led to the "personal hell" you mention in your piece. It's a reminder to us that we only see what's on the surface of people's lives, and to not judge anyone because we don't know what may lie beneath.