06/13/2025
When I was nineteen, I took $60 and bought The Beach Boys' "Pet Sounds" Box Set from the LSU Bookstore. This four-CD set (that currently sits as a shrine in my office) features four different versions of the legendary 1966 album: Mono, Stereo, Acapella only, and instrumental only. There is also a bonus CD full of studio chatter between Brian, Phil Spector, and the Wrecking Krewe, as well as the infamous moment when dad Murray Wilson showed up with several drinks in him the attempting to tell Brian how to produce.
This box set of Pet Sounds is a masterclass in music production. At the center of it all is a 24-year-old Brian Wilson...a man who was haunted by the musical thoughts in his head with a supreme dedication to get those ideas on record. His genius would manifest itself early on during those sessions as his guidance of the session musicians, 1960s guru songwriting partner Van D**e Parks, and the perplexing Phil Spector allowed a truly unique outcome that led to one of the defining records of the 1960s. Brian's crippling anxiety (which led him to retire from the road at 24 years old only to focus on studio production) is laid bare in the songwriting on Pet Sounds in an extremely detailed fashion ("I Just Wasn't Made For These Times", "That's Not Me"). It's a songwriting choice that "allowed" other artists to have an intimate relationship with their audience moving forward, instead of just "love sick" pop songs.
Diving into the history of Brian, Carl, and Dennis Wilson is akin to smashing face-first into a wave in the Pacific Ocean. Their garage band days of sharpening the band after school, their first record deal, and their first hit on the radio, "Surfin' Safari"....it's the American pop music dream. Their rise is superstardom usually gets eclipsed by the events of 1964, but there was a time when The Beach Boys were it: Elvis was in the Army, and California surf teen movies ruled the day. Their music would become a staple of American pop radio for the next three decades.
The passing of Brian Wilson today is a giant loss to the world of music. It is my personal opinion that Brian is one of the greatest musical talents of the past 150 years. His music will continue to guide generations of budding musicians who happen to fall upon the recordings of Pet Sounds and all of his other works. The eternal sunshine of the music of The Beach Boys will continue to inspire all of us.
Forever a fan,
Chuck
