Brian Wilson of The Beach Boys performs at Blossom Music Center on June 13, 2011, in Cleveland. (Photo by Amy Harris/Invision/AP)

For those people who love music, I believe that it’s fair to say that today, a quarter of the way through the 21st century, the mere mention of the name Brian Wilson still carries the power to bring back distant and indelible memories of another time from long ago. This is particularly true for the baby boomer generation. For many of them, images of Brian and the Beach Boys still tumble around in their minds with a crystal clarity. Despite the fact that it now plays only in the private concert hall of the mind, time has not dimmed those scenes from the 1960’s. This was the time that was rock music’s golden era. For the 1960’s was that still-life moment in time when Brian Wilson, a rock and roll genius who created musical magic and shared it with the world. His was a rich portfolio of songs that touched the hearts and minds of a generation, striking an emotional chord deep within them.

Long before great American bands like the Eagles and Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, there was the legendary Beach Boys. They were the most successful and enduring pop band in American music history. Back in 1961, with his two brothers Carl and Dennis, and their cousin Mike Love, Brian formed the Beach Boys, and was the brilliant driving force, orchestrator and creative guiding light behind the band. Today he is still revered for his timeless contributions to music. Across the decades, the chronicle of the band’s trials, tribulations and success story has become a part of Americana. I believe that, a very long time ago, for every young boy who ever stood playing air guitar and singing into an imaginary microphone in front of the bathroom mirror against a backdrop of Brian Wilson’s songs, that music was, and maybe still is today, the stuff that dreams are made of.

For decades the Beach Boys rode the crest of an incredible wave of worldwide fame that was, in those times, only rivaled by the Beatles and Rolling Stones. What always served to set Brian and the Beach Boys apart from their British counterparts was the fact that they were so uniquely American. The songs that Brian Wilson wrote and arranged for the band to perform resonated with, and held a strong appeal for, American youth of that time. Across a musical journey that spawned a seemingly endless string of monster hits; chart toppers like “Good Vibrations,” “California Girls,” “Wouldn’t It Be Nice,” “I Get Around,” and “God Only Knows,” to flag a small handful.

The success of the Beach Boys serves as an enduring monument to the creative talent of Brian Wilson. He wrote songs about fast cars, riding that perfect wave, beautiful golden-haired sun-tanned surfer girls, and about the soaring highs and soul-crushing lows of being young and in love. His musical style was one that featured breathtakingly lush vocal harmonies. He experimented with new innovative sound techniques, and produced extraordinarily creative musical arrangements and scoring that captured the allure of Southern California. More than any American artists who came before or after him, Wilson immortalized the carefree and good-time Southern California lifestyle of the 1960’s in a timeless way that remains forever young.

As a singer-songwriter and producer Brian Wilson’s crowning glory came in 1966 with the release of the Beach Boys ground breaking “Pet Sounds” album. It was a collection of songs that was unlike anything that had come before it. Even by today’s standards, “Pet Sounds” is recognized as a tapestry of complex, introspective and dreamy songs that were all created, arranged and produced and performed by one man. The album was a year-long effort that succeeded in giving a voice to all of the lyrics, melodies and harmonies that had been swimming around inside of Brian’s head for years. With “Pet Sounds” he had finally found a creative outlet to amplify the bottled up feelings inside him.

Amazingly, today, five decades after it was released the songs still sound as fresh and new as they did when he created them all those years ago. In short, this album was, and still is, viewed by music critics and fans alike as a musical masterpiece. Among the album’s most ardent fans were the mighty Beatles, as they stated publicly that it was a catalyst for Lennon and McCartney to find the inspiration for the legendary “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.” The Pet Sounds album left no doubt in anyone’s mind that America had a musical genius who had created a work that had garnered public praise from the greatest songwriting team in pop music history. Sir Paul McCartney has been widely quoted as saying that “Pet Sounds” is his favorite album of all time, and that “God Only Knows” is the standout track from the album, and his favorite song of all time.

Brian Wilson has battled mental illness across his whole adult life. Even a rock star is not immune to the pressures and stresses of this world. They can and do take a toll on all people. Over time, Wilson’s grueling two-front war against mental illness and an epic addiction to drugs took an enormous toll on him. For several years he withdrew completely from the music scene and from life itself. He stopped writing music, and spent three years as a complete recluse ingesting a massive amount of drugs, and lying in bed for weeks at a time, as the Beach Boys slowly slipped off of the charts and drifted out of the public eye. Without a healthy Brian at the creative helm, the band was forced to make a living through touring and reissuing an endless series of “Greatest Hits” packages that did not garner the robust sales that they had known in happier times.

After painful years, and against all odds, Wilson finally triumphed over the mental illness and drug addiction that had nearly taken his life. In the face of daunting challenges, he persevered and proved to be a survivor. Several years ago he returned from the chilly hinterlands of his self- imposed isolation and has been an active presence on the music scene ever since. He has plans in place for a tour on the other side of the pandemic.

Today, in this time and place, Brian Wilson does not bear much resemblance to the once eternally youthful California surfer of his golden days. There is now a silvery cast to his still thick hair, and the years battling his demons have indeed left their mark. Fans can, today, see a haunting thousand-mile stare in his eyes that has become more pronounced with the passing of the years. Despite the fact that he is still writing great lyrics and melodies, he hasn’t had a hit song in the charts for eons. In the face of the arduous road that he has traveled, his genius, creative brilliance and bottomless well of artistic talent are still recognized universally. His rich musical legacy is a thick book of innovative songs that still continues to reach across time to capture the imagination of fans across the world who are still touched by his work, and are drawn to his mystique.

I’ve always believed that America has its own homegrown version of Lennon and McCartney in the person of Brian Wilson. I feel that one day a long time from now, high school kids will be studying the contributions of Brian Wilson in music appreciation classes. So for the genius of his enduring creations, for penning those songs that still have the power to reach out and take me to someplace else for an all too brief moment in time, I thank Brian Wilson.

Paul Collins is a freelance writer from Southborough, Massachusetts.

Newsletter