Sad to say it's the headline you've been expecting to read for nearly fifty years now ... only this time it's actually true
Just nine days shy of his 83rd birthday, Brian Wilson, the genius, heart and soul of The Beach Boys, is gone.
There are certain people that affect your life in ways that no others can ... be it family and friends or mentor and idols ...
It's just a connection that you make on a spiritual level that most others wouldn't understand or be able to relate to unless they've experienced it themselves ... yet even if you've never actually had the chance to meet or bond with this person, the connection is there and the impact is intense and in some way life-changing.
Truth be told, it's a wonder he lived this long ... and I'm not saying anything here that you haven't already thought to yourself many times before ... with all he's gone thru over the years in the way of self abuse and mental and physical challenges, I don't know that anyone really ever expected him to reach the age of 83. Then, after losing his wife this past year and himself going into conservatorship after being diagnosed with dementia, it just felt inevitable that there was no way he was going to be mentally and physically able to face this last round of challenges life threw his way.
Still, the sadness is there.
He gave us SO much over the years in the way of innovative music and vision. He's been called a genius since the '60's and there is no doubt in my mind that there is some element of this in his make-up. He heard things that no one else could hear ... and then he was magically able, with literally no musical training of any kind, to bring these sounds to life so that the rest of us could enjoy them, too. In that respect, he was a visionary ... gifted in ways we cannot even comprehend.
And we are all SO fortunate that he was able to share these visions with the rest of us mere mortals, using the band that he founded ... and then stepped away from in order bring these sounds to life, using them as his voice to be heard by the rest of the world.
It was his brother Dennis that suggested "Why don't you write a song about surfin'?" that launched The Beach Boys in 1962. Taking the harmonies of The Four Freshmen, the rock and roll beat of Chuck Berry and the production techniques developed by his idol Phil Spector, Brian Wilson crafted a sound that was uniquely his own. Thirty Eight National Top 40 Hits followed, including six #1 Hits.
His music will live on forever, long after all of us are gone. Of this, there is no doubt. But perhaps the best news of all is that Brian Wilson is finally at peace. Love And Mercy, Brian. (kk)
