The Day Brian Wilson Died for the First Time
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Brian Wilson on stage at the Grammy Awards in Los Angeles in February 2012. KEVIN WINTER / AFP
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Story Brian Wilson died this Wednesday at the age of 82. In 1967, the Beach Boys leader, great rival of the Beatles and LSD enthusiast, was a broken man. Mortified by the prodigies of Paul McCartney, he sank into the darkness of depression. He would never regain his genius.
What if Brian Wilson had died, not in 2025, but in 1967? In 1966, the Beach Boys founder was more alive than ever. A Californian god of melody and harmony, the composer who gave the world a hundred masterpieces, such as "The Warmth of the Sun," "Don't Worry Baby," "Be With Me," "Caroline No," "Cool Cool Water," and "Surf's Up" (perhaps his greatest song), this uncontemporary who composed "I Just Wasn't Made for These Times," this pop symphonist was at the height of his subtle and bilious art. He had gained the upper hand in the duel with the Beatles with the album "Pet Sounds," considered even in London to be the greatest pop album of all time. Wilson had brilliantly broken away from the surf rock that had made his success. Full of innovation, emulation, glockenspiel, electro-theremin, Coca-Cola can sounds, amphetamines and LSD, "Pet Sounds" is intended as a response to the Beatles' "Rubber Soul," released in December 1965.
At the Waldorf Hotel, British Derek Taylor, former Beatles press agent who became the Beach Boys' publicist, organized a screening of "Pet Sounds." Among the guests were John Lennon and Paul McCartney. The two Beatles, entranced and attentive, listened to the album's thirteen tracks several times. It is said that Lennon and McCartney went directly from the Waldorf in limousines to EMI's Abbey Road studios, where they were recording.
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