Brian Wilson, the main composer and vocal arranger for the Beach Boys, famously known as "America's Band," has died at age 82.
Born in the suburbs of Hawthorne, California, Wilson was a very typical American of the back half of the 20th century—a Hawthorne High quarterback, with a mean mofo of a dad who both abused and inspired him. In his band there were two younger brothers, Dennis and Carl, to cosset and feud with; his snide and slightly bullying first cousin, Mike Love; a high school pal, Al Jardine; plus neighbor David Marks, along for the ride. His gumption and genius, and his associates both in both music and business, created a worldwide never-ending machine of lucrative pop art.
With Wilson's yen for George Gershwin, the Four Freshmen, Phil Spector, and Chuck Berry running through his curious (later declared mentally ill) brain and his ear (he famously was deaf in one of his pair, possibly the result of abuse from his father Murry Wilson), his life story and most importantly the copious flow of hit singles and often equally rewarding album tracks are as Americana as it gets. And they stayed compelling long past the time he was hitting the top 10. (The Beach Boys had 55 singles in the top 100, but—except for the Christmas perennial "Little Saint Nick"—the last top 10 hit Wilson wrote was 1966's "Good Vibrations," probably the most ambitious and gorgeous pop single of all time.)
