Brian Wilson at the Beach Boys 50th Anniversary Reunion during the 2012 New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival. Photo by Takahiro Kyono
Beach Boys co-founder Brian Wilson dies at 82
Sorry I am a little late with this. I was looking for my huaraches. Then I had to wax down my surfboard. Not sure why I waited ’til June. But the news hit me hard this week.
Brian Wilson is on safari to stay.
The iconic leader of the Beach Boys died just as summer was kicking off. While no cause of death was given, it was announced in 2024 that Wilson was battling dementia. He was 82 years old.
Brian Wilson and the Beach Boys defined the sound of summer. With their songs about surfing and hot rods, they were the West Coast counterattack to the Beatles and the British Invasion.
I spent my early teenage years in suburban Denver. I rode around in a 1977 Chevette with an AM radio in it. That radio stayed locked on “Cruisin’ 1150 KRZN — playing the superhits of the ‘50s, ‘60s and ‘70s.” The Beach Boys were in pretty heavy rotation. I might have been looking at the Rocky Mountains, but you better believe I was California dreamin’. We all were. And we still are.
Beach Boys top hits
These are the Beach Boys’ 10 biggest hits on the Billboard Hot 100 through the years.
- I Get Around
- Kokomo
- Good Vibrations
- Help Me, Rhonda
- Surfin’ U.S.A.
- Rock and Roll Music
- California Girls
- Sloop John B
- Barbara Ann
- Fun, Fun, Fun
Brian Wilson and the Beach Boys are deeply rooted in Americana because they defined an image — a lifestyle — for a generation of teenagers. And they did it with tight harmonies and intricate compositions that continue to intrigue us.
Wilson was the heartbeat of it all. But if that were the end of the story, it wouldn’t be rock ’n’ roll, now would it?
Brian Wilson was an enigma, too. While the rest of the band rode the wave, he retreated to his mansion to experiment with lyrics and sounds. He had an on-again, off-again relationship with his bandmates through the years and a dysfunctional relationship with a therapist that almost ruined him.
Brian Wilson might have dropped out of sight, but he was not lost on us. The music would allow for that. The Beach Boys were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1988. Wilson was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2000. Sir Paul McCartney delivered his induction speech, calling him “one of the great American geniuses.” In 2007, Wilson received the Kennedy Center Honors for his contribution to music.
Brian Wilson was widely considered a musical genius, even if he didn’t embrace that mantle.
“Being called a musical genius was a cross to bear,” he told Rolling Stone in 1988. “Genius is a big word. But if you have to live up to something, you might as well live up to that.”
He enjoyed a career revival in 2004 when he released his long-lost project “Smile.” In an interview with Rolling Stone that year, Wilson shared something he learned from the process that would benefit us all: “It’s hard work to be happy.”
Mike Love, Brian’s cousin and band mate, paid a lovely tribute to him on Facebook, where he, too, heralded Wilson’s genius.
“Today, the world lost a genius, and I lost a cousin by blood and my partner in music,” he said.
Love summed up how many of us feel, and why Brian Wilson is an Americana legend:
“Brian, you once asked, ‘Wouldn’t it be nice if we were older?’ Now you are timeless. May you rest in the peace you so deeply deserve, surrounded by the heavenly music you helped create. May your spirit soar as high as your falsetto, may your wings spread in effortless flight.
“Thank you for the harmonies, the memories, and the love. Death leaves a heartache no one can heal, Love leaves a memory no one can steal.”
