On Brian Wilson and Going to the Moon
About a month ago, Brian Wilson passed away at the age of 82. Ever since then I have been trying to find the right throughline to write about him. I discovered Pet Sounds late in high school and became psychotically obsessed with it. I had never heard anything so enveloping and beautiful. I used to pick up Catie for school in the mornings our senior year and I was very much a tsar about the music we listened to (at seven in the morning no less) and Pet Sounds occupied a large chunk of that school year.
Of course, I was pretty familiar with the Beach Boys before high school. The song “Do It Again” was prominently featured on the Happy Feet soundtrack (which I listened to religiously as a child) and for some reason, I couldn’t escape “Kokomo.” I was drawn to the interesting electric guitar intro in “Do It Again.” Slowly I listened to more. “California Girls” and “Barbara Ann” where particular favorites. I wasn’t really privy to the overarching Beach Boys story yet.
After my Pet Sounds obsession, I downloaded Fifty Big Ones, a very comprehensive greatest hits album, and watched the 2014 biopic Love and Mercy. The album led to a lot more Beah Boys but didn’t contextualize anything.. The movie, where Paul Dano and John Cusack play two versions of Brian Wilson, moved me even more. I had never read much about The Beach Boys lore and this movie was devastating. It follows young Brian (Dano) who after having a panic attack on a plane to Houston (shout out!), refuses to go on tour and in turn, starts making Pet Sounds. This is mirrored with imagery of 80s Brian (Cusack) struggling with an abusive conservatorship. The film beautifully shows the intense studio sessions that Brian led in the making of Pet Sounds but is so tragic as a story. You can slowly see Dano’s Wilson descend into drugs and madness as he is chasing the approval of his father. As the audience can start to connect the two Wilsons. It has a happy ending though. Brian gets out of the conservatorship because of the efforts of his second wife, Melinda Ledbetter, but the dark themes did not match what I was expecting. Now I had context but I still yearned for more.
I’ve been thinking a lot about the movie and Brian’s story. Upon first watch, it becomes clear why Pet Sounds is so central. It’s era defining in so many ways and represents a quantum leap in studio recording and the art of the album. It is often the essential Beach Boys album. After watching the film again shortly after Brian passed, and reading a ton more about the Beach Boys, I’ve come to understand the nexus-nature of Pet Sounds differently. Some conflict arises in the movie when the rest of The Beach Boys return from a tour in Japan. Mike Love (Brian’s cousin) is appalled at what Brian has made. Love says it’s too sad, there are no hits, and it’s not the Beach Boys. Fans like to split the Beach Boys’ discography into the teeny-bopper early stuff and the post-Pet Sounds era (sort of like The Beatles). This scene reinforces this narrative, but I think it is slightly misconstrued. There is a clear journey that led to Pet Sounds and a clear resultant journey afterwards.
As early as their second album, Surfin’ U.S.A., Brian is already writing more downtrodden love songs (see “Lonely Sea”). This brand of song continues up to Pet Sounds. “In My Room” and “Don’t Worry Baby” showcase Brian’s deeper pen and his ability to have hits without explicit beach themes. The crazy production style that Brian uses on Pet Sounds is also hinted at throughout their early work. The intro to “California Girls” is stunningly beautiful and I think it is the masterwork from the first part of their discography. Brian’s love for Phil Spector’s studio leanings is in full display on The Beach Boys Today!. An entire album utilizing the “wall of sound technique” with not a single song about the beach. Granted the themes are still a bit juvenile on this album but Brian was honing his studio skills here. However dramatized the scene with Mike Love is, these were the prevailing sentiments about Pet Sounds from people close to Brian.
They were sort of right. Pet Sounds flopped with only “Sloop John B” making any waves (a beach-adjacent song). I’ve always racked my brain about this. How could something so monumental and beautiful be initially rejected? While lyrical content and production styles can be traced from early Beach Boys work, thematically Pet Sounds is radical. The Beach Boys were a pseudo-propaganda arm for the California (and by extension American) way of life. They were presenting people with a glowing view of youth culture and the American dream. Pet Sounds starts with booming drums and the line “Wouldn’t it be nice if we were older / Then we wouldn’t have to wait so long.” An intensely romantic sentiment that I think can be seen as directly against the early Beach Boys ethos. Instead of evoking images of sunshine and youthful glow, it evokes images of hypotheticals and growing old. It is a beautiful image but confusing to early Beach Boys listeners. All through Pet Sounds moments of intense yearning can be found. In a similar fashion to “Wouldn’t It Be Nice” it presents not only more adult thoughts but projects uncertainty. These are songs reaching for a time and a love that might not exist yet or might never exist. This uncertainty is what I think turned off initial listeners.
Once the drug culture of the 60s caught up to Pet Sounds it started gaining traction. Despite Mike Love’s best efforts, there are a lot of pieces about drug escapism (Brian was struggling by this point). “Sloop John B” being about a thinly veiled acid trip is well known but “ I Know There’s an Answer” is infinitely more interesting. Brian is almost talking to himself in this song.
“I know so many people think they can do it alone / They isolate their heads and stay in their safety zone.”
Making this album almost completely solo (the call is coming from inside the house!). Later he sings:
“They trip through the day and waste all their thoughts at night / Now how can I come on / And tell them the way that they live could be better.”
This is so key. Again with the uncertainty that contrasts the Beach Boys’ previous work. He’s coming to grasps with his role as a paragon of the American dream. How can he be that if everyone is so drugged up? How can he be that if he’s also drugged up? How can be that if he doesn’t even surf? Don’t even get me started on “God Only Knows.” How can you start a love song with “I may not always love you” and it still be heart wrenching?
Post Pet Sounds is another interesting through line that I uncovered after my deep dive. After releasing “Good Vibrations” (closely after Pet Sounds), Brian had built up enough cache of good will that everyone was willing to let him go crazy. Along with lyricist Van Dyke Park, Brian sought to write an epic Americana album called Smile. He became so obsessed over this album that the recordings became unbearably complicated. After a year of this the rest of the band (and the label) forced him to released a neutered version called Smiley Smile. The lost album became legendary among “High Fidelity”-like dudes.
1970’s Sunflower and 1971’s Surf’s Up were high points for this era. The Beach Boys finally embraced their 60’s flower-power personas and made class-conscious groovy albums. These are very good records but it does feel like they were about 4 years too late. After this era of good fortune they entered a dark period. To the up-and-coming group of “music nerds” they were music of a bygone era. They became sort of rock pariahs. Additionally, the Smile session had really done a number on Brian and he slowly retreated from the group. Thankfully Carl Wilson took the leadership role instead of Mike Love. By the mid 70’s they were faced with the effects of the Pet Sounds strife. Since their father sold the rights to their music they had to tour to make money. They became a sort of legacy act with wildly successful tours. They released music consistently and had a hit here or there (i.e. “Sail On Sailor” and “Kokomo”) but people were lining up for their early work. The group became destined to sing beach-tinged tunes for the next 40 years.
This is what I meant by Pet Sounds being a nexus point. The threads of Brian Wilson’s efforts led to a masterpiece but also endowed the band to a life of repetition. I encourage you to read about their touring in the 70’s-90’s. They were successful but the band had a Gallagher-esque feud that sounded horrible. Also, this is the era were Brian was under conservatorship and was heavily medicated. It really is almost a Greek tragedy. A family that is doomed to sing about the beach and sunshine while neither surfing nor liking each other.
I have arrived at thinking about Pet Sounds in the way some people think about going to the moon. Some people think we have lost the ability to go to the moon. People will point out that the bookkeeping wasn’t a top priority during the space race and there is a lot that was lost. I think that is a little silly but I get the idea. Similarly I don’t think we can create a Pet Sounds again. We have lost something from Brian Wilson that allowed us to reach great heights. I am struck by watching the producers of today display their work. Finneas with Billie Eilish and Jack Antonoff with Sabrina Carpenter come to mind. I’ve seen breakdown videos of “Bad Guy” (Finneas") and “Espresso” (Antonoff) and the stacks of vocals are mind numbing. Sometimes 20-60 separate vocal layers mashed into a gelatinous blob. Don’t get me wrong, I love these songs but the vocals are a little too perfect. There is something human lacking. Listening to any of the isolated vocals from Pet Sounds will make you weep. Brian had a limit of 4 (or sometimes even 2) vocal tracks. It is absolutely mind blowing how he achieved this. There is so much humanity and character in these vocals. They are somehow simultaneously intimate and all encompassing. They sound like they are being sung only to you in a large church.
I tried to put into words what Brian meant to me. I hope this rambling story made some sense. Rest in peace my king <3
