RIP: Brian Wilson, co-founder of the Beach Boys, aged 82

[thewayne]

Brian was the last of the three Wilson brothers, Brian played bass, Carl lead guitar and Dennis drums. The other two members of the Beach Boys, Mike Love - a cousin - and Al Jardine, are still alive.

Brian has been in a medical conservatorship for the last year. Trouble with alcohol and drugs probably accelerated things. He met his last wife at a car dealership where she was working, which began a chapter where it was found that Wilson's psychiatrist was exploiting him and his finances, eventually resulting in a restraining order. When his wife died, Wilson entered into a decline, finally culminating in the conservatorship.

There's so much that can be said about The Beach Boys and their influence on music and various groups and musicians, and their being a core for surf/beach music in the '60s. I spent a few hours tonight revising a bunch of my Beach Boys music for my band in Lord of the Rings Online and adding some more songs to my catalog, I think I'll be performing them tomorrow night in an impromptu concert as I need to do some testing on my band as I've been having some system problems.

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/brian-wilson-beach-boys-dead-1234810073/

https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/articles/brian-wilson-beach-boys-visionary-165711806.html

Comments

[librarygeek]

Sent you a message about what server, time, and LOTRO location for the concert, please!

[disneydream06]

Such a sad life. :(
Hugs, Jon

[ranunculus]

I saw the Beach Boys, perhaps 10 or 12 years ago, doing a few songs for a corporate event that I was working. They all looked beat to crap from years of touring, drugs and who knows what. The music they produced was, for the most part, exactly like the records we have all heard, though, if I remember right, they did fall apart on one number. I thought it sad that they were still churning out the same old sounds from my youth. Back in the day they were one of my all time favorite bands, and Edit: {their songs} remain favorites to this day.

[acelightning2]

Both Sly Stone and Brian WIlson died from the enthusiastic substance abuse common to musicians - not that I have anything against substance use, but I tried not to let it incapacitate me too severely.

[darkoshi]

Beach Boys music + Lord of the Rings Online + band = does not compute for me

[silveradept]

The Beach Boys got a bad rep from me because of the ease in which their music became co-opted commercial bubblegum music, but I should probably go and listen to them again and decide whether their commercial ubiquity really was because of the music, or because of the corporations. Still sad to see how poorly Brian was treated, though.

[thewayne]

While I like the idea of being able to see the bands of my youth - my wife and I got to see Ian Anderson of Jethro Tull about 10 years back - I find it kind of sad that they're still touring year after year.  The system is so screwed up that they can't just record studio albums, they have to tour to really make money.

[thewayne]

I had, and continue to have, so many health problems that for me substance abuse seemed/seems an accelerated form of suicide, so I never touched drugs.  In the end, we're all dead, getting to choose our exit is one of the purest decisions we can make.

[thewayne]

Heh.  Lord of the Rings Online has a music system for players, there are very few Massive Multiplayer Online games (MMOs) that do.  We can modify Midi files, and through this music system, upload them into the local area game environment, and "perform" them with our characters!  I run a sixteen-member band called Cheery Littlebottom's Companions, variations of this band exist on several servers.  One of the larger bands out there.  And we run the gamut of music styles: Beach Boys, Bach, bosanova, classical, renaissance festival, music from the LOTR soundtrack, etc.  I've performed all of the above.  Various servers have regularly scheduled music events, we'll gather at a location and have solo performances or round-robins, attendees will dance, etc.  Lots of fun!

[thewayne]

Here's a performance of my band at a rock/metal festival last year called Inferno of Sounds:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=95dpVdBhk78

[thewayne]

For the most part, their music was light/pop music of the time.  A lot of it was sunny and bright, and that lent itself to commercial use.  I don't know if the band retained those rights and sold them to such use, or their label did it, but they did get used a lot for ads.

[acelightning2]

I have actively sought out and enjoyed drug experiences. There does seem to be some sort of innate desire to change one's perceptions - elephants and pigs seek out fallen overripe fruit that has fermented into alcohol, and many creatures seek out "hallucinogenic" mushrooms or intoxicating plants of other types. But I respect a person for eschewing such experiences, if they don't enjoy them. Working in radio is very close to working in the music industry, and there are drugs everywhere. As soon as I discovered how high I could be without it interfering with my audio skills, I fit right in.

[darkoshi]

Delightfully old school. I like the "Let the Goblins Hit the Floor".

[darkoshi]

That is pretty neat.

[thewayne]

In the late '70s when I was in high school, beer and alcohol that teens could get their hands on suuucked.  I couldn't stand the taste of it, so it was easy to avoid.  I had asthma pretty bad as a kid, so smoking pot held no appeal.  I've tried marijuana edibles that my wife bought, they did nothing for me, though I'd certainly try them again if I had a medical problem and needed pain control.  I have very specific taste in alcohol and drink occasionally, but have been drunk twice, and can give you an exact description of both occasions: house-sitting for a friend and going out for dinner with two friends at San Diego ComicCon.  So for me, there's also a 'loss of control' aspect to it: I want to maintain control of my faculties.  If I decide to drink a lot, I'll have a safe driver and never drink to incapacitation, so I'll keep at least that level of control.

[thewayne]

That's a friend of mine, Sneaky, who is also an excellent band leader!  I now have made my own set of lyrics, Dodge The Doggies On The Floor.

[acelightning2]

I determined fairly early on how much liquor it took to make me feel I wasn't driving safely. However, no amount of cannabis would make me feel unsafe. Several friends of my family made a project of finding a kind of liquor my mother could stand the taste of, but they never succeeded. THere are times when I want to lose control, because I spend too much time IN control. And I understand those elephants and pigs and tigers who get high on what they can find