The Smiley Smile Message Board

I came across this article from BBC Culture by the coincidentally named Carl Wilson. He is apparently tired of hearing about Brian Wilson's greatness, so, ironically, he writes one more article about it. What are your thoughts?


http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/20150608-is-this-americas-mozart

Now that he's identified gaps in my bookshelves, he needs to write more books about Stevie Wonder, James Brown, and George Clinton, then. Kind of a pointless piece... a bit wearingly glee-clubby and gimmicky, even.

There's always some chucklehead that promotes a contrarian POV when the wave is peaking just to get some notice.

I'm not sure I really care for this Carl Wilson.

I've come across a couple people who are "tired" of hearing what a genius Brian Wilson is, and have been for a long long time. I'm pretty sure Brian's a little over it too.

other people will never be convinced, no matter how many times they hear Pet Sounds or SMiLE or Warmth of the Sun, etc.


but the thing that really irks me is the implication that Brian is/was just some idiot savant or conduit who somehow lacked the brilliance or intelligence of his own to create such amazing music. and I hate to say it, but the Love & Mercy film kind of perpetuates that belief. there's even a recent interview with Darian where he refers to Brian and the other Beach Boys as "hicks" from Hawthorne. it's really disappointing.

In what arena is this the case? Our message board? A few other places around the web? Hipster bonfires? Is it really impacting the cultural landscape to the point we need to complain about it? What universe is he living in where Brian Wilson is taking up more than his share of "cultural shelf space"? I'd love to live in that universe. In my universe the Beach Boys are a blip on the radar, they're a reason to get barbs thrown at you for liking them (depending on who you hang out with). The current cultural shelf space is being dominated by the cesspool of continuous Kim Kardashian/Justin Bieber/Kanye West news and tweets...do we really need more of that?

People call him a genius because they get it. They get the harmonies, they get the chords, the music as a whole stirs something in the spirit - a feeling that we want to share with others. Find me another songwriter who has more successfully woven intricate harmonic tapestries through a canvas of complex chord structures all while making an honest statement about the human soul. Then when I'm at my hipster bonfires I'll rave about that person. Until then, we apologize for the one Brian Wilson article every 2 years in MOJO, for the 2 mediocre paragraphs he gets in Rolling Stone when he releases an album, we apologize for this tidal wave of praise that is currently consuming the cultural ocean of America and drowning out the artistic visions of Justin Bieber and Meghan Trainor. OH THE HUMANITY!

Compare the Beach Boys and Brian's cultural shelf space to, say, the Beatles or Dylan.  I would say Brian is UNDER represented relative to his musical achievements versus Beatles or Dylan or the Stones.  Granted the 50th tour and this movie have made for a transient blip in Brian's news coverage and social media presence but relative to the high profile and relentless press that Taylor Swift, Beyoncé, Niki Minaj, Kim Kardashian get, Brian is hardly getting more than his due.

  I can understand the POV, but for a number of years Brian was underappreciated. I'm glad he's getting full props now. Compared to the way some worship McCartney, it isn't especially obnoxious.

 "I Get Around" was the record that convinced me of his genius, many years ago. I had a realization that it was the apex of the early Beach Boys but simultaneously avant garde.

Frankly, after years of all Beach Boys music being dismissed as bubblegum, I'm glad Brian started getting his due beginning sometime around the 90's. I still run into people pretty regularly who don't "get it", and even more who are completely unaware that Brian is held in such high regard today. If anything, there needs to be more claiming of Brian's greatness, not less of it.

My hope is that Love & Mercy goes a long way towards correcting that. If not- well at least I know what a genius he was and can enjoy the music for my time left here on Earth. More's the pity for those who don't.

That ass sure likes to point out heritage... 'Jewish New Yorkers', Swedish pop producers ', white suburban Christian, ect.

Ditto.

I second that, Rab

Any POV  when a topical wave is peaking just to get some notice.     Just look at the 24 hour news channels.......

I'd like to debate critics like this one-on-one. Many of them seem to sing the same bullshit song as this guy, and it's as predictable as the sun coming up in a few hours.

Can someone access his previous reviews? I'm guessing he may be one of those hipper-than-thou types who hyped a Kanye West album at some point because he thought he had to.

Dime a dozen, this stuff, take it as such. Nothing more.

I stopped reading after this - In this story that villainy comes from lead Beach Boys singer Mike Love, who scorned Smile and pressured Wilson to stick to the band’s formula of surf, sun, cars and girls.

True genius can never be overstated.

Hearing about an artist's greatness over and over again can be tedious. I think the "Brian's a genius" thing could actually use some variety. For the most part it's about Pet Sounds, GV, how GOK was written in 1 hour or so, how Smile was this mysterious thing that did not come out, etc. It's about a very limited timespan, mostly '65-'67. I can understand how someone could get bored with all that, though for me the music does justify the praise even after years of listening.

I don't he meant that to be taken negatively, I'd say he was complimenting them. You know, they WERE hicks from Hawthorne, meaning they weren't Hollywood-hipper-than-thou-snobs, just blue-collar boys from a decidedly unglamorous town, and despite that they made it very big and created some of the most amazing music ever created. Go Hawthorne hicks, you showed 'em!