I am sure everyone here is well aware that Brian has cited Disney movie music as being an influence on his own music. The most famously cited example is Brian partially basing the melody of Surfer Girl on When You Wish Upon a Star from Pinocchio. And of course Brian released his In The Key of Disney album in 2011, which was an album of Disney covers.
My father happens to be good friends with Alan Menken, the composer of the songs and soundtracks of many of the most well-known Disney renaissance films: Aladdin, The Little Mermaid, Beauty and The Beast, Pocahontas, and others. Alan is a huge Brian Wilson/Beach Boys fan, and cites Brian as one of his greatest musical influences. For example, you can definitely hear the influence in songs like Under The Sea (which Alan won an Oscar for). In fact, Alan says that Brian covering two of his songs on his In The Key of Disney album (Kiss the Girl and Colors of the Wind) is one of the two proudest and most thrilling moments of his career (the other moment being when Paul McCartney performed several of Alan’s and other Disney songs at a random nightclub appearance a few years back). Keep in mind this is a guy who has won eight Oscar awards for his music and has worked with numerous celebrities and musicians over the course of his career. So that is quite a compliment.
Alan worked closely with Will Smith and the other actors and actresses in the new live action Aladdin to assist them with their performances of his songs. So for anyone planning on watching the new Aladdin film in theaters or watching the original 1992 cartoon version, this is a cool Brian Wilson/Beach Boys connection to think about when listening to the music.
Just wanted to share this because I don’t believe Brian and Alan Menken have ever met each other and I think this is an awesome instance of musical influence coming full circle. Also, I am not sure if Brian himself realizes that his music has had such an important and direct influence on modern day Disney music, but if not, I hope word of this reaches him somehow.
Thank you for sharing that! Very cool.
The thing to remember is despite it being diminished somewhat by some within our little circle of fans and ersatz "insiders", Brian Wilson's influence on popular music - as a composer, arranger, producer, and performer - is larger and greater than I think most realize, particularly within the music industry itself, and especially among those musicians and composers as described above whose music becomes almost a subliminal part of people's lives from early childhood onward through film and other visual media like Disney, Spongebob, various video games, TV, etc...
Mr. Menken could drop Brian a line and tell him how much of an influence he has been, I'm sure it would be a most welcome gesture.