Brian has passed away!!!!

[Bedroom Tapes]

RIP.  Don't have enough words.  💔😭

[Amy B.]

Maybe it's because I'm preparing myself for my father's death (you do that when you have a parent with dementia), but I'm trying to be grateful that we had Brian on this Earth for so long. He gave us so much--he's leaving us with so much. I'm also grateful that I got to see him perform live and work with a truly great band that adored his music. I hope he had some moments of peace and happiness in his life and that his last years brought some artistic and personal fulfillment.

I don't know if I believe in any kind of afterlife, but at the risk of sounding corny, I hope he's at peace now, wherever he is.

I'm thinking of his children, who (the younger ones) lost their mom not that long ago. They'll be in a lot of pain. I hope they have a support system.

[NOLA BB Fan]

XM 60s channel host said “here’s Brian’s favorite song “ - Be My Baby playing now.
XM channel 79 is playing Beach Boys songs today

[Cool Cool Water]

RIP Brian. A sad day. I am glad to have personally met you on a few occasions in the past, either at your concerts, when we were attending vip with the Ladykillers, or even when you last-minute signed my friend's surf green Rickenbacker guitar back in 2006 in London!

God.

[The LEGENDARY OSD]

Feeling hollow since getting this sad news. All I can envision is Brian's arms stretched out to Carl and Dennis with a heavenly hug. So many great comments here and all I can really muster up at this time is the world just seems a little colder now that he has passed. Things will never really seem the same without him here with us. It is a really soul killing event. Thank you so much, Brian, for everything!! 

[mikeyj]

Thank you Brian for all the joy, happiness and comfort that your music has provided for myself and countless others.

[Letsgoawayforawhile]

I thought of all of you here as soon as I heard.
I know God or whatever is after heard him coming. What unbelievable music must be flowing through the heavens now. RIP.

[bachelorofbullets]

I am sad.  I guess time waits for no man, not even one of your hero's.

[Heteronym]

THANK YOU

[rab2591]

I am sad, yes, but overwhelmed with gratitude to have shared this timeline with Brian Wilson. As I grew older, I came to understand more about how one person's life can contain so many contradictions and complications, tragedies and triumphs. He was so very human. Brian and his bands (the Beach Boys, sure, but also the folks who toured with him for a quarter century beginning in 1999) created something special and lasting. Few others can say the same. Love to his friends and family, love to my fellow fans, love to us all. We sure need it.

I hope his bandmates are doing okay today/tonight...Thinking of you all.

The outpouring of love here is so wonderful. So glad Brian was able to bring us all together.

[HeyJude]

It was in reference to the "Love & Mercy" movie back in 2015, but Howie Edelson's summation of that movie included something that has always stuck with me about Brian:

"It's about a guy who lives a personal internal Auschwitz nightmare yet still writes "This Whole World" for people he'll never meet."

[SamMcK]

I haven't posted on here in so long, needless to say it's beyond devastating to recieve this news.

Brian Wilson was one of the two most important musicians of my life. (McCartney being the other) One of my all time heroes. I always knew this day would come, but you can still never really prepare for it. Brian is on my mind a lot.

His music has always been there for me when I most needed it. I was terribly depressed and honestly had suicidal thoughts throughout my years at university. And the most therapeutic thing I could do for myself while walking home by myself was listening to Pet Sounds. Every day. That album was (and still is) my comfort blanket.

Brian felt like he was my friend. I never met him one on one, and in truth, I didn't want to, but he always inspired me creatively. I would never have started writing my own songs or expressing myself without Brian or the Beach Boys. He is my greatest inspiration.

When I was still in school, in the early days of the iPod, I Get Around was the first song I downloaded on my nano. (Funnily enough, I remembered first hearing the song from a vhs of the movie Look Who's Talking!)
But what got me properly into The Beach Boys was listening to Good Vibrations on some otherwise naff best of the sixties compilation when I was 15. I'd never heard anything that connected with me quite like that song. I must have played it at least 6-7 times in a row.

Cue a few years later, 2012. I was 18 years old. I'd already seen Brian perform the Reimagines Gershwin album, listened to all of the unsurpassed masters box sets, downloaded every SMiLE bootleg i could find, brought all their twofer albums on CD. and devoured everything to do with the 50th Anniversary tour and SMiLE box set. Then the news here on smileysmile.net was buzzing that The Beach Boys were going to play Wembley! I couldn't believe my luck when my Mum got tickets for us. I think it's still the greatest concert experience I've ever had. And that includes seeing Paul and Ringo at the o2 arena.

I remember looking out at the stage and on the screens, Brian was so happy up there and I'll always remember his big warm smile as he sang Please Let Me Wonder. It was such a happy memory of that time. And even if the reunion didn't last long it was the greatest closer I could have imagined to their live career. My first and last Beach Boys show, and it was the last show with Brian and Al Jardine. I'll always cherish that memory.

I saw Brian (And Al) a few more times up until 2017, and it was just such a thrill to be in the room with the man. His music has gotten me through some of the best and worst times of my life, and I'll always be thankful for that. The fact that he made it to 82 with all of his problems going back to the sixties has always been a huge inspiration to me, and above all, he's always made me want to be a better person.

Love you Brian, thank you for the music, thank you for everything. I hope you are at peace with Carl, Dennis, Audrey and Melinda.

[Swamp Pirate]

Thank you Brian. Godspeed and God Bless.

[SurfJohnB]

My hero. So very sad. Rest in Peace, king!

Here is my version of a thank you note to Brian I'm sharing with other fans: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bcy6AQIcS-w

[Needleinthehay]

The thing about Brian besides his incredible talent, I doubt you can find anyone on this board hardly ever saying a negative word about him. Yes he had his issues, but he always seemed like such a sweet/kind man. Just watch long promise road where he drives around and talks about his life. Hard to see him as anything but a wonderful person with a treat heart.

He will be missed for a long time to come. We should be glad we had him as long as we did. Everyone thought he was gonna die in the 70s he ended up outliving his bothers, even Melinda. A tribute to his toughness.

[TheLukeDiamond]

It's a very sad day today. I found out about Brian's passing from my two siblings immediately texting me about it while I was at work. It hit me like few celebrity deaths ever have before, because Brian is absolutely more than that. More than ever, I feel the importance of communities like these, where Brian will live on far past his own lifetime. Love you guys, thanks for keeping the music and the love alive.

[SamMcK]

It really feels like a family member has died. I can't even picture him as gone, he was such a monumental figure.

[wantsomecorn]

This is a day we all knew was coming, and as much as I prepared myself, I still can't help but think of how strange it is to say "Brian was", not "Brian is". I was born after he had gotten away from Landy and beaten the worst of his demons, so I'll never know what it was like to be a fan in the 70s and 80s in constant fear that this bad news would happen so much earlier than it did, to say the least of the friends and family who were close to him.

Farewell, my friend, my beautiful friend.

[TonyOC]

Been dreading this day since news broke that Brian was being placed under conservatorship. I awoke to a beautiful summer day in the Washington DC area, but upon hearing the news, it suddenly became a cold gray January day. The outpouring of grief from all corners of the globe unites us in a communal feeling of loss. Ironically, I had planned to head to my place at the beach for a few weeks and so I will go and stare at the waves as they crash ashore with Brian’s music in my ears and sorrow in my soul.

Thank you Brian for all the great music you left for the rest of us to enjoy while we’re still here.

[Summer_Days]

No...

I can't.

I mean... I knew this day would come, but I just am not ready. I don't think I really could ever be. Dammit.

Oh, this is not all about me. I'm sorry. I'll just say that... I'm glad to have lived during the last very nearly 46 years of his life. That probably doesn't make a whole lot of sense and I'm still making it about me. Like I said, I can't do this. Let me start over.

He is at peace now. For those that believe in that sort of thing, there is comfort in knowing that he is with Melinda and his brothers.

What he leaves behind in this world, his immeasurable legacy, his positive effect on so many people, including everyone here, is inextinguishable.

His effect on my life, through his beautiful music is... I can't even begin to express it now. Maybe I'll try again when I can stop crying. Maybe not even then. It's so all-encompassing.

It still doesn't feel completely real, or it hasn't fully hit me yet, or something. I don't know. Much like trying to put words to what his music means to us all, I don't know how to say just how much I'll miss him. I just know that the world feels... less. Hurts more. I think that'll pass because his music lives on and we'll carry it on and through it, the hurt will become a distant echo, far, far outlasted by light he chose to share with the world.

I love you Brian. And I thank you for being you. God only knows what we'd be without you.

[Emdeeh]

Still in shock. Thank you for all the music, Brian.

[guitarfool2002]

Going between being totally numb and tearing up when I hear a certain song today and a few outright emotional collapses, I was thinking about the concept of spiritual energy and how collective thoughts and emotions can transmit feelings universally to whomever is receptive to them no matter where they are..."good vibrations" to borrow a phrase...

And it occurred to me that as long as he was alive, all of that positive and healing energy he sent into the world through his music would be reciprocated within that mysterious network and return to him. Again to borrow a phrase, "the smile you send out returns to you". And for all of those smiles this man inspired with his music, and all of the positive feelings he transmitted throughout his life through that music, it created a network of sorts that cycled all of this around and around in circular form, and whenever someone like me or you or anyone got that rush of positivity and joy that Brian's music uniquely created, it would radiate out and around and get back to him in some form.

And now that he has left us in the physical sense, it feels different, yet it might even make that circular transmission of positive energy and joy even stronger, every time we listen to one of those transcendent songs he created and those feelings reach someone else, that energy continues to grow.

And I guess my point is, share the music with anyone you can, and share the feelings with them that were personal to you and which made your own experience with his music special. It's up to us to pass on to others now and in the future just how special, uplifting, and healing this man's music was and is and can be. Then that cycle will continue for generations, and what Brian ultimately wanted to do for others through his music will continue. 

[Dan Lega]

I didn't hear the sad news until about noon today, (Wednesday,) after a call from my closest Beach Boy friend.  Soon after I got a call from another friend relaying the news.  After that I tuned to Sirius XM's 60's channel and listened to it for the next 7 hours.  They didn't play a ton of Beach Boys/Brian Wilson songs, maybe 1 out of every 7 they played, but the DJ (Pat St. John?) was broken up with the news and dedicated the full time on air to talking about Brian and airing phone calls from fans.  I just needed someone to commiserate with, and that did the job.  (Finally, after 7+ hours, another DJ took over.  I gave him plenty of time, but he didn't play any Beach Boys songs and didn't even talk about it when he first came on the air, so I finally turned it off.)  Now I'm here at the SmileySmile board looking to find some solace with other Brian Wilson fans.  Thanks to everyone who has posted so far.  You've been much more eloquent than I can be.

It's eerie, but I had a premonition about Brian's death this past week.  I don't recall what I was reading, though it must have been Beach Boy related, but I remember all of a sudden a feeling came over me that Brian might die within the next few days.   I don't recall ever having that feeling about him before.  And, unfortunately, it came true.

Thank you, Brian, for all the love you've unleashed upon the world.  You were/are my musical hero, and as someone else expressed earlier, even though we never hung out with you, you became one of our best friends.

Love and mercy to all of Brian's close friends and all his family over the passing of this humble and gentle soul.


Love and merci,
Dan Lega

[18thofMay]

This hurts beyond measure. My thoughts are with his family and friends.

I love you Brian…

Sadness all across the world, hurting over here too mate.

[MyDrKnowsItKeepsMeCalm]

It was in reference to the "Love & Mercy" movie back in 2015, but Howie Edelson's summation of that movie included something that has always stuck with me about Brian:

"It's about a guy who lives a personal internal Auschwitz nightmare yet still writes "This Whole World" for people he'll never meet."

That's an incredible quote. Wow.