Erin's Music!

Brian Wilson is known as one of the most influential musicians and composers of all time.  He, however, was also victim to the pressures of the music business as he wasted away almost two years of his life in his room experimenting with drugs.  Even through his struggle through drugs he was able to compose amazing music that was beyond the technology of his time.  His album Smile was in retaliation to the Beatles Srgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club, but was shelved because his method of composing was impossible for the current technology.  This was called “modular” method and was revolutionary through its use of little snippets of sounds all put together in a specific order and time.  His first song that modeled the modular method was called “Good Vibrations” from the album Pet Sounds.

Pet Sounds was made in 1996 and was a combination of upbeat sounds as well as sad ballads.  One of the songs, “I Just Wasn’t Made For These Times” reflects both Brian’s inability to survive with all the drugs in his youth and his futuristic knowledge of recording.  The reason for his problems with drugs was a combination of the stresses of the music industry and and the abuse and pressure from his father at a very young age to succeed.  Both his mother and father played the piano and encouraged him with his singing and playing talents at a very young age.  He started out singing at a very young age in his own home with his brothers.  Originally called the Pendletones, the brothers signed with Candix records for their first hit song with them, “Surfer Girl”, and Candix changed their without their permission to the Beach Boys.  The name stuck, but Brian Wilson became quite the man after he escaped  from his drugged lifestyle.

Wilson was the bread and butter of the Beach Boys.  He was the only American rocker at Queen’s Jubilee at Buckingham Palace, playing alongside Sir Paul McCartney and Eric Clapton.  He created the most anticipated and most famous unreleased album of all time and utilized skills of his own to create masterpieces of sound.  The pressure to release Smile forced music technology to surpass its previous standards, simply to be able to produce the music, all thanks to Brian Wilson.