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Mon 27 October 2025 21:00, UK
It’s always sad when a well-loved musician passes away, but news of Brian Wilson’s passing, which landed earlier this year, shook the musical world to its core.
Tributes poured in for Wilson, which well and truly got to the heart of what made him such a loved musician. “Heard the sad news about Brian today and thought about all the years I’ve been listening to him and admiring his genius,” said Bob Dylan. “Rest in peace dear Brian.”
Never has there been a musician who changed the game quite as much as Brian Wilson. He was a prolific writer, able to truly get to the heart of a song and manage to layer it in a way so that it truly resonated with those who listened. Of course, those who were fans of Brian Wilson and The Beach Boys were fans for more than just Wilson’s songwriting ability.
Wilson stopped performing on the road with The Beach Boys and dedicated his time to being in the studio and perfecting the craft of producing. This meant that he learned how to use the studio as its own instrument, not just letting it be the place where songs were recorded, but manipulating various effects and recording techniques in order to create a song that really enveloped the listener. Even now, when you experience the layering of songs like ‘God Only Knows’ and ‘Wouldn’t It Be Nice’, you can appreciate the true magnitude of Wilson’s genius.
He remains one of the greatest songwriters and producers to ever take to music. Of course, there are plenty of people who influenced him when it came to his innovative techniques. Wilson said one of his primary influences was Chuck Berry.
“As a writer, I’ve had a few influences, and Chuck [Berry] is primary,” he said, “As a producer, he also informed my sense of how a record should feel.”
That feeling was a connected one. A lot of people saw albums as being compilations of greatest hits, but Wilson drew from his influences in a bid to create a record that felt interconnected. His albums told a story and were appreciated as being one big body of work as opposed to being made up of many small pieces. Many people refer to Pet Sounds as being one of their favourite albums of all time, and it’s this connectivity that runs through the record, which prompts such a call.
Of course, it wasn’t just Chuck Berry who inspired Brian Wilson, but there were two other great musical minds that Wilson called his major influences. “There were only two other producers I studied closely,” said Wilson. “The first was Phil Spector, who taught me how to make tracks and craft what some might call ‘baroque’ backgrounds. The second was Bob Crewe, famous for his work with Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons, who showed me how to utilise horns to sharpen and sculpt an overall sound.”
Wilson had a style of songwriting and producing which still resonates to this day. Chuck Berry, Phil Spector and Bow Crewe all helped him develop his unique style and create pieces of music which had a layered atmosphere and felt deeply moving and cinematic.
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