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Just Like Brian Wilson Did

Sarah Anderson | 3:34 PM on June 12, 2025
AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill, File

You know how people like to play "this or that," and one of the questions is almost always "The Rolling Stones or The Beatles?" Every single time I've been asked that in my life, I've replied: "The Beach Boys."

Even when I was a kid, I couldn't understand why they weren't part of the conversation about the greatest band of all time, but I guess everything is subjective. As far as I'm concerned, the Beatles and the Stones have some great songs, but the Beach Boys' entire body of work is worthy of praise. And they didn't just make great music. They were innovators who had a massive impact on music and the culture in the United States for decades. 

We have Brian Wilson to thank for that. 

When I heard he died on Wednesday, my heart sank. Even though his days of making music were long behind him, it felt like I'd lost a family member. I knew I wanted to write something about it, but I wasn't sure what. The world didn't need another Wikipedia-like obituary, and I'm not going to pretend to be some sort of music journalist. I don't even think I could make a list of my favorite songs. I toyed around with some other ideas, but I finally decided that I'm just going to write what I feel like writing today. I'm just a fan who wanted to say goodbye in the only way I know how. Maybe some of you can relate. Maybe this is just my public therapy session. Proceed accordingly.  

They were the first band I loved back when I was a little girl in the late 1980s. I couldn't even tell you exactly how I discovered them at such a young age. Perhaps it was when my uncle used to drive me to elementary school. We sat in his truck and listened to Fox 97, an iconic Atlanta radio station, every single morning. That's how I developed an appreciation of music from the 1950s and 1960s in general. Or maybe it was my parents. Music was a focal point in my house growing up, although I don't remember them playing a lot of Beach Boys (though my dad maintains that it was his first favorite band as a kid as well). 

Heck, maybe it was the fact that they showed up on one of my favorite childhood shows, "Full House." One of the stars, John Stamos, was a huge Beach Boys fan and even performed with them occasionally. I was far too young to know what good music was in 1988, but I just pulled up the YouTube video of them singing "Kokomo" on the show, and it brought back a flood of memories. 

I know I fell in love with that song, and in 1989, a cassette tape version of the "Still Cruisin'" album showed up in my stocking, a gift from Santa. As I've written at length here, I'm kind of passionate about the beach and that whole sort of lifestyle, and that's been a lifelong thing, so I think that was the initial appeal when I heard the lyrics to "Kokomo" and realized that there was an actual band called the Beach Boys. But when I got that first album, I became fascinated with the music itself. 

I can still remember the exact track listing and sing every song lyric by heart. Before long, I was getting into the band's older stuff. My parents would buy me new cassettes and CDs for birthdays and Christmases, and I amassed a pretty decent collection. I think that's all I listened to until about eighth grade, when I decided maybe I should also check out the current music of the mid-nineties that my friends were listening to.  

Technically, the Beach Boys were my first concert, too, but I only got to hear them play about half a song. They used to come to Atlanta every summer and perform after a Braves game or two. Braves baseball was my other childhood passion, so one year, for my birthday, my parents made a big deal out of getting tickets for the game when the band was scheduled to be in town. A dream come true. 

When the game was over, and it was time for the concert to start, the sky opened up, putting a damper on my concert dreams. It poured relentlessly on Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium that day, but we stuck it out. Finally, the weather cleared up, and the band took the stage. It was one of the most exciting moments of my life, or it was supposed to be. A few notes into their first song, the rain started up again, and they ended up calling the whole thing off. 

Something else I became obsessed with around that time was the band Wilson Phillips. Made up of Wilson's daughters, Carnie and Wendy, and Chynna Phillips, daughter of John and Michelle Phillips of The Mamas & the Papas, the fact that they were rock royalty, particularly Beach Boys rock royalty, was what led me to them, but their voices became a major part of the soundtrack of my early years. My cousin Emily and I actually used to "play Wilson Phillips" in our grandparents' basement, putting on fake concerts and filming fake music videos. I actually still listen to their 2003 album "California" on a regular basis, which is all covers of old songs, including some of their parents' music, updated and amplified by the ladies' amazing harmonies.

I even think my lifelong love of the Beach Boys is why I became such a big Tom Petty fan. As I wrote a couple of weeks ago, that's my number one guy, and I know they were incredibly influential to his career. If you pay attention, you can hear it in both the lyrics and the music. When asked in an interview in 1982 if he preferred albums by the Beatles or the Beach Boys, he responded: 

Well, I like both. But these days, I’d probably play "Pet Sounds." I can hear "Sgt. Pepper" without playing it. But frankly, I don’t think it wears that well into the eighties. "Pet Sounds" still sounds great to me. Hell, I once heard a radio interview with Paul McCartney in which he said that after hearing "Pet Sounds," he had to do something like "Sgt. Pepper." He was right. Brian Wilson is the greatest. The root of his personal problem was that he did genius work and never got recognition for it from the man in the street. So he took a real artistic risk. It’s a brilliant album.”

When Petty died, Wilson returned the love. 

I'd like to think they're putting on a hell of a concert in heaven right now. 

Recommended: Taking a Road Trip This Summer? Bring Tom Petty Along

Anyway, I actually stopped listening to the Beach Boys several years ago. This is kind of bizarre, but when I'd moved in with my parents and my mom's health was declining, they also had this elderly dog nearing the end of her life. The dog had dementia and would go into these barking spells that drove us all crazy, especially since we were dealing with my mom's worsening health issues on top of it. One day, there was a Beach Boys concert on TV, and I turned it up really loud. The dog stopped barking. After that, any time she'd have one of those spells, I'd blast the music through the house. It was great for our sanity during those last few weeks of her life, but once she died, I found that I couldn't listen to the band for a long time. 

Until last night.

I follow several of my favorite musicians on X, and many of them were posting their tributes and favorite memories of Wilson and the Beach Boys. Before I knew it, my timeline was filled with old videos of their music, and I sat up late into the night listening. Heck, I'm still listening right now. My lifelong love for the band is fully renewed — Brian Wilson's final gift to me, I suppose, though he's already given me so much.

Since you stuck with me through all that, I'll share some of what was posted last night with y'all, too. This isn't meant to be a greatest hits or favorite songs list by any means, just some cool videos and words that put a smile on my face. Maybe they will be yours, too. 

And here are a few tributes from some of my other favorites: 

From the Petty family: 

And finally, I have no idea if this really happened, but it gave me a laugh. 

Sarah Anderson

Sarah Anderson is a freelance writer and journalist. When she's not writing, you can find her hanging out on her small farm, swimming, traveling, yelling at a football game, or watching State Department briefings for fun.  

Read more by Sarah Anderson
Category: CULTURE
Tags: ENTERTAINMENT

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