Musicianship of Brian Wilson
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| Years active | 1961–present |
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The songwriting of American musician Brian Wilson, co-founder and multi-tasking leader of the Beach Boys, is widely considered to be among the most innovative and significant of the late 20th century. His combined arranging, producing, and songwriting skills also made him a major innovator in the field of music production. In a 1966 article that asks "Do the Beach Boys rely too much on sound genius Brian?" brother and bandmate Carl Wilson responded that every member of the group contributes ideas, but admitted that Brian was majorly responsible for their music.Dennis Wilson is quoted: "Brian Wilson is the Beach Boys. He is the band. We're his fucking messengers. He is all of it. Period. We're nothing. He's everything."
Wilson cultivated his skills from an early age, learning how to play an accordion before moving on to piano. On his 16th birthday, he received a Wollensak tape recorder that allowed him to experiment with recording songs and early group vocals. With the exception of some college courses, his understanding of music theory was self-taught. Most of his education in music composition came from deconstructing the harmonies of his favorite vocal group, the Four Freshmen, whose reportoire included songs by George Gershwin, Jerome Kern, and Cole Porter. Another major influence came from the Ronettes' 1963 song "Be My Baby". For the decades that followed, Wilson fixated on Phil Spector's Wall of Sound technique showcased in "Be My Baby" and similar records. He learned more about producing from attending Spector's recording sessions, and after that, received some production advice from Jan Berry.
In 1966, Wilson explained his writing process as going to the piano and finding "feels," which he describes as "brief note sequences, fragments of ideas," and that "once they're out of my head and into the open air, I can see them and touch them firmly. They're not 'feels' anymore." Some of his stylistic markers include slash chords, key modulations, "stepwise falloffs", the use of minor seventh chords drawn from Burt Bacharach, and a tendency for his harmonic progressions to wander far from the tonal center. Musicologist Daniel Harrison notes that "even the least distinguished of the Beach Boys' early uptempo rock 'n' roll songs show traces of structural complexity at some level; Brian was simply too curious and experimental to leave convention alone." Lyrics were usually written by an outside collaborator after the melody and chord patterns were established.
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