One of the singers of the hit pop group The Beach Boys, Carl Wilson, celebrated a heavenly birthday this week (Dec. 21). He would have turned 79 years old.
The youngest of the Wilson brood, Carl was also songwriter for the band, as well as the lead guitarist, meshing seamlessly with Dennis and Brian (the latter of which, as many readers will know, was much more than a back-up singer), Mike Love, and Al Gardine. More on them in a little bit.
Happy birthday to our beloved Carl Wilson. The soul of The Beach Boys. He would have turned 71 today. pic.twitter.com/nMfHt9WDBk
— Beach Boys Legacy (@beachboyslegacy) December 21, 2017
Carl Wilson passed away in Feb. 1988, at age 51, from complications from lung cancer. Later that same year, the band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
The Rock Hall's official page for the Beach Boys describes the dynamics of the band well, I think:
The Beach Boys embodied the sun-kissed dream of California, courtesy of their buoyant surf-rock vibe and heavenly harmonies. Thanks to the imagination, vision and production gifts of Brian Wilson, however, the group also reinvented what pop music could sound like.
Speaking of Brian... Carl's brother, the genius producer and fellow singer and songwriter, passed away on June 11 at age 82, as RedState wrote. And in the second link below, you can find a story linked on Brian Wilson's new album in late 2021, and a touching video of him performing solo at his piano, in lockdown during the COVID pandemic.
In that second link below, you can find a story linked on Brian Wilson's new album in late 2021, and a touching video of him performing solo at his piano, in lockdown during the COVID pandemic.
READ MORE: Beach Boys Icon Brian Wilson Dead at 82, Hollywood/Music World Reacts
Songwriting Legend Brian Wilson and His Family Pay Touching Tribute to Wife and Mom, Melinda Wilson
Dennis Wilson died ahead of both of his brothers, in an accidental drowning, in 1983.
In the current day, there isn't one band... there are two who claim the Beach Boys mantle (depending on who you ask; all music/art is subjective, after all.) Love has a band he tours with; Gardine tours with the band that formerly backed Brian Wilson, pretty much.
Al Gardine memorialized his friend Carl this week in a Facebook post:
Let's take a listen to just a handful of the Beach Boys' songs. Hopefully, it will inspire more people to dig into their voluminous back catalog of greatness:
Barbara Ann (1966) has everything you want in a pop song: infectious lyrics, gorgeous harmonies, and, in the case of a Beach Boys, a little goofing around by the band. Carl even gets a shout out:
Good Vibrations (1966): Probably the best known Beach Boys song, it's also the most labor-intensive. Brian Wilson recorded an incredible 90 hours of music to come up with the pieces that make up this "mosaic" of moods and feelings, as he termed it. And as we all know, it paid off:
Released as a single by the Beach Boys in October of 1966, this groundbreaking track went to #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and all around the world—it was a number-one hit in France, Malaysia, New Zealand, Spain, and the UK, and a top ten record in just about every other country and region.
The Warmth of the Sun (1963), as I learned while researching this piece, became a de facto memorial for President John F. Kennedy in the wake of his assassination. Make sense. It's about mourning a relationship, or at least, as Mike Love tells it, an unrequited love by a girl he once met on a trip to Hawaii.
Niece Carnie Wilson, Brian's daughter, whom people might know from her '90s group Wilson Phillips, wished her uncle a happy birthday on Facebook
Now all three brothers are together again this Christmas. And agin, happy birthday to Carl!
Watch Brian Wilson, Gardine, and Love, along with a bevy of famous musicians, performing "Barbara Ann" at the 1988 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame ceremony (on Jan. 20, 1988), courtesy of the official HOF YouTube channel:
