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{BBC News 11 June} Brian Wilson, creator of iconic 1960s band The Beach Boys, dies aged 82
Fare thee well, Brian Wilson — and thank you for your extraordinary life and legacy. In my 47 years, I have spent many hours listening to the Beach Boys, devouring books and documentaries about them. Yet now, I struggle to find the words for this moment.
From 1962 to about 1973, the Beach Boys were America’s soundtrack, and Wilson was their mad genius. Imagining a world without them is like envisioning one without JS Bach, Louis Armstrong, or The Beatles: we cannot know what might have filled that void, if anything, only that music and culture would be unrecognisable.
The sun has set — not just on a transformative musician, but on a dream, a way of life, and on a nation. Brian Wilson’s idyllic songs, though escapist, captured our highest hopes. He never surfed; his mental health battles were fierce. Yet his art soared above these contradictions, much like America itself once transcended its many flaws.
In those mid-20th-century halcyon days, a reasonable degree of happiness was attainable to ordinary folks. That hope has died and is not coming back to life. And so, it feels tragically fitting that Brian Wilson — who so brilliantly and vividly soundtracked America at its idealistic best – departs as said country succumbs to the darkness of the blackest night.
Rest among the legends, good sir. —Arthur Newhook, 11 June 2025.
Copyright 2025, Arthur Newhook. @Sunking278 on X-TWITTER, and @FloydEtcetera on FACEBOOK. BLUESKY - @arthurnewhook.bsky.social. REDDIT - https://www.reddit.com/r/EchoOfADistantTime/new/. DONATIONS GRATEFULLY ACCEPTED at https://tinyurl.com/ArthurNewhook.
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