Presenting Blood on The Tracks - The Brian Wilson Story

In 1966, Brian Wilson planned to follow up the Beach Boys' groundbreaking album Pet Sounds with an even bigger musical statement. He was writing a teenage symphony to God. That album, Smile, was never finished. Instead, Brian slowly unraveled, as the pressure to make something profound weighed heavy on him. He worried that he wasn’t good enough. He worried that he was a failure in the eyes of the record company, his band, his peers, and his own father. He thought his house was bugged. He thought the music he was making conjured some strange voodoo that had a disastrous impact on the real world. He became paranoid. He self-medicated with amphetamines, hash, and LSD. He held meetings in his swimming pool. He imagined people who weren’t there. And eventually, in 1967, he went off the proverbial deep end. Did the real Brian Wilson ever resurface? Part true crime, part historical fiction, part spoken word lo-fi beat noir brought to you by Jake Brennan, and featuring the fictionalized voice Brian Wilson, BLOOD ON THE TRACKS sounds like nothing you’ve heard before. Because you can’t push the needle into the red without leaving a little blood on the tracks.

Listen to BLOOD ON THE TRACKS: THE BRIAN WILSON STORY beginning August 15.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Okay, let's get the microphone right into the flames. Make
sure we really hear the sound of the crowd. That's it. Okay,
we're rolling. Great, great, I wanted all the session everything.
Let's get the fire on the songs. Let's get in
terror into the music, Let's get in let's get it
blow on the tracks. In nineteen sixty six, the Beach

(00:24):
Boys released Pet Sounds, an ambitious and sophisticated album. Let's
set a high watermark for pop music. But Brian Wilson,
the band's primary songwriter and creative catalyst, knew he could
make something that was even better. He planned to follow
up Pet Sounds with a teenage symphony to God. That album, Smile,

(00:44):
was never finished by the Beach Boys. Instead, Brian slowly
unraveled as the pressure to make something profound weighed heavy
on him. He worried that he wasn't good enough. He
worried that he was a failure in the eyes of
the record company, his band, his peers, in his own father.
He thought his house was bucked. He thought the experiments
he was conducting in the studio conjured some strange voodoo

(01:06):
that had a disastrous impact on the real world. He
became paranoid. He self medicated within phetamines, hash and LSD.
He held meetings in his swimming pool, He imagined people
who weren't there, and eventually, in ninety seven, he went
off the proverbial deep end. Did the real Brian Wilson

(01:27):
every surface. Blood on the Tracks returns with season four.
Brian Wilson's story Blood on the Tracks is part true crime,
part historical fiction, part spoken word, low five beating noir.
Brought to you by me Jake Brennan, host of the
award winning music and true crying podcast Disgrace Land. Things

(01:47):
are pretty calm around here at the moment, but sometimes
they get a little shaky. Sometimes they get to be
a little too much. You'll understand that soon enough. I
guess where are we. We're in my mind, of course,
the mind of Brian Douglas Wilson. It's a place that's
been expanded over the years. It's now huge. I mean
it's vast. There are a lot of things in here, songs, melodies, ideas,

(02:12):
but it's so big that there's a lot of dark corners,
corners for things to lurk in, for people to lurk in.
Listen to Blood on the Tracks The Brian Wilson Story
beginning August fifteen from the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts,
or wherever you get your podcasts. Just like Brian Wilson,
this podcast contains multitudes because you can't live this many

(02:35):
lies without leaving a little blood on the tracks