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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Brian Wilson, co founder of The Beach Boys and the
creative force behind the group's surf sound, has died. Wilson's
life was marked just as much by struggles with substance
abuse and mental illness as it was by repeated comebacks,
remarkable talent and timeless.

Speaker 2 (00:14):
Songs, and joining us now in the KWA Common Spirit
Health Hot Health studio. Host of The Rick Lewis Show
on one of three five the Fox. It is Rick
Lewis Dead Rockers, a service of the Colorado Association of
Funeral Home Directors, the last people to let you down.
Here we go again, man, Marty, Here we go two
and a free. Things happened in threes, so.

Speaker 3 (00:32):
I know I was thinking the same thing. So back
to back icons, both eighty two years old. I'm talking
about Sly Stone right and Brian Wilson, both of them
tormented geniuses. And it's been an interesting week. Yeah. Brian Wilson,
as you mentioned, founder and a major influencer in the

(00:53):
Beach Boys, of course, tormented toll from really from the
very beginning. You know, he got started young and his
dad apparently did a lot of damage to Brian Wilson psychologically,
physically at times from what's being reported, and he had
mental health issues really pretty much his entire life. At

(01:16):
one point he was living with a psychologist. You guys
probably knew that, a guy named doctor Landy, and doctor Landy.
I'm not sure if he was helping him or maybe
taking advantage of him. You know, a lot of people
were a little suspicious of that. But Brian Wilson known

(01:36):
for that wall of sound, that Phil Spector Wallace sound
in the harmonies that they produced in studio. They were
really they really changed the game with that. Carpenters came
along about ten years later with that type of harmonies
in the studio, but Brian Wilson was the man.

Speaker 1 (01:55):
When you think of surf sound, I mean you kind
of think of very casual and laid back, but you
talk about the tormented genius and the struggles that he
went through pretty much his entire life. I mean, how
much does that contribute to him creating this rhythmic genius
and this sound that has influenced so many other artists.

Speaker 3 (02:13):
That's a good question, and we talked about that with
with s live Stone as well. And musicians are they're
wired differently, you know, they just have a different type
of brain than regular people, and I think that kind
of lends itself to the basically they're they're self medicating
a lot with drugs because they just they're just not comfortable.

(02:36):
They don't fit in well in society, and that also,
I think stimulates that creativity that goes along with that.
And so a lot of these musical geniuses have had
mental health issues. In fact, a lot of great artists
over history have experienced the same thing. And you mentioned
that surf sound, and it influenced so many people, including me,

(02:59):
a young Rick Lewis. You know, when the Beach Boys
came out, it made me want to live in California.
The surf, you know, the cool cars, the pretty girls,
the sunshine, And eventually I did. When I was twenty
one years old, I moved to California, to southern California.
The Beach Boys had a big influence on me.

Speaker 2 (03:18):
Beach Boys also influenced the Beatles. The Beatles were all
huge fans. I'm just going through the list of people
that have acknowledged the passing that they loved. God only knows.
The song that was one of the best written songs ever.
That's from James Headfield of Metallica. So this is a
group that transcends genre and influenced a lot of musicians.
Bob Dylan, all these fans of Brian Wilson is Talent

(03:38):
and the Beach Boys.

Speaker 3 (03:39):
Yeah, all those living legends have commented about the passing
of Brian Wilson, and you gave him a ton of
credit for influencing them as well. I had a chance
to interview him a few years back, and it was
memorable because he was kind of a mess. He was angry,
and I think I brought up Mike Love at some

(03:59):
point point the interview, and he got pissed off. He
dropped a couple F bombs and almost basically hung up
on me. He got really really uncomfortable. You know, live radio,
you're not allowed to drop F bombs, right, And it
got really uh, it got really awkward, and he just
was that kind of guy. You never knew which Brian
Wilson you were going to get.

Speaker 1 (04:21):
When you look at music today. I'm from southern California
and you know, I grew up around kind of that
sort of culture and you hear the inspiration, but I mean,
where do you see that now? Like without Brian Wilson.
Without the Beach Boys, where would music be today?

Speaker 3 (04:37):
Well, that's a great question. We could talk about that
for an hour. You know, he was such a big
influence on well, that California sound, and we just talked
about all of the major artists that were influenced by him.
You know, there were other guys. Dick Dale was a
guitar player with that surf sound guitar, but the Beach

(04:58):
Boys took it to a whole new level. Well, pet
Sounds was his masterpiece, which came out in nineteen sixty six,
and you can pretty much pretty much every song on
that record as a hit on that whole album.

Speaker 2 (05:10):
I love you, man, but I'm tired of seeing you.

Speaker 3 (05:12):
Yeah, man, let's let's do this again tomorrow. Yeah, you know,
if you're worried, a little worried about the three thing,
Yeah right, I'm a little bit too. Thank you, my friend.
Always good to talk to you. Guys.

Speaker 2 (05:21):
Great that you join us. It's Rick Lewis, one of
three five of the Fox. It's Colorado's Morning News.