The Beach Boys were formed by Wilson with his brothers Carl and Dennis, their cousin Mike Love, and friend Al Jardine. Brian, who grew up influenced by 1950s rock and roll and jazz-based vocal groups, originally functioned as the band’s songwriter, producer, co-lead vocalist, bassist, keyboardist, and de facto leader. In 1965, he suffered a nervous breakdown and stopped touring with the group, which led to more personal work such as Pet Sounds (1966) and the unfinished Smile. As his mental health deteriorated, his contributions to the band diminished, and over the next decade, he was reputed for his reclusive lifestyle and substance abuse. Following a court-ordered removal from the care of psychologist Eugene Landy, Wilson started receiving conventional medical treatment, and in the late 1990s, he began performing and recording consistently as a solo artist. He remains a member of the Beach Boys’ corporation, Brother Records Inc.
Wilson was the first pop artist credited for writing, arranging, producing, and performing his own material. He is considered a major innovator in the field of music production, the principal originator of the California Sound,[7] one of the first music producer auteurs,[8] and the first rock producer to use the studio as its own instrument.[9] The unusual creative control Capitol gave him over his own records effectively set a precedent that allowed other bands and artists to act as their own producers or co-producers. Wilson’s success also led to a proliferation of like-minded California producers who helped supplant New York as the center of popular records.The zeitgeist of the early 1960s is commonly associated to his early songs, and he was a major influence on the retrospectively-termed “sunshine pop” and Flower Power music that proceeded.
In later years, Wilson became influential to the spirit of punk rock and was regarded as “godfather” to an era of indie musicians who were inspired by his melodic sensibilities, chamber pop orchestrations, and recording explorations
According to bassist Carol Kaye, “He took bass up another step. He saw it as integral in a symphonic orchestra. He used bass as the framework for a hit record. Very few people can write for bass, but his writing was beautiful. There are a lot of jazz musicians who admire him for it.”
just...BASS! 