Separated by two days, and 5,300 miles, some children were born that would literally change the course of music history. It is quite hard to believe, and makes an argument for some sort of cosmic coincidence, that in that short space of time, eighty years ago this weekend, two of the greatest pop songwriters of all time were born.
On 18 June 1942, James Paul McCartney was born in Walton Hospital in Liverpool. Then, on 20 June, an ocean and a large continent away, Brian Douglas Wilson arrived on the scene, at Centinela Hospital, in Inglewood, California.
I was brought up in a Beatles household, with a mother that loved their music, and particularly loved McCartney. Beatles records were never far from the record player, but the Beach Boys was my first love - I had their 20 Golden Greats on vinyl and I played that record to death. So, McCartney and Wilson were absolutely integral to my musical education and development. The unofficial rivalry that existed between the two of them through the 60s, shaped pop music in such a way, that the last sixty years of music is unthinkable without their input.
How did it come to pass? We take a look here at the two of them through their early years - how they found music - how they discovered their musical voice - and how they moved towards producing the music they are still revered for six decades later.
1940s
Paul's was born to parents of Irish descent and his childhood seems to have been at the bottom end of working class. The family moved to Speke when he was young and he ended up managing to get a place at Liverpool Institute (grammar school).
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Brian, who was growing up in Hawthorne, California, was joined by two brothers, Dennis in 1944 and Carl in 1946. Their childhood was laced with psychological and occasional physical abuse from their father, Murry.
1950s
Paul's father had been a jazz player back in the 20s, leader of Jim Mac's Jazz Band. Paul was offered lessons on the upright piano in the living room, but he preferred to learn by ear and also learnt to play guitar.
The young McCartney was beginning to be inspired by the rock n roll sounds drifting into Liverpool, via the merchant seamen coming in through the docks. Like many others now, he was starting to listen to the likes of Little Richard and Buddy Holly. In fact, this inspired him to trade a trumpet he had been gifted, for a £15 Framus acoustic guitar, so he could better learn to play rock n roll.
His future was beginning to manifest itself. In 1954, he met a young George Harrison on a bus, quickly becoming friends. In 1956, when he was aged 14, his mother tragically died of an embolism - something that would later provide an additional bond to John Lennon (whose own beloved mother died when he was 17). And it was in July of 1957 when that meeting occurred - the one that would cement a piece of musical history - as Paul and John met for the first time at St. Peter's Church Fete in Woolton.
McCartney soon got the chance to join Lennon's band, the Quarrymen, playing guitar on their set of rock n roll and skiffle tunes. Harrison joined in 1958 and then Stuart Sutcliffe in 1960. Things were starting to shape up....
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In 1950, Brian was given some lessons on a toy accordion. By the age of seven or eight, he was already singing solos in church. One of his teachers noted that he had perfect pitch and had an innate ability to learn by ear, which he used to find his way around the piano. In a 2005 interview with Thomas Bartlett, he stated that he had begun to compose music at the age of 12.
It seems that young Wilson was obsessed with music, spending many of his waking hours listening to music, or discussing it with his brothers. He did find some time for sport though, being quarterback at Hawthorne High, playing baseball and running cross country.
A gift for his sixteenth birthday things moved up a gear, when he got a Wollensak 2-track tape recorder. His essay, 'My Philosophy', in October 1959, stated that he was going to "make a name for myself in music." It seems the future was indeed written. Brian and Carl had a band, Carl and the Passions, in which they enlisted cousin Mike Love (who was already a common singing partner at Wilson's regular music sessions) and played a range of covers, including by Dion and the Belmonts and the Four Freshmen.
1960s
After considering a other few options, the Quarrymen became the Beatles in August 1960 and with Pete Best installed on drums, they headed off to Hamburg to play some club shows. When Sutcliffe decided to quit the band the following year, Paul was forced to switch from guitar to bass. In January 1962, Brian Epstein became the bands manager, then in August Best was ousted and Ringo Starr came in. The scene was set and to borrow a well worn cliché, the rest was history.
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In 1960, Brian Wilson was studying Psychology at El Camino Junior College and music at community college. His music teachers didn't approve of pop music though and he dropped out after eighteen months. In 1961, he wrote the song that would eventually morph into Surfer Girl, loosely basing it on the melody from Dion and the Belmont's version of When You Wish Upon A Star.
The Passions were now the Pendletones and had a song called Surfin. Murry Wilson was impressed with what he heard and decided, without consultation, to be their manager. They were signed to Candex records, who changed their name to the Beach Boys and Surfin reached number 75 on the Billboard chart.
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1963 was the year that Beatlemania arrived, in no small part because of the constant stream of songs that McCartney, with John Lennon, was putting out - She Loves You, Can't Buy Me Love, I Want To Hold Your Hand, to name but a few.
And while that songwriting partnership endured throughout the decade, both he and Lennon increasingly worked on things separately too. Yesterday was released in August 1965 and has gone on to become one of the most covered songs of all time.
It was as the album Rubber Soul was being made, that many started to believe that Paul was becoming the more dominant Beatle and the rumours of growing tensions first surfaced. In his 2005 biography, Ian MacDonald said of Paul, "[he] would be in the ascendant not only as a songwriter, but also as instrumentalist, arranger, producer and de facto musical director of the Beatles."
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It was all happening very quickly over in California too. Wilson was doing some writing with local musician Gary Usher on songs like 409. With the demise of Candex, the Beach Boys found themselves signing a seven year contract with Capitol Records (in 1962). For their first album, Surfin' Safari, Wilson persuaded the label to let them move away from recording at the usual Capitol studio, which was very large and more suited to orchestral than rock n roll.
In 1963, second album Surfin' USA gave them a number two record and Wilson was already moving towards more production and less performing. In fact, on the subsequent tour, David Marks was often found filling in for Wilson. In September that year, Wilson got his first official credit as producer - for their third album Surfer Girl, which made it to number seven. The prolific streak showed no sign of abating and in October 1963 another album, Little Deuce Coupe, arrived.
That year also saw Wilson establish his own production company, Brian Wilson Productions and Ocean Music publishing. During 1963, in addition to all that Beach Boys material, Wilson arranged, produced or performed on 42 other songs, for a range of artists including Jan & Dean, the Honeys and the Castells.
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1966 saw the Beatles start to embrace the growing culture of psychedelia, that was emerging in popular music, on their next album, Revolver. This year also saw more of those signs that Paul was somehow the 'lead' Beatle, when three consecutive A-sides were his compositions, starting with Paperback Writer. He also took some time away from the Beatles, writing the score for an independent film project called The Family Way.
1967's Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band became regarded as the first concept album and was perhaps the earliest example (at least in such a commercial way) of an artist, or in this case, band, adopting alternate personas through which they could experiment and to some extent, re-invent themselves musically. Sgt. Pepper and his band were McCartney inventions - a sign that he was always ready to challenge himself musically.
In 1969, he married American photographer, Linda Eastman, with daughter Mary also born that year (named after his mother). Abbey Road came out the following year and whatever tensions existed (this aspect has been much debated over the years) signalled that the Beatles would not continue beyond the first year of the new decade.
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Wilson's experience in 1964, was even more manic than that of 1963. Another year, another three albums expertly laid down and released - Shut Down Volume 2 (March), All Summer Long (June) and Beach Boys Christmas Album (November). The year saw the end of Murry's reign as band manager (although he continued to exert influence over Brian) and the arrival of Beatlemania to the USA.
Brian recalled a few years later, just how threatened he was by the arrival of Paul and co. "The Beach Boys supremacy as the number one vocal group in America was being challenged. So we stepped on the gas a little bit." The result was immediate; I Get Around raced to number one on the Billboard Singles Chart. This was seen by some, as the start of an unofficial rivalry between Wilson and McCartney. Wilson also made a quick decision to marry Marilyn Rovell that year. It all took its toll on Brian, putting him under intense psychological strain and causing him to have several breakdowns.
He did start out on the Christmas tour that year, but broke down again after a few shows, to be replaced for the remaining shows by Glen Campbell. It was at this point, he told his bandmates he would not be touring in any meaningful way again.
Despite that, 1965 started with more new music. The Beach Boys Today! came out in March, Summer Days (And Summer Nights) followed in June. Campbell did some more touring in place of Wilson, until other commitments pulled him away, to be replaced by Bruce Johnston, who would remain an integral part of the band for years to come.
Not being on tour meant that he was now often socially distanced from the band and was making a new social circle. It was now that he was introduced to hashish and marijuana by talent agent Loren Schwartz. And his first trip on LSD led to him coming up with the riff for California Girls. But it also led to feelings of paranoia.
After the speed writing of recent albums, the next one took five months of planning! He was working on, "the making of music for people on a spiritual level." By the end of 1965, Wilson was working with Tony Asher and in May 1966, the result - Pet Sounds. Commercially, it was not a big smash, but in musical circles it caused some large ripples and has generally been regarded as one of the five best pop albums ever made, ever since.
It contains the autobiographical song, I Just Wasn't Made For These Times, which touches on the depression and social alienation Wilson had been suffering with. "I keep looking for a place to fit, where I can speak my mind, I've been trying hard to find the people, that I won't leave behind."
Bands fall apart - and solo
You could argue that while they were in their big bands, the dynamics for Wilson and McCartney were different; Wilson had grown up on the smooth, vocal pop of the Four Freshmen, whereas McCartney was inspired by the grittier blues rock of Little Richard and Chuck Berry. You could argue that McCartney's influence and impact in the Beatles was diluted by the fact that the other three, but particularly Lennon, all had contributions to make. Wilson, on the other hand, was pretty much the leader and choreographer of the Beach Boys from the word go.
But come the 70s, things had flipped around somewhat. Wilson's late 60s descent into binge-eating and gargantuan drug consumption, continued through much of the 70s and 80s, with his musical output suffering as a consequence - it was somewhat patchy at best. His brief periods of rehabilitation under the so-called svengali, Eugene Landy, produced work that garnered little attention - especially considering the Beach Boys made number one again in 1988, with Kokomo - the first hit without Brian's presence at all.
McCartney left the Beatles and seemed to flourish. First with his band Wings, knocking out tracks like Maybe I'm Amazed, Band On The Run and Live And Let Die. Going into the 1980s and his solo work has been consistently popular and well received (okay let's forgive him the Frog Chorus), even now as he reaches that 80 year milestone.
The last twenty years has also brought Wilson back to the publics table. Successful tours of Pet Sounds, including some of the songs from the never made Smile, were followed by on again / off again reunions with the band.
So, while their trajectories have always been different and in truth, their musical output had little in common, beyond their pop sensibility and an ear for a banging tune. But, their impact on the pop landscape remains undimmed. There are very few pop and rock bands that have existed in the last sixty years, that don't owe at least a little something to the Beatles or the Beach Boys. While the Beatles link might be more obvious in more bands, as I watched Crowded House last week, the link to the Beach Boys was undoubted, with the gorgeous layered harmonies.
Happy Birthday guys! Thanks for a lifetime of great tunes - and hopefully here's to a few more years of making music.
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