Interviewed in the latest issue of Clash, Brian Wilson was the tortured genius behind the Beach Boys who is back on the road enchanting fans with his latest album ‘That Lucky Old Sun’.
Much studied and analysed, here we offer some prime clips of Wilson in action thanks to Youtube.
1. “Cocaine was a beautiful high…”
Brian comes clean on the Mike Douglas TV show on his drug history, admitting using cocaine and LSD, and describes the highs and lows of a destructive addiction which laid him up in bed for three years.
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=2gQD2g6F7y8
2. “Let’s go surfing now..”
In 1976, John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd accosted Wilson in his bedroom for a Saturday Night Live sketch dressed as cops (Surf Squad), dragging the famously non-surfing member of The Beach Boys down to the shore for some board action.
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=d92aeFVPKJY
3. ‘I’m Bugged At My Ol’ Man’
A frivolous doo-wop ditty sung by the Wilson brothers whose dark undertones can’t fail to disturb – all three laughing through the memories of the father who once mercilessly abused them.
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=99pgXBv33kI
4. “A new sound was born…”
The Beach Boys give the UK its first taste of American surf music. This episode of ’60s TV staple Ready Steady Go, from November 1964, was transmitted live – hence the false start of ‘When I Grow Up (To Be A Man)’. Brian and Mike Love’s interviews are drowned out by screaming fans.
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=DCYouoLKxjo
5. “She’s giving me the excitations…”
The original promo clip for ‘Good Vibrations’ is a kaleidoscopic reel of The Beach Boys as firemen – a throwaway video for one of the most pioneering and unique Number One singles in history.
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=Rf5uGPdFnpk
6. “The first slow song…”
Brian turns matinee idol in this slick black and white live performance of the Boys’ classic ballad ‘Surfer Girl’. The song’s romantic ideals are hinted at on ‘That Lucky Old Sun’. Check out how handsome drummer Dennis once was.
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=gsle8Y-fc4M
Watch all these videos on www.ClashMusic.com/brian-wilson-videos
