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Brian Wilson, Beach Boys Co-Founder, Dies at 82
Brian Wilson, the co-founder of the Beach Boys, has died. He was 82.
A sensitive and ambitious talent, Wilson went on to push the boundaries of rock’s possibilities with a string of mid-’60s feats with his band: the lush and affecting 1966 song cycle “Pet Sounds,” the dazzling, complex 1966 single “Good Vibrations” and the long-mythical, tragically scrapped magnum opus “Smile.” However, Wilson fought off his demons and opened a bright second chapter in the late ’80s, cutting a string of solo albums and receiving renewed acclaim via live performances of his masterpieces “Pet Sounds” and “Smile.” On the 50th anniversary of the Beach Boys’ founding, he took to the road again with the band after a decades-long absence. No doubt defeated by the scuttling of “Smile” and the band’s internecine strife, Wilson saw his input as a writer and producer for the Beach Boys wane through the mid-’70s, and his behavior — which included showing up at public events clad in a bathrobe and slippers, grossly overweight and disoriented — became increasingly bizarre.
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