That Odd Brian Wilson – Part One

“Pet Sounds,” the ground breaking Beach Boys album, is 50 years old this year, and its creator Brian Wilson has often been thought of as a genius with rough edges and odd tendencies. How odd? Here’s part one of ‘That Odd Brian Wilson.’

Most people didn’t realize that Brian Wilson’s father, Murry, was missing an eye, replaced with a glass eye. When Brian was bad as a child, Murray would take out the eye and force him to gaze deeply into the prosthetic.

Brian and the boys played their first small concert in 1961 at the Ritchie Valens Memorial Dance on New Year’s Eve.

Rock producer legend Phil Spector asked Brian to play piano on a session, but then threw him out of the session for being a poor player.

With Brian’s approval, Dennis his brother brought Charles Manson and his family to Brian’s house once to record a few songs. Charlie Manson wrote the Beach Boys B-side “Never Learn Not to Love.”

Talk about robbing the cradle; Brian Wilson married his first wife Marilyn when he was 22 and she was only 16 years old.


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