Carl Dean Wilson: 1946-1998

[AKA]

On February 6, 1998 - six years ago Friday - the world lost an under-appreciated musical giant. Carl Wilson was one of the most vital ingredients behind the success of the Beach Boys. He died after a yearlong battle with lung cancer, just two months after the death of his mother, Audree.

Carl often gets overlooked as a musician, singer, and songwriter, mostly dwarfed in legacy by the those of his older brothers Brian and Dennis. The undeniable fact, though, is that unlike the other guys, Carl was the glue that held The Beach Boys together. Without him, there is no Beach Boys, as evidenced by the group's dissolution upon his death.

The youngest Wilson brother is also responsible for the lead vocals two of the Beach Boys' most popular songs, both from 1966: Pet Sounds' "God Only Knows" and the single "Good Vibrations" (which later found its way onto the Smiley Smile album).

In the '70s, as Brian drifted away into depression, Carl came into his own as a song craftsman, writing such Beach Boys classics as "Long Promised Road" and "Feel Flows."

Disenchanted by the group's lack of focus, Carl left the Beach Boys in 1980. A self-titled solo album was recorded the following year and released on Caribou Records. Shortly before the drowning death of Dennis in 1983, Carl rejoined the band, where he remained until 1997, when he became too ill to tour.

On February 13, 1998, Salon.com published an excellent obit written by Mark Athitakis which says it all better than I can. Here it is:

Carl Wilson, 1946-1998

By Mark Athitakis
Salon.com

As a Beach Boy, Carl Dean Wilson didn't make for good copy. Still doesn't, actually: In the wake of his death on Feb. 6 -- of lung cancer at 51 -- you could see the obituaries reaching for something interesting to say. "Lead guitarist and founding member ..." they'd begin, and then the usual onslaught of Beach Boys clichés would fire up. Surf rock. Crazy brother Brian. Drowned brother Dennis. Great in the early '60s but musically irrelevant after "Good Vibrations." (After all, no Beach Boys songs written after 1966 were used in TV ads, so they couldn't have been any good, right?) History, when it chooses to remember Carl Wilson, will most likely footnote him as a minor player in the swirling psychodrama that was the band he helped create.

So here's your good copy, then: Without Carl, the Beach Boys wouldn't have mattered nearly as much as they did. Brian was the pop songwriting genius, but it was Carl who made the band rock; his guitar work was the engine under the hood of "409," "Shut Down," "Surf City" and a dozen other classics. An obsessive fan of Chuck Berry, Little Richard and Dick Dale, he paid homage to his heroes, but his guitar style strove to emulate their swing and beat, not copy or dilute it as so many lesser bands have, and still do. If it's possible to listen to the Beach Boys' hits today with an open mind, ignoring how much they've been overlicensed and multimarketed, their power can still stop you cold. The band's music always preached a California mythology of innocence and hope, which many have written off as forced and empty, just "good-time music." But when Carl hits the guitar break on "Surfin' U.S.A." or sings lead on "Good Vibrations," that myth still sounds real and approachable. A statue should be built in the man's honor if only for singing lead on "God Only Knows."

Carl's post-"Good Vibrations" work went a long way toward debunking conventional wisdom about the band's creative decline. While it's true that the band never did match the impact of "Pet Sounds" and those early singles, with the bulk of their '70s and '80s output plagued with mediocrity, Carl didn't give up the good fight as quickly as the pundits did. Listen to the bright, ethereal feel of his production work on 1967's "Wild Honey" and 1969's "20/20" -- both highly underrated albums -- and he emerges as a musician who'd learned to stop thinking about the pop charts. The harsh, demanding vocal on "Wild Honey," the plaintive soul of "I Can Hear Music" and "Darlin'," and a striking vocal on Stevie Wonder's "I Was Made to Love Her" -- all were proof that he was consistently striving to prove the Beach Boys' artistic worth.

He was still striving for that, actually, when I saw one of his final performances with the Beach Boys last summer. It was another one of the group's sad, formulaic nostalgia trips, and I'm still not sure why I went; perhaps I was naively hoping that some of the beauty I grew up hearing on their records would magically reappear in 1997. For the most part, it didn't: There was something supremely distressing about watching the band members' preteen relatives coming onstage and singing along with "Help Me Rhonda," a tune that's nothing if not a desperate plea for empty sex. It was Carl, though, who provided the positive moments that I remember. Obviously weak and sitting down for most of the set, his voice was rough and jagged. But given the glossy sheen of the music the rest of the group and hired hands were pumping out, the coarseness of his vocals were, ironically, a saving grace. Playing the band's last truly great song, 1974's "Sail on Sailor," solo acoustic, he sang with an earnestness and fervor that suggested he wasn't going to surrender to anything -- to his health, to the scoured-clean sound of the rest of the night's songs, to anyone who said his best days were behind him. And if his death does indeed signal the end of the Beach Boys -- as well it should, since it's impossible to imagine the band with nary a Wilson -- it's worth noting that Carl left still believing in the world the band sang about. One that can turn on a Chuck Berry hook alone. One filled with love and innocence, where redemption is as close as the nearest beach.

[Penny Lane]

Sadly, too many great musicians get ignored or just plain forgotten! Thanks for keeping his memory alive AKA!

RIP Carl.

[passionsfan79]

rip carl ill never forget you

[Janice]

Thanks AKA. That's a touching story and obit. I love The Beach Boy's music. The volume always get turned up when their songs come on the radio. I never got into the behind the scenes stuff too much, yet I knew the band certainly had their share of tragedy.

It appears that Carl Wilson was the driving artistic force behind this legendary band. He got a raw deal, poor guy.

[Elvis Fonzie Dean]

That's sad.He was great.After reading that he deserves a lot more attention and respect.

[EricIdlefan]

He was overshawdowed by his late brother Dennis, other brother Brian and Mike!!