While most of my generation grew up with music from the 1980s, I grew up with oldies. 101.1 WCBS FM was always on in the car and the home.

Cousin Bruce. Friday Night 50s. The Beach Boys. That was oddly the music of my youth.

Suddenly, my two worlds converged with two seminal moments. First, it was Kokomo. I had a new Walkman, and the Cocktail soundtrack was the soundtrack of my summer.

Then, soon after, The Beach Boys were on Full House. Uncle Jesse was a big fan, and he toured with them in real life. My first concert was a Beach Boys one at Jones Beach.

These moments were all made possible by the tortured genius of Brian Wilson, the great American song writer. That tortured genius gave us many great songs including his like In My Room where told the world about his struggles.

It all culminated in Pet Sounds, one of the greatest albums of all-time. It is some of the greatest and most beautiful music ever recorded. It forever changed music, and it inspired genius. It would eventually break him

Actually, that’s not entirely correct. In many ways, he was broken. Needed help, but for many reasons, he never quite got the help he needed. It’s something for which we can all sympathize and relate.

For all of that, we got some of the greatest music. To many a great musician, “God Only Knows” is the greatest of them all. Not just for The Beach Boys. For anyone.

Some of my fondest memories of my father was listening to this song and “Wouldn’t it Be Nice” talking about the pure genius of Brian Wilson and The Beach Boys.

I cannot tell you how many times I’ve heard and focused on the bridge of “Wouldn’t it Be Nice.” “Maybe if, we think and wish and hope and pray, it might come true. ue (run, run with you) Baby, then there wouldn’t be a single thing we couldn’t do . . . .”

It’s something I’ve shared with my own children. You always share the things you love with your children, and I love The Beach Boys.

I love the music. I love the memories. I love the relationship I have with it and my father. As his health fails, the death of Brian Wilson hits me harder than it normally would.

The only way to end here is with Brian Wilson’s own words, “Well its been building up inside of me for oh I don’t know how long
I don’t know why, but I keep thinking
something’s bound to go wrong.”

RIP Brian Wilson.