Editing Brian Wilson (section)

===Popular music, industry practices, and record production===
{{See also|Recording studio as an instrument}}

Wilson is widely regarded as one of the most innovative and significant songwriters of the late 20th century.<ref name="conversation2015">{{cite news|last1=O'Shei|first1=Tim|title=A conversation with Brian Wilson|url=http://buffalo.com/2015/10/06/featured/a-conversation-with-brian-wilson/|work=[[The Buffalo News]]|date=October 6, 2015|access-date=March 15, 2016|archive-date=March 4, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304191251/http://buffalo.com/2015/10/06/featured/a-conversation-with-brian-wilson/|url-status=dead}}</ref> Fellow composers who have acknowledged his advancements include [[Philip Glass]], [[Gustavo Dudamel]], and Burt Bacharach, the latter of whom praised Wilson as "one of the greatest innovators" in music history.<ref name="WilsonWebsiteQuotes">{{cite web |title=Quotes |url=https://www.brianwilson.com/quotes |website=brianwilson.com |access-date=July 25, 2023}}</ref> In discussing Wilson's harmonic ingenuity,  musicologist [[Philip Lambert]] states in 2016 that his harmonic approach demonstrated an exceptional mastery, leaving a lasting imprint on popular music since.{{sfn|Lambert|2016|p=93}}

The level of creative control that Wilson had asserted over his own record output was unprecedented in the music industry,{{sfn|Carlin|2006|p=36}}{{sfn|Howard|2004|pp=54–55}}{{sfn|Murphy|2015|p=301}} leading him to become the first pop artist credited for writing, arranging, producing, and performing his own material.<ref>{{cite book|last=Kalfatovic|first=Martin R.|editor-last1=Browne|editor-first1=Ray Broadus|editor-last2=Browne|editor-first2=Pat|title=The Guide to United States Popular Culture|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=U3rJxPYT32MC&pg=PA70|year=2001|publisher=Popular Press|isbn=978-0-87972-821-2|page=70}}</ref> Wilson's autonomy encompassed control over recording studios and personnel, including engineers and the typically intrusive A&R representative. According to biographer James Murphy, Wilson's singular artistic freedom was pivotal in reshaping both the landscape of popular music and the music industry's perception of artistic control.{{sfn|Murphy|2015|p=301}}

In addition to being one of the first [[music auteur|music producer ''auteurs'']], Wilson helped popularize the idea of the recording studio as a compositional tool,{{sfn|Edmondson|2013|p=890}} and he was the first rock producer to use the studio in this fashion.{{sfn|Cogan|Clark|2003|p=33}} Granata writes that Wilson "redefined" the role of the producer.{{sfn|Granata|2003|p=115}} [[Peter Doggett]] identifies Wilson as the quintessential figure of an era marked by "some of the most notorious pop battles" between "idealistic musicians" and the executives funding their ambitious projects.{{sfn|Doggett|2016|p=372}}{{refn|group=nb|Brian's brother Carl remarked, "Record companies were used to having absolute control over their artists. [...] But what could they say? Brian made good records."<ref name="Himes1983">{{cite magazine|last1=Himes|first1=Geoffrey|author-link=Geoffrey Himes|title=The Beach Boys High Times and Ebb Tides Carl Wilson Recalls 20 Years With and Without Brian|magazine=[[Musician (magazine)|Musician]]|date=September 1983|issue=59|url=http://troun.tripod.com/carl.html}}</ref>}}

[[File:Eiga-Joho-1966-September-1.png|thumb|left|[[The Beatles]] were engaged in a creative rivalry with Wilson during the mid-1960s.{{sfn|Starr|2007|p=254}}{{sfn|Perone|2015|pp=42, 47}}{{sfn|Lambert|2007|p=150}}]]

Beatles producer [[George Martin]] said, "No one made a greater impact on the Beatles than Brian [...] the musician who challenged them most of all."{{sfn|Granata|2003|p=17}}{{sfn|Jones|2008|p=57}}{{refn|group=nb|John Lennon, Paul McCartney, and [[George Harrison]] each championed ''Pet Sounds'' when it was released.{{sfn|Badman|2004|p=135}} Moreover, Harrison recalled that the group had felt threatened by the album.<ref>{{cite episode|people=Wonfor, Geoff; Smeaton, Bob (Directors)|series=[[The Beatles Anthology (documentary)|The Beatles Anthology]]|number=5|medium=Documentary series|network=[[American Broadcasting Company|ABC]]|year=1995}}</ref> Asked in 1966 for the musical person he most admired, Lennon named Wilson.{{sfn|Dillon|2012|p=73}}}}  [[Jimmy Webb]] explained, "As far as a major, modern producer who was working right in the middle of the pop milieu, no one was doing what Brian was doing. We didn't even know that it was possible until he did it."{{sfn|Granata|2003|pp=115–116}} [[David Crosby]] called Wilson "the most highly regarded pop musician in America. Hands down."{{sfn|Murphy|2015|p=300}}

His accomplishments as a producer influenced many others in his field, effectively setting a precedent that allowed subsequent bands and artists to produce their own recording sessions.{{sfn|Edmondson|2013|p=890}} Following his exercise of total creative autonomy, Wilson ignited an explosion of like-minded California producers, supplanting New York as the center of popular records.{{sfn|Howard|2004|p=54}} Wilson was also a pioneer of "project" recording, where an artist records by himself rather than at an established studio.{{sfn|Edmondson|2013|p=890}}

The 1967 [[CBS]] documentary ''[[Inside Pop: The Rock Revolution]]'' described Wilson as "one of today's most important pop musicians."{{sfn|Badman|2004|p=182}} Many musicians have voiced admiration for Wilson's work or cited it as an influence, including [[Bob Dylan]], [[Neil Young]], [[Ray Davies]], [[John Cale]], [[David Byrne]], [[Todd Rundgren]], [[Patti Smith]], [[Mick Jagger]], [[Keith Richards]], <!--- [[Eric Clapton]], --->[[Bruce Springsteen]], [[Randy Newman]], [[Ray Charles]], and [[Chrissie Hynde]].<ref name="Contrast88">{{cite magazine|last1=Klinkenborg|first1=Verlyn |author-link=Verlyn Klinkenborg|title=Brian Wilson and the Fine Art of Surfacing|magazine=Contrast|date=1988|url=http://www.petsounds.com/contrast.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/19980630154133/http://www.petsounds.com/contrast.pdf|via=petsounds.com|archive-date=June 30, 1998}}</ref>