Editing Brian Wilson (section)

===Art pop, pop art, psychedelia, and progressive music===

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| quote = There is no god and Brian Wilson is his son. Brian Wilson stirred up the chords.
| source = —[[Velvet Underground]] co-founder [[Lou Reed]], 1966<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2013/oct/28/lou-reed-career-being-contrary|title=Lou Reed: A career of being contrary|last=Petridis|first=Alexis|work=[[The Guardian]]|date=October 28, 2013|accessdate=January 31, 2023}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine|magazine=Aspen|year=1966|volume=1|issue=3|title=The View from the Bandstand|url=https://www.ubu.com/aspen/aspen3/bandstand.html|last=Reed|first=Lou|authorlink=Lou Reed}}</ref>
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Further to his invention of new [[texture (music)|musical textures]] and his novel applications of quasi-[[symphonic orchestra]]s, Wilson helped propel the mid-1960s [[art pop]] movement,<ref>{{cite news |last=Holden |first=Stephen |author-link=Stephen Holden |date=February 28, 1999 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1999/02/28/arts/music-they-re-recording-but-are-they-artists.html |title=MUSIC; They're Recording, but Are They Artists? |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |access-date=July 17, 2013}}</ref> and, with ''Pet Sounds'', was immediately heralded as [[art rock]]'s leading figure.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Nolan |first1=Tom |title=How Goes It Underground? |url=https://www.rocksbackpages.com/Library/Article/how-goes-it-underground |website=[[Los Angeles Times]] |date=February 18, 1968 |url-access=subscription}}</ref> Carlin writes that Wilson had originated an "art-rock" style that merged transcendent artistic possibilities with the mainstream appeal of pop music.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Carlin |first1=Peter Ames |author-link=Peter Ames Carlin |title=MUSIC; A Rock Utopian Still Chasing An American Dream |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2001/03/25/arts/music-a-rock-utopian-still-chasing-an-american-dream.html |date=March 25, 2001 |work=[[The New York Times]]}}</ref> Academic [[Larry Starr]] writes, "In a sense, Brian Wilson was the first self-conscious second-generation rock 'n' roller" as well as "the first fully realized" example of both an innovative and majorly successful pop musician.{{sfn|Starr|2007|p=252}} Starr credits Wilson with establishing a successful career model that was then followed by the Beatles and other mid-1960s British Invasion acts.{{sfn|Starr|2007|pp=251–253}}{{refn|group=nb|In Starr's estimation, Wilson had initially demonstrated a proficiency in the fundamental styles of early rock 'n' roll, both in ballads and faster-paced songs. He then developed and evolved these styles through original compositions, and, ultimately, diverged significantly from traditional rock 'n' roll forms, sounds, and themes to forge a distinctive musical identity.{{sfn|Starr|2007|pp=251–253}}}} According to journalist [[Erik Davis]], in addition to composing "a soundtrack to the early '60s", Wilson initiated "a delicate and joyful art pop unique in music history and presaged the mellowness so fundamental to '70s California pop."<ref name="Davis1990">{{cite news|last=Davis|first=Erik|title=Look! Listen! Vibrate! SMILE! The Apollonian Shimmer of the Beach Boys|url=http://www.techgnosis.com/index_beach.html|access-date=January 14, 2014|newspaper=LA Weekly|date=November 9, 1990|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141204153729/http://www.techgnosis.com/index_beach.html|archive-date=December 4, 2014}}</ref>

[[File:Andy Warhol by Jack Mitchell.jpg|thumb|upright|Comparisons have been drawn between Wilson and [[pop art]] figures such as [[Andy Warhol]] (pictured 1973)]]

[[Van Dyke Parks]] stated, "Brian Wilson was not imitative, he was inventive; for people who don't write songs, it's hard to understand how inventive he really was."<ref>{{cite web|last=Dombal|first=Ryan|date=April 22, 2011|title=5–10–15–20: Van Dyke Parks The veteran songwriter and arranger on the Beach Boys, Bob Dylan, and more.|url=http://pitchfork.com/news/42269-5-10-15-20-van-dyke-parks/|work=Pitchfork|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130514101025/http://pitchfork.com/news/42269-5-10-15-20-van-dyke-parks/|archive-date=May 14, 2013}}</ref> Parks elaborated that "Wilson made music as accessible as a cartoon and yet rewarded repeated listening as much as [[Bach]]", also suggesting that Wilson's sensibilities overlapped with those espoused by other pop artists of the era.<ref name="HimesSurf">{{cite web|author-link=Geoffrey Himes|last1=Himes|first1=Geoffrey|title=Surf Music|url=http://teachrock.org/media/essays/surf_himes_with_maia_edits_2.pdf|website=teachrock.org|publisher=Rock and Roll: An American History|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151125223127/http://teachrock.org/media/essays/surf_himes_with_maia_edits_2.pdf|archive-date=November 25, 2015}}</ref>{{refn|group=nb|Pop artist [[Peter Blake (artist)|Peter Blake]], who designed the Beatles' [[List of images on the cover of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band|''Sgt. Pepper'' album cove]]r, said, "I've never been an enormous fan of the Beatles like I am of the Beach Boys."<ref>{{cite news |last1=Jones |first1=Jonathan |title='The Beatles? I was more a fan of the Beach Boys': Peter Blake at 90 on pop art and clubbing with the Fab Four |url=https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2022/jun/15/the-beatles-i-was-more-a-fan-of-the-beach-boys-peter-blake-at-90-on-pop-art-and-clubbing-with-the-fab-four |access-date=June 17, 2022 |work=[[The Guardian]] |date=June 15, 2022}}</ref>}}{{refn|group=nb|In a 1968 article for ''[[Jazz & Pop]]'', contributor [[Gene Sculatti]] addressed popular criticisms regarding the Beach Boys openly embracing [[mass culture]] and [[commercialism]]; Sculatti argued that these associations were artistically validated by Wilson's authentic "fascination with popular culture", a preoccupation that had "served Warhol and Chuck Berry equally well."<ref name="Scalluti1968">{{cite journal|last=Sculatti|first=Gene|author-link=Gene Sculatti|url=http://www.teachrock.org/resources/article/villains-and-heroes-in-defense-of-the-beach-boys/|title=Villains and Heroes: In Defense of the Beach Boys|journal=Jazz & Pop|date=September 1968|access-date=July 10, 2014|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140714191639/http://www.teachrock.org/resources/article/villains-and-heroes-in-defense-of-the-beach-boys/|archive-date=July 14, 2014}}</ref>}}

Under Wilson's creative leadership, the Beach Boys became major contributors to the development of [[psychedelic music]], although they are rarely credited for this distinction.{{sfn|Matijas-Mecca|2020|p=27}} Christian Matijas-Mecca, in his book about [[psychedelic rock]], credits Wilson, alongside Bob Dylan and the Beatles, for establishing a creative standard that "enabled psychedelic artists to expand their sonic and compositional boundaries", yielding "entirely new" sounds and tone colors.{{sfn|Matijas-Mecca|2020|pp=14, 27}} In an editorial piece on [[sunshine pop]], ''[[The A.V. Club]]''{{'}}s Noel Murray recognized Wilson as among "studio rats [that] set the pace for how pop music could and should sound in the [[flower power|Flower Power]] era: at once starry-eyed and wistful."<ref name=AVSunshine>{{cite news|last1=Murray|first1=Noel|title=Sunshine Pop|url=https://www.avclub.com/article/sunshine-pop-54224|newspaper=[[The A.V. Club]]|date=April 7, 2011}}</ref>

Wilson's work with the Beach Boys, especially on ''Pet Sounds'', "Good Vibrations" and ''Smile'', marked the beginnings of [[progressive pop]], a genre that is distinguished by sophisticated and unorthodox approaches to pop music.<ref name="progpopguide"/> Writing in 1978, biographer [[David Leaf]] identified Wilson's 1960s productions as a chief influence on bands such as [[Queen (band)|Queen]], [[Electric Light Orchestra]], [[10cc]], and [[Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young]], among others.{{sfn|Leaf|1978|p=191}}{{refn|group=nb|Many of the 1970s and 1980s acts that Wilson influenced, including ELO, [[Sparks (band)|Sparks]], [[Supertramp]], [[Kate Bush]], and [[Tears for Fears]], came to be linked under the "progressive pop" banner.<ref name="progpopguide">{{cite web |last1=Reed |first1=Ryan |title=A Guide to Progressive Pop |url=https://tidal.com/magazine/article/a-guide-to-progressive-pop/1-57187 |website=Tidal |date=November 20, 2019}}</ref>}} Musicologist [[Bill Martin (philosophy)|Bill Martin]] acknowledged Wilson's influence on [[progressive rock]], particularly through his complex songwriting and basslines.{{sfn|Martin|2015|pp=70–75, 183–185}}

Wilson's detachment from live performance—deploying bandmates as "attractive avatars"—presaged later producer-musicians like [[Max Martin]]. Writing in 2016, ''[[The Atlantic]]''{{'}}s Jason Guriel credits ''Pet Sounds'' with inventing "the modern pop album" by establishing auteur-driven production, anticipating "the rise of the producer [and] the modern pop-centric era, which privileges producer over artist and blurs the line between entertainment and art."<ref name="Guriel2016">{{cite magazine|last1=Guriel|first1=Jason|title=How Pet Sounds Invented the Modern Pop Album|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2016/05/how-pet-sounds-invented-the-modern-pop-album/482940/|magazine=[[The Atlantic]]|date=May 16, 2016}}</ref>{{refn|group=nb|Guriel goes on to note, "In a move that would've pleased Andy Warhol, Wilson recruited an advertising copywriter to come up with the album's lyrics. In a move that would've pleased a [[Dada]]ist, he rattled listeners' sense of sonic possibility."<ref name="Guriel2016"/>}}