A Tough Week In Rock N Roll: We Lost Both Sly Stone & Brian Wilson, RIP

*Image of Sly & The Family Stone taken from Wikipedia, likely copyrighted

It was a tough week for rock n roll. We lost two 60s rock n roll legends, Sly Stone (aka Sly Stewart) of Sly and the Family Stone and Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys. It was strange to have all that happen this week as I was laboring over my Summer Of Love Playlist, on which both the Family Stone and the Beach Boys were included. It was my friend Doug who alerted me to the loss of Brian Wilson. He asked if I was going to say anything in the pages of B&V and to tell the truth, I wasn’t sure that I was going to. I have to admit, right up front, I’m a pretty casual fan of both of these men. I’m probably more of a Sly & the Family Stone fan than a Beach Boys’ fan. I included the Family Stone on my list of my favorite psychedelic rock albums earlier this year. I think I described them as “psychedelic funk.” And in the interest of full disclosure, I’m on record in these pages as saying that I despise the Beach Boys. Upon reflection, that’s probably because I think Mike Love is an odious man. There are some Beach Boy songs that I like: “Good Vibrations,” “God Only Knows,” and “In My Room.” There may be a few more but nothing springs to mind.

It’s that lack of an emotional connection to either group that held me back from commenting on their sad loss earlier than now. This was a tough blow for rock n roll, but it wasn’t a surprise like say, that stretch in 2016 where we lost Prince and David Bowie or 2017 where we lost Tom Petty and Chris Cornell… Those were rather shocking deaths. Nobody saw that coming. Not that the nature of these losses are any less painful. One can’t think of the loss of Sly and Brian as anything other than the passing of the rock n roll torch from one generation to the next.

As I said, I’m probably more of a fan of Sly & the Family Stone. The track I included on my Summer Of Love Playlist was from Sly’s debut album. Sly had men and women in the band, Blacks and Whites. They were really the first racially and gender integrated band in the world. Sure, there were bands with women and men (Jefferson Airplane, Mamas and the Papas) and multi race bands (Paul Butterfield Blues Band, the Allman Brothers), but not both in one band. I have a lot of respect for Sly on that score. Not only were they a diverse lineup but the music they played was a wonderful goulash of different sounds. Yes, they were rock n roll and funk but they also had psychedelic, soul and R&B sprinkled in. Their lyrics were topical and political. You can’t talk about them being anything less than important and culturally relevant. I used to have their 1971 Greatest Hits album and I loved that thing. I’m not sure who absconded with it but it’s been gone a long time. So many great songs, “I Want To Take You Higher,” “Stand!” and “Dance To The Music” to name but a few. “Hot Fun In The Summertime” was included on our Summer/Sun Playlist. The band really had their heyday from ’67 to the mid 70s. By then disco had taken over and Sly was overcome by demons… mostly cocaine, the “Devil’s Dandruff.” Sly had largely disappeared from the public eye but I was still sad when I heard he was gone.

Brian Wilson was the fragile genius behind the Beach Boys. It was his vision, songwriting and ability to come up with stunning melodies that set the Beach Boys apart. But like fellow 60s icon Syd Barrett (who led Pink Floyd in the early days), Wilson succumbed to drug abuse and mental illness. The Beach Boys were, at one time, the biggest American band. None other than the Beatles considered them their chief creative rival. When Wilson wrote Pet Sounds, Paul McCartney said he knew the Beatles had to do something big… it was Wilson who drove the Beatles to do Sgt Pepper, merely out of competition. The Doors’ Jim Morrison said his favorite Beach Boys LP was Wild Honey, which I found surprising. While I’m not a huge Beach Boys’ fan, it has been heartwarming to see all the heartfelt moving tributes posted on social media from everyone, Springsteen to McCartney to Billy Idol and beyond. You can’t name a musician who wasn’t a fan of or wasn’t influenced by Brian Wilson. He’s a guy who truly belongs on the Mount Rushmore of rock n roll.

It’s always sad when our rock n roll heroes pass. Both of these men were geniuses. Both of them suffered from addiction and maybe more than their share of madness. I’ve only known two geniuses in my personal life and one of them went stark raving mad. I think that’s the curse of genius or maybe it’s just two sides of the same coin. Both of these men left a huge imprint on this art form we call rock music. The world is a little less bright out there without these men around. My condolences to their families and all their fans out there. It’s at least nice to know they left a spectacular legacy of music behind for future generations to enjoy, forever.

It’s a long dark ride. Take care of each other. It’s going to be a long hot summer… Stick together and turn the music up loud. It’s gonna be a bumpy ride.

Cheers!