Sometimes there are strange symmetries in death, as in life. The twin passings of and this week brought that into sharp relief.
Both were musical geniuses who paid a high price for their gifts. They burned bright, with art they created at their peaks that became more moving and meaningful with time, only to see their creative lights extinguished suddenly through mental health and addiction issues. Both were 82 when they died 鈥� Stone on Monday and Wilson on Wednesday.
鈥淚t's such an unsettling coincidence,鈥� said Anthony DeCurtis, contributing editor at Rolling Stone. 鈥淭hese two figures, they were very different and massively influential, and each ran into a wall of their own problems in many ways. As much as they achieved, it's hard not to think that they could have done more.鈥�
Brian Wilson captured the California sound
With his late brothers Carl and Dennis, Beach Boys co-founder Wilson was the architect of the California sound that captured surfing and sun, beaches and girls. Yet for all the 鈥淔un, Fun, Fun,鈥� there was something much deeper and darker in Brian's abilities as a composer.
It was more than disposable music for teen-agers. He had an unparalleled melodic sense, hearing sounds in his mind that others couldn't. He could worm his way into your head and then break your heart with songs like 鈥淚n My Room鈥� and 鈥淕od Only Knows.鈥� The tour de force 鈥淕ood Vibrations鈥� 鈥�- had anyone ever heard of the theremin before he employed its unearthly wail? 鈥� is a symphony both complex and easily accessible.
鈥淗e was our American Mozart,鈥� musician Sean Ono Lennon wrote on social media.
The 1966 album 鈥淧et Sounds鈥� was a peak. Wilson felt a keen sense of competition with the Beatles. But they had three writers, including Sean's dad, John Lennon. Wilson was largely alone, and he heard impatience and doubt from other Beach Boys, whose music he provided.
He felt the pressure in trying to follow up 鈥淧et Sounds,鈥� and 鈥淪mile鈥� became music's most famous unfinished album. Wilson, a damaged soul to begin with because of an abusive father, never reached the heights again. He descended into a well-chronicled period of darkness.
Sly Stone helped assemble a new kind of musical landscape
Stone's skills came in creating a musical world that others only dreamed of at the time. The Family Stone was an integrated world 鈥� Black and white, men and women 鈥� and the music they created was a potent mixture of rock, soul and funk. It made you move, it made you think.
For a period of time from 1967 to 1973, their music was inescapable 鈥� 鈥淒ance to the Music,鈥� 鈥淓verybody is a Star,鈥� 鈥淗igher,鈥� 鈥淗ot Fun in the Summertime,鈥� 鈥淪ing a s Simple Song,鈥� 鈥淔amily Affair,鈥� 鈥淭hank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin).鈥� Their performance at Woodstock was a milestone.
鈥淗is songs weren't just about fighting injustice, they were about transforming the self to transform the world,鈥� musician and documentarian Questlove, who lovingly tended to Stone's legacy, wrote this week. 鈥淗e dared to be simple in the most complex ways 鈥� using childlike joy, wordless cries and nursery rhyme cadences to express adult truths. His work looked straight at the brightest and darkest parts of life and demanded we do the same.鈥�
From his peak, the fall was hard. Years of drug abuse took its toll. Periodic comeback attempts deepened a sense of bewilderment and pity.
In a world where many musical icons died young, each endured
Music is littered with stories of sudden, untimely and early deaths. Yet until this week, both men lived on, somewhat improbably passing average life expectancies.
Wilson, by many measures, achieved some level of peace late in life. He had a happy marriage. He was able to see how his music was revered and appreciated and spent several years performing it again with a younger band that clearly worshiped him. It was a postscript not many knew, said journalist Jason Fine, who befriended Wilson and made the 2021 documentary, 鈥淏rian Wilson: Long Promised Road.鈥�
鈥淭hat sort of simple message he really wanted to give people through his music going back to the 鈥�60s 鈥� a sense of warmth, a sense that it鈥檚 going to be OK in the same way that music lifted him up from his darkness, he'd try to do for other people,鈥� Fine told The Associated Press in an interview then. 鈥淚 think now, more than earlier in his career, he accepts that he does that and that's a great comfort to him.鈥�
Stone emerged to in 2023. But less is known about his later years, whether he found peace or died without the full knowledge of what his music meant to others.
鈥淵es, Sly battled addiction,鈥� Questlove wrote. 鈥淵es, he disappeared from the spotlight. But he lived long enough to outlast many of his disciples, to feel the ripples of his genius return through hip-hop samples, documentaries and his memoir. Still, none of that replaces the raw beauty of his original work.鈥�
Did Sly Stone and Brian Wilson live lives of tragedy or triumph? It's hard to say now. One suspects it will become easier with the passage of time, when only the work remains. That sometimes brings clarity.
鈥淢illions of people had their lives changed by their music,鈥� DeCurtis said. 鈥淣ot just enjoyed it, but had their lives transformed. That's quite an accomplishment.鈥�
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David Bauder writes about the intersection of media and entertainment for the AP. Follow him at and .
David Bauder, The Associated Press
