Rivers Cuomo and Brian Wilson
The Quote from Rivers Cuomo, singer and guitarist for Weezer: “Well, certainly the Beach Boys and the early Beatles records were a huge influence on me lyrically. I had been coming from a background of listening to heavy metal, and my way out of metal was through the Pixies, Jane’s Addiction, and Sonic Youth. A lot of those lyrics were intentionally abstract and artsy. They didn’t necessarily make a lot of sense. They aren’t pop lyrics. Then I heard lyrics like in “Don’t Worry Baby,” where Brian Wilson—in very simple terms, like what a 16-year old would write—is writing about a girl, or bragging about his car to his friends. It sounded so refreshing to me. I think you can hear that feeling of innocence and youthfulness in the lyrics I wrote at that time, like on “Buddy Holly” or “Holiday” or “Surf Wax America.” That is very much influenced by The Beatles and the Beach Boys.”
The Source: Vadim Rizov’s interview for The A.V. Club, 2009
More on: Rivers Cuomo (of Weezer) | Brian Wilson (of The Beach Boys)
New to Brian Wilson and The Beach Boys? Start Here: Starting with The Beach Boys’ masterwork, Pet Sounds (the album that sent Brian Wilson into an unwinnable arms race with The Beatles), makes sense except for the fact that you will miss out on the evolution of Wilson’s production genius. The Spectorish Wouldn’t It Be Nice and God Only Knows from Pet Sounds are represented on Sounds Of Summer – The Very Best Of The Beach Boys, but so are the early brilliant works Help Me, Rhonda and Don’t Worry Baby. We can leave Kokomo, but we’ll take the cover of the Del Vikings’ Come Go With Me.
Buy the Album Here:
Sounds of Summer – The Very Best of The Beach Boys
