Bruce Springsteen has shared his thoughts on why The Beach Boys were the greatest “rock and roll band” of all time.
The Boss has plenty of time for Brian Wilson and the band, as evidenced by his appearance in a documentary charting their musical output. Appearing in Brian Wilson: Long Promised Road, Springsteen, 75, confirmed he saw The Beach Boys as untouchable musicians on a level nobody else had quite managed to release.
Speaking of Wilson’s music-making skills, the songwriter behind Born to Run and Dancing in the Dark had plenty of praise for Pet Sounds and beyond. The Boss said: “[Wilson] just took you out of where you were and took you to another place. There’s no greater world created in rock and roll than the Beach Boys; the level of musicianship, I don’t think anybody’s touched it yet.”
Documentarian Brent Wilson had pitched hard to get Springsteen, as well as Elton John, involved in the documentary. The documentary was praised by fans of Wilson and his music, who later discussed why there was not more of present-day Wilson seen in the film. But fans were understanding, saying there should have been “more archival footage” used in the film.
Taking to Reddit following the film’s release, one fan wrote: “I understand why we don’t have more contemporary Brian in the movie speaking but they really should have used more archival footage of Brian telling his story.”
Others were full of praise for the documentary using the archive footage as Wilson had already “given so much more than enough” to fans. They wrote: “The dude has given so much more than enough of himself. There are many great interviews in print and video if you dig.”
An appearance with director Brent Wilson on BBC saw Brian Wilson, no relation, saw the pair field questions following the film’s release. Asked why he wanted to make a documentary charting his life and influences, Wilson replied: “Because I wanted to.” Brent added: “There’s so much that’s been done about Brian that it started to become legend, it’s become myth. And I thought if we could somehow reveal the real Brian Wilson, and that was the goal coming in.”
A post to Brian Wilson’s official Facebook page shared Springsteen and The Beach Boys’ legendary songwriter were close friends. The Boss would “often visit” when Wilson was playing in New Jersey. The post, from April last year, reads: “Bruce Springsteen would often visit Brian when he played in New Jersey. Here’s Brian, Bruce and Blondie Chaplin backstage at the PNC Bank Arts Center, 2015.”
Springsteen ended up performing that night with Wilson, though had not intended to. He was coaxed out for a performance of Surfin’ USA after providing some backup vocals to Barbara Ann. The performance was around the time of Wilson’s album release, No Pier Pressure and came shortly after the release of Love and Mercy, the biopic on Wilson’s life and the creation of Pet Sounds.
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