(Credits: Far Out / Alamy)
Tue 16 December 2025 22:00, UK
A troubled soul whose personal struggles belied the joy of The Beach Boys’ music, Dennis Wilson is still arguably the spiritual mascot of the group.
A member of the band until his abrupt demise, he served as the drummer and vocalist on the team for over 20 years. While they technically exist even today, Wilson was a part of the original lineup that most would credit for their golden years during the 1960s and 1970s.
What made him so special was the fact that he actually lived the Californian life fans associate with the music. The Beach Boys were all truly from the coastal region of the Golden State, but Wilson was the only real surfer from the group. Considering how closely their songs are associated with the sport, his sincere passion for it makes him the most honest representative of the brand, even years after his passing.
Unfortunately, he was crippled by substance abuse, poor mental health and several other personal issues that kept him from living a long and healthy life. To that point, he was quite the opposite of the happiness The Beach Boys radiated, although the other members of the group weren’t all rainbows and sunshine either, but Wilson’s struggles ultimately ended his life when he was just 39 years old. While swimming in the Marina del Rey neighbourhood of Los Angeles in 1983, he accidentally drowned as a result of drinking too much that day.
Toward the end, his spot in The Beach Boys was getting pretty damn flimsy as his alcohol and drug addiction got progressively worse, which also impaired his abilities as a singer and drummer, while friction with the others made his future with the band a recurring subject of debate and contention during his final years.
What makes Wilson’s brief life and untimely death so unsettling is that he seemed to be aware of how he would ultimately make a sudden exit, and years before his passing, the percussionist was already pondering the end, although he didn’t sound too upset about it either.
Back in 1964, when the dynamics within the group weren’t as bad as they would later be, The Beach Boys released their sixth studio album to critical acclaim. Considered one of their greatest records, All Summer Long marked their creative peak as a cohesive unit. The sleeve notes of the LP, however, featured a brief note by Wilson that’s haunting even today.
“They say I live a fast life,” he wrote. “Maybe I just like a fast life. I wouldn’t give it up for anything in the world. It won’t last forever, either. But the memories will.”
Unlike the tumult that would follow over the next few years, these words had a passive tenderness to them. As if he had accepted his doomed fate, Wilson’s writing suggests he was committed to savouring his time on earth, fully aware that it was running out. The sad part is that he basically manifested a tragedy that wasn’t actually imminent, but one he had prematurely submitted to. And when he finally succumbed to it, the hole he left behind seemed even more haunting when you read his words again.
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