The life-changing first record The Beach Boys’ Brian Wilson purchased
Nobody forgets buying their first record; it’s a special moment that often sparks a lifelong obsession with music. The memory of walking up to the counter at the local record store, holding a handful of change in one hand and a disc that would change your life in the other, is a milestone to be cherished. While these initial purchases are often considered uncool, sometimes, like in the case of Brian Wilson, musical gold is struck on the first try.
Remembering the instant of buying your first single is frequently more mesmerising than the single itself. It’s a feeling that rings true all the way along the musical spectrum. From humble fans to music writers to music makers alike, everyone can hold dear the instance they handed over their cash for a slice of art. Even for an artist as esteemed as The Beach Boys’ heroic maestro, Wilson, the memory of buying his first record, however fuzzy it may be, stuck with him for decades.
The enigmatic orchestrator of some of the sweetest sounds of the 1960s, Wilson has often taken on a mythical status in the music world. While he was never truly able to convey the grand genius he possesses when speaking in interviews, Wilson has operated just outside of the realm where we mere mortals reside. Nevertheless, while he’s rarely been keen to offer his thoughts and feelings outside of his artistry, Wilson typically lets his songs talk on his behalf.
Although talking has never been his forte, Wilson was not one to shy away from sharing the songs and artists he admired. In one video, he even went through a list of his favourite songs by The Rolling Stones, The Beatles and, of course, The Beach Boys. Wilson famously noted The Beatles album Revolver as the record that truly pushed him into creating his own masterpiece, Pet Sounds. On many occasions, Wilson has also picked out his favourite song of all time.
When speaking about that track, The Ronettes ‘Be My Baby’, Wilson retained the same visceral energy he had for music on the day he purchased a record for the first time.
Far removed from cultivating a pop star mystique or even trying to distance himself from his ‘rivals’, Wilson always approaches the subject of music, whether making it or talking about it, with complete and utter authenticity. “I remember hearing ‘Be My Baby’ at home, in my car, everywhere I went,” Wilson told The Guardian. “I thought to myself: ‘My God, I’ve got to do something like that.’ It obsessed me; it was so good. Nobody had ever come close to what Phil Spector was doing with that one song. So I kept trying to come up with something even better. That’s what happened in the 60s. We did things that blew each other’s minds.”
During that conversation, Wilson also opened up about the first record he purchased. There may be a few blurry lines around that stone-cold fact, but the song’s importance to Wilson is unquestionable.
Casting his mind to life as a teenager, Wilson reflected, “I was at high school one day when I heard this on the radio, between class, I guess, and I went straight out and bought it. Maybe it was the first record I ever bought.”
Many regret the first song we shamefully purchased as kids with undeveloped music tastes, but the same can’t be said for Wilson. The song in question wasn’t some cheap piece of late ’90s tat but was, instead, a rock and roll staple.
‘Rock Around the Clock’ by Bill Haley and The Comets is already in history as one of the most influential songs of all time. When scouring the creative crucible of the swinging sixties, there is an obvious connection to the rock and roll that emanated from the Delta blues and beyond. However, for many, Bill Haley was their first real introduction to the genre. For the already musically inclined, like Wilson, the song represented a recalibration of what they already knew, hinting that a new future was about to dawn.
“I had been making music all my life but hearing that taught me to write with more energy and precision,” recalled Wilson. “All my friends were into it. My brothers liked it too. Anyone who heard that record would like it,” he added. It was a style of songwriting that Wilson would too employ —creating songs that only had a heart but had all the shimmying hips one wanted, making music to laugh, cry and dance to. Not many artists can achieve such a feat, but Wilson has done it on almost every record he’s ever put his name to.
‘Rock Around The Clock’ not only put Wilson on the path to superstardom but also made an entire generation believe in the power of rock and roll. It’s rare for one song to have such a seismic impact, and in the modern day, it’s impossible to comprehend a single track causing a cultural shift.
Another rock icon who counts ‘Rock Around The Clock’ as his first-ever record is Pink Floyd’s David Gilmour. He was ten years old when he made the crucial purchase, and life was never the same. Before that moment, the songs on the radio failed to light a spark within him, but that all changed upon his exposure to Haley’s wondrous invention. He noted during an appearance on BBC 6 Music, “That was the first moment to me when I thought ‘this is something new and original!”
Gilmour continued, “It was superseded not very long after by ‘Heartbreak Hotel’ by Elvis Presley, which was a step up again, but that first moment with ‘Rock Around The Clock’… It is very hard to describe how new and revolutionary that sounded to me at the time.”
Buying your first record is a memory that will stay with you forever. Whether it is a little fuzzy like Wilson’s or painfully etched into your cerebral cortex like mine, the moment we become avid music lovers and switch off the radio to begin our collection is a juncture we should all cherish.