Interview: Brian Wilson (The Beach Boys)

by Dewey Hammond

These excerpts originally appeared in Playboy magazine in March 2005. Only fair-use excerpts are available here because Playboy owns the copyright.

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Before SMiLE came out it was referred to as the greatest album never released. How do you think it would've sold had you released it in 1967?
"It would have influenced people in the business to want to make better music, but it wouldn't have sold at all. It would've been too ahead of its time."

What's something that we don't know about your days as a Beach Boy?
"I don't like the beach. And I will never, ever try surfing. I'm too afraid I'll get hit in the head with the surfboard."