“This is the greatest! Turn it up, turn it right up. It’s GOT to be a hit. It’s the greatest record I’ve heard for weeks. It’s fantastic. I hope it will be a hit. It’s all Brian Wilson. He just uses the voices as instruments. He never tours or does anything. He just sits at home thinking up fantastic arrangements out of his head. Doesn’t even read music. You keep waiting for the fabulous breaks. Great arrangement. It goes on and on with all different things. I hope it’s a hit so I can hear it all the time.” — John Lennon on ‘The little girl I once knew” (link)



“I was sitting backstage after the 1974 Grammys with Bernie Taupin (Elton John’s lyricist) and John Lennon. This was when Brian was really having some mental issues. During the course of the conversation, I kept seeing Brian out of the corner of my eye, just kind of staring at us from different angles. Finally, he came up to the table, bent down and whispered in my ear, ‘Hey Alice, introduce me to John Lennon.’ I couldn’t BELIEVE that these two men had never met! They were virtually neck and neck in the 60’s as the greatest bands on the planet, and I’m SURE they must have crossed paths at some point. But then I thought to myself, ‘Wow, if they REALLY have never met, I’m going to be the one to introduce them and become a part of rock history!’ So I merely said, ‘Brian Wilson, this is John Lennon. John Lennon, this is Brian Wilson.’ Lennon was very cordial and polite, saying things like, ‘Hello Brian, I’ve always wanted to meet you. I’ve always admired your work, and Paul and I considered Pet Sounds one of the best albums ever made.’ Brian thanked him and walked away, at which point Lennon went right back to his conversation like nothing had happened. About ten minutes later, Brian came by our table again, leaned down and whispered something to Bernie, and all of a sudden, Bernie was saying, ‘Brian Wilson, this is John Lennon. John Lennon, Brian Wilson.’ Lennon was just as cordial and polite as the first time, saying essentially the same thing about always wanting to meet him. As soon as Brian walked away, John looked at both of us and casually said in his typical Liverpudlian accent, ‘I’ve met him hundreds of times. He’s not well, you know.’” — Alice Cooper

(Source: brianwilsonite.wordpress.com)



“A word about drugs. I have made no secret about the fact that I dabbled in the world of chemical realities. But by most standards, I was pretty tame. And I was lucky. I’m not going to preach to anyone about the dangers of drug abuse, they should be self-evident. All I can tell you is that, in my experience, it simply isn’t worth it. It wasn’t worth the money, the time, the energy, the damage to my physical and mental being, the damage to my relationships and my disposition. And in the end, it also got so boring. My last experience with LSD was at a Malibu beach house in the company of Harry Nilsson, Brian Wilson, John Lennon, et al. With those participants, you’d think it would have been a stimulating, inspiring occasion. Unfortunately, it was not. Harry went off into his own world; Brian, who was already long-gone even at that time, played just one note on a piano, over and over again; and John stood and stared into a swimming pool for four hours. What fun! I ended up sitting in the living room, watching the walls breathe and my hand turn into a snake, impatiently looking at my watch thinking, “Here goes the old hand-into-a-snake routine. I wonder when I can get out of here and go home to work on my gyrocopter?” — Micky Dolenz

(Source: smileysmile.net)



“I don’t remember Brian hanging out with us that much. Brian, we saw a couple of times. We saw him once at this birthday party…in fact, that was the first time that we had seen him. I think it was for Ricky Martin - I’m talking about Dean Martin’s son - it was like his 18th birthday or something. I remember seeing this guy - and this was at a time when he was really heavy - and I saw him coming towards us and went, “Oh my god”. And I whispered under my breath, as I did quite often with John, “The man that’s about to come over to us is Brian Wilson. Remember, we saw Dennis Wilson, his brother, the other day? This is Brian…Beach Boy”. And John turned around and he was like, “Ohhh”. Just as Brian was about to speak, John spun around and said, “Hi Brian”. And you could see this look in Brian’s eyes as he said, “Hey man, you have any reds?” John looked at him and said, “Don’t do that stuff, sorry man”. And he walked away. That’s where Brian was at that moment in time. ” — May Pang

(Source: smileysmile.net)



“This is the greatest! Turn it up, turn it right up. It’s GOT to be a hit. It’s the greatest record I’ve heard for weeks. It’s fantastic. I hope it will be a hit. It’s all Brian Wilson. He just uses the voices as instruments. He never tours or does anything. He just sits at home thinking up fantastic arrangements out of his head. Doesn’t even read music. You keep waiting for the fabulous breaks. Great arrangement. It goes on and on with all different things. I hope it’s a hit so I can hear it all the time.” — John Lennon on ‘The little girl I once knew” (link)