The most profound influence of Brian Wilson’s life: “Definitely proud”Brian Wilson‘s legacy in music is cemented by the sheer number of artists who have cited him as an influence. Quietly assessing the landscape of pop music in the early 1960s, Wilson crafted a catalogue of songs that inoffensively fit the mould. But then, in 1966, he commandeered the wheel and lifted music into the stratosphere with his dreamy brand of experimental music on Pet Sounds. “The big influence was Pet Sounds by The Beach Boys,” Paul McCartney once explained in reference to The Beatles’ major sonic shift. The time that came before Pet Sounds, and the time that exists after.