XMASTIME: Sly Stone & Brian Wilson

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Monday, June 16, 2025

Sly Stone & Brian Wilson

Sly Stone & Brian Wilson dying only days apart from each other means that we've seen the word "genius" bandied about a lot this week, which means it's tempting to try & argue about which one of the two was MORE of a genius, and I'm doing it too and I'm saying the answer is Sly.

WHY I SAY SLY STONE WAS MORE OF A GENIUS THAN BRIAN WILSON EVEN THO I LOVE BRIAN WILSON TOO SO JUST CALM THE FUCK DOWN ALREADY PEOPLE:

1) Sly continually pushed to blend an almost absurd number of genres together (Prince before Prince); Wilson did the one thing he did incredibly well, but even that was such a Spector homage that it literally included the exact same musicians he used

2) Sly was a visionary when it came to putting his band together vis-a-vis men/women/black/white; Wilson worked with his brothers & cousin almost exclusively until he began using Spector's crew, which was exactly as white as you're imagining (tho to be fair it did include the immortal Carol Kaye!)

3) I'm not saying lyrics are as important as the music or production but if we're gonna be calling someone a songwriting genius they do have to do that half of the equation - Sly wrote the lyrics to his music; Wilson cared so little about the lyrics that while Mike Love is generally seen as his songwriting partner he'd bring in outsiders to write them - Pet Sounds is rightfully hailed as Wilson's greatest achievement, and the lyrics were written by Tony Asher, so 🤷‍♂️

4) Lyrics also push Sly ahead because like John Lennon, he had some sort of innate girt for effortlessly dropping anthems that were perfect for the culture in real time for which the premise is all in the title: Everyday People, Dance to the Music, Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin), I Want to Take You Higher, Hot Fun in the Summertime, Stand!

So I hafta give the edge to Sly but of course it's laughable, it's one A+ losing out to another A+ in for a game in which literally everybody on the planet wins.

I LOVE THEM BOTH AND YOU SHOULD TOO AND YOU SHOULD LISTEN TO THEM BOTH MORE TODAY AND TOMORROW!!!

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