I knew Brian pretty well from my days representing The Beach Boys in the 1990's and early 2000's. He was a decent guy who had serious mental problems and was unfortunately manipulated by those around him for much of his life, first his father Murray, and then "Dr." Eugene Landy, who as one poster pointed out, really wrote most of "Wouldn't It Be Nice," various lawyers and later, his conservator. I think that his now-deceased wife Melinda really had his best interests at heart, though. When I knew him, the "musical genius" was not readily apparent, unfortunately, and when he played with the band, they would turn his mike down. However, his contribution to music in the 1960's was obviously landmark, and The Beach Boys were actually more popular than The Beatles in 1964-5. There was a big rivalry between Paul McCartney and Brian in 1966. Paul taunted Brian about the fact that he better hurry up and finish what became Pet Sounds because the Beatles were coming out with a blockbuster new album, a little album called Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, which ended up being released just over a year after Pet Sounds. Paul has since claimed that Pet Sounds was his favorite album!
Another fun fact from my storehouse of lore directly from the participants is about Good Vibrations. The 'boys" returned from a tour to find that Brian had spent about $75,000 on just Good Vibrations while they were gone (a ridiculous sum of money in 1966), used some "weird" instrument called a theremin, and had zero lyrics. They were freaking out. Mike Love took a tape, put it in a tape player in his car, and with his wife in the passenger seat and his two kids and their babysitter in the backseat, drove around LA listening to the tape and dictating lyrics for Good Vibrations to his wife, who wrote them down. They then headed back to the studio, gave the lyrics to everyone, and laid down Good Vibrations, similar to the released track. And the babysitter for Mike Love's two kids in the back? None other than LINDA KASABIAN, a full-fledged member of the Manson Family, who would go on to notoriety for her role in the Tate-LaBianca murders by the Manson Family!