With hits like “Surfin’ U.S.A.”, “I Get Around”, and “Little Deuce Coupe” under their belts, The Beach Boys were at the height of their fame when Christmas 1964 rolled around. But that celebrity came with a cost. And unfortunately, Brian Wilson would be the band member who had to pay the most. Two days before Christmas on December 23, 1964, the constant traveling, industry pressure, and general and creative overexertion led the pioneering musician to have a nervous breakdown while on a flight from Los Angeles to Houston. The band was performing a one-off in Texas, which Wilson managed to follow through with. But he returned to the West Coast the next day.
“I was run down mentally and emotionally. I was running around, jumping on jets from one city to another on one night stands, also producing, arranging, signing, planning, teaching, to the point where I had no peace of mind and no chance to actually sit down and rest or think,” Wilson recalled, per The Billboard Book of Number One Hits. “The plane had only been in the air five minutes when I told Al Jardine I was going to crack up any minute. But he told me to cool it.”
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That wasn’t an option, though. Wilson had gone past the point of no return. As his nervous breakdown took hold, the musician began sobbing uncontrollably, shrieking into a pillow on the plane’s cabin floor. Jardine recalled, “We were really scared for him. None of us had ever witnessed something like that.”
Brian Wilson’s Nervous Breakdown Led to Two New Beach Boys
Music history would show that the harrowing flight from L.A. to Houston isn’t where Brian Wilson’s story would end. Although he removed himself from the touring lineup of The Beach Boys, he continued to write, arrange, and produce. With more time to focus on studio work, Wilson was able to develop the techniques and ideas that led to the group’s seminal 1966 album, Pet Sounds. But in the meantime, the band still needed a full lineup to continue their public appearances. Wrecking Crew guitarist Glen Campbell was the first musician called to replace Wilson on stage.
Campbell was certainly adept enough to do the gig on such short notice. But he wasn’t interested in a long-term arrangement. The sheer ferocity with which female fans responded to The Beach Boys was a shock to the session player. Moreover, when he asked the group if he could receive a cut of The Beach Boys’ royalties if he came on as a permanent member, they said no. With his own solo career to worry about, Campbell walked away from his temp gig as Brian Wilson’s replacement. The next musician on the docket would be Bruce Johnston.
Johnston would stick around to help with hits like “California Girls” and “Help Me Rhonda”. But by the late 1960s, he started to grow apart from the group. His disdain for the band’s musical direction and interpersonal dynamics led to his departure in 1972, though he would return in the late 1970s. Despite—or perhaps because of—these frequent lineup changes, The Beach Boys never quite re-gained the cultural foothold they had in the early 1960s as America’s favorite surf-pop group.
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