Uncanny

THE NATIONAL "Brian Wilson, the lead singer and songwriter of the Beach Boys, was constantly having run-ins with his father Murry, an abusive man who became obsessed with, and hugely jealous of, his son’s extraordinary talent. On January 8, 1965, the Beach Boys entered a studio to record what would become their second number one hit, Help Me Rhonda. Well into the session, Murry Wilson arrived to commandeer the session with scat singing and weepy, abusive melodrama. The session tape captured it all – Brian, 22, and Murry fighting over the tape recorder controls at one stage, with Murry wanting to stop the recording and Brian keeping the tape rolling. It’s easy to see why the Beach Boys purchased Murry a fake audio console for their sessions, so he could twiddle knobs to his heart’s content without destroying anything. The inferior version that Murry tried to create was not to be, but tellingly, the session tapes contain Murry’s immortal line, 'Brian, I’m a genius too.' He subsequently demanded that the Beach Boys record some of his own songs because, he claimed, 'My songs are better than yours.'"