UVA pop culture expert Jack Hamilton says the 1960s music icon merged different genres into his unique style, taking rock and pop in new directions.

The death of Beach Boys founder Brian Wilson is an immeasurable loss for music and for California, both the place and the dream of it that Wilson conjured with his regal and tender compositions.Wilson was the visionary of the defining American rock band,

Brian WIlson's answer to Phil Spector's excellent holiday LP, The Beach Boys' Christmas Album divides its two sides between originals and standards. Stick with Side One, where Wilson's "Little Saint Nick" and "The Man With All the Toys" kick things off. It's a brief sidestep before Wilson entered his most creative period.