Music, Money, & Mental Health

Growing up I listened to a lot of oldies music and one of my favorite bands was The Beach Boys. I’ve watched a lot of movies that detailed the band’s rise to fame. I was familiar with their abusive father, the infamous “hermit crab” swimming pool incident and the fact that Brian Wilson was being manipulated later in life through misdiagnosed mental health issues. The movie Love & Mercy was still a shockingly good depiction of Brian Wilson’s life crisis.

It’s no secret that he struggled with recreational drugs when he was wiring albums like Animal Sounds. That being said, he is arguably one of the most talented song writers alive today. While I highly recommend the movie itself, I have to say it mostly made me reflect the measure of mental health.

It’s possible that I think about the mind more than I ever needed to, but it’s a topic that fascinates me. In this movie, you see Brian Wilson admitting that he heard voices and music in his mind since he was 21. By most people’s standards that’s crazy. The mention of hearing voices makes people uneasy, but just think of what we as a society would have missed out on had Brian Wilson been institutionalized at the first sign of mental health issues.

It brings me back to a previous post where I mention people being over medicated. Of course, Brian self-medicating probably wasn’t the best idea, but his choice lead to multiple albums of amazing music. Maybe I’m not sure where I’m going with this other than for all the bad things unmedicated mental health issues have caused, there have been some good. And maybe, there are some people who if left to suffer through intense emotion will create amazing things.


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  1. Clara

    The music of the beach boys has always moved me. I wanted to see Love and Mercy but the nearest showing is six hours away. Guess I have to wait for it to come out on DVD.

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