The band that Brian Wilson said is his favorite of all time

The mastermind behind the classic Beach Boys albums, the singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Brian Wilson helped to change the course of music with the release of albums like “Pet Sounds” (1966). Over the decades he talked about many other groups and musicians, even revealing which is his favorite band of all time.

The Rock band that Beach Boys’ Brian Wilson said it’s his favorite

Curiously, Brian Wilson’s favorite band of all time was formed in 1962, one year after The Beach Boys. As he told Mojo Magazine back in 2021, his favorite band is The Rolling Stones. “My favourite rock ‘n’ roll band to listen to are The Rolling Stones. They are always my go-to rock ‘n’ roll band. I love them so much.” It is also by them his favorite album of all time, which is “Between the Buttons (1967). “My favorite album of all time is (The Rolling Stones) ‘Between the Buttons’ (1967). Specifically, one of the things in that album that blew me away the most was a song called ‘My Obsession’. I was invited down to The Rolling Stones studio the night they mixed down ‘My Obsession’”.

“I always passed out with excitement, I could not believe that record. It was unbelievably groove of a record I ever heard in my life. (Back then) we were all experimenting with all different kinds of sounds, the Stones were really kicking butt with ‘My Obsession’. We kicked a little butt with ‘Salt Lake City’ and an album called ‘Summer Days and Summer Nights’, stuff like that,” Brian Wilson told Napster in 2011 (Transcribed by Rock and Roll Garage).

That wasn’t the only time Wilson praised that record since he also chose it as one of the albums he couldn’t live without. He said that in an interview with Spin in 2021. “At least for today…I’m thinking about this album. The song ‘My Obsession’ is, well, I’m obsessed with it.”

The Rolling Stones’ members are big fans of The Beach Boys and Wilson too

Stones’ guitarists Keith Richards and Ronnie Wood are also big fans of Brian Wilson and The Beach Boys. On Wilson’s official website, there are quotes from both artists praising him. “Round, round get around / I get around” – I thought that was brilliant. Brian Wilson had something. ‘In My Room’, ‘Don’t Worry Baby.’ I was more interested in their B-sides, the ones he slipped in. There was no particular correlation with what we were doing so I could just listen to it on another level. I thought these are very well constructed songs.” Keith Richards said. For Ronnie Wood, Brian “had a wonderful feel, and very bluesy I think he is. He’s got a lot of soul.”

As Wilson told The New York Times in 2004, he said he believes the Beach Boys were a better vocal group than the Stones. But he noted that The Rolling Stones could play their instruments better. “I think we’re about even (because) the Beach Boys were a pretty good singing group. But the Stones played their instruments better,” Brian Wilson said.