Trivia / Carl Wilson

• Big Brother Instinct: Even though he was the youngest Wilson, he was very protective of Brian and Dennis in adulthood. He attempted to get Dennis help for his addictions (His failure led to a short BSOD moment for him) and he filed the lawsuit that freed Brian from Dr. Landy's clutches when he was tipped off that Brian was being overmedicated. This instinct later came to damage their relationship when Carl and Melinda disagreed over who Brian collaborated with (Carl tried to get Brian to work with Sean O'Hagan of the High Llamas, who he thought would get Brian's creative flow going again while Melinda wanted him to move into MOR music and work with former wrestler Joe Thomas. They also publicly fought about Brian finishing "Smile", which Carl worried would be detrimental to Brian's mental health).
  • There was a well known story among Beach Boys fans where during a meet and greet, a fan once went up to Dennis asking him to autograph, not Beach Boys material, but a copy of Dennis' solo album, Pacific Ocean Blue, which most of the band (other than Carl) largely ignored or outright dismissed and Dennis seemed to believe that the album was a failure. Carl, seeing this said to Dennis, "See, I TOLD you people liked it!"
• Functional Addict: How he appears in comparison to his brothers. Carl was addicted to drugs and alcohol, but he was able to get clean unlike Dennis, and much earlier than Brian. If Carl had been in any other band, he would've been regarded as completely out of control, but because his brothers were even more out of control, Carl isn't thought of as a bad addict.
• My Greatest Failure: Carl felt so guilty that he'd missed his brother Dennis' final phone calls that he briefly relapsed and started drinking heavily to cope with his feelings of guilt. He and Dennis had been very close and he had attempted to help Dennis get clean after overcoming his own addictions in the late 70s.
  • He was planning an intervention to dry Dennis out shortly after New Year's 1984. Dennis died four days before the new year.