Category: Blogs

In 1965, while the rest of his band was on tour, Brian Wilson, a founding member of the Beach Boys, who died this week at age 82, challenged himself to stay home and create a masterpiece. The results of that challenge, Pet Sounds, has become one of the most revered and influential works of pop music.

“Without Pet Sounds, Sgt. Pepper never would have happened,” recalled longtime Beatles’ producer George Martin in Rolling Stone. “Pepper was an attempt to equal Pet Sounds.”

Paul McCartney agrees, saying, “I’ve often played Pet Sounds and cried.”

In 2017, I became infatuated with Pet Sounds, and I have to admit — that’s a little weird. I’m old enough to have seen the Ramones perform live, but I’m not that old. To me, The Beach Boys was music that just kind of always existed in the background. Something my parents tapped their fingers to on the steering wheel when we were stuck in traffic. Not something that I loved or hated, something that was always there.

But lately, I’ve been giving a lot of thought to things that seem to have always existed — cellphones, Batman, America — and here’s the thing, they didn’t! Someone, or a group of people, created these things out of thin air. They had an idea and got to work.

I’m no music critic, but listening to songs such as “God Only Knows” and “Wouldn’t It Be Nice” with fresh ears, I couldn’t stop thinking, “What made him even think of doing that?” There are not many top hits before or after “Sloop John B” with lyrics about eating all of a shipmate’s corn that I can think of, can you? You start to understand why the “genius” word gets thrown in Brian Wilson’s direction, and why it sticks.

I jumped at the chance to see Brian Wilson in the fall of 2017, alongside Beach Boys co-founder Al Jardine and a tremendous backing band, play the entirety of the groundbreaking album track by track at Radio City Music Hall. (Additional Pet Sounds: The Final Performances Tour dates can be found here.) Hearing these songs live — more than 50 years after the guy sitting at the piano first heard them in his head — was incredible and inspiring. I left the theater not sure that in my lifetime I’ll be able to create something that remains relevant and groundbreaking for half a century, but certain that I am not going to stop trying.

Here are some quotes from Brian Wilson about creativity and the drive to succeed, pulled from great interviews he’s done with Jason Fine for Rolling Stone and Alison Beard for Harvard Business Review.

“I’m success-oriented. You have to program yourself to be successful. Kick ass at life.”

Wilson talks to engineers and other on-lookers while recording Pet Sounds in 1966 in Los Angeles.

“I still believe in that message — working hard is the way to go. I live by it.”

Brian Wilson and Al Jardine perform Pet Sounds at the Pantages Theatre on May 26, 2017, in Los Angeles.

“If you stick with it, things work out in the end. Not always, but sometimes.”

The Beach Boys pose during a portrait session at Pacific Ocean Park on March 10, 1966 in Los Angeles. Left to right are Dennis Wilson, Carl Wilson, Bruce Johnston, Mike Love, Al Jardine and Brian Wilson.

“The park helps keep me straight. I show up feeling bad, and I leave feeling good. It blows the bad stuff right out of my brains.”

Rolling Stone profile, as featured on Brian Wilson’s official Instagram page.

“Fifty years later, I’m doing a world tour, playing [Pet Sounds] live, and seeing and hearing the audience respond. That makes me very proud. That record brought and continues to bring love to the world, which was my intent when I wrote the music.”

Drumhead for the 2017 tour.

“Sometimes things happen, and sometimes they don’t, but you can’t force it. It’s frustrating, but I keep at it.”

Brian Wilson’s career retrospective Playback: The Brian Wilson Anthology is now available on CD, vinyl and digital.

“Some people are leaders, and everyone contributes in different ways. The Beach Boys were a family — three brothers, a cousin and a friend — which gave us a cohesiveness. But I think the key to our success was respecting one another’s ideas and opinions.”

Carl Wilson, Bruce Johnston, Brian Wilson and Al Jardine sing around a piano in the recording studio circa 1966.

“I’m getting older but I don’t give a goddamn. I can still sing my ass off.”

Singer and mastermind Brian Wilson of The Beach Boys directs from the control room while recording the album Pet Sounds in 1966 in Los Angeles.

“I wanted to be a center fielder for the Yankees. That was my ambition, but I got sidetracked into the music business.”

“To succeed in life, you have to put a little muscle into it — mind muscle.”

Brian Wilson at the San Diego Civic Theatre on May 24, 2017, in San Diego, Calif.

Unilever workers in Ivory Coast say the global consumer goods giant is violating their collective bargaining agreement in refusing to ensure severance pay if layoffs take place after the company sells its business there, documents show.

British-based Unilever is selling all of its shares in its struggling Ivory Coast unit, which employs some 160 people, to a local consortium of investors led by wholesale distributor Société de Distribution de Toutes Marchandises Côte d’Ivoire (SDTM).

Unilever Cote d’Ivoire manages the consumer giant’s domestic and international brands in Ivory Coast, but SDTM will only take over Unilever’s domestic brand business, according to an internal memo dated April 8. Unilever has not said how its international brands will be sold in Ivory Coast in future.

Workers began staging protests at Unilever offices in Abidjan on April 25, fearing the unit’s falling turnover in recent years and the loss of the international brand business will trigger layoffs after the sale, which is expected to close by June 20.

Their collective bargaining agreement with Unilever, seen by Reuters, states that in the event of layoffs associated with disposing of its Ivory Coast business, Unilever will give employees severance pay equal to “one month of average gross salary per year of seniority, with a maximum of 18 months.”

The bargaining agreement, dated from 2004, was confirmed by management in 2007 and remains valid, according to Lex Ways lawyer Soualiho Lassomann Diomande, who represents local staff.

The agreement also pledges “medical coverage for a maximum period of six months.”

A Unilever spokesperson did not comment on the agreement.

However, in a meeting at the Labor Inspectorate in Abidjan on April 25, the head of Unilever Cote d’Ivoire, Arona Diop, stated that workers’ rights and salaries would be decided by SDTM, and not regulated by the collective bargaining agreement, according to minutes of the meeting reviewed by Reuters.

Unilever confirmed it was selling the Ivory Coast unit but said in a statement to Reuters: “the proposed transaction is by way of a sale of shares, which does not result in the termination of employees’ contracts.”

“Severance pay is not therefore relevant, as employment continues,” it added.

Unilever’s international brand portfolio has accounted for more than 60% of Unilever Cote d’Ivoire’s turnover, according to three Ivory Coast employees, which totalled 34.6 billion CFA Franc in 2023.

Since the share sale excludes the most important brands, job security is at risk, said Diomande.

Moreover, under article 16.6 of the Ivorian Labor Code, any substantial modification of an employment contract requires the prior agreement of the employee, Diomande added.

“No assurances have been given regarding job security,” said a Unilever Ivory Coast employee, who did not wish to be named.

Contrast with Europe

The severance rights Unilever guaranteed under the collective bargaining agreement are a lot more generous than required under Ivory Coast labour law, according to Diomande as well as two workers interviewed by Reuters.

According to the International Labor Organization’s EPLex database website, workers in Ivory Coast are entitled to severance pay equal to 30% of their gross monthly wage per year for those who have worked up to five years. The percentage rises to 35% from the sixth to the 10th year and 40% for above 10 years of service.

Unilever said early last year it would axe 7,500 jobs globally as part of a turnaround to save about 800 million euros ($913.12 million).

Diomande said Unilever’s treatment of its Ivory Coast staff contrasted sharply with how it treated staff in Europe.

Last month Unilever agreed to guarantee its ice cream workers’ employment terms in Europe and Britain for at least three years after the business’ spin-off, Reuters reported, tripling the usual period in such deals despite no legal requirement to do so.

The generous terms agreed in Europe reflect the power of local unions and strict labour laws on the continent.

Workers in the Ivory Coast told Reuters they had asked Unilever to guarantee the same conditions, including severance pay, for two years, one less than what was granted to roughly 6,000 Unilever workers affected by the ice cream spin off in Europe and Britain.

“Not applying the same conditions in Ivory Coast is unequal treatment and negative discrimination,” Diomande said.

“This is a serious injustice.”