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 Beatles loved the Beach Boys. And the feeling was mutual — even if Mike Love challenged “the Mop Tops” to a battle of the bands during his notorious speech when both groups were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame during the January ceremony in New York City.

Brian Wilson, the chief architect behind surf-rock supernovas The Beach Boys, who soundtracked a generation of youthful coastal indulgence alongside lost, dark melancholia, passed away on Wednesday. He was 82.