Brian Wilson, Beach Boys creative genius, dead at age 82
Brian Wilson, the genius behind sunny Beach Boys songs that helped define popular music in the ’60s, has died.
“Norbit” is a 2007 Eddie Murphy comedy.“Norbit’ was Wilson’s favorite movie at that moment in 2007, but the late rocker named “Pinocchio,” “The Birds” and “Gummo” as his favorite movies during other interviews.Mark Voger is the author of “Holly Jolly: Celebrating Christmas Past in Pop Culture” and “Zowie!: The TV Superhero Craze in ’60s Pop Culture.”
Brian Wilson, the movie “Norbit” and the Asbury Park Press will forever be linked in pop culture history.
Yes, Wilson, the legendary member of the Beach Boys, really did say his favorite movie was the Eddie Murphy comedy “Norbit” during a 2007 interview with the Asbury Park Press’ Mark Voger.
The “Norbit” exchange between Wilson and Voger has since been enshrined on baseball hats, T-shirts and coffee cups, and hundreds of social media posts and comments.
Voger: Have you seen any good movies lately?
Wilson: Well, I’ve only seen one in the last couple of years. It’s called “Norbit” by Eddie Murphy.
Voger: How did you like it?
Wilson: Fantastic movie. Very funny.
Voger: What’s your favorite movie?
Wilson: “Norbit.”
The “Norbit” moment resurfaced when Wilson passed away June 11 at the age of 82.
“I always remember the exchange because it’s so hilarious,” said Voger of Ocean Township. “I said do you have a favorite movie? He said ‘Norbit.’ It’s the last movie you’d expect anybody to say was their favorite movie.”
Voger had previously spoken to Wilson in 2005, and subsequently interviewed him twice later, once again for the Asbury Park Press and a fourth time for the Star-Ledger, with fellow Beach Boys member Mike Love.
“His answers were really short when I interviewed him in 2005 for the first time,” Voger said. “I had like 20 questions that I never thought I’d get to and burned through them in no time. From then on I would have like a hundred questions because I knew if I had 20 minutes we would get through all hundred questions. Anything to keep him talking — that the reason why I even asked him that question.”
If Wilson was not being overly talkative during the interviews, it wasn’t because he was curt.
“It never sounded like an attitude,” Voger said. “I chalk it up to his lifelong struggle with depression and his early psychedelics. He had such a F’ed up life and it just affected him, profoundly, and he was an ill at ease person but when he was on the phone he was trying.”
“Norbit’ was Wilson’s favorite movie at that moment in 2007, Voger said, but the rocker had also named “Pinocchio,” “The Birds” and “Gummo” as his favorite film other times.
“It was on his mind so that’s what he said,” Voger said. “Although he’s pretty solid on Burt Bacharach being his favorite composer. He’s pretty consistent with that one.”
Spin, Cracked and more outlets have written articles about Wilson and “Norbit,” and Wilson’s Wikipedia entry was recently updated to include “Norbit.”
“I think we’re in more need of diversion than ever,” said Voger, author of “Holly Jolly: Celebrating Christmas Past in Pop Culture,” “Zowie!: The TV Superhero Craze in ’60s Pop Culture” and more. “This was a way people who are on social media decided to grieve for this guy.
“The Beach Boys song that’s in my heart is ‘I Get Around,’ ” Voger added. “To me it’s an explosion of joy, and the first place I went to (after Wilson passed away) was to listen to ‘I Get Around.’ I’m not going to watch ‘Norbit’ but I get it — it’s funny and it’s fun. It’s different and it almost celebrates Brian’s weirdness and the fact that he’s so ill at ease, it kind of wraps it all up in this goofy notion that he would call that his favorite movie.”
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Chris Jordan, a Jersey Shore native, covers entertainment and features for the USA Today Network New Jersey. Contact him at cjordan@app.com