Green Day frontman Billie Joe Armstrong has honoured the late Beach Boys icon Brian Wilson with a cover of ‘I Get Around’ – check it out below.
- READ MORE: Brian Wilson, 1942-2025: culture-defining innovator who represented pop music’s awakening
Wilson – co-founder and singer of the Beach Boys – died at the age of 82, his family announced on Wednesday (June 11). Following the news of Wilson’s death, Billie Joe Armstrong took to Instagram to share a cover of the band’s 1964 hit ‘I Get Around’ that he had recorded “a few years ago” but “never got to share it.”
He went on to label the track as one of his “all time favourite songs”, and thanked Brian Wilson.
The cover – which you can hear below – sees Armstrong stick largely to the track’s original surf rock tone, though it at times takes on a more punk approach.
In February 2005, Armstrong and Wilson performed together with Stevie Wonder, Bono, Alicia Keys, Steven Tyler, Norah Jones, Tim McGraw, Alison Krauss and Velvet Revolver in tribute to the victims of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami. They performed a cover of The Beatles‘ ‘Across The Universe’.
Armstrong is just one of numerous high-profile musicians to pay tribute to Wilson. Paul McCartney, who reflected on his “love” for the Beach Boys legend: “Brian had that mysterious sense of musical genius that made his songs so achingly special. The notes he heard in his head and passed to us were simple and brilliant at the same time. I loved him, and was privileged to be around his bright shining light for a little while. How we will continue without Brian Wilson, ‘God Only Knows’. Thank you, Brian.”
Sting performed a tender and emotional cover of ‘God Only Knows’ at a concert in Germany just hours after Wilson’s death was announced: “Today, one of my heroes died; Brian Wilson from the Beach Boys. He’s gone to heaven, so I’m gonna sing a song that I love.”
- READ MORE: Paul McCartney once called The Beach Boys’ ‘God Only Knows’ “the greatest song ever written” – and fans agree
Elton John shared a post that read: “Brian Wilson was always so kind to me from the day I met him… I grew to love him as a person, and for me, he was the biggest influence on my songwriting ever; he was a musical genius and revolutionary. He changed the goalposts when it came to writing songs and shaped music forever. A true giant.”
Bruce Springsteen wrote on social media: “Brian Wilson was the most musically inventive voice in all of pop, with an otherworldly ear for harmony. He was also the visionary leader of America’s greatest band, The Beach Boys.”
He continued, noting Wilson’s impact: “If there’d been no Beach Boys, there would have been no ‘Racing In The Street’. Listen to ‘Summer’s Gone’ from The Beach Boys’ last album ‘That’s Why God Made The Radio’ and weep. Farewell, Maestro.Nothing but love and a lovely lasting debut from all of us over here on E Street.”
You can find more tributes to the late artist here.
