As the Beach Boys sang “house,” the song, “All Summer Long,” didn’t just change chords — in a luscious instant, it ascended to a higher place. Another wave of voices flooded in, but it was the revelation of that chord that was the hook, the spice, the thing that made me melt.

The term “tortured genius” has been too liberally applied to a number of great and not-so-great artists over the years, but Brian Wilson is one of the few who truly qualified for both designations. The announcement of his death Wednesday at the age of 82 silences one of the most transcendent musical voices of his generation — a deeply troubled man-child whose best music exuded joy

"I loved him, and was privileged to be around his bright shining light for a little while," McCartney wrote Thursday, a day after Wilson died at age 82.