There are matters of taste and then there are matters of fact. Music is subjective, that’s for sure. However, there are some legends that loom too large to be sullied by the negative opinion of punters. No one is bringing them down when the entire top tier is throwing their weight behind them. If both Bruce Springsteen and Paul McCartney say you’re a god, then you’re a god – it’s a fact.

It’s not just a matter of approval. It’s not simply that McCartney and Springsteen both like this artist, but he has completely and utterly shaped them. They’ve been inspired to a point where their own music careers were reshaped, put on a different course and sent in a different direction.

That might sound like an exaggeration, but it’s not. Just think for a moment – imagine if The Beatles has never heard Pet Sounds. In that case, Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Heart Club wouldn’t exist, changing the course of music forever. In the impact of one album, everything was altered and it all comes down to the influence of Brian Wilson.

“I figure no one is educated musically ’til they’ve heard Pet Sounds,” Paul McCartney said as he truly sees Wilson and his work as foundational. “It may be going overboard to say it’s the classic of the century – but to me, it certainly is a total, classic record that is unbeatable in many ways,” he added.

But in hindsight, it’s not going overboard at all. Instead, he’s more than correct when he talks about the seismic impact of that album and Wilson’s role in music. It’s something that never faded for McCartney as when Wilson sadly passed, his belief in the artist’s power hadn’t weekend, stating, “Brian had that mysterious sense of musical genius that made his songs so achingly special.”

It’s a belief shared across the board in the music world. “There’s no greater world created in rock and roll than the Beach Boys; the level of musicianship, I don’t think anybody’s touched it yet,” Bruce Springsteen said as another disciple who truly believe in the power of Brian Wilson and his band. That work was transformative as it taught him how music could completely remove you for a moment, taking you elsewhere simply by being so immersive. “[He] just took you out of where you were and took you to another place,” he said as Wilson had the power to completely sweep his listener up.

To him, Wilson’s discography is an “American masterworks” as he sees him as one of the most important artists the country has ever birthed. No doubt Springsteen utterly freaked out when the compliment was returned and Wilson responded, “It was nice of him to say. He has written some himself”.

They’re two of many. In the music world, it’s tough to find a legend who hasn’t laid grand praise at the feet of Brian Wilson and his band, as The Beach Boys leader truly seems to reign in a league of his own as the true inspirer of the best in the business.