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.

Brian WIlson's answer to Phil Spector's excellent holiday LP, The Beach Boys' Christmas Album divides its two sides between originals and standards. Stick with Side One, where Wilson's "Little Saint Nick" and "The Man With All the Toys" kick things off. It's a brief sidestep before Wilson entered his most creative period.

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.