\n<\/p>\n
\n\tBeach Boys<\/a> co-founder Al Jardine<\/a> had a final meeting last month with Brian Wilson<\/a>, his friend and bandmate of six decades, he tells Rolling Stone<\/em>. Wilson, who died at age 82, was sitting in the back of his house when Jardine arrived for a visit in May. \u201cHe looks at me and he says, \u2018You started the group,’\u201d Jardine says with a laugh. \u201cIt was his first statement to me. I didn\u2019t even have a chance to say hi.\u201d (Jardine\u2019s full interview, including a look back at the Beach Boys\u2019 earliest years, will air on an upcoming episode of our Rolling Stone Music Now <\/em>podcast.)<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cI\u2019m going, \u2018Yeah, you helped. You were part of it too!’\u201d Jardine continues. \u201cBut he is not wrong, because we bumped into each other on campus and I said, \u2018We\u2019ve gotta start a band. We gotta start a group, Brian.\u2019 And he remembered that.\u201d For Jardine, Wilson\u2019s acknowledgment of his role in the Beach Boys\u2019 genesis provided some closure: \u201c\u200aI go, wow. \u2018Okay. Yeah, I did have something to do with it. So that\u2019s quite an honor.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tNeither of the two men thought they were meeting for the last time, though Wilson was ailing. \u201cI thought he was gonna get better, \u201d Jardine says. \u201cHe had blood-oxygen-level problems, but his oxygen was coming back.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tBut ultimately, Jardine adds, Wilson \u201cjust wore out\u2026\u00a0 He went peacefully, in sleep, and I\u2019m grateful for that.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tJardine joined Wilson\u2019s solo band for a Pet Sounds <\/em>tour in 2006, and started touring regularly with him in 2012. \u200a\u201dMy first show was at UCLA, and I got a standing ovation just walking out on stage,\u201d Jardine says. \u201cAnd I\u2019m going, \u2018Holy cow. This feels like the old days, you know, the old Beach Boy days. And so we immediately kicked in where we left off.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tBefore Wilson\u2019s final show in 2022, Jardine recalls Wilson slowing down. \u201cThe last tour, he was quite reticent,\u201d Jardine says. \u201cHe didn\u2019t have the get up and go. He was just kind of slumped over the piano a little bit and not really engaging. So we noticed that, and finally we realized something\u2019s amiss here.\u201d Jardine believes Wilson changed after contracting Covid: \u201cThat was the end of it. He never came back after that.\u201d<\/p>\n