Just like to throw out a quick shout out to the 'dark horse' of The Beach Boys: Dennis Wilson.
Brian was the absolute driving force 'til about '68, but I always thought it was pretty impressive how the other members stepped up to try to fill the massive hole he left when he wasn't contributing all that much. A lot of the tunes weren't quite as good as they had been, but they still cranked out some awesome stuff. Carl took on the bulk of the duties, but I was always impressed by Dennis's input the most.
Songs like "Little Bird," "Be Still," "Be With Me," "Never Learn Not To Love" and "Forever" are just brilliant.
I also recently managed to track down his two solo albums - Pacific Ocean Blue (1977) and Bambu (2008 - released posthumously), and there's some great stuff on them. If nothing else, check out the track "River Song" from POB; total epic!
Not only was he the only member who actually surfed, plus the only real bona fide 'spunk rat' of the group, he also had the infamy of a pretty bloody intense Charles Manson relationship.
But that's another story...
Very tragic the way he passed away; I feel like he still had a lot of great stuff to offer.
Dennis Wilson: R.I.P.
Legend.