Brian Wilson, one of the absolute geniuses of pop, a giant with a fragile soul who forever changed the history of popular music, has died at the age of 82, his family has confirmed. With the band he founded, The Beach Boys, Wilson took the three-minute pop song to its pinnacle, with hits like And get around, Help me, Rhonda, Surfing USA and Good vibrationsBut his masterpiece was the album Pet sounds (1966), a pop symphony with sublime arrangements and melodies that includes classics such as God only knows and Wouldn't it be niceHis death is a terrible loss that comes only two days after Sly Stone's, one of the other great protagonists of the musical revolution of the decade.