GET HIP

Rock journalist Barney Hoskyns asserts that “if it hadn’t been for factors like [Charles] Manson, the Beach Boys wouldn’t be seen [by some] as quite so hip today” (Pop Eye, July 14).

While the group’s descent into darkness is indeed a bizarre footnote, the only reason the Beach Boys are so hip today is that, yet again, a new generation of young musicians has discovered the genius of Brian Wilson. Tabloid headlines, like musical fashions, come and go, but the works of composers like Schubert and Gershwin--and yes, Brian Wilson--remain permanently hip.

NEAL McCABE

Los Angeles