From memories of photoshoots and telephone calls with the late Beach Boy, to appraisals of his complex but pure music, Guardian readers pay tribute to a great

He popularised a California surfing soundtrack before taking rock ’n’ roll to experimental places with ‘Pet Sounds’

Elaborating classic pop and doo-wop into divinely beautiful and inimitable hitmaking, these are some of the late musician’s most unmistakable masterpieces