10 Albums From The '60s That Changed Rock History

Once the rock scene started to move away from the simple teenage love song, the Beach Boys were dangerously close to looking passe. In between all of the newer acts that were taking more risks with their sound, there was no way just another song about surfing, girls, and summertime was going to cut it anymore. Brian Wilson wanted to take them further, and the Beatles lit a fire in him to dream even bigger.

Being enamored with what he heard on Rubber Soul, Brian set out to make a record that worked as its own artistic statement, putting together Pet Sounds as his most ambitious project yet. Working with the session band the Wrecking Crew, Brian’s unorthodox ideas had a chance to grow a lot further, from placing the mics in different positions to constantly changing keys within one song and never feeling too scatterbrained when you listen to it.

Compared to the fun in the sun style song that they were already known for, you can hear Brian’s real voice coming into character a little bit more, turning the teen love of his first few songs into some of the most beautiful love songs ever written like Wouldn’t It Be Nice and God Only Knows. Even when you have Mike Love take over singing duties for a track, there’s never a moment where this doesn’t feel like Brian’s vision come to life, having the right sonic playground to finally create the symphonies that he heard in his head.