Pet Sounds

The music and image of The Beach Boys prior to their album Pet Sounds was mostly about surfing, and having fun in the sun. Their producer and writer Brian Wilson first noticed surfing was becoming more popular when they were in High School. The main reason was because they found out a new way to make surfboards in some sort of fiberglass material. This made it easier for kids to carry their surfboards to beaches, since they were not as heavy as the wooden ones. One of Brian Wilson’s major influences before Pet Sounds was The Four Freshman. The Four Freshman were an acapella group that focused on intricate harmonies. You can clearly hear their influence in some of The Beach Boy’s earlier work, including Surfin’ and Good Vibrations.

Brian Wilson had a major role in The Beach Boys’ early work before he had his nervous break down. He was their producer, writer, engineer, and many other things. He even would go on tour with them until he had his nervous breakdown as I previously mentioned. Back then if you were in a rock band, one would have to release at least three albums, and have a new single come out every few months. 

I mentioned this earlier, but one of Brian Wilson’s first influences was The Four Freshman. This brought about the band’s intricate harmonies as well as interesting vocals. Before Brian Wilson made the album Pet Sounds, one of his major influences was the Beatles. They had just come out with a concept album- and Brian was impressed at the fact that all the songs on that album were good. They all had the same sound, and they were not all just hits strung together one after the other. This got Brian inspired, and he wanted to create an album that was like theirs.

Two major characteristics of Pet Sounds would be that it was The Beach Boys’ first album that could be considered as a concept album. A concept album is an album that has the same sound throughout the entire album. This album was also not very well accepted in the United States, but it blew up when it was delivered to the UK.

Pet Sounds, as a listener and professional made me feel glad to have someone that I can relate to with all of these songs. It also made me wonder what people think about when they don’t have anyone to relate to with what these songs are about.

spears, chrispy. (n.d.). Brian wilson podcast . Retrieved from http://soundcloud.com/chrispyspears/brian-wilson-podcast